RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Post your reports and thoughts here...
Your Mayday Experiences
- Thread starter RubyToogood
- Start date
A great turn out at 9 am
FreeThePeeps in great spirits and looking forward to hearing from his arresting officer exactly WHAT he was supposed to have done
WellRed followed by several cameras continually as they seemed to assume he was some kind of 'organiser' or something!
Stig and Oksi trying for the 'longest travelled' to be there on time
Nice to meet Ali again
Then the critical mass turned up, YAY!
Then I had to go to work. Bummer.
But went in a Womble outfit, which was fun 
Hope everyone has a great mayday, and keep it going until J-day
FreeThePeeps in great spirits and looking forward to hearing from his arresting officer exactly WHAT he was supposed to have done
WellRed followed by several cameras continually as they seemed to assume he was some kind of 'organiser' or something!
Stig and Oksi trying for the 'longest travelled' to be there on time
Nice to meet Ali again
Then the critical mass turned up, YAY!
Then I had to go to work. Bummer.
But went in a Womble outfit, which was fun Hope everyone has a great mayday, and keep it going until J-day
C
Coffeegrind
Guest
Racsim at Mayday who would have thought it
I have just left the march from Clerkenwell Green and there were loads of Anti War demo-All good. But there is loads of Anti Semetic, anti Zionist type mularkey going on. Any battle or war is 50/50 , Six of one.. you get the idea.
I would like to have seen a more anti road and perhpas a Anti globalisation take on the war rather than a hijack by Palistinean groups
I have just left the march from Clerkenwell Green and there were loads of Anti War demo-All good. But there is loads of Anti Semetic, anti Zionist type mularkey going on. Any battle or war is 50/50 , Six of one.. you get the idea.
I would like to have seen a more anti road and perhpas a Anti globalisation take on the war rather than a hijack by Palistinean groups
Coffeegrind, Why do you think these two things are the same?
The first is racism, the second is protesting against support for a racist state. The first is completely out of order, the second should be second nature for every liberal, anarchist, socialist, anti-racist person.
And not all wars (think about the recent massacre in Jenin) are 50-50, either in terms of ethics (there's a difference between imposing oppression and fighting against it) and there's a difference in power (one side supplied by the richest nation on earth, the other... er, not).
What was racist about the protest? (Honest question, I didn't pass it)
The first is racism, the second is protesting against support for a racist state. The first is completely out of order, the second should be second nature for every liberal, anarchist, socialist, anti-racist person.
And not all wars (think about the recent massacre in Jenin) are 50-50, either in terms of ethics (there's a difference between imposing oppression and fighting against it) and there's a difference in power (one side supplied by the richest nation on earth, the other... er, not).
What was racist about the protest? (Honest question, I didn't pass it)
Trotboy
Well-Known Member
Good Mayday, but SLOOOOW Demo
Just got back from MayDay, I only managed to get along after 12, but the Clerkenwell Demo hadn't left when I got there at nearly 1, so I went along on it, but was it ever SLOW, it took about 3 hours to get to Trafalgar Square.
I'd say there were about 5000 on it, and a few hundred more turned up later in Trafalgar Square off the Mayfair demo. Our comrades who went up to Mayfair said it was great fun.
Coffee is absolutely correct about the SWP's hysterical ultra-left position on Palestine 'Victory to the Intafada' - 'No to the two state solution' etc, etc. In fact when you adopt that one-sided rant, it does lead you down the path of anti-semitism. If you reject implicitly the right to a state of Israel, you effectively adopt the 'drive them into the sea' approach. Quite what happens to the millions of Israeli Arabs with this solution, who knows.
The fact is that only unity of the Palestinian, Israeli Arab & Israeli Jewish workers can defeat Imperialism, divide & rule, and Capitalism from both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority (Which has done nothing to raise Palestinian workers out of poverty) There is no solution to the problem under Capitalism.
Anyway, that aside, and the ludicrous claim by some anonymous bod on the platform that this was the 'biggest Mayday since WW2' (- Where was he in the 70's, or the miners strike, or 1986, etc, etc?) It was a good day out, and good to see so many young people there.
Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.
Just got back from MayDay, I only managed to get along after 12, but the Clerkenwell Demo hadn't left when I got there at nearly 1, so I went along on it, but was it ever SLOW, it took about 3 hours to get to Trafalgar Square.
I'd say there were about 5000 on it, and a few hundred more turned up later in Trafalgar Square off the Mayfair demo. Our comrades who went up to Mayfair said it was great fun.
Coffee is absolutely correct about the SWP's hysterical ultra-left position on Palestine 'Victory to the Intafada' - 'No to the two state solution' etc, etc. In fact when you adopt that one-sided rant, it does lead you down the path of anti-semitism. If you reject implicitly the right to a state of Israel, you effectively adopt the 'drive them into the sea' approach. Quite what happens to the millions of Israeli Arabs with this solution, who knows.
The fact is that only unity of the Palestinian, Israeli Arab & Israeli Jewish workers can defeat Imperialism, divide & rule, and Capitalism from both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority (Which has done nothing to raise Palestinian workers out of poverty) There is no solution to the problem under Capitalism.
Anyway, that aside, and the ludicrous claim by some anonymous bod on the platform that this was the 'biggest Mayday since WW2' (- Where was he in the 70's, or the miners strike, or 1986, etc, etc?) It was a good day out, and good to see so many young people there.
Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.
I've been here since about 2.00
Marched/wandered round Mayfair - all pretty good natured stuff. Loads of shops closed and/or boarded up so it had some effect on capitalism for a day.
Best placard I've seen was a hand scrawled one that said "end capitalism, stop bush's war
PS and cruelty to animals"
Just taking some time out from the samba fun in Soho to post this from an easy everything place.
Back to the fun now ...
Marched/wandered round Mayfair - all pretty good natured stuff. Loads of shops closed and/or boarded up so it had some effect on capitalism for a day.
Best placard I've seen was a hand scrawled one that said "end capitalism, stop bush's war
PS and cruelty to animals"
Just taking some time out from the samba fun in Soho to post this from an easy everything place.
Back to the fun now ...
Struwwelpeter
Earthling
Critical mass from Camden was very peaceful - my first one! We probably didn't piss off enough car drivers though. My favorite moment - some suited "gent" shouting "you're all wankers!" However, I regret slowing to let him cross the road in front of me.
Spotted the TUC march past my work. I don't have any sympathy for folks carrying pictures of Stalin and Mao. Yes I know that most on the march wouldn't have supported that but that's not the message the public gets - my colleagues certainly didn't. You Reds are going to have to throw off the Soviet/Trot baggage if you want to get the peeps going.
I'm about to cycle home now - past the remaining cops'n'protesters I spose.
Spotted the TUC march past my work. I don't have any sympathy for folks carrying pictures of Stalin and Mao. Yes I know that most on the march wouldn't have supported that but that's not the message the public gets - my colleagues certainly didn't. You Reds are going to have to throw off the Soviet/Trot baggage if you want to get the peeps going.
I'm about to cycle home now - past the remaining cops'n'protesters I spose.
JHE
.
I was in Trafalgar Square to see the marchers come in and listen to the speeches. Pretty good turn out, for a working day. Lots of young people (and others). Lots of TU (and other) banners. But I was very surprised when we were told it was the biggest May Day march for fifty years. I'm not really convinced.
I agree very much with Coffeegrind and Trotboy on the Isreal/Palestine question. It's very sad and quite worrying that sections of the left (inc. the SWP) are completely opposed to the existence of Isreal. Trotboy, could you let me know what the Socialist Party view is (or point me towards something fairly brief to read)?
I agree very much with Coffeegrind and Trotboy on the Isreal/Palestine question. It's very sad and quite worrying that sections of the left (inc. the SWP) are completely opposed to the existence of Isreal. Trotboy, could you let me know what the Socialist Party view is (or point me towards something fairly brief to read)?
Phototropic
Active Member
It was a really cool peacefull day. The police looked really confused but I feel it was good of them to stand back a lot of the time. It was a nice chilled day 
Cautious Fred
commie troublemaker
These large pictures seemed to be being carried by the same family, little kids and all! They also had pictures of Lenin, Marx and Engels. Presumably these usually adorn the family's living room wall.
As for
, Trotboy, you're wrong to reject this. At one point you say (rightly) that there's no solution under capitalism, but you go on to argue for a two-state solution (!). The two-state solution is a concession to the racists that the Palestinians and the Israelis can never live together peacefully.
Perhaps start another thread to discuss it if you want? Don't want this thread to get sidetracked, really.
JHE
.
To propose a two-state solution is just to recognise that there are two nations each of which demands a state of its own. There is no realistic prospect of the two peoples uniting peacefully in the near future.
Any resolution of the problem other than a just establishment of a Palestine alongside an Isreal is *horrendous*: it would mean either getting rid of the Isreali Jews or of the Palestinian Arabs. I'm sure you, Cautious Fred and other leftist anti-Zionists, don't really want either of those things, any more than I do. Some other anti-Zionists, on the other hand, certainly are outright anti-semites. Doesn't it bother you that you have the same position as them?
Any resolution of the problem other than a just establishment of a Palestine alongside an Isreal is *horrendous*: it would mean either getting rid of the Isreali Jews or of the Palestinian Arabs. I'm sure you, Cautious Fred and other leftist anti-Zionists, don't really want either of those things, any more than I do. Some other anti-Zionists, on the other hand, certainly are outright anti-semites. Doesn't it bother you that you have the same position as them?
Cautious Fred
commie troublemaker
Perhaps discuss this on another thread?
Otherwise the peeps who want to discuss what happened at Mayday today are likely to hate us forever.
Otherwise the peeps who want to discuss what happened at Mayday today are likely to hate us forever.
John Wisehammer
lifestyle trendy vicar
I don't want to turn this particular thread into an Israeli-Palestine discussion but I think there are serious holes in what Steve says. Otherwise, I had a good day riding around on my bike, not getting section 60d (or "illegally and arbitrarily arrested", as they call it in non-copper English), bumping into nice people and chatting to punters.
However, I notice that the telly coverage for both here and other citiies has only been concerned with a body count. If there wasn't violence, it didn't get mentioned. I notice that a guy from the Countryside Alliance (speaking at some C4 debate) said, "if the government won't listen to democratic peaceful debate and harass protestors, how will people be able make their point?".
It's such a quandry: if there's no windows getting kicked in, the fact that some of the central rules of London society (that cars rule; that people walk with their heads down and fast; that people need to be told how to organise themselves; that the police are free to brutalise and gang up on people) have been temporarily changed and can be changed again forever won't be mentioned. But if McDonald's gets a window kicked in, it makes the news - but only as a broken window.
Personally, so long as people aren't hurt (including workers and guests inside) I couldn't give half a shit if a Starbucks gets kicked in, and I know quite a few Middle England types that feel the same way as a result of their unstoppable takeoever of small towns. It's about 0.00000025 of a second's profits for Starbucks to build a new one, and it's nothing compared to the destruction they're causing to high streets, to job security and to lives of the children they use to pick their coffee beans (it ain't Fair Trade). Watching video from Seattle, I couldn't help feeling a bit of contempt for the wet lettuce types holding hands to protect a Nike shop (or something) while CS gas missiles were landing around them. Having said that, I'm not going to bother trashing anything myself, the message it sends is not very articulate and easily taken out of context, and I'm not going to hand other people bricks so they can indulge my "puerile smashy-uppy wet dreams". But really, who cares?
However, I notice that the telly coverage for both here and other citiies has only been concerned with a body count. If there wasn't violence, it didn't get mentioned. I notice that a guy from the Countryside Alliance (speaking at some C4 debate) said, "if the government won't listen to democratic peaceful debate and harass protestors, how will people be able make their point?".
It's such a quandry: if there's no windows getting kicked in, the fact that some of the central rules of London society (that cars rule; that people walk with their heads down and fast; that people need to be told how to organise themselves; that the police are free to brutalise and gang up on people) have been temporarily changed and can be changed again forever won't be mentioned. But if McDonald's gets a window kicked in, it makes the news - but only as a broken window.
Personally, so long as people aren't hurt (including workers and guests inside) I couldn't give half a shit if a Starbucks gets kicked in, and I know quite a few Middle England types that feel the same way as a result of their unstoppable takeoever of small towns. It's about 0.00000025 of a second's profits for Starbucks to build a new one, and it's nothing compared to the destruction they're causing to high streets, to job security and to lives of the children they use to pick their coffee beans (it ain't Fair Trade). Watching video from Seattle, I couldn't help feeling a bit of contempt for the wet lettuce types holding hands to protect a Nike shop (or something) while CS gas missiles were landing around them. Having said that, I'm not going to bother trashing anything myself, the message it sends is not very articulate and easily taken out of context, and I'm not going to hand other people bricks so they can indulge my "puerile smashy-uppy wet dreams". But really, who cares?
First Mayday:
I realy enjoyed the march (when finaly found it), but didnt like the SWP rally at all. It was overun by the anti-israelies. Although id definately side against the war crimes n shit, i find it very hypocritical that nothing was at all said abour israelis and palestinians making peace, just that anything israeli is wrong. If ur gonna say zionism is racism, then so is any other form of nationalism, including that of the british, palestinian, irish, basque, wotever. Fuck, i realy dont wanna turn this topic into another israel topic, pls excuse the above if u dont agree.
memory: police knocking over protester with dog, dog running away, me literaly jumping on the running/scared dog, holding this mad panicking dog untill the owner was allowed up and reclaimed his dog. Aghh, aint i nice.
BTW, i was handing out Neitzches Revolution poem, any1 get it? wot u think
I realy enjoyed the march (when finaly found it), but didnt like the SWP rally at all. It was overun by the anti-israelies. Although id definately side against the war crimes n shit, i find it very hypocritical that nothing was at all said abour israelis and palestinians making peace, just that anything israeli is wrong. If ur gonna say zionism is racism, then so is any other form of nationalism, including that of the british, palestinian, irish, basque, wotever. Fuck, i realy dont wanna turn this topic into another israel topic, pls excuse the above if u dont agree.
memory: police knocking over protester with dog, dog running away, me literaly jumping on the running/scared dog, holding this mad panicking dog untill the owner was allowed up and reclaimed his dog. Aghh, aint i nice.
BTW, i was handing out Neitzches Revolution poem, any1 get it? wot u think
Mayfair
K...my day. I can't quite work out whether this Mayday (or at least my experience of it) should be seen as a step forward or back. I shall elaborate...
I started off my day with the WOMBLES solidarity demo, on which it was good to see a nice bunch of suited-up protestors, as well as the appearance of Critical Mass (along with Mark THomas). After that I wandered for quite a while (I do have a degree, and thought I'd better do some reading) before distributing some leaflets along Oxford Street and then making my way to Hyde Park for the circus. Unfortunately, the circus block had precious little circus activity, and no band (I can't complain, I have no drums either, but it wasn't ideal). THis led to us very quickly fragmenting and going our seperate ways...I ended up with a group of maybe 50 people...unfortunately not very militant, and so we ended up wandering the streets for ****ing ages just looking confused, which wasn't exactly good for the image of the protests. "Join us in Mayday, get lost and wander like a drunken fool". We managed to get a few chants going, but at that stage it was not looking good for the forces of goodness and light.
HOwever, things brightened up as we decided to chance our luck at going to Grovesner Square...as we went along Marble Arch again we picked up a fair few people (people who were confused by all the decentralised actions were often wandering around until they found something to join) and by the time we hit the US Embassy must have been a few hundred strong. We couldn't get to the Italian Embassy to protest Carlo Guiliani's death, as we would have been trapped by the police (it looked as if some already had been) so we turned down another road...and really started to pick up steam, intersecting with several other groups until we were going down small streets in SOho with at least 800 people. "WHose streets! Our Streets!", people were finally chanting. That was the high point, tho there were lots of other adventures until I went home about 5.00 (sounds like, from Indymedia at the moment, that I missed some dramatic events afterwards).
So...how did it go? We certainly avoided being boxed in this time...although we did so by confusing our own side as well as the police. The totally decentralised nature of this years protest meant that a lot of people were left feeling isolated...but on the other hand, when groups did meet up it was a very powerful, quickly building thing, which the police couldn't necessarily react to and channel. I was worried by the seemingly high proportion of people who were blatantly there to get pissed, and weren't concerned about the political aspect of it all...I'm not being a snob, fair enough people want to enjoy themselves, but when they obviously couldn't give a shit about the reasons for Mayday as a festival, it gets a bit worrying. THis was compounded by the non-militancy of a lot of the groups I was with...probably due to the constant walking for miles and miles. Basically, it was a decentralised Critical Mass for people without bikes! This led to tiredness, and quite often onlookers just laughing at us as we tried to work out where the fuck we were going. ANy actual explanation of why we were there didn't often get given.
I was going to say that on the plus side it was totally nonviolent...but that looks like it may be untrue (I'm not prejudging, I don't know the facts so it may be police intervention...don't jump down my throat!), which I think would be a shame if it was caused by us. I'm not anti-property destruction per se, but with all the predictions of gloom and doom by the media I would have loved to have proved them totally wrong. 'Hardcore mob of anarchists' my arse.
I've probably forgotten stuff, but i'm tired...
Venceremos!
P.S. Ken Livingstone is a tit.
K...my day. I can't quite work out whether this Mayday (or at least my experience of it) should be seen as a step forward or back. I shall elaborate...
I started off my day with the WOMBLES solidarity demo, on which it was good to see a nice bunch of suited-up protestors, as well as the appearance of Critical Mass (along with Mark THomas). After that I wandered for quite a while (I do have a degree, and thought I'd better do some reading) before distributing some leaflets along Oxford Street and then making my way to Hyde Park for the circus. Unfortunately, the circus block had precious little circus activity, and no band (I can't complain, I have no drums either, but it wasn't ideal). THis led to us very quickly fragmenting and going our seperate ways...I ended up with a group of maybe 50 people...unfortunately not very militant, and so we ended up wandering the streets for ****ing ages just looking confused, which wasn't exactly good for the image of the protests. "Join us in Mayday, get lost and wander like a drunken fool". We managed to get a few chants going, but at that stage it was not looking good for the forces of goodness and light.
HOwever, things brightened up as we decided to chance our luck at going to Grovesner Square...as we went along Marble Arch again we picked up a fair few people (people who were confused by all the decentralised actions were often wandering around until they found something to join) and by the time we hit the US Embassy must have been a few hundred strong. We couldn't get to the Italian Embassy to protest Carlo Guiliani's death, as we would have been trapped by the police (it looked as if some already had been) so we turned down another road...and really started to pick up steam, intersecting with several other groups until we were going down small streets in SOho with at least 800 people. "WHose streets! Our Streets!", people were finally chanting. That was the high point, tho there were lots of other adventures until I went home about 5.00 (sounds like, from Indymedia at the moment, that I missed some dramatic events afterwards).
So...how did it go? We certainly avoided being boxed in this time...although we did so by confusing our own side as well as the police. The totally decentralised nature of this years protest meant that a lot of people were left feeling isolated...but on the other hand, when groups did meet up it was a very powerful, quickly building thing, which the police couldn't necessarily react to and channel. I was worried by the seemingly high proportion of people who were blatantly there to get pissed, and weren't concerned about the political aspect of it all...I'm not being a snob, fair enough people want to enjoy themselves, but when they obviously couldn't give a shit about the reasons for Mayday as a festival, it gets a bit worrying. THis was compounded by the non-militancy of a lot of the groups I was with...probably due to the constant walking for miles and miles. Basically, it was a decentralised Critical Mass for people without bikes! This led to tiredness, and quite often onlookers just laughing at us as we tried to work out where the fuck we were going. ANy actual explanation of why we were there didn't often get given.
I was going to say that on the plus side it was totally nonviolent...but that looks like it may be untrue (I'm not prejudging, I don't know the facts so it may be police intervention...don't jump down my throat!), which I think would be a shame if it was caused by us. I'm not anti-property destruction per se, but with all the predictions of gloom and doom by the media I would have loved to have proved them totally wrong. 'Hardcore mob of anarchists' my arse.
I've probably forgotten stuff, but i'm tired...
Venceremos!
P.S. Ken Livingstone is a tit.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Livingstone is indeed a tit. I heard him pontificating on the news to the effect that the protests had nothing to do with third world debt or any other issue and that people should stay away.
madsk8er, is that poem really long or could you post it? Either here or on the poetry please thread on general.
madsk8er, is that poem really long or could you post it? Either here or on the poetry please thread on general
.
bi0boy
Power User
I wondered around Mayfair about 12ish and it was pretty quiet so I decided to make for Speaker's Corner to see about meeting up with some other peeps. There was quite a crowd when I arrived around 1, and we set off wondering around Mayfair, Oxford street etc.. all good natured, mainly I think due to the fact that there were no riot cops to be seen anywhere. Occasionaly some police in knife vests and shirt sleeves would half-hartedly try to block the route, most of the time we just changed direction but a couple of times we surged through their lines with a bit of scuffling- they didnt really seem to know what they were meant to be doing. Eventually we made it to trafalgar square, and there was a bit of 'disorder' near the national gallery when the police formed a line accross the road for no apparent reason. I didnt see any arrests and it seemed like quite a fluffy day.
Just got home and my feet are absolutely killing me! Must have done about 50 miles of walking...then the fuckers at Paddington wouldn't let us on a train until 6.30 as they said our tickets were not valid until then.
Glad the march was peaceful, saw some old faces there from my past (I'm sure some people will know Steve Nally).
All in all, a good day out!
Glad the march was peaceful, saw some old faces there from my past (I'm sure some people will know Steve Nally).
All in all, a good day out!
Cautious Fred
commie troublemaker
Latest from Indymedia:
19.40
Riot police have cordoned off the Soho streets where the carnival is taking place. The carnival crowd has been divided by a police line, and officers are violently pushing people into Old Compton St. Celebrators are using non-violent resistance -- linking arms and refusing to move -- in an attempt to remain partying together.
20:30
Around 500 people, including a samba band, are still penned in by riot police in Old Compton St. Despite continuously chanting "let us out", they are not being allowed to move. Soho has been smoothly taken over by police, and it has been confirmed that a Section 60 order has been issued for Central London, stripping citizens of their usual rights. Police are taking away many people, but it is not clear whether they are being arrested or just removed from the area.
19.40
Riot police have cordoned off the Soho streets where the carnival is taking place. The carnival crowd has been divided by a police line, and officers are violently pushing people into Old Compton St. Celebrators are using non-violent resistance -- linking arms and refusing to move -- in an attempt to remain partying together.
20:30
Around 500 people, including a samba band, are still penned in by riot police in Old Compton St. Despite continuously chanting "let us out", they are not being allowed to move. Soho has been smoothly taken over by police, and it has been confirmed that a Section 60 order has been issued for Central London, stripping citizens of their usual rights. Police are taking away many people, but it is not clear whether they are being arrested or just removed from the area.
Yeah I was. But I moved out of the way before the line was broken coz i was on skates and in serious danger of falling head over tit.
I spent the morning with some friends trying to locate the crowds. We missed BARF by a few minutes unfortunately. Eventually found our way onto a huge procession coming from the U.S Embassy. We then marched around for a couple of hours.
at 1 point, a bloke in a suit came out and started asking "who's the daddy here then?". Fucking funny - i guess you had to be there? anyone?
moved on to trafalgar, listened to some of the speeches and then decided to call it a day.
To be honest all teh marching around seemed a bit pointless. Nobody was really making any kind of political statement. The main talk was about which direction to go to evade the police. The footballs flying around was a laugh tho. I think in future something more exciting needs to be planned. The idea of mayday is surely to attract people - and i dunno if i'd bother going again just to march with no real sense of purpose.
shame
had a quiet day as couldn't get the day off work (boo)
very positive to see that because there was no violence to report BBC local news tonight actually did a piece on why people were protesting . . . a whole half hour.
also on pm on radio 4 a good report on the demos elsewhere in the worls and why people had such serious concerns about the power & influence of big business and in particular the WTO.
yey.
had a quiet day as couldn't get the day off work (boo)
very positive to see that because there was no violence to report BBC local news tonight actually did a piece on why people were protesting . . . a whole half hour.
also on pm on radio 4 a good report on the demos elsewhere in the worls and why people had such serious concerns about the power & influence of big business and in particular the WTO.
yey.
bi0boy
Power User
Buksta - yeah that suit guy! He stood in the middle of the road as the protest went by saying "look people, will you all go back to work now?" he seemed quite serious about it too.
I agree it did seem a bit pointless just walking around, but planning anything more constructive is going to require set meeting point etc. and just get us boxed in for 8 hours.
I agree it did seem a bit pointless just walking around, but planning anything more constructive is going to require set meeting point etc. and just get us boxed in for 8 hours.
Forgive me if I seem a little naive, but if 'collective decision-making' and 'autonomous action' can't even effectively organise 6,000 people for 1 day, how on earth do you expect the majority of people to buy into the idea of 'collective decision-making' and 'autonomous action' for 60 MILLION people for 365 days a year??
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Perhaps the lesson for "next time" is not to go expecting to join in an event organised by someone else but to prepare particular activities with a small group of people beforehand yourself, as part of the larger picture. Which seems to me to be in the spirit of things...
edit to reply to enigma's post, which is totally relevant to the point I was making - people are conditioned in this society to wait for the powers that be to make decisions for us, to passively consume what is produced for us and to produce only what we are told. It takes a change in thinking, which applies to protests, to daily life, and to society at large.
edit to reply to enigma's post, which is totally relevant to the point I was making - people are conditioned in this society to wait for the powers that be to make decisions for us, to passively consume what is produced for us and to produce only what we are told. It takes a change in thinking, which applies to protests, to daily life, and to society at large.
R2B - absolutely. But will it happen? I doubt it. Contrary to all the opinions of the anarchists on this site, people in general would much prefer someone else do all the 'organising' stuff. Much easier that way.
Personally, I'd love to see an truly autonomous society, but pragmatically, given human nature, I really don't see it happening. Today was just one more example of that reality.
Personally, I'd love to see an truly autonomous society, but pragmatically, given human nature, I really don't see it happening. Today was just one more example of that reality.
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