Disobedients insurrection against the War
Disobedients | 15.10.2002 13:13
It's time the direct action/Anarchist/grass roots anti-capitalist movement rises from it's slumber after 9-11 and
inject a bit of social revolution on Halloween.
inject a bit of social revolution on Halloween.
DISOBEDIENTS
Trick or Treat ?
6pm Halloween
We are all ghosts, phantoms of the periphery, the
discarded, the dead of all wars. We are those who are
invisible and voiceless, those who are ignored by the
charade of "democracy" which beats the drums of war that
lead us without consent towards untold destruction and
global chaos.
But on Halloween, long known as mischief night , a time
of change and transformation, the ghosts will take to the
streets and become visible again. On that night, everyone
is invited to dress in white, disguised as ghosts and
converge on Parliament, which we will occupy in order to
participate in a mass popular assembly. Through this act
we will desert their "democracy" and take back our
voices, reclaiming direct control of our lives. We will
show that politics is not made by the few but by the many
and we will declare our disobedience publicly.
On Halloween the ghosts will become
the "disobedients", and we will pledge to do everything in
our power to stop the war by taking direct action and
sabotaging the war effort, until the threat of war recedes.
The public assembly will discuss the next stage of action.
Hundreds of thousands of us marched against the war,
but traditional demonstrations alone will not stop the
warmongers. In Britain we are in the unique position of
being able to stop this war, the government is the major
international backer of the US administration, if it pulls out, the US will be completely isolated in their desire for
war. Through the ages people have stopped wars, ousted
unpopular governments, toppled dictatorial regimes. So few
people want this war, through mass disobedience we can
force the British Government to withdraw its support, we
can stop the seemingly out of control juggernaut of history
dead in its tracks and silence the deafening drums of war.
"Disobedience, on an individual level, is the only act of
rebellion we have in society, the act of rebellion we all
participate in. The rebellion against control. On a
collective level, it becomes a tool of liberation we can
use to shape the future we want to live in."
6pm Houses of Parliament, HALLOWEEN
The 31st of October has been called by the Stop the War
coalition as a day of direct action against the war, other
actions will be taking place across the country and the
world. This action will be planned in an open directly
democratic way, the first assemblies will take place on
Sunday 20th of October, at 3pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Sq, WC1
The disobedients is a newly formed open network made up of
diverse groups and individuals, including :
Reclaim the Streets,
The W.O.M.B.L.E.S,
West London Anarchists and Radicals
Anarchist Youth Network
We invite all groups and individuals to join in taking
action to stop this war & start the peace.
email:
disobedience@riseup.net
discussion list, send an email to:
disobedience-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is
civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all
over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of
their government and have gone to war, and millions have
been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that
people are obedient all over the world in the face of
poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty.
Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves
are running the country. That's our problem."
Howard ZinN
****** Next open planning meeting 7.30pm Tuesday 15th October, London Action Resource Centre, 62 fieldgate street, London E1- 0207 3779088
ALL WELCOME...
Trick or Treat ?
6pm Halloween
We are all ghosts, phantoms of the periphery, the
discarded, the dead of all wars. We are those who are
invisible and voiceless, those who are ignored by the
charade of "democracy" which beats the drums of war that
lead us without consent towards untold destruction and
global chaos.
But on Halloween, long known as mischief night , a time
of change and transformation, the ghosts will take to the
streets and become visible again. On that night, everyone
is invited to dress in white, disguised as ghosts and
converge on Parliament, which we will occupy in order to
participate in a mass popular assembly. Through this act
we will desert their "democracy" and take back our
voices, reclaiming direct control of our lives. We will
show that politics is not made by the few but by the many
and we will declare our disobedience publicly.
On Halloween the ghosts will become
the "disobedients", and we will pledge to do everything in
our power to stop the war by taking direct action and
sabotaging the war effort, until the threat of war recedes.
The public assembly will discuss the next stage of action.
Hundreds of thousands of us marched against the war,
but traditional demonstrations alone will not stop the
warmongers. In Britain we are in the unique position of
being able to stop this war, the government is the major
international backer of the US administration, if it pulls out, the US will be completely isolated in their desire for
war. Through the ages people have stopped wars, ousted
unpopular governments, toppled dictatorial regimes. So few
people want this war, through mass disobedience we can
force the British Government to withdraw its support, we
can stop the seemingly out of control juggernaut of history
dead in its tracks and silence the deafening drums of war.
"Disobedience, on an individual level, is the only act of
rebellion we have in society, the act of rebellion we all
participate in. The rebellion against control. On a
collective level, it becomes a tool of liberation we can
use to shape the future we want to live in."
6pm Houses of Parliament, HALLOWEEN
The 31st of October has been called by the Stop the War
coalition as a day of direct action against the war, other
actions will be taking place across the country and the
world. This action will be planned in an open directly
democratic way, the first assemblies will take place on
Sunday 20th of October, at 3pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Sq, WC1
The disobedients is a newly formed open network made up of
diverse groups and individuals, including :
Reclaim the Streets,
The W.O.M.B.L.E.S,
West London Anarchists and Radicals
Anarchist Youth Network
We invite all groups and individuals to join in taking
action to stop this war & start the peace.
email:
disobedience@riseup.net discussion list, send an email to:
disobedience-subscribe@lists.riseup.net "Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is
civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all
over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of
their government and have gone to war, and millions have
been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that
people are obedient all over the world in the face of
poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty.
Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves
are running the country. That's our problem."
Howard ZinN
****** Next open planning meeting 7.30pm Tuesday 15th October, London Action Resource Centre, 62 fieldgate street, London E1- 0207 3779088
ALL WELCOME...
Disobedients
e-mail:
disobedience@riseup.net
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
The Angry Hordes...
15.10.2002 14:50
"Insurrection" is "incipient rebellion", uncontrollable, spreading everywhere, hit and run, guerrilla actions. "Insurrection" is not show piece tokenistic displays, or spectacular plays staged out doors rather than in the theatre.
"Direct Action" mentioned in the posting should be happening ALL the time. The "popular assembly" in Parliament Square is obviously totally doomed. Anyone remember "Guerrilla Gardening"? The square was designed for this purpose to corral "protesters". The time has come to decide whether "Anarchists" are a "protest movement" or revolutionaries. The former is to appeal to the rulers the latter to abolish all leaders. "Anarchists" used to be the latter, what are "we" now?
The 31/10/02 should be marked by economic sabotage through out the country not by pointless displays.
Yours in solidarity
Love and rage
Uncontrollables
Uncontrollables
Fucking embarassment
15.10.2002 23:43
Okay, I'll stop taking the piss now. But this is just more of the same old sterile action that leads us nowhere. And tactically, it's suicidal (but of course, we all know you'll never get anywhere near the Houses of Parliament anyway - even in your ghost suits - but you can kid yourselves that you will occupy parliament and then moan about it later from your piss soaked cell when you don't).
Sure, it puts a radical gloss over people exerting their traditional "right" to register their protest. But in the final analysis, it's just more spectacle.
Fuck the politics of stuntism.
Build a revolutionary anarchist movement WITHIN the working class.
King Pleb
Direct action?
16.10.2002 00:49
There's a tendency to view "direct action" as an excuse to run around like headless chickens, doing something spectacular for the benefit of the media. Come on, we've really got to move on from this one!
Some actions are symbolic, while other actions get to the heart of the matter and attempt to tackle the problem directly. So strikes, go slows, industrial flu, blockading roads to prevent someone or something from doing what you don't want them to do, sabotage, squatting, seizing control of the means of production, etc, etc, are all examples of DIRECT ACTION.
The "disobedient" action however, is not intended to do any of these things. They are not seriously expecting to take over parliament. So in this way it's a SYMBOLIC ACTION. OK, bandanas may be worn by those involved and full "revolutionary chic" regalia may be adhered to on the day, but it still doesn't make it any less symbolic than your average CND event.
Then there's the pretended aim to establish an "alternative parliament" that would be even less representative (a most un-anarchist position, if ever there was one) than the boss class's political club. Sheesh!
As far as I'm concerned, we need to be organising and propagandising for mass sabotage against the war effort. We need to be agitating with our workmates and with our friends and neighbours. We should be out publicising a general call for people not to go into work when the war officially begins, and instead either to strike (where possible) or go sick; we should be getting people together to attempt to stop people from getting into work the day after war starts and go some way to stop business as usual; we need to be publicising the home addresses of the local MPs and then turn up in rowdy gangs ouside their homes (to bring the war home to them).
Of couse, this tireless propaganda stuff among our class is all far less exciting than running around in fancy dress with your anarcho-mates outside parliament while trying to dodge the cops. But if we propagandise well, then we may be able to talk about a few examples of real direct action against the war, in the places where it counts - at work and on the streets.
Serge Forward
e-mail:
leicester_af@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/leicester_af/org.html
The public assembly...
16.10.2002 10:27
blacknred
Homepage:
http://www.anarchistyouth.net
Ill be there
16.10.2002 13:30
whenever you are faced with a choice between liberty and security, choose liberty. Otherwise you will end up with neither
-Benjamin Franklin
'There are many of us who have come to see that the only way forward now is a global democratic revolution, which war and a mismanaged US economy could hasten. But none of us are deluded enough to imagine that it will be easy.
-george monbiot
those who have put wealth and power above life are living in the world of death, in which the living put their tombstones - their framed certificates signifying acceptance to that world - upon their walls.
You know you have only one life. You know it is a precious, extraordinary, unrepeatable thing: the product of billions of years of serendipity and evolution. So why waste it by handing it over to the living dead?
-george monbiot
un
Alternative parliamentarism
16.10.2002 16:18
And then you woke up.
Like I say, the anarchist movement could do with a bit less of the flakey stuff and concentrate on furthering the class struggle rather than the spectacle.
King Pleb
infantile disorders
16.10.2002 16:31
And then you go on to 'liberate' the crown jewels, before simultaneously storming the BBC and ITV newsrooms to anounce the outbreak of the long awaited world revolution (hurrah!). Meanwhile the masses spontaneously decide to tag along behind you and your really cool, alternative and radical chums, while you go about the serious business of smashing the state...
...then mummy calls you in cos it really is way past your bedtime.
Like I say, the anarchist movement could do with a bit less of the flakey stuff and concentrate on furthering the class struggle rather than colluding with the spectacle.
King Pleb
deja vu
16.10.2002 21:44
"The Disobedients is a newly formed network of the WOMBLES, etc..." - Sounds a bit like the "Disobedienti" mantle assumed by white overalls and related groups in Italy, post-Genoa, to compensate for the ensuing vacuum of confusion, incoherence and inaction.
Hallowe'en being the day when the ghosts come out and do mischief... Haven't we heard this somewhere before in the WOMBLES? I.e. last hallowe'en? Where did it get us, apart from a ruck with the filth and a court case that dragged on for months and debilitated the group. What have we actually done betwen then and now? Apart from being instrumental in establishing a small social centre in north london.
Is it a wise idea to publicise an attempt to disrupt parliament on a particular day, (which will involve several well known faces), on IMC?
This action seems ill conceived, doomed to fail and another ilustration of the dearth of imagination and relevance which currently characterises the movement. Can't we aspire to something more than just a tin-pot copycat of yesterday's Italian scene?
jim
Read the leaflet before making assumptions
17.10.2002 12:41
our workmates, college friends, families then by
all means do. For all those who say we should
sabotage the war effort, then please read, we do
to. The Proposed action on Halloween, liked the leaflet
says, is going to be the reference point of further
actions against the British State and it's military
machine. The idea of having the action was not devised
by the W.O.M.B.L.E.S., it is merely supported by
the W.O.M.B.L.E.S. aswell as other groups.
Parliament square is symbolic, it is the heart of
parliamentarism in this country. On Halloween, the
idea is to storm parliament. Who doesn't think thats
needed, or wanted. Whether or not we do or we don't
it displays the intentions which communicates a new
method to the Stop the War coalitons fetish of
state sanctioned marches. On September 28th there were
almost 300,000 people marching against the war with the
majority of people in this country against any war against
Iraq. Just putting a call out to "sabotage the war effort",
a call which has not been taken up by the Proletariat means
that starting with a mass spectular action like this, even
though alot of the "mass" element is being subtituted by
sumbolism, it nevertheless allows an engagement with people
for the next action, which no doubt will be targetted at
a more realistic target.
And to what Jim said about recycling "yesterdays Italian
movement", the leaflet should have been titled "Disobedience" not "Disobedients" which signifies a
group of people. That is a mistake which might confuse alot
in the Anarchist Movement but the people co-ordinating
this action DO NOT WANT to be associates with elements
of the Disobeddienti in Italy, especially that part which
is comprised of Stalinist Parties.
If you are going to criticise this action then please talk
with people before coming to such conclusions.
one person involved
Yes, but...
18.10.2002 00:33
How can a potential re-run of "Custer's last stand" be positive? It smacks of the "We must do SOMETHING" (at any cost) school of thought.
I admit I don't have all the answers either, but surely we can do better than this. As anarchists, surely our objective is to keep out of the hands of the police, if we can - not beg them to arrest us.
Serge Forward
e-mail:
leicester_af@yahoo.co.uk
I think I read the "leaflet"
18.10.2002 13:20
And grandly proclaiming no intention of association with the Italian movement doesn't A)eradicate the obvious association that will be made (i.e. the same fucking name) or B) answer my original charge that this just smacks of a cheap imitation borne of the absence of any better ideas.
Your clarification of the intention to "storm parliament" on Oct 31 merely illustrates the point: It's all rather like Casarini declaring war on the G8 via the Italian mass media and announcing, well in advance, the intention to breach the Red Zone. That declaration, of course, being in itself one more nail in the bloody coffin of the whole exercise and whatever chance it might have had. Just like that saga, your only chance to "storm parliament" and actually get inside as blacknred intends, is the freak outside fluke that you'll attract enough numbers to overwhelm. On a specific day. With well known faces co-ordinating, presumably.
So, it can't really be a case of a symbolic message arising from the valiant and earnest effort, "successful or not", because noone can be realistic that there's a genuine goal there any more. Which means that what you'll get, at best, is a demo that may be slightly closer to parliament, or off the beaten track any way; not state sanctioned, o.k.; slightly lairier, like last years "No War but the Class War" outing, but generally a typical jaunt, with fewer people and maybe an arrest or two. AND LAST YEAR'S IDEAS.
HO, HUM. (And please give me the credit of actually having read your tawdry tat this time.)
jim
I think I read the "leaflet"
18.10.2002 13:26
And grandly proclaiming no intention of association with the Italian movement doesn't A)eradicate the obvious association that will be made (i.e. the same fucking name) or B) answer my original charge that this just smacks of a cheap imitation borne of the absence of any better ideas.
Your clarification of the intention to "storm parliament" on Oct 31 merely illustrates the point: It's all rather like Casarini declaring war on the G8 via the Italian mass media and announcing, well in advance, the intention to breach the Red Zone. That declaration, of course, being in itself one more nail in the bloody coffin of the whole exercise and whatever chance it might have had. Just like that saga, your only chance to "storm parliament" and actually get inside as blacknred intends, is the freak outside fluke that you'll attract enough numbers to overwhelm. On a specific day. With well known faces co-ordinating, presumably.
So, it can't really be a case of a symbolic message arising from the valiant and earnest effort, "successful or not", because noone can be realistic that there's a genuine goal there any more. Which means that what you'll get, at best, is a demo that may be slightly closer to parliament, or off the beaten track any way; not state sanctioned, o.k.; slightly lairier, like last years "No War but the Class War" outing, but generally a typical jaunt, with fewer people and maybe an arrest or two. AND LAST YEAR'S IDEAS.
HO, HUM. (And please give me the credit of actually having read your tawdry tat this time.)
jim