Riot going on now in Bristol - Stokes Croft
- Thread starter BigTom
- Start date
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
smashed up tesco this morning http://twitpic.com/show/full/4nw7mz
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
you lot went that spare over a tescos express? Fucking hell, what would happen if they tried to build a proper Tescos?
It's symbolic. It kicked off because of over a hundred riot plod trying to evict the squat at a time when a lot of people were out trying to enjoy themselves. It wasn't a very bohemian crowd at times, lots of local St Pauls youth out there.
I don't see why it's so wrong for local people to want to have a say over what goes on in their neighbourhood and we get annoyed when we're ignored and dismissed. It's symptomatic of a much, much wider issue
I don't see why it's so wrong for local people to want to have a say over what goes on in their neighbourhood and we get annoyed when we're ignored and dismissed. It's symptomatic of a much, much wider issue
Geri
wasn't born to follow
There's nothing wrong with people having a say - but what about the people who want it? The place was derelict, it's not as if there was a queue of people wanting to open something else instead.
I am no fan of Tesco, but I do shop there (most convenient supermarket for me) so I would feel like a hypocrite opposing it.
I am no fan of Tesco, but I do shop there (most convenient supermarket for me) so I would feel like a hypocrite opposing it.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Loads of places on Stokes Croft/Chelt Road are derelict - and get put back into community use again by local people. The people who want it - well there's one by the Bus Station and a Sainsburys by the Arches. They're about five minutes walk in either direction. We're not short on Tesco, we are short on community space/facilities. That's the point (or one of them).
But as I've said, it's a much, much wider issue. You'll hear a lot of lazy shit from various quarters about how it's just the students/trusties/squatters doing this. It isn't, there's a huge groundswell of feeling around here relating to gentrification (the Council wants to sell the Telepathic for more yuppie flats), the cuts, decreasing opportunities. Lots of working class anger out there last night, all ages, both genders, all races. They're not dumb either, they know where the symbols of their problems can be found and attacked.
But as I've said, it's a much, much wider issue. You'll hear a lot of lazy shit from various quarters about how it's just the students/trusties/squatters doing this. It isn't, there's a huge groundswell of feeling around here relating to gentrification (the Council wants to sell the Telepathic for more yuppie flats), the cuts, decreasing opportunities. Lots of working class anger out there last night, all ages, both genders, all races. They're not dumb either, they know where the symbols of their problems can be found and attacked.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
http://twitpic.com/photos/mr_hopkinson
pics from the morning after, twitpic isn't very good for browsing lots of pics though
pics from the morning after, twitpic isn't very good for browsing lots of pics though
Not in the slightest. I am saying however that people rioting can see beyond which party happens to be fucking them over to a system that's doing it. They can also join the dots between Tesco moving in and the nearest squat being evicted shortly afterwards so BCC can sell it for housing they'll never be able to afford. They know what the thin of the wedge is and what will follow. As I say, it's symbolic but it's also right here in our street - if there were a Starbucks, McDs or a big four bank here I'm pretty sure they would have been done too. As it is, Tescos is the only available target here - the credit union, post office, cafes, take aways etc were completely untouched. There's a reason for that and I don't think it's helpful to suggest that having shopped in Tesco (or any big supermarket) means you can't find their activities in our area distasteful
they twice abandoned the area in a coordinated retreat and allowed Tesco to be attacked. Cop car also left behind - deliberately or not?
I'm also getting increasingly fucked off reading sneering tweets from people who say they're local. Sorry if the working classes disgust you so much guys but it's you that's the problem, not us
ericjarvis
give a feck for the feckless
My objection is to Tesco's policy of buying up large numbers of local shops and rebranding them. It's all part of the homogenisation of the high street, taking away variety and replacing everything with a limited range of branded retailers. Tescos can basically do this because they have sufficient resources to operate at a loss if they have to in order to force other retailers to the wall. It's the fatal flaw in the capitalist dream. If you don't carefully regulate the market it almost inevitably heads towards a monopoly, and the consumer LOSES choice as the largest companies force out and buy up their smaller competitors. Since our political parties are all in hock to the largest and most ruthless companies that are engaged in working towards monopoly the only sensible response is for the general public to start taking action to protect our choices.
I've got two Tescos within a five minute walk of my front door, I didn't need another. I do want to keep my other local shops though, especially because they're more likely to keep money circulating in the community rather than diverting profits to CEOs and shareholders who live anywhere but here.
stethoscope
Well-Known Member
Yep.
I'm fairly local-live about a mile away. I fail to be bothered about local versus multinational capitalists so am not very interested in tescos, but I'm happy to read about what happened last night for two reasons.
One is the right of communities to make decisions about their areas (even if the underlying politics is not of interest to me), and the other is the demonstration of a generalising culture of resistance and militancy. That makes me happy- as it can spread.
One is the right of communities to make decisions about their areas (even if the underlying politics is not of interest to me), and the other is the demonstration of a generalising culture of resistance and militancy. That makes me happy- as it can spread.
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Police apparently claiming it wasn't an eviction but am arrest attempt over an alleged petrol bomb...
Random
Ethnic nalgocrat
you can have a job and still be against wage labour, just like you can shop at supermarkets and still be against tesco
Random
Ethnic nalgocrat
I share this embarrassingly doctrinaire communist view of events.
I think there's a danger of reading this as the action of groups/people whose aims we're not interested in. The bigger and far more important point is that a community was showing solidarity against state attacks, on the night and from a wider perspective. Community spirit around here is very strong amongst people who stay for longer than a few months and we're prepared to defend our own, even if they may be a bit twatish at times. That's the story as far as I'm concerned
stethoscope
Well-Known Member
But no one's really saying its wrong to have a 9-5, but the likes of Tesco aggressively move into areas, put other shops out of business, and in the end local people are worse off. Other than a few local jobs, what wider investment do the likes of Tesco really bring to an area? Profits journey away from the local community and into their shareholders pockets and the City.
If anything, local people end up being in need of Tesco for local employment and because there's no alternatives, effectively held to ransom by corporate muscle.
Communities need not only to defend against the likes of Tesco pushing their weight, but believe that there are alternatives, such as setting up co-operatives where investment is for the whole community.
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