Where now for the anti-cuts movement?

[ymu]

Yes, I know what you mean. "Take the day off and support the strikers"; never entertaining the idea that some anarchsits may be strikers. Unfortunately many active anarchos only work for some eco-coop or something. Mroe and more I feel little connection with the subculture of radical eco-liberalism which passes for anarchoism in the UK.

Ther's always been life-stylists, but my impression is that the 'Class War' anarchists are in the ascendant? I'm not exactly in the thick of it, but the anarchists I used to work with seem to be more explicit about rejecting life-stylists, dismissive of hippies and clearer on class-based approaches. They're certainly not working for collectives, although one or two did a while back.

Might just be that we're all getting older. I've been an itinerant for three years, and my health was shit for a while before that, so I don't really know what's going on with the kidz these days. They don't strike me as hippy types, though. Mostly very angry, AFAICS.

 

[Pickman's model]

Unfortunately many active anarchos only work for some eco-coop or something.

you're hanging out with the wrong people.

 

[love detective]

4 months on from posing the original question:-

With a year of organising, building, agitating, reading, learning, meeting, forming links etc behind us, is anti-cuts political organisation and politics in a better or worse position than it was?

what's the general impression of the state of your local anti-cuts group(s)?

 

[Mr.Bishie]

2,500 signitures collected during 3 hours on a wet afternoon in Brighton - to save the NHS.

Once the cuts really start to bite next year, i suspect more & more people will take to the streets. The fuckin' Tory crusade is only just beginning.

 

[BigTom]

4 months on from posing the original question:-

what's the general impression of the state of your local anti-cuts group(s)?

Birmingham Against the Cuts is more or less the same as it was 6-7 months ago.. it hasn't fallen apart due to lefty secterianism, and that's a huge achievement! Not sure how to judge things otherwise - our public meetings have been growing slightly, from around 80 in Feb to 120 or so a couple of days ago (although that had Bob Crow and Jody McIntyre, whereas the Feb one didn't have any really big names)..
It'll be interesting to see what size the Lib Dem conference demo is next week, and compare that to the Tory conference demo last year which had 7,000 people out on a rainy day.
If internet stats have any meaning for this, the batc fb page has grown pretty steadily, though it doesn't keep historic data, neither does the twitter feed.. the wordpress site though had these average views per day: Jan 40, Feb 114, Mar 67, Apr 94, May 95, June 169, July 91, Aug 59. September is currently on 100

There was a big council cuts demo in Feb that was really pushed by Unison which boosted Feb's stats, but compare that to June, which was boosted by the J30 strikes, and you can see a growth.. August I'm assuming was low because of people on holiday, and a lack of specific anti-cuts demonstrations etc..

The direct action group I do stuff with has stalled though, partly because so many students are away and partly because many have got bored of sitting in shops, but we're lacking other ideas of stuff to do

 

[treelover]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...l-cuts-meeting-video-gallery-100252-32936844/

Not sure why this thread became dormant but there has been a major resurgence of anti-cuts activity with mass meetings against the benefit cuts and especially the bedroom tax with nationwide co-ordinated events on 16th March expected to see big numbers and not just the usual suspects. Big and boisterous street protests inc one in Liverpool this week challenging Council cuts and a 1500 strong one against the tax in Bootle and a regional anti-austerity conference in Sheffield with leading union figures next Sat(org by UTR/SWP.)

Then, there is the big People's Assembly Against Austerity(org by COR) in June with thousands of pre-bookings again not the usual sus, opposition is most certainly back...