Photos from the ESF march

Some photographs of the ESF march in London on the Sunday 17 Oct 2004.

Backwards inteligence team back

BAckwards inteligence team in crowd

Backwards inteligence team front

IMC will not be silenced again

IMC logo on banner

IMC FBI censorship banner

Samba band and dancers

Free IMC t-shirt

No censorship banner

FIT vs demonstrators

FIT photographer

Freedom of movement banner

King's cross pen 1

King's cross pen 2

King's Cross pen 3

FIT in Trafalgar

FIT portrait

StWC young stewards 'protecting' platform

FIT on Lions and StWC talking to them 1

FIT on Lions and StWC stewards

SWP/StWC stewards make lines to protect their platform

FIT behind StWC steward lines

Girl with peace flag

Photos:

manos + yossarian

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

Having heard from (A) protestors about the stewardship in T Square. It will be that last time that I will have anything to do with SWP. The image above with the protestors pen in by the police were treated appalling. They (A) wanted to make a speech about the treatment that they received by the Police at King Cross Train Station. (A) were told that they could make their point at T Square by going on stage but the stewardship "doing the dirty work of the police." Told (A) that they could not do so. So (A) got arrested for their troubles.

CHEERS SWP! You have done wonders! Not only you are now working for the Police for Free. You have F**k up every protest going.

whine

SWP are DESTROYING protests

19.10.2004 19:25

I agree, I've been an activist for 3 years now and at the ESF in London the SWP have again managed to weaken our movement. We can not let them take over the ESF! That will

1. keep thousands of people away from the ESF because they aren't Socialist Workers, and

2. convince the people who do attend that the only alternative to globalisation is adopting an SWP agenda.

John

stewards

19.10.2004 20:47

I'm no fan of the SWP (to put it mildly). As far as I could tell most of the other (unpaid) StWC stewards weren't SWP members either. The stewards did not welcome the police presence (and we certainly didn't invite them!) and we repeatedly asked them to leave. This is pretty obvious from the picture of the steward talking to the FIT in the picture above. When the police arrived the stewards forming a line had no choice but to stay put, with a large crowd trying to get in on one side and police prowling about vindictively on the other. We were protecting the protestors from the police far more than we were protecting the police from the protestors.

jim

Comment from german anticapitalist

20.10.2004 14:30

Hi,
we were in London with almost 20 anticapitalist activists from Germany. And we were yery, very angry about the fact, that a anticapitalist ESF-demonstration was turned into a Peace- and anti-Bush (Pro-Kerry??)-demonstration. So we called for a separate anticapitalist block, quite successfully I think.
I don't hate trotzkyists, I was one (but not in the SWP) some years before. But the shit made by this so-called socialist, so-called workers, so-called party i a shame for the ESF.

Holger
mail e-mail: h-wulf@foni.net

no other way

20.10.2004 15:42

The earth and her inhabitants will not be brought back into BALANCE until there is MASSIVE rioting in every street in every town and city in the world, every jungle, savannah, desert and mountaintop, and each and every human being on the face of this beautiful planet decide ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! and REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE one more day, bringing the whole damned show to a grinding, shuddering halt.....remember, only FOLLOWERS need "LEADERS". Isn't it time for humanity to REALLY evolve instead of DEvolving? WAKE UP! WE"RE ALL BEING SCAMMED!!!!!!

disgusted

IMC solidarity flyers

20.10.2004 16:29

I really like those half sheet IMC solidarity flyers that that woman is holding in front of her face. Does anyone know where I could find those online? We are having a filmscreeing here in Houston this evening, and it would be cool to have a consise flyer with information aboutit to give to people. If anyone knows where those flyers live on the internet, please email me.

in solidarity
from Houston Texas

Perica
mail e-mail: roblock@riseup.net
Homepage: http://houston.indymedia.org

is our movement really so fragile?

21.10.2004 12:35

Erm.. all this 'SWP ruining eveything' bothers me. For years now we've been saying that the great strength of the autonomous / de-centred / vertical way of organising is that it can't be destroyed or co-opted.

Are we really now saying all this is so fragile that it can be blown over by a tiny Trot group? If so how will we cope when the forces of the state come after us?

concerned citizen

Relax

28.10.2004 14:43

Um…if you are worried don’t be.

These Anarchist freaks represent very little weight in the movement. Their mobilisations are characterised by being either non-existent or tiny. Thats why they acted like such a poisonous fringe at the ESF (and all anti-capitalist events – Genoa being the prime example). They are unaccountable and undemocratic. They can afford such an attitude towards others in the movement since they are not responsible for organising anything besides their own fringe and stunts on the edge.