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After Brighton - a new strategy for the anticapitalist movement?

rupert marsh | 01.10.2001 21:09

Why bother getting wet outside an irrelevant conference with some irritating paper-sellers when we could start the revolution by living it up a little?

It occured to me that if I went into Niketown and stole some trainers, tested out their performance enhancing qualities by eating at Granita and then doing a Lindford and then took out a business start-up loan using a false identity this would be effective anti capital(ist)direct action because I would be putting the slogan "to each according to their needs" into practice. It would also be quite exciting and I might even get on the telly.

If we (the 'movement') were to advocate shoplifting, credit card fraud, throwing sickies, illicit photocopying and taking a very long time on the toilet at work we might gain new allies in our struggles for a better world.

What do people think?

rupert marsh
- e-mail: fatbongo@aol.com

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Dont forget bunking the tube!

01.10.2001 21:47

Fare Dodgers Liberation Front!

Fare Dodger
- Homepage: Couple coming up!


slogan slogan slogan, chant chant chant

01.10.2001 22:57

Rupert has it all wrong.

The way forward is to make lots and lots of placards and sell lots and lots of papers (even when the organisers of our targetted demo have asked us not to). First thing though is to get ourselves a leader, then we can chuck away that pesky creativity and autonomy.

But yeah, we have to return to doing stuff that's fun. We need to find a way of getting our stuff beyond the immediate activist scene, and we must start coming up with credible alternatives, even if it's only on a small scale. I don't have many bright ideas on how to achieve this though...

Hey, I have a question for the SWP: given that Globalise Resistance are not an explictly revolutionary group, and indeed offer no analysis, theory or ideology, other than to say globalisation is bad, shouldn't you be denouncing them as liberals?

Christopher Spence
- Homepage: http://www.schnews.org.uk/mr.htm


Non-Co-operation

02.10.2001 10:13


Why not make things more difficult for the state --- at the same time as there's a protest and we have the undivided attention of the Police other people should co-ordinate other actions designed to cause maximum disruption in any way possible.... block transport networks, drop tacks under Police car wheels, invade Mcdonalds and stop them selling crap and whatever else according to your creativity and convictions.
There are many ways to non-co-operate with capitalism other than just protest. The problem is, perhaps, that whilst you can go on a protest and chant and go home again - real revolution requires a bit more commitment and lets face it we're too comfortable in our modern life for many of us to make a real revolution.
In places like Latin America they know about real protest because they've lived on the end of so much shit for so long that they don't have anything to lose anymore. There is something about being oppressed to the point where you don't even have enough food to make you really radical.

For my part I feel its indicative of our mentality that if you want to step over the line and break the rules imposed by the state at a protest or whatever, you can't be sure that you have the undivided support of ALL the other protestors because there are so many nice people that want to voice an opinion but are not really up for a radical change. I'd be quite happy to take more risks than I do if I thought that the people of this country were up for supporting change but lets face it, most of them just stand there and gawp.

We have to realise that we're up against a system that is completely intent on breaking our will and dividing the movement by any means necessary. I heard that Genoa scared many people big time and put many people off. Thats what it was meant to do.
I think it is useful to travel to somewhere like Colombia and learn about how to really make a revolution from people who face death on a regular basis for their views, because the sooner that as many as possible realise that this isn't a game we're playing here the better - we're up against REAL EVIL that is ruthless and we need to become very very strong emotionally, psychologically and physically.

Tony T


Columbia???

02.10.2001 16:51

I find your reference to Columbia bizarre. It's not so much a revolution there, more a brutal drugs fuelled civil war with ghastly atrocities on both sides. Is this the kind of thing you want???

hangtuff


collective action

02.10.2001 17:15

indvilally acts of what ever are not going to bring down capitalism.
if more people shop lift more people will go to jail , being in jail for shop lifting you are no use to any anti capitalist movement. setting up commpanies! some middle class dreamer there was plenty of fake internet commpanies they don't bring down Capitalism. there is more of us then them. thats it. the only weapon we have is our mass and our ably to retract our labour power.

richy


Fare dodging etc

02.10.2001 22:36

Please carry on with yr fare dodging/shop lifting etc. It will get real people even more pissed off with you.

sceptic
mail e-mail: xx@xx.com


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