I have 2 general points:
1. The menu looks like very 'wide' and purposefully 'ethnic'. It's very non-British but hard to pin down what it is - it has toasted Turkish bread apparently but none of the meals resemble anything like an actual working-class Turkish meal. The closest is 'Grilled halloumi, hummus and roasted peppers' but humus is quite fancy.
2. I remember a SWP meeting where someone walked in with a Big Mac and its bag and the lady in charge said 'before everyone starts to have a go at X's MacDonalds, do we all understand what we're saying about the necessity of an anti-war movement'
In the same way that Counterfire attack others for the wrong consumption,
'Give O’Leary the Boycott treatment': Lindsey German
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/4722-give-oleary-the-boycott-treatment
"Not travelling Ryanair hasn’t been a problem so far. You can go by train or other forms of transport _ or even other airlines if you have to. That means you don’t suffer...
Try booking to Spain or Italy in the summer: last time I did it I was £200 worse off. Any comparison with other airlines usually puts Ryanair at a similar if not higher price once everything is taken into account. So what’s not to like about refusing their offer to fly? In fact, we should go further. The word ‘boycott’ comes from a Captain Boycott who collected exorbitant rents for an absentee aristocratic landlord in county Mayo. He refused to cut the rents and evicted those who couldn’t pay. In 1880 the Irish Land league organised his social ostracism, refusing to have anything to do with him. Even his post wasn’t delivered. By the end of the year Boycott had left for England and his name was immortalised in the language. Isn’t it time to revive this good old Irish tradition and give O’Leary the treatment he deserves?"
It also seeminlgy endorses boycotting BP "Pump action - activists target BP in Tar Sands protest MONDAY, 12 APRIL 2010 "
More generally Counterfire is opposes 'consumerism' in a general way - Radicalised by Tesco.
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/comment/15581-radicalised-by-tesco
"In my humble opinion humanity is meant for something greater than to be willingly enslaved by twisted consumerism. When did companies become an end in themselves, rather than a means to an end? When did a job become an end in itself, as opposed to a means to an end? And when did money become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end."
However a lot of the activity of Counterfire is consumerism of a particular sort:
"Festival of Dangerous Ideas
a sell-out success MONDAY, 19 MARCH 2012 00:26 WRITTEN BY COUNTERFIRE
The Festival sold-out almost immediately, with over 600 people turning up the organisers had to hastily arrange overspill capacity.
During the day festival goers tweeted their reactions on Twitter. One read 'packed room for talk on Gramsci, with Nina Power and Peter Thomas. Today just gets better!' Another read 'New perspectives and motivation for new and enthusiastic faces at Festival of Dangerous Ideas.' More than 30 sessions covered subjects as diverse as feminism, the use of the internet as a revolutionary tool and the politics of street art with poetic adbuster Rob Montgomery and leftist art veteran Peter Kennard. An art exhibition curated by Raisa Kabir brought together 'a collection of dangerous ideas', and London-based graffiti artist Stik and multimedia artist Sara Abdullah ran a graffiti workshop. The inimitable comic Josie Long performed a stand up set at lunchtime. Tony Benn and legendary folk musician Roy Bailey opened an evening of music, spoken word and poetry with a special performance of their award-winning show 'The Writing on the Wall'. Themed around the concept of 'dangerous ideas', their act featured Benn reciting words of wisdom from hundreds of years of radical writers and activists and Bailey's moving working-class folk songs. Benn told the crowd: 'There are two flames that burn in the human heart: anger against injustice and hope of a better future.' Cult video blogger Mark McGowan, aka The Artist Taxi Driver, delivered his incendiary take on the injustices of Britain's Tory-led government to a cheering crowd. Pro-Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah recited her impassioned poetry to rapturous applause and songwriter Sam Duckworth (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) played a set of his politically aware emo-folk songs. Other acts included the performance duo Shit Theatre whose comedy songs satirise popular culture, the media and ruling elites, and hip hop from MCs Reveal and Gemini. The Winkball 'video wall' site interviewed festival goers on their thoughts about the festival, the importance of raising awareness of social issues and their vision of a utopian future."
Note 'sell-out success' - their words, not popular or well-attended.
There is also a video here attacking ethical consumption any grounds seeing it as 'sanitising the inhumane'
http://www.counterfire.org/index.ph...video-ethical-consumerism-more-harm-than-good
But the same speaker Tansy Hoskins in the Counterfire/Mutiny 'Music on Trial' event urged everyone to support and buy radical hip-hop music as personified by the artist Lowkey, whose record was coming out the following Monday, and other British hip-hop (unspecified, general).
By their own criteria, the cafe's relationship with Rubicon should disturb them. Why? Rubicon is of product of A.G. Barr, a medium-sized 1000 employee FTSE 250 firm, that is in talks to merge with Britvic (anti-union and pro-Con-Dem) a slightly larger FTSE250 firm to try and make Britvic a FTSE-100 level British soft drink manufacturer. Britvic's chairman is a hard business Tory who signed the “Osborne’s cuts will strengthen Britain’s economy by allowing the private sector to generate more jobs” open letter in October 2010 (35 business chiefs in the Telegraph). It lied that “the private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector.” In essence, both A G Barr and Britvic are pro-cuts, all sales of Rubicon go to funding a lash up to create a larger Tory monster. Why attack RyanAir but not A G Barr?
Then there is this attack on Westfield Shopping Centre:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.ph...stfield-shopping-centre-the-temple-of-capital
"The stadium (for foot races) and the hippodrome (for equestrian events) comprised grassy banks around earth tracks. All the prestige architecture was in the religious sanctuary. This was dominated by the monumental Temple of Olympian Zeus. Inside the temple sat an enormous cult statue of Zeus enthroned made of gold and ivory. Zeus was so big that, had he stood up, his head would have gone through the ceiling. The statue was one of the most awesome sights in the ancient world. What great monument overlooks the Olympic Park in Stratford today? What is London 2012’s equivalent of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It is, of course, the Temple of Capital. The Westfield Shopping Centre."
Presumably if you don't visit the Temple - Westfield - you are not a believer, well done you.
I don't know if there is an exact point to this but is there a danger of Counterfire's firm line 'We're Marxists, we don't do consumption-based politics' lulling themselves into becoming a group for 'conscious' people to consume (ethically) via Counterfire?
You can go to Counterfire club nights, eat and drink at the Counterfire cafe, go to a Gaza Awareness Conference with Lowkey and Yvonne Ridley for £10 a pop to listen to Palestinian poetry, buy Counterfire merchandise, attend a
Hopemas event at Christmas time, and if you attend that you get a 30% off voucher on your Philosophy Football T-Shirts. Then you can follow the advice in Mutiny's Fashion on trial to avoid any name fashion brands and stick to charity shops. If you book early for their events you get a 40% discount - what about many of us who have to think pay-day to pay-day or giro to giro, and won't know if the money will stretch. You can also get
discounts on politically conscious plays if you go via Counterfire down from £29 to £20.
Am I being too critical or is there something there?
