A re-assuring 2/300 people joined the autonomous bloc on the TUC March yesterday for a good natured and increasingly liquid stroll through London to Trafalgar Square. As ever police presence was high and way over the top but the march passed without incident and no arrests were made.
At the Square the bloc briefly took residence at the front of Nelson's Column, resulting in an amusing battle of the banners with the trots (which we won) and some terse discussions about the origins of the Labour Movement. As the speakers droned on about Health and Safety legislation and the minimum wage, the red and black flags scattered throughout the crowd pointed to a different kind of resistance to the reformist wank dribbling from the stage.
Chants of "Escalate the Class War" and "All Coppers are Bastards" lent a nice retro feel to the day as did the presence of Class War and Antifa. the Poll Tax riots is was not however, but in the current mood of doom hanging over the anarchist movement in the UK it was good to see faces old and new back out on the streets.
More pics at
http://johnnyvoid.blogspot.com
Chants of "Escalate the Class War" and "All Coppers are Bastards" lent a nice retro feel to the day as did the presence of Class War and Antifa. the Poll Tax riots is was not however, but in the current mood of doom hanging over the anarchist movement in the UK it was good to see faces old and new back out on the streets.
More pics at
http://johnnyvoid.blogspot.com
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Keeping the movement tiny
03.05.2007 11:30
Robert Ricko
tired
04.05.2007 13:26
to roberto rico
05.05.2007 17:41
But let me deal with your objections one by one:
wearing all black - well i think we know where this comes from and i agree that it is strange to wear all black if you don't actually intend to riot. However, the police generally decide whether things become a riot by attacking the block - if you are all in black then you have less chance of being identified later by the cops. Also, as happened last year, fascists take pictures of these marches or pull them from indymedia and the BBC, to identify anarchists. This not only makes you at risk from fasists but also from your employers who may use your association with anarchism against you at work. Obviously the same goes for the police photograpers.
Wearing all black is stupid though, i agree. If people need to hide their identity it can be done casually with a cap, high collar and a scarf. Not that many people were even wearing masks, but the pics posted have mainly been of masked people after the fascists copied pictures of indymedia last year.
using words like autonomous - fucking hell, is it any worse than anarchist or socialist? you say:
"How can we expect to grow into a mass movement if we set these conditions for joining us?"
i assume you are talking about the anarchist movement. Well, unfortunately the anarchist movement is called um, the anarchist movement. Its no worse than calling it the autonous workers movement or libertarian communism. There's a certain set of ideas involved and if interested ppl are going to fall at the first hurdle with the name, the fuck can we do? Lets be honest about our politics, but in straightforward and engaging ways. Nobody should join or reject a movement on the strength of a name really mate.
"flying black and red flags" - oh come on, thats the flag of anarchism! Its the most uniting symbol and least offensive one we have. Its free of the connections with punk like the circle A, less creepy than the black flag (which fascists, nationlaists and islamists all fly as well) and unites all class struggle tendencies. If you look here:
you will see the red and black flying from Indonesia to Bulgaria, from Turkey to Sweden. You are welcome to your opinion, and i understand it, but personally i rate the flag highly.
Anyway, if you came, nice one, and nice one to everybody who made the block happen.
Keep it up.
Mike Moraghn