Skip to content or view screen version

Interview with a Campfire

South West Piqueteros | 06.12.2010 13:22

Seeing the abundance of resources as ours
A local David of Palestine, he always hits the target, below the belt, one shot is all he needs. Like a Dirty David Cameron, he always wears a smile when he strikes.
"The anti-cuts demos are cool, but that style aint for everyone, as Sunday showed - being boxed in for me is just a big thumbs up to the police, underlining their control and a boost for their confidence. It can give a sense of panic and powerlessness to the crowd - its all too much. Every broken kettle is an undermining of their control, and a drain on their confidence. It gives the crowd a peek into the well-hidden truth of the power they hold over the state and anyone it chooses to send against them.

Don't do demos unless you're up for taking a hit and breaking a kettle.

Alternatively, smaller groups could join together by word of mouth - say 20 or 40 people - and take it back to basics, more in the style of the young 'uns from the Academies than the 'leaders' from the universities.

The cuts are going to be taking away the basic rights of people - homes, health, happiness for them and their families. So, they should be fought with the same desperation that anyone would fight to keep those rights.

If one resource is taken away, we should look to use our chosen group to take another.

The state calls them 'luxuries', we call them the basics - enough money for a family pizza on friday night, a few cans on saturday. Can't afford it any more? Still need it? If there's enough of you there is an answer.

Brunching out on food - supermarkets throw tons of food out every day, so cut out the middle man and take it off their hands before it clogs up the bin - less waste, less worry, more happiness in the world! if one person refuses to pay its a stand-off. If 40 people refuse to pay its a walk over. The personal becomes political.

Shelter - Empty buildings aren't great - they can be cold and damp, but they're cheap, and if its the home you've just had taken from you, then you'll know the layout very well. You may think squatters have nothing in common with you, but they have ways, they have means, they have networks, they have skills that you will find useful in facing the same enemy.

Public Transport - can't pay? don't think its fair to pay that much? if one person refuses to pay its a stand-off. If 40 people refuse to pay its a walk over. The personal becomes political.

Need Petrol? Why bother the poor sod at the counter, save them a job. Cover up your license plates with snow and mud to avoid any other poor sod having to do more paperwork later on, or just bring your own can - but make sure you dress up warm in this cold weather.

Medical supplies, cosmetics for covering up, tools, whatever - its all only five fingers away. The only thing that needs to change is your attitude. Lose the guilt, lose the shame, lose the fear. The Cuts are a resource war - the millionaires want to stop you having resources, to tighten your belt so that they can protect big business from paying back what it owes.

If you are in the right club, went to the right school, know the right people, move in the right circles: you can steal what you want, with no sanctimonious moralising, no wagging fingers, no danger of being caught.

So, why not make our own clubs? Teach our own kids? Stop robbing from our own class and do it in a way so you can hold your head high? IS that so crazy?

This is a big deal - we need to kick out the protectors of the rich idiots who keep on getting things wrong, who keep getting their fingers caught in their own tills, but tell us its wrong to take back the goods that we've produced when we haven't been properly paid for them.

If a builder can feel right in ripping back out the wiring and wrecking the plastering, after waiting 10 weeks to get paid, why can't a cashier in a supermarket that earns millions in profit feel right in ripping them off and wrecking their profits if they don't pay a decent wage?

Pockets of unrest break out all over the place, especially in times like these. Britain after the war, North England and South Wales during the Miners Strike.. Italy in the 1970's. Argentina in the 90's. Ireland as we speak. Rent strikes, occupations, appropriations - there are times when no has to mean no, when the rich have to be told: no more. When the poor have to go out and get, not tug on the sleeve and ask.

We are everywhere, in control, if only we could see it. The bus driver, the supermarket checkout, the waiter, the shop assistant - we're all on the same side, but we're set against each other like pitbulls in a ring, while the bosses gamble on all our futures.

Lets work together to get through this - its the average Jo that will make the difference, that HAS to make the difference."

This interview was recorded shortly after the sunday demo on college green. Comments appreciated.

South West Piqueteros
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/702382