Remembering the June the 18th 1999 City of London carnival against capitalism
J18 veteran | 12.10.2011 18:57
Over 12 years ago back on June the 18th 1999 there was a massive carnival against capitalism in the City of London similar to the planned occupy the stock exchange event this Saturday the 15th of October.
The City had previously been targeted for protests back in 1983 and 1984 when thousands of activists held three Stop the City events. The J18 carnival against capitalism was inspired by these actions. Here is video footage of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQoP2BGk920&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLEF5521DEC246A523
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQoP2BGk920&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLEF5521DEC246A523
J18 veteran
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very different
12.10.2011 20:11
Also probably different (I'm not in London) is that there were a large number of people putting in a huge amount of preparation work to think through strategy and to make tactics work on the day. There have been other 'national actions' where people thought it was enough to advertise the event and it would happen OK...this is never the case.
Anyway, good luck on 15th.
PS it was not called the carnival against capitalism, but the carnival against capital - work out the differences yourself, I'm sure you can.
also teen at heart
other differences
13.10.2011 14:36
-There was in J18, for the most part, a culture of 'diversity of tactics'; that those with different ideas about which tactics are useful or ethical should respect each others choices, and try not to tread on each others' toes, instead of condemning each other. The 'Occupy' movement has a long way to go with that; it still has lots of dogmatic pacifism (ie imposing pacifism on others).
-The 'Carnival against Capital' was clearly aiming to disrupt the financial district. According to the notes made here:
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/10361#comment-2811
...OccupyLSX doesn't even have consensus that it wants to be disruptive! Presumably some people think it's enough to just be publicly visible, without disrupting or confronting anything.
To cut a long story short, OccupyLSX has some way to go before it can evolve (hopefully) into something as radical or militant as J18.
But all the more reason to go along and argue for more radical politics and more militant tactics, rather than just stay at home and grumble.
old timer