An Appeal to all people of good faith in the SWP:
John | 07.08.2001 17:41
An Appeal to all people of good faith in the SWP:
Stop the mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists by the Socialist Worker Paper.
Stop the mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists by the Socialist Worker Paper.
An Appeal to all people of good faith in the SWP:
Stop the mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists by the Socialist Worker Paper.
I am an anarchist and a trade union activist, who has worked with SWP members as part of our on-going struggle against the bosses at work. Despite my misgivings regarding their Leninist politics, the SWP comrades I have got to know seem to be genuine in their commitment to working together to defend our rights against the onslaught of the bosses.
Therefore I am deeply sorrowed and disappointed by the sustained campaign over recent weeks of mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists that has been waged by the SWP paper, Socialist Worker. Since the events in Genoa, there appears to have been a conscious attempt by this paper to push the message that Anarchist = Black Bloc = Violent Police Provocateurs.
For example in this week's Socialist Worker, anarchists are talked about in relation to the strategy tension in Italy in the seventies. Tom Behan writes of anarchist groups in the seventies being infiltrated by neo-fascists and secret services that tried to persuade bribe or blackmail them into carrying out acts of terrorism. He then goes on to cite an article by Dario Fo entitled "Beware the State's Anarchists", linking this with the tactic of the black bloc in Genoa. In another article in the paper an anonymous writer states that the police "...used the excuse of the violence caused by the Black Block of anarchists to attack other demonstrators."
It seems to me that the Socialist Worker paper is deliberately trying to make out that anarchists and their organisations are nothing more than the violent stooges of the state. This impression is reinforced by the fact that elsewhere in this paper there is a short piece on the on the " non-violent direct action group the Wombles" which neglects to mention that this particular non-violent group has explicitly anarchist politics. After all that would only disrupt the image of anarchists as violent troublemakers which the Socialist Worker paper seems set on cultivating in a manner similar to the corporate press.
A wide range of different anarchist activists and groups working in coalition with environmentalists and trade unionist helped get the current anti-capitalist movement off the ground in Western countries. Some anarchist groups advocate the tactical use of violent direct action, the majority do not. In the UK anarchist individuals and organisation in coalition with other activists have been instrumental in organising events such as the June 18th Carnival Against Capitalism at the London stock-exchange in 1999, the N30 demonstrations to coincide with Seattle and the Mayday events of 2000 and 2001. The SWP only became involved in the anti-globalisation movement as an organisation around the time of the N30 1999 demonstrations. Perhaps it's because of this late arrival, but I can't help thinking that some sections of the SWP have decided that the best way to deal with anarchists' presence in the movement is not through political debate but by misrepresenting and vilifying us.
In the past when I have discussed my misgivings about the centralised party structure of the SWP with SWP activists, I was assured that the SWP is a genuinely democratic organisation responsive to its membership.
Therefore I am calling on all SWP comrades of good faith who have worked with anarchist activists in the unions and in community struggles to speak out. You know from your own experiences in the struggle that anarchists are not violent police provocateurs. Challenge the people in your organisation who are spreading slurs against anarchists in the movement. Don't let the sectarian poison being pushed by Socialist Worker split us and the anti-capitalist movement.
Stop the mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists by the Socialist Worker Paper.
I am an anarchist and a trade union activist, who has worked with SWP members as part of our on-going struggle against the bosses at work. Despite my misgivings regarding their Leninist politics, the SWP comrades I have got to know seem to be genuine in their commitment to working together to defend our rights against the onslaught of the bosses.
Therefore I am deeply sorrowed and disappointed by the sustained campaign over recent weeks of mis-representation and vilification of anarchist activists that has been waged by the SWP paper, Socialist Worker. Since the events in Genoa, there appears to have been a conscious attempt by this paper to push the message that Anarchist = Black Bloc = Violent Police Provocateurs.
For example in this week's Socialist Worker, anarchists are talked about in relation to the strategy tension in Italy in the seventies. Tom Behan writes of anarchist groups in the seventies being infiltrated by neo-fascists and secret services that tried to persuade bribe or blackmail them into carrying out acts of terrorism. He then goes on to cite an article by Dario Fo entitled "Beware the State's Anarchists", linking this with the tactic of the black bloc in Genoa. In another article in the paper an anonymous writer states that the police "...used the excuse of the violence caused by the Black Block of anarchists to attack other demonstrators."
It seems to me that the Socialist Worker paper is deliberately trying to make out that anarchists and their organisations are nothing more than the violent stooges of the state. This impression is reinforced by the fact that elsewhere in this paper there is a short piece on the on the " non-violent direct action group the Wombles" which neglects to mention that this particular non-violent group has explicitly anarchist politics. After all that would only disrupt the image of anarchists as violent troublemakers which the Socialist Worker paper seems set on cultivating in a manner similar to the corporate press.
A wide range of different anarchist activists and groups working in coalition with environmentalists and trade unionist helped get the current anti-capitalist movement off the ground in Western countries. Some anarchist groups advocate the tactical use of violent direct action, the majority do not. In the UK anarchist individuals and organisation in coalition with other activists have been instrumental in organising events such as the June 18th Carnival Against Capitalism at the London stock-exchange in 1999, the N30 demonstrations to coincide with Seattle and the Mayday events of 2000 and 2001. The SWP only became involved in the anti-globalisation movement as an organisation around the time of the N30 1999 demonstrations. Perhaps it's because of this late arrival, but I can't help thinking that some sections of the SWP have decided that the best way to deal with anarchists' presence in the movement is not through political debate but by misrepresenting and vilifying us.
In the past when I have discussed my misgivings about the centralised party structure of the SWP with SWP activists, I was assured that the SWP is a genuinely democratic organisation responsive to its membership.
Therefore I am calling on all SWP comrades of good faith who have worked with anarchist activists in the unions and in community struggles to speak out. You know from your own experiences in the struggle that anarchists are not violent police provocateurs. Challenge the people in your organisation who are spreading slurs against anarchists in the movement. Don't let the sectarian poison being pushed by Socialist Worker split us and the anti-capitalist movement.
John
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