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Protest at labour conference + GR counter conference

noel | 20.08.2001 20:40

news of the Protest planned at Labour conference and Globalise Resistance counter conference PLUS new magazine on Genoa!!!

More than 150 people attended the planning meeting for Brighton 2001 on Saturday in London.

The Green Party Brighton Councillor who spoke invited every activist in the UK to Brighton, John Mulrennan, Unison officer from Southwark, joined him on the platform. Workplaces were well represented & coaches are being booked from the FBU in Islington, UCL Unison, Milton Keynes, Medway in Kent as well as all the major cities.

The current plan is to have a festival of free speech & anti-capitalism from 12 noon, to contrast with the stitch up that will happen at New Labour’s conference, followed by a mass Unity march at 2pm. Street theatre, a mass die-in against Star Wars, banner hanging & other stunts are planned.

Motions supporting the protest are getting a good hearing in trade unions & almost everywhere are being passed. In TGWU London Housing branch, the motion was passed unanimously supported by the branch secretary who is herself a delegate at the conference. MSF London Region voted to provide a coach most of the people voting were Labour Party members. Other sponsors include South Buckinghamshire AEEU, PCS Public Records Office, TGWU Housing Branch 1/11/11, Leeds Top the Daycentres Closure Campaign. MSF London Medical & MSF Computer Staff.

and the day before...

As the Labour Party meets to push privatisation and neo-liberalism in Brighton, we say:

Another World is Possible
Rallies • Workshops • Videos • Debate • Discussion

Speakers confirmed so far include: John Pilger journalist • Tony Benn • George Monbiot journalist and author of The Captive State • Vittorio Agnoletto Genoa Social Forum • Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party • Barry Coates World Development Movement • Candy Udwin Socialist Alliance • Mike Rosen broadcaster • CND speaker and just confirmed are Gary Younge, Guardian columnist, & Luca Casarini spokesperson for Tute Bianche in Italy.

10.30am - 5.30pm, Saturday 29 September
Ponana (Hammersmith Palais), Shepherd's Bush Rd - Hammersmith tube

Tickets £12 waged, £6 unwaged

To book ring 020 8980 3005 or 07956 681 328

The new Genoa Special edition of Resist (gr's zine) will be out by the middle of next week. It’s a full colour 44 page diary & analysis of the Genoa protests. It features articles by many activists including Mumia Abu-Jamal, George Monbiot, Starhawk & Alex Callinicos. Bulk orders can be placed with GR, £1.75 each for orders of more than 10, the cover price is £2.50.

message ends...

;-) noel

noel
e-mail: noel@desiderium.org
Homepage: http://www.resist.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

GR paper

21.08.2001 07:54

Good to see that the SWP (sorry, GR) paper sellers are working for commission now.

Miss Information
mail e-mail: f@cats.com

SWP plan Seattle in reverse for Labour confer

21.08.2001 09:28

This report was posted a few days ago, and it looks like it might have some truth to it. What is going on?

Socialist Workers Party/Globalise Resistance have made it clear that they are against any attempt to disrupt or blockade next month’s Labour Party conference in Brighton.
Speaking at a public meeting in Brighton to build for their 30th September protest in Brighton, Chris Nineham of the SWP/GR said that “it would be wrong to close down the Labour conference” because it would “isolate us from potentially massive support”. He said that “lots of people in the Labour Party are trying to stop the Blairites taking over” and urged people to “give encouragement to those in the Labour Party fighting Blair”. He argued that attempting a blockade or any action against the conference would be “a tactical disaster” that would “give the media an excuse to call us mad extremists” and “massively demobilise the protest”.

Guy Taylor, SWP member and GR’s full-time organiser, said that “direct action doesn’t have to be confrontational” and declared GR’s counter conference and protest at last year’s Labour Party conference a great success that should be built on because “nothing happened”.

In Seattle, thousands of workers left a boring union march to join anti-capitalists in confronting police and closing down the WTO meeting by force of numbers. This resulted in a major, practical success for our movement. The SWP, who describe themselves as “the only people with an overall strategy for the anti-capitalist movement”, seem intent on doing the very opposite at Labour’s conference - convincing anti-capitalists to avoid “confrontational” direct action and join a march to nowhere with a few union banners instead.

The SWP are entitled to put forward their views. But anti-capitalists involved in direct action should be clear that these views represent a clear attempt to pull back our movement into legalistic, dead-end ‘protests’ that achieve nothing - and to destroy the militancy and vitality of our movement from within.

reposter

re: GR paper

21.08.2001 09:41

Class War used to do the same thing

Tom

Colchester coach to Brighton

21.08.2001 16:50

Coach going to Brighton from Colchester
Leaves Bus Station at 8.30am
Tickets £6/£3
Contact

dog207@lycos.com

Dog207
mail e-mail: dog207@lycos.com

Nottingham coach to Brighton

21.08.2001 20:51

Coach from Nottingham to the Brighton Demo
Tickets £6/£3
Further details from Notts Socialist Alliance Website

http://www.nottinghamsocialistalliance.org.uk/

contact:

nottssa@yahoo.com

Bill
mail e-mail: nottssa@yahoo.com
Homepage: http://www.nottinghamsocialistalliance.org.uk/

Obvious

28.08.2001 20:06

Could the posters from Thames House try not to be quite so obvious. Anyway if you want the S30 lobby to end in a riot you could at least supply your own APs.

Skippy

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