10,000+ will be protesting outside parliament. Be 1 of them
Ozymandias | 15.06.2002 01:41
Come to 10,000-strong protest against unfair trade policies, outside parliament on Wednesday 19th.
See website for details
See website for details
Basically there's this loose coallition of activist groups and NGOs, calling themselves the Trade Justice Movement, who have come together to campaign against the unfairness of the global economy including the unfair rules that we help to perpetutate through our selfish use of our excessive bargaining power at the WTO (world trade organisation).
And they've organised what they're calling a "mass lobby" of parliament.
Anyone can turn up outside parliament and ask to speak to their MP. A "mass lobby" is when thousands of people all turn up to lobby their MPs at the same time.
People will have banners and there'll be shouting slogans for some of the time. So it's basically just an enormous protest outside parliament, but with the difference that the MPs are supposed to come out and talk to their consituents.
Yes, it's a work-within-the-system thing, no it's not a smash-this-capitalist-state thing. But it is a good cause and we should all go and offer our support and our solidarity.
Revolution of some description (be it anarchist or socialist or whatever) may be our ultimate aim, but there's no reason why we shouldn't in the shorter term aspire to ahieve smaller changes by (for example) putting pressure on the government.
I would urge everyone not to be so cynical as to dismiss entirely the suggestion that this kind of tactic can have a positive effect. MPs are human. The sight of thousands and thousands of their constituents all making a BIG fuss about our role in maintaining a system of global exploitation and inequalty, and demanding change... blatantly this will have an impact on them. And those who come out to talk to people will hear in detail exactly why we think unfair international trade policies are unacceptable.
Never underestimate the power of public pressure on the government. The MAI (multilateral agreement on investment) was defeated by popular pressure. This protest could help win the battle against GATS (the seriously dodgy "general agreement on trade in services").
Public pressure also managed to convince governments to apply sanctions on South Africa at the height of the apartheid era.
We may ultimately want to OVERTHROW the government. We may ultimately want to overthrow capitalism itself. But at least in the short term, the government is something we have to live with so we might as well do what we can to push it in at least a slightly better direction.
There's really not much difference between this protest and the Genoa one. But for some reason, the anti-capitalist movement embraced that protest with considerable enthusiasm, whereas so far we seem to have just been leaving the TJM to get on with this one, rather than joining in and doing our own thing - which we should do because we'll add diversity and make the event even bigger.
This movement has often given support and solidarity to groups who might not explicitly call themselves anti-capitalists. For example Palestinians, communities in Chiapas, and Palestinians and Kurds. Surely this is just as good a cause.
The kind of people who'll be there are... well some of them will be radical anti-capitalists, but many of them are basically what could be called "the other half of the movement" - all the other people you saw at Genoa / Prague / Gottenburg: everyone who wasn't dressed in black block or white overalls or pink and silver, or who wasn't carrying black and red flags or SWP banners and so on. People who work for charities and NGOs and so on. They may not all be as radical as us but they're still fighting against the injustice and general fuckupness of the global economy, and that's basically what we're about.
This is going to be an absolutely enormous protest - 10,000 people are predicted so far! We could make it even more if we decide to go :-)
But what's missing from the picture is significant involvement from this side of the anti-corporate-globalisation movement - ie radical anticapitalists.
Please please please consider going to this. Tell your mates and fellow activists about it.
Blatantly do what you want, there's other stuff going on on the day, including an anti-macdonalds protest.
But do have a look at the website. It's at:
www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk
It says you're supposed to "register", but blatantly just turn up. And if the style of protest they've organised doesn't suit you then make your own banners or whatever.. do your own thing.
This is a BIG protest about a BIG issue. Surely we're all against the way the rich west exploits the third world through unfair trade - be it the hypocrisy of our keeping our import tarrifs on their goods up whilst forcing them to slash their tarrigs on our goods... or be it the neo-liberal agenda of the WTO whose only purpose is to make the world economy even more "business-friendly" at the expense of the wellbeing of ordinary people (and the environment).
The Trade Justice Movement people have taken the initiative to organise this event and make it happen. But that doesn't mean that it has to be an exclusively TJM protest. The best protests are the ones that take on a life of their own - one group decides to have a protest and then all these other people they didn't know about decide to join in.
Let's make that happen with this one!
This is going to be the biggest mass political mobilisation since mayday. It would be a shame if we just stood back and didn't join in because we didn't feel that it was "our" protest. No matter who's organised it, when there's a good protest happening we should all join in :-)
And they've organised what they're calling a "mass lobby" of parliament.
Anyone can turn up outside parliament and ask to speak to their MP. A "mass lobby" is when thousands of people all turn up to lobby their MPs at the same time.
People will have banners and there'll be shouting slogans for some of the time. So it's basically just an enormous protest outside parliament, but with the difference that the MPs are supposed to come out and talk to their consituents.
Yes, it's a work-within-the-system thing, no it's not a smash-this-capitalist-state thing. But it is a good cause and we should all go and offer our support and our solidarity.
Revolution of some description (be it anarchist or socialist or whatever) may be our ultimate aim, but there's no reason why we shouldn't in the shorter term aspire to ahieve smaller changes by (for example) putting pressure on the government.
I would urge everyone not to be so cynical as to dismiss entirely the suggestion that this kind of tactic can have a positive effect. MPs are human. The sight of thousands and thousands of their constituents all making a BIG fuss about our role in maintaining a system of global exploitation and inequalty, and demanding change... blatantly this will have an impact on them. And those who come out to talk to people will hear in detail exactly why we think unfair international trade policies are unacceptable.
Never underestimate the power of public pressure on the government. The MAI (multilateral agreement on investment) was defeated by popular pressure. This protest could help win the battle against GATS (the seriously dodgy "general agreement on trade in services").
Public pressure also managed to convince governments to apply sanctions on South Africa at the height of the apartheid era.
We may ultimately want to OVERTHROW the government. We may ultimately want to overthrow capitalism itself. But at least in the short term, the government is something we have to live with so we might as well do what we can to push it in at least a slightly better direction.
There's really not much difference between this protest and the Genoa one. But for some reason, the anti-capitalist movement embraced that protest with considerable enthusiasm, whereas so far we seem to have just been leaving the TJM to get on with this one, rather than joining in and doing our own thing - which we should do because we'll add diversity and make the event even bigger.
This movement has often given support and solidarity to groups who might not explicitly call themselves anti-capitalists. For example Palestinians, communities in Chiapas, and Palestinians and Kurds. Surely this is just as good a cause.
The kind of people who'll be there are... well some of them will be radical anti-capitalists, but many of them are basically what could be called "the other half of the movement" - all the other people you saw at Genoa / Prague / Gottenburg: everyone who wasn't dressed in black block or white overalls or pink and silver, or who wasn't carrying black and red flags or SWP banners and so on. People who work for charities and NGOs and so on. They may not all be as radical as us but they're still fighting against the injustice and general fuckupness of the global economy, and that's basically what we're about.
This is going to be an absolutely enormous protest - 10,000 people are predicted so far! We could make it even more if we decide to go :-)
But what's missing from the picture is significant involvement from this side of the anti-corporate-globalisation movement - ie radical anticapitalists.
Please please please consider going to this. Tell your mates and fellow activists about it.
Blatantly do what you want, there's other stuff going on on the day, including an anti-macdonalds protest.
But do have a look at the website. It's at:
www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk
It says you're supposed to "register", but blatantly just turn up. And if the style of protest they've organised doesn't suit you then make your own banners or whatever.. do your own thing.
This is a BIG protest about a BIG issue. Surely we're all against the way the rich west exploits the third world through unfair trade - be it the hypocrisy of our keeping our import tarrifs on their goods up whilst forcing them to slash their tarrigs on our goods... or be it the neo-liberal agenda of the WTO whose only purpose is to make the world economy even more "business-friendly" at the expense of the wellbeing of ordinary people (and the environment).
The Trade Justice Movement people have taken the initiative to organise this event and make it happen. But that doesn't mean that it has to be an exclusively TJM protest. The best protests are the ones that take on a life of their own - one group decides to have a protest and then all these other people they didn't know about decide to join in.
Let's make that happen with this one!
This is going to be the biggest mass political mobilisation since mayday. It would be a shame if we just stood back and didn't join in because we didn't feel that it was "our" protest. No matter who's organised it, when there's a good protest happening we should all join in :-)
Ozymandias
Homepage:
www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Trade Justice is not the answer!
15.06.2002 10:51
steelgate
Homepage:
http://www.worldsocialism.com
did you read the article?
15.06.2002 11:29
Steelgate -- did you actually READ the article? Your response is totally typical of the sectarian left, when will we stop fucking over each other's attempts at changing the world for the better?
No, I don't belive that the ultimate answer lies in trade justice either, but it might be a beginning and it might change things on the ground for at least some people, giving them a breather while they form their own revolutionary tactics. We have to attack the system from every angle and in every way we know how.
Viva las anarchistas!
rrriotgirl
further rant...
15.06.2002 12:31
"Yes, it's a work-within-the-system thing, no it's not a smash-this-capitalist-state thing. But it is a good cause and we should all go and offer our support and our solidarity"
Moreover, it also says:
"Revolution of some description (be it anarchist or socialist or whatever) may be our ultimate aim, but there's no reason why we shouldn't in the shorter term aspire to ahieve smaller changes by (for example) putting pressure on the government"
And it even says:
"We may ultimately want to OVERTHROW the government. We may ultimately want to overthrow capitalism itself. But at least in the short term, the government is something we have to live with so we might as well do what we can to push it in at least a slightly better direction".
While you may disagree with this, your response does rather suggest that you didn't actually read the article, which anticipated your reaction and went to some considerable length to argue its case.
Quite frankly you can dream on about your revolution. Revolution is a LONG way off. But RIGHT NOW there are people being FUCKED OVER by the WTO and the other forces that control world trade, people are having their livelihoods RUINED and DEVASTATED, because of the way the system works.
Yes I know it will never be properly fair until we get rid of capitalism. But that's a long term aim. Wouldn't life be a little more meaningful if we could achieve at least partial results in the short term.
If the world trade system was altered so that it was less skewed towards the interests of the rich western countries at the expense of poor people and the environment then we would see real changes - not revolution but something to be pleased about nonetheless.
Can't we for once stop pontificating about World Communism and like, and actually go out into the streets and DO SOMETHING. It's great to have an ultimate aim like World Communism in mind (although personally I think some sort of world anarchism would be preferable). But we need to look at what's realistic in the short term as well. What can we do NOW?
It would indeed be naive to assume that this kind of protest is going to lead to a revolution. But it would be equally cynical to assume that it will have no effect at all. A lot of anti-capitalists subscribe to a model that says that ordinary people are totally incapable of influencing the government, even when they get together in large numbers. This is just not accurate. It's true that the voters don't control the government nearly as much as big business and the media do. But it's just bollox to say that we have no influence whatsoever. We have SOME influence. We might as well not waste it :-)
Public pressure has put debt relief on the agenda - ok people need to keep that pressure up if 100% of debts are going to be cancelled, but some countries are already seeing their debts written off and there are now kids who are going to school for the first time. Now yeah there's stuff wrong with school but these kids are getting the chance to learn to read, which they wouldn't have had otherwise - and they're learning about hygeine and stuff - so they're getting much better chances in life. Debt relief has loads of benefits and its starting to happen. That was Gordon Brown sitting around thinking hmm I'm going to be a really nice now and write off third world debt - that was public pressure that did that. Gordon Brown was naturally sympathetic to the idea anyway, but he needed that public pressure to give him a mandate to start cancelling debt.
Anyway, that's just one example of how public pressure really can work in getting the government to alter its policies. No it doesn't lead to revolution but it does produce real change that benefits real people in real ways. We need to be pressing for this kind of change all the time. As I say, it's fine to be aspiring to revolution but do we really want to just be waiting for the BIG CHANGE for years and years and years and in the meantime not effecting any change at all?
I know this is a relatively fluffy event, but it needs our solidarity. Er.. it doesn't NEED our solidarity because there are already thousands of people who are going to be there. But our solidarity would certainly HELP.
Hey, we join in Kurdish and West Papauan and Palestinian protests - they're not anti-capitalists but they are causes that we support.
Surely trade justice is a cause that we should support too. You may feel that communism (for example) is the ultimate form of "trade justice". However, that's a long way off is it not? So given that we have the opportunity to make trade a little bit fairer first then why not let's do that? That way we can help people now who will be old or dead by the time the real revoltuion comes.
Please consider taking part in this event.
Anyway, if we have the will then we can turn this event into a big anti-corporate-globalisation protest, like we did in Genoa. Genoa was orginally just going to be about third world debt. But the large anti-capitalist contingent made it into more of a general protest. We could do that here.
Don't underestimate how big this is going to be. It's predicted to be bigger than mayday. 10,000 are coming. We can make it even bigger. Why not go and protest against trade injustice in particular and capitalism etc more generally. When people organise stuff like this, what we really need is for the rest of the movement to join in. That way protests take on a life of their own, and end up being a lot bigger.
PLEASE come! :-)
Ozymandias
Homepage:
www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk
Agree, people should go
15.06.2002 13:36
But I'm still going to go because the issue is so important.
Indeed on most demos (esp large ones) that I've been to there have been loads of individuals, groups and organisations that I don't see eye to eye with, or infact oppose - but i don't boycott the demos just because of this.
The large mobilisations against IMF / World Bank / G8 / ETC have all inspired me simply because of the diversity of groups involved from direct action people, to reformist NGOs to radical and plain establishemnt trade unions.
So what if you think abolishing or replacing is better than reforming - get out on the streets and say so!!
See you there!
ps weather forcast is sunny spells, light cloud, no rain
Pete
clarification
15.06.2002 18:18
"That was Gordon Brown sitting around thinking hmm I'm going to be a really nice now and write off third world debt - that was public pressure that did that"
The "was" was meant to say "wasn't"
Ozymandias
Lobby Parliament?
16.06.2002 01:01
However no reforms have ever been won by lobbying parliament. Reforms get won because people force the government to grant them through mass campaigns of direct action - like the anti-Poll Tax campaign, the fight against apartheid, the suffragettes etc.
I think there will lots of good people on this demonstration, but the purpose of it (lobbying parliament) is useless. I'd like to go along and hand out info about direct action, which is far more empowering and effective than begging our rulers to make our conditions less shit.
rednblack
Homepage:
http://noplatform.antifa.net
re: "lobby parliament"
17.06.2002 14:45
Pressure from citizens can have a powerful effect.
For example there's the gun lobby in America. A lot of votes depend on not tightening up gun legislation, because so many people there like to have guns.
A more positive example, which I think has already been mentioned is the stand the government of this country (and a lot of others) took against the apartheid regime of south africa. It was public pressure that did that.
We can think of this protest as being about letting the government know what it is we don't like about international trade rules. A lot of MPs aren't even aware of the issues. We can use this kind of event to educate them. Then, once they know what we're on about we can use direct action to give them a kick up the bum.
ANYWAY, WHAT I DO AGREE WITH IS THAT IT WOULD BE A REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD IDEA TO GO TO THIS EVENT AND LEAFLET PEOPLE ABOUT DIRECT ACTION.
DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF BIG DEMOS TO RADICALISE PEOPLE. I GOT RADICALISED IN PRAGUE, BY THE FACT THAT IT WAS SUCH AN INSPIRING EXPERIENCE BEING IN A MASS PROTEST AND BY ALL THE INFO I GOT FROM PEOPLE HANDING OUT LEAFLETS ABOUT VARIOUS ISSUES, MANY OF WHICH WEREN'T DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE THEME OF THE PROTEST WHICH WAS (PRIMARILY) ABOUT THE IMF AND WORLD BANK.
Also, I really don't think we should avoid the protest just because the demands of the trade justice movement aren't radical enough. We need to join in with less radical protests to make them more radical by turning up in large numbers. And as I say, this will give us the opportunity to interact with these people many of whom are already on the road to being radicalised (they've realised that the global economy is biassed towards the rich and powerful, that's a start!) and could be given a helping hand.
There are shitloads of reasons why we should go. So let's not be apathetic, let's get down to parliament on wednesday and do whatever we feel is the most appropriate thing to do, whether its joning in with the TJM, or doing our own protests or handing out leaflets, or doing street theatre, or other tactics.
It would be a waste to just ignore what is already going to be such a huge mass mobilisation of people.
We can do something with this, we really can :-)
dave smith