out of interest, what actions are you in favour of?
Theres a whole list of grass roots, autonomous things that people can get together and do and get involved with, for example -
Not just protesting and asking for change, but things like occupying, sabotaging, working to rule and subversion in the workplaces and communities, social insertion (which has had some success in South America), refusing to pay their prices or their rent, and striking when WE decide if it’s time to strike, not when union bureaucrats and the state give us permission to. Plus ofcourse, creating and participating in our own, horizontally organised groups and organisations, affinity groups, mutual aid groups, food kitchens and unofficial unions.
For example, when workers aren’t paid the wages owed them, rather than asking the government to give us better legal protection, we take action to force employers to pay. Such things have been achieved with only a few dozen people. Renters unions have had many successes such as getting repairs done and refusing to pay rent increases, sometimes with only a handful of people.
Imagine the power we could wield in our workplaces and our communities if thousands of us decided to refuse to be abused, oppressed and exploited any longer, and began to say act autonomously from below.
Infact, if you ask me, all the good things we think of as having been created by the state – free healthcare, free education, health & safety laws to protect us at work, housing regulations, sick pay, unemployment benefits, pensions – came about historically to put an end to organised campaigns of collective direct action that threatened the power of the ruling class and their state.
