Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Rare sighting of endangered Leftists in Walworth, South London

William Davidson | 27.09.2008 17:40 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | London

On Saturday 27th September, the South-East Council of Action organised demo to defend local council housing estates in Walworth, London was held. An estimated 40 people, young and old, marched through Aylesbury Estate, down a busy Walworth Rd and onto Heygate Estate where a meeting was held.

Graphic Design for the Revolution - Old School
Graphic Design for the Revolution - Old School

Demo moves down East Street
Demo moves down East Street

Parading along the Walworth Rd
Parading along the Walworth Rd


All along the route, slogans were communicated via megaphone:
'What Do We Want? Council Housing! When Do We Want It? Now'
'Defend Heygate Estate! No Evictions!'
'Halt The Privatisation! Kick The Government Out!' etc.

The demo was to protest the carve-up of two large local estates, the Heygate and the Aylesbury, tenants on both estates being subjected to the disorganised whims of a useless decant process or demolition plan. It's seems vital to support the tenants due for eviction for failing, essentially, to find home for themselves through the Southwark Council housing process. It's good to call into question the the part privitisation of the land and the new builds where there is significantly less social housing being built. Local tenants also want to stay as council tenants and not be forced into weaker, often more expensive, Housing Association tenancies.

Unfortunately, for this grizzled hack, the demo seemed in no way to garner support for these objectives and mainly consisted of pissing local people off. Most people I spoke to seemed to find it a ridiculous spectacle (which it was) or were pissed off by delays to buses.

So where is politics these days? The South-East Council of Action is a group made up Workers Revolutionary Party / Young Socialist types. There must be a little sympathy for the organisers who mean well. But when will Leftists come out of the old ways they cling to? The poster and the slogans for the demo were archaic. There was no sense of fun about this demo, and the hectoring slogans boosted this joylessness. 'What Do We Want? Council Housing! When Do We Want It? Now' - this is such a bizarre slogan. There already is Council Housing, here and now! 'Halt The Privatisation! Kick The Government Out!' etc. Which government will provide non-privatised solutions.

Community politics has to foster a sense of belonging and enjoyment. It seems like nothing has been learned from this group from earlier incarnations of local politics - open days, festivals of resistance etc. Or learned from some of the more upbeat and inspiring methods of organising seen over the last 15 years of the anti-capitalist movement.


William Davidson

Comments

Display the following 6 comments

  1. Respect to the protesters, man! — ARC
  2. Unfair — Rob Abrams
  3. Quick replies from William Davidson — W Davidson
  4. Be ridiculous — ARC
  5. ;-) — W Davidson
  6. Engagement — Lobster
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech