Please be aware that this is a Socialist Workers Party event. It's part of an ongoing attempt by the SWP to hijack the anticapitalist movement. Faced with a deceased leader and a general lack of ideas they've seen the explosion of protest at and since Seattle as an opportunity to reinvent themselves, hiding behind conference names such as Globalise Resistance.

They think the movement needs strong leadership, failing to realise that the point and the strength of what's going on is that we don't need leaders. Coverage in their journal, Socialist Review has been laughable. They have as much of a grip on what's going on as the Daily Mail. This isn't a Leninist movement. We are fighting for the right to make our own decisions, not to follow what some central committee tells us what to do.

I don't think the SWP involvement is anything to worry about.

Looking at the London timetable:
 http://www.gn.apc.org/globaliseresistance/ldntime.html

...it's true that there are six speakers from the SWP: John Rees, Chris Harman, Martin Smith, Jonathan Neale and Lindsey German are from the SWP, as far as I can tell from the SWP web site. But they are outnumbered by many other groups and speakers: the World Devt Movement, George Monbiot, Robin Blackburn from the NLR, Jubilee 2000 campaign, the Green Party, Friends of the Earth, War on Want, Anti-DU Campaign, etc. Some of these have written books or pamphlets that I can see for sale on the SWP web site, and I'm sure the SWP will have a table there, but I can see no way that any one party could dominate this conference, and it's pretty certain that attempts at brazen proselytising will be met with loud resistance. On the other hand, they might just have something useful to say on the day.
If I've missed something, please do post it up here.

--
Jon
(not from the SWP, or any other P for that matter)

Just ignore the people selling authoritarian lierature and asking you to join their party every 5 minutes. Some very important issues were discussed at the conference today and I certainly learnt a lot from it.

I suggest readers of this little debate should read george Monbiot's column in the Guardian which outlines the extraordinary attempts by various authorities to stop this conference from happening - cancelling venues etc. I'm sure the state welcomes your assistance Mark. Nice to see you know who your real enemies are...and your friends.