I have no idea if this is really written by Alex Callinicos. Its a good enough argument to be from him. I found it online here;
http://info.interactivist.net/comments.pl?sid=3628&cid=1703
"The Truth about Sunday"
Alex Callinicos
It is a matter for great concern that arrests took place during Sunday's demonstration, and the British organizers of the ESF have been working to secure the release of those arrested. We need to make sure that everyone is freed. Nevertheless, there are many inaccuracies in Enric's statement.
In particular, it is quite untrue that the police were protecting the stage in Trafalgar Square on Sunday. The demonstration was, at the request of the UK Coordinating Committee, organized and stewarded by the Stop the War Coalition and its partners in the British peace movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain. The stewards also provided a cordon to protect the stage.
It is very fortunate that they did. Had they not been there I have no doubt that the rally and concert would have destroyed by the same Black Bloc that had — shamefully — disrupted the anti-fascism plenary the night before, assaulted the black co-facilitator and stolen his mobile phone.
I saw the assault on the stage on Sunday. What happened was that the Black Bloc tried to break through the line of stewards protecting the stage. This involved attacking the stewards — mainly women and young people, many of them people of colour.
The pretext for this assault was that there had been arrests earlier on in the march. Why attacking the rally was the appropriate response to these arrests is beyond me, since it was the police who had made the arrests, not, for example, Aleida Guevara, who was speaking from the stage when the attack took place. The demonstration organizers had been working with Italian comrades to secure the release of those arrested, and an announcement about the arrests was made from the stage.
Of course, the violence that had been introduced into the demonstration by the Black Bloc encouraged the police to intervene. They entered the area around the stage and started filming the stewards and the Black Bloc who were wrestling together. It was thanks to the intervention of representatives of the Stop the War Coalition and the National Assembly against Racism that the police were persuaded to stop filming and to clear the area.
During these few minutes I saw one individual being dragged off by the police. This was a horrible sight, but the arrest would not have happened if the Black Bloc hadn't attacked the stage. The police seized on the incident to start behaving aggressively everywhere, and a number of arrests took place (one Globalise Resistance activist was stopped under the Terrorism Act and arrested).
Fortunately this incident, like the one the night before, were minor blemishes on a hugely successful European Social Forum in London. A dose of London rain cooled things down in Trafalgar Square and the concert brought the Forum to a happy end.
Nevertheless, those who, like the Babels coordinators, supported the disruption of the anti-fascism plenary on Saturday night, or who said that 'nothing happened' there should reflect on the logic of their position. Sunday showed, once again, that those who bring violence into the movement draw in the violence of the state against the movement.
Of course there is room for debate for the organization and content of the London ESF — as there is of all the Social Forums. But I have no doubt that the perpetrators of these incidents are politically hostile to the entire Social Forum project. For example, the website of the Wombles, who were certainly involved in the attack on the Saturday plenary, describes the WSF and ESF as 'institutions which parallel the development of capitalist institutions of global governance' and as 'potentially dangerous' because they don't 'really challenge' capitalism. For people with such views, the claim that their actions were in defence of the WSF Charter of Principles is the purest hypocrisy.
Despite the efforts of their perpetrators, these disruptions did not spoil the London ESF. But we need to draw the lesson: violence doesn't belong within our movement, and neither do those who bring it into the movement.
http://info.interactivist.net/comments.pl?sid=3628&cid=1703 "The Truth about Sunday"
Alex Callinicos
It is a matter for great concern that arrests took place during Sunday's demonstration, and the British organizers of the ESF have been working to secure the release of those arrested. We need to make sure that everyone is freed. Nevertheless, there are many inaccuracies in Enric's statement.
In particular, it is quite untrue that the police were protecting the stage in Trafalgar Square on Sunday. The demonstration was, at the request of the UK Coordinating Committee, organized and stewarded by the Stop the War Coalition and its partners in the British peace movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain. The stewards also provided a cordon to protect the stage.
It is very fortunate that they did. Had they not been there I have no doubt that the rally and concert would have destroyed by the same Black Bloc that had — shamefully — disrupted the anti-fascism plenary the night before, assaulted the black co-facilitator and stolen his mobile phone.
I saw the assault on the stage on Sunday. What happened was that the Black Bloc tried to break through the line of stewards protecting the stage. This involved attacking the stewards — mainly women and young people, many of them people of colour.
The pretext for this assault was that there had been arrests earlier on in the march. Why attacking the rally was the appropriate response to these arrests is beyond me, since it was the police who had made the arrests, not, for example, Aleida Guevara, who was speaking from the stage when the attack took place. The demonstration organizers had been working with Italian comrades to secure the release of those arrested, and an announcement about the arrests was made from the stage.
Of course, the violence that had been introduced into the demonstration by the Black Bloc encouraged the police to intervene. They entered the area around the stage and started filming the stewards and the Black Bloc who were wrestling together. It was thanks to the intervention of representatives of the Stop the War Coalition and the National Assembly against Racism that the police were persuaded to stop filming and to clear the area.
During these few minutes I saw one individual being dragged off by the police. This was a horrible sight, but the arrest would not have happened if the Black Bloc hadn't attacked the stage. The police seized on the incident to start behaving aggressively everywhere, and a number of arrests took place (one Globalise Resistance activist was stopped under the Terrorism Act and arrested).
Fortunately this incident, like the one the night before, were minor blemishes on a hugely successful European Social Forum in London. A dose of London rain cooled things down in Trafalgar Square and the concert brought the Forum to a happy end.
Nevertheless, those who, like the Babels coordinators, supported the disruption of the anti-fascism plenary on Saturday night, or who said that 'nothing happened' there should reflect on the logic of their position. Sunday showed, once again, that those who bring violence into the movement draw in the violence of the state against the movement.
Of course there is room for debate for the organization and content of the London ESF — as there is of all the Social Forums. But I have no doubt that the perpetrators of these incidents are politically hostile to the entire Social Forum project. For example, the website of the Wombles, who were certainly involved in the attack on the Saturday plenary, describes the WSF and ESF as 'institutions which parallel the development of capitalist institutions of global governance' and as 'potentially dangerous' because they don't 'really challenge' capitalism. For people with such views, the claim that their actions were in defence of the WSF Charter of Principles is the purest hypocrisy.
Despite the efforts of their perpetrators, these disruptions did not spoil the London ESF. But we need to draw the lesson: violence doesn't belong within our movement, and neither do those who bring it into the movement.
Comments
Hide the following 22 comments
Outrageous
29.10.2004 00:09
In 'Calinicos's eye-witness report, the racist, sexist and bullies card gets pulled in one sentence: 'This involved attacking the stewards — mainly women and young people, many of them people of colour.'
How does this equate to SWP stewards who are mainly white older men. And what on earth has race got to do with this incident which took place within the activist community.
If they are prepared, at the drop of a hat, to smear opponents with racism, sexism and unprovoked assault, it’s not a surprise to hear that they would go to almost any lengths to get their own way. The SWP do. For example, they smeared opponents by claiming they attacked female SWPers at Marxism 2003 [See Workers Weekly on their website, reports on Marxism 2003 ].
I guess the means doesn’t matter, the end does: the hegemony of the revolutionary leadership - the SWPers. Yes do, laugh. But they follow the Bolsheviks in their caucusing methods, so it’s not a laugh to be opposite them in a meeting.
HH
kick out the SWiPs
29.10.2004 00:13
He and his cohorts should stop trying to swip other people's non-hierarchical movements with the SWP bootboys.
What the anti-capitalist anti-repression and general anti-scum movement needs to do is to marginalise and boot out these control freaks.
FtP
Er
29.10.2004 02:37
HH, do you actually do anything at all in the movement except trying to trash the SWP?
Sonic
stage stormers:show and tell!!!!
29.10.2004 05:45
. We need to know if the masked stormers were infiltrated by the far right or by state security personel out to spread suspicion and distrust in the anti capitalist movement.
After all we can see from reading Indy Media that ther are some individuals who hate socialists more than they hate the warmongers,arms dealers and fat cat bosses.
We know that a call was put out several days before the stage at Alexandra Palace was attacked and the secretary of Unite Against Fascism was violently assaulted and robbed and others in the audience were verbally abused and harrasssed by these masked characters.They owe the movement an explanation so that we can discuss their motives and strong arm methods with a little more clarity.When they gathered to storm the stages both at Alexandra Palace and in Trafalgar Square were there agent provocateurs amongst them?
In Genoa three years ago there were far right elements out to infiltrate the anarchist left. Did the same thing happen at the ESF in London.The whole business looks increasingly murky and this business of hiding behind scarves and balaclavas won't do . This masked stuff is all a bit creepy and unsavoury. Its time to take off the masks and lets 'ave a look at you. It's time to show and tell!
huw
Self-defeating, illogical, patronising rubbish
29.10.2004 07:45
"For example, the website of the Wombles, who were certainly involved in the attack on the Saturday plenary, describes the WSF and ESF as 'institutions which parallel the development of capitalist institutions of global governance' and as 'potentially dangerous' because they don't 'really challenge' capitalism. For people with such views, the claim that their actions were in defence of the WSF Charter of Principles is the purest hypocrisy."
Why the viewpoint of the Wombles (who, incidentally, I've never met and have no connection with) is necessarily hypocritical is beyond me. Why you cannot argue that the WSF has moved away from its stated principles to become an institution that "parallel(s) the development of capitalist institutions" and therefore claim your action is in-line with those Principles seems strange. The only way you could say it was hypocritical is if those invading the stage believed the institution of the WSF/ESF is completely in line with its Charter of Principles and yet were strangely against one and pro the other.
Callinicos also states "I have no doubt that the perpetrators of these incidents are politically hostile to the entire Social Forum project". However, how can they be said to be politically hostile to the entire Social Forum project when they are willing to defend its Charter of Principles (at least in part)? Oh sorry, forgot, that was only a hypocritical defense in Callinicos' viewpoint so there's no need to consider what they actually said in any detail. It's so much easier to try and claim that those invading the stage are against absolutely everything to do with the Social Forum than engage in a reasoned debate about their viewpoint.
Even ignoring Callinicos' references to "Black Blocs" (designed more as a smear than as meaningful commentary) the whole article is strange, particularly in its refusal to deal in any meaningful way with the reasons behind the stage invasion. He ends his screed with the comment "we need to draw the lesson: violence doesn't belong within our movement, and neither do those who bring it into the movement". Why can't it be learning the lesson that any aspect of capitalism has no place within our movement, or members of capitalist political parties have no place within our movement? Of course, to do this would mean a more sophisticated argument that stage invaders = black bloc = violence = bad = no need to deal with any of their arguments.
Leam
GR Arrest
29.10.2004 08:17
I saw the GR activist getting searched. it was OUTSIDE liverpool street station, hours after the demo had finished - where the police had been harassing various autonomous groups on their way to various autonomous spaces in the area throughout the week. It wasnt a special event put on specifically for the "GR activist" nor was it restricted purely to Sunday.
Comdemning the arrests of your own certified "activists" (the gr bloke i saw searched is a SWper) but saying nothing on the systematic arrests and harassments of grassroots (they werent all anarchists) activists across london over the week, just shows what a shortsighted and bigoted view you have of the "movement" which you're all so keen to brand as your own.
snout
er, who's hierachical?
29.10.2004 09:24
youze crack me up. every rant, rage and tantrum posted against the swp is chock full of threats (often of physical violence) and an incredible amount of authoritarianism.
every thing you acuse the swp of you do more. every strereotype you fit better.
i grant you the SWP is very well organised, but why do you think you have the right to exclude (and in the process divide) us from things? you dont own the movement kid. so stop acting like you do.
Branham
masked posturing
29.10.2004 10:27
There is no justification for the violent assaults they launched at the ESF.It was dangerous juvenile posturing at a time when the far right are on the march.
The arguments could have been made in the meeting and on the demonstration but the physical assaults were launched instead .Were they planned or did they just seem like a good idea at the time?
Huw
huw
Insane Anarchist ravings
29.10.2004 11:25
Gee we better ring Jeremy Corbyn MP and tell him he is no longer welcome in the anti-capitalist and anti-war movements.
Oh hang on that would involve using a mobile phone which means supporting capitalism. Well I'm out of ideas..anyone else?
Crying Gazza Doll
Yawn
29.10.2004 12:25
Violence: there wasn't any, other than a table being turned. I don't think that was necessary, and people occupying the stage were calling for non-violence throughout, as the 'official ESF security' ("Yeah I am a trot, and proud of it. What of it, mate?") tried to pull people off the stage and verbally abused them.
Theft: I very much doubt it, and said so at the time, pathetic slur, worthy of the Daily Mail.
Masks: Staying at, or just visiting, the Beyond ESF space people were subjected to constant police surveillance and harrassment. For attending workshops! I'm not going to make it any easier for the police to track my movements and activities. Unlike the paper sellers I actually do stuff, and stuff the police don't like.
Black Bloc: It was a group of people from all organisations and from none, mostly Europeans who had been to the Beyond space. They were a 'bloc' in the good sense, a group of people who agreed in principle to the reasoning behind the demonstration/intervention, and were willing to show solidarity with those who actually wanted to do the speaking. Solidarity, it's a concept you may hav heard of, not just a Polish trade union. The Black Bloc was a tactic, not a bogeyman. Callenicos shows he's writing for Daily Mail-style audiences. But then Socialist Worker is just as unthinking and 'rah rah'.
Have you watched the video of the event? The multi-national speakers, not one wearing a mask, make lucid, eloquent and powerful statements about the ways in which the people organising the ESF have betrayed its principles, and thus it has been turned into a capitalist event. Let he who has eyes see, let she who has ears hear...
stage-invader
What about this beauty?
29.10.2004 12:42
Check this out re Callinicos: "He's happy to take a wage from the state to spout neo-trot bullshit."
Oooh! a "wage from the state"! How evil! just like those evil nurses, teachers and street cleaners - all public sector workers (who socialists - libertarian or otherwise MUST defend) who take a "wage from the state."
These people make me sick. They are cowardly wankers who don't have the bottle to physically challenge CAPITALISM (too many cops and guns and high walls for 'em I guess) so they pick on the softest targets imaginable - peaceful gatherings of trade unionists and Trots and other left types who are unlikely to fire tear gas at them.
They then go home and feel all smug and self-righteous that they are more pure than everyone else so anything justifies the means. Just like al Qaida and Islamic Jihad. Arseholes.
Listen: if you are a "non-hierachical" activist (the word you're looking for is anarchist, mate) then you believe in liberty and freedom. You also believe in civil society and an end to oppression. So who appointed you the Movement's fuckin Stormtroopers? Sieg bastard heil, you pathetic bigheads.
There will probably now be a post from someone denouncing me as "middle class" or some such bullshit based on the poster's (faulty) psychic powers, but I'm past caring. The world will never change as long as some people talk the language of brotherhood while carrying on like the biggest, most tantrum-throwing egotistical wankers imaginable.
Get a fuckin grip - the lot of you. Jeesus.
A fucking anarchist who happily works with other LEFTIES
'The SWP dont do it for me' - Linton Kwesi Johnson
29.10.2004 12:46
Pete Smith
Stop shouting, Huw
29.10.2004 13:27
(See for example, 'Thoughts of an anarchist scumbag' here:
As I recall none of the photos posted on thise site show activists who are masked.
If we're going to avoid pointless bickering then you need to stop ranting based on demonstrably false statements like those in the article above. Plus demanding people stand up to be identified by comrades, Official Committees, polis, the fash and the secret services when that isn't necessary is a bit unwise.
you don't know me, I have no relevant agenda here
Reply to HUW
29.10.2004 13:36
one of many
Dear ‘stage invaders’, security services, BNP members, racists and anti-demo
29.10.2004 14:02
Shrimp
I was there too
29.10.2004 14:45
In all seriousness, I think it is time for the SWP member who carried out this violent attack did the honourable thing, and proved to the rest of us that he wasn't black bloc in disguise, or actually an infiltrating fascist. Because violence has no part in our movement.
Or something................................................................snore.
What a load of fuckin rubbish! The arguments the SWP supporters resort to are the equivalent of doublespeak. They can bitch as much as they like but the networks throughout Europe have seen what the authoritarian left is like in this country now - particularly their response to the stage intervention - , and will be much less likely to work with them in the future. And more likely to listen to us horizontal types.
Own goal Swappies - Yippie!
Krop
divide-and-rule again, and some suspicious trolls
29.10.2004 15:21
Sure as eggs the verticals will go on doing their thing, we need to do ours but better.
Also I'm getting suspicious of some of the more abusive and divisive comments, both supposed SWP and supposed anarchist. Divide-and-rule remember, we don't know who any of these posters really are.
type
attention all black bloc
29.10.2004 15:29
lets grap the moment ,storm their protest, smash their teeth in and break some bones in the process. the great thing is that we no need to worry about getting hurt , does not matter if we assualt non-swp members or livingston supporters as it is their fault beening associated with these scum.
i plan to be the first one to steal a purse from some old gripper and i treat u all to a pint after .we all can get pissed and talk about our tremendous role we have played in the movement.
cu there
ps dont forget to bring your knuckle dusters, cant wait to give swp loving scum a black eye or two.
psycho
Stormin' a teapot
29.10.2004 15:36
There were Roma representatives waiting to speak and what they must have thought of the "intervention" who knows ...
As for the person who threatened to come round with the fistful of fivers why don't you take it instead to an anti fascist organisation but for god sake take off the mask first!
Huw
huw
the "Movement"
29.10.2004 15:53
There is no fucking "The Movement". We can act together for change, which is fine if it works, and we can act on our own, which is also fine if it works. We don't need to wait til self-appointed leaders "Build A Mass Movement!!" before getting off our arses to do something.
What has your "The Movement" achieved so far? The big march against the war? Lots of people were there,some were part of various parties including the SWP, or as GR/STWC/SA/(sub your favourite SWP front group). Others came with peace groups, union groups or religious groups. A lot were just ordinary people fucked off about the coming war. These people weren't "Working to Build A Mass Movement!", they were just there to join in on an action. Got any independent data on how many came that day because you printed up lots of placards and helped haggle with the cops over using Hyde Park? No? Then stop claiming credit for everything that happened that day.
When anti-capitalist actions kicked off in Seattle and Genoa and more recent follow-on actions, your "The Movement" was standing at the sidelines, selling its shitty little paper, and pointing out "troublemakers" to the cops.
Once you saw an opportunity to recruit, you started forming groups like GR , calling yourselves "The Movement", and going around saying things like 'violent people like the Wombles have no place in The Movement"'.
As for your pious wank about "violence and intimidation", let's not forget that the SWiPpies aren't above "violence and intimidation" themselves when it suits them, against rival Trot sects. Here's one example of a bit of seven-against-two violence:
John
The SWP are now isolated
29.10.2004 19:55
These Leninist boot boys, without the muscle, get one sniff of the big time, and they decide to comprehensively blow it. The next project they will mess up is RESPECT.
Why do they shoot themselves in the foot, again and again? What's with the death wish?
Anyway, I am sure we are all sick of mentioning them by now. Onwards!
HH
dear shrimp
29.10.2004 20:35
but then the trots never understood what social forums were supposed to be about so why am i even remotely surprized?
i love the violent black bloc thing though, its daily mail rhetoric like this that'll keep your movement irrelevent to the majority of people involved in struggles for social justice.
scary bad anarchist in fetching pink glittery mask