Why have the coppers been made to act so aggressively? A tricky one!


Firstly, I think that the Bobbies on the ground (foot soldiers) are following orders, which they have been trained to carry out. Senior officers, chief constables, Military Intelligence Officers, senior home office civil servants, and the Home Secretary will have signed it off. The overall strategy has been developed over years, with the development of more flexible tactical approaches.

Secondly, it’s worth noting that British police have always been very brutal in defending the common interests of capitalism, the elite and the state. These days’ it´s more difficult for the police to get away with very very serious criminal offences, because of the media, not least now independent media, like IM.

Why?

Assuming there are not stupid, which is not an insignificant assumption, I think it´s about control. These protests and the politics around them are operating at some level, as it were, outside of the capitalist system. The state which has a monopoly on violence in the capitalist system, is used by the politicians and elites to crush what they consider a threat to capitalism and its laws, and the elites who wield power and influence.

Additionally, the camp presents a good training opportunity for the police, and violence that the state provokes has often been used as good propaganda to smear genuine protest. So I think the police will always let these camps take place, at least for these two reasons. And of course if they they do not have the legal ways and means at their disposal, they don’t have a choice. However, the law will be changed if they don’t have the legal powers, because the state always wants control: the power to stop something but also to let it go ahead if they can benefit from it.

What do you do?

You can not completely challenge the violence and criminality of the police, although there have been many successes using the legal system, which the above post directs activists too, and quite rightly and importantly, in my opinion..

But there is something that makes sense to me about what George Monibot said at the camp: you can work for change through the system, but the more direct approach put forward by others has it´s merits and also has, I believe, had its successes.

Protesters should be aware that the police, and military intelligence, will have invested a lot too in having their people inside the camp. All is I can say is these people will not be charged with offences, they may well be arrested, so that they can pass information back to their handlers, but serious charges will never follow.

So, in conclusion, would it not be best just to let these coppers do what they want without any unnecessary violent response while continually monitoring and filming them. It´s the Ghandi approach, but this time you can record their actions and prosecute their illegality. In this approach, the energy of the protester is preserved, and not zapped by physical violence. In this way, to a degree, the protesters remain in control – taking control away from the cops. If you are angry you can escalate to passive aggression.

Or do you just go steaming in to defend yourself and your camp and have a rucky-ducky with the cops. It´s a difficult one to call when a cowardly little piglet bashes you over the head with a truncheon for no apparent reason, and agent provocateurs are stirring it up, to criminalise people, beget propaganda, and give the coppers a good training and control session.


Lastly, and more controversially, in these types of situations, protesters have been politicised, they learn how to handle the political violence of the state, and very useful skills they can be used in the battles ahead. These skills can be passed on, through training, just as the political police do. In this respect the objective it to know your enemy well, and possibly keep friends with them, even win them over if you can get through to them, after all many of them are normal human beings just doing a job working under the propaganda systems of neoliberal fascism. Pick up skills and confidence until the important time comes.

Yours as ever

Harold Hamlet.

ps. Someone suggested that It would be a good idea to infiltrate the police and security services, to ensure that they do not break the law.