For those who have been puzzling in the last few days why the army was being primed for action in this F&M nightmare the answer may, like the disease itself, be blowing in the wind. Only the most die-hard Labourite or SWP supporter can fail to see that this is now growing into the proportions of the dust-bowls of the 1930s in the mid-west USA. [Odd that Channel 4 broadcast the film of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" yesterday]. Like any crisis of agriculture, the root is political, and Blair's Labour party is now full tilt into its plan to undermine the agricultural sector as an independent class, to reduce it to a state of amorphous dependence, just as the Conservatives did to the proletariat in the 1980s. Can there be any doubt that to call an election in May will predicate all kinds of irregularities in the rural constituencies, including those urban centres with large agricultural annexes ?
While the NFU represented the interests of big farmers and landowners by declaring its support for the mass extended cull yesterday, the local Union region in Abbeytown, Cumbria, [near Scotland] stated that they would not allow the MAFF though their gates, which is a very serious matter indeed. The Ministry of Agriculture has draconian rights of access to and control of farmland, under terms established during the war of 1939- 45 and any defiance of the MAFF-ia may be regarded in a very poor light by the establishment. A class war is now breaking out in the countryside.
Newcomers to left wing activity and indeed veterans of the 1960s, 70s and 80s must now understand that they no longer have the field of direct action protest entirely to themselves; gradually, and increasingly rapidly, other so far neglected, exploited and oppressed sections of the population are making their plight felt. The Countryside marches of the late 1990s were alliances of rich and poor country dwellers, but the Fuel Tax protests of last year were more diverse, directly concerned with economic matters relating to the impoverished and semi-proletarianised farmers and hauliers (they too are divided between conglomerates and self-employed), and eventually proved themselves to be the defenders of free speech in Hyde Park, protecting the rights of Greenpeace while the regime broke up their demo. As the recent documentary on the action showed, they are as yet novices at the art of protest, but they are fast learners... if the Countryside Alliance goes ahead with its action in May, what do groups like Reclaim and the Socialist Alliance propose to do ?
The events of last December may give a clue if everyone shows up on the same day. As we remember, four separate actions co-incided, namely a strike in Hackney, a spontaneous storming of Underground HQ by commuters, a demo by Kurdish activists halting the London Eye Big Wheel and getting into the Public Gallery of the House of Commons, and Blair almost being blocked from getting there by the Countryside Alliance. At the time he was clearly annoyed, and called for the stop and search of as many people as possible; revenge was on his breath and we now see what he meant. Having dropped humanitarian uranium bombs on Kosovo
his outburst about "stepping up the slaughter" now seems much more than just a slip. Just as in Kosovo, whatever emerges from this latest event will, be sure, take us into a very different situation to that we left behind in 1997.