UK Indymedia | StWC 'will not co-operate' with police

Stop the War Coalition has written to the Home Secretary protesting the decision to ban yesterday's anti-war march and the "violent policing of the demonstration." The letter, signed by Andrew Murray and Lindsey German, warns: "there can be no question of any further co-operation between the Stop the War Coalition and the Metropolitan Police in regard to future protests until these concerns are addressed to our satisfaction."

The letter argues, "There could under no circumstances be any justification for the repeated and uncontrolled assault on peaceful demonstrators who at most were doing no more than attempting to proceed up Whitehall and in many cases were actually endeavouring to comply with police instructions.

"We hold that this conduct is entirely unacceptable in a democratic country.
The determination of the police to ensure that our voices cannot be heard in
Whitehall on an issue of urgent public controversy, at the apparent behest of
the US President, presents a bleak picture of the government's priorities."

For more including the full text of the letter see the StWC press release at

https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/stwc-press/2008-06/msg00007.html

Does this mean that STWC will shortly be issuing a press release apologising to the anti-authoritarian movement for stewards antagonising them, impeding their movement, labelling them the reason the anti-war movement has died, etc? Presumably, STWC have seen the error of their ways and realised the reason we stand against the state.

maybe some waking up is on the cards?

I wouldn't hold your breath. The real test will be what they do when the government tell them to get stuffed.

before the demo people on this site stated that it was not banned, now that this has been proven false, people have then claimed that stop the war supporters did not attempt to break through police barriers, so it must of been the anarchists who were holding socialist worker placards that i have seen on the majority of photos being attacked by police, attempting to break through etc.

maybe stop the war demo's in the past have been 2 peaceful, but i think the higher concentration of revolutionaries (of all traditions) the greater the chance of more direct protesting. Furthermore the 2 demo's in which the police have tried to ban (one ban was lifted, the other wasn't) has lead to angrier protests.

i think we should stop the war between the various groups of the movement, and resist the wars (future wars) in whatever way people think is tactically best. My favoured position is to win over sections of organised labour to have industrial action against wars, like the dock workers in America but on a greater scale if possible.

"there can be no question of any further co-operation between the Stop the War Coalition and the Metropolitan Police in regard to future protests until these concerns are addressed to our satisfaction."

That leaves it open doesn't it? What can we say their satisfaction will be - there can be no question they will get an apology or anything like that, but there could be all other ways for them to back out of this little stand they seem to have made. Even a reply from the cops saying 'thanks for writing - we appreciate your concerns and are looking into them right now, oh yes' could be deemed 'satisfactory' by German and co.

Also, what cooperation do they mean to withdraw? STWC has never done anything other than march, and it actively DETRACTED AND MALIGNED attempts by others in the anti-war movement to take direct action or simply a more creative activity than A to B marches and static rallies [they did not support the Fairford Airbase coaches and do not support the SmashEDO campaign, for example]. If STWC does not cooperate in its' next march along the same central london routes they have taken since trotskyism began, so what? It still a perfectly policeable, and largely ineffectual event. Of course a peaceful march can be effective, but not if it is *the only tactic being employed* and especially not if it has become a bi-monthly activity over 5 years. Does anyone think that the turnout reflects public opposition? Of course not. Only 2000 people turned up cos the rest of us were bored shitless of boring marches. And considering we saw that the biggest protest in human history, February the 15th 2003, had no effect at all, are STWC really surprised people aren't turniung up?

Finally, the distinction German has drawn here between 'peaceful protestors' and the implied violent protestors is false, and it's counter-productive. The problem is not that the police attacked peaceful protestors, it is that they were guarding a war criminal first and foremost, and more generally, defending the rulers and architects of this sick social system. There is no 'right way' to do that. If they did it politely, they'd still be doing it. If they handed out jelly and ice cream to the crowd, and repelled us with a hail of soft toys and £50 notes, they'd still be doing it. It is also dishonest to ignore the fact that the crowd were attacking the police, which is why the police were attacking the crowd. The cops didn't just randomly steam old ladies, people were chucking steel barriers at them. And for fucks sake, GOOD. Without even needing to go into whether you think capitalism is a good idea or whether we need a police force, this is the simple truth: the war is less popular than the Vietnam war was in America when America pulled out. It is hugely unpopular; it is opposed by a majority of the country. So militant protest like disrupting Bush's visit is perfectly legitimate when there is absolutely no parliamentary option open. And that is not an anarchist perspective, that is a classic liberal and even conservative tenet; rulers who ignore majority opinion and radically dimish public good face justified revolt. The violence this war has brought to us - from the millions dead on all sides in afghanistan and iraq to those who were killed and will be killed in this city by future terrorist attacks - is far greater than anything we could bring to it.

And fuck the STWC, they don't mean a word of it. They exist to promote their own sectional interests to the crowds they hope will stand politely and listen to them at the end of their deadening events. They are not even trying to win the argument, rather than convert those who are already opposed to the war to their particular religion or leftist party; for evidence, see the no show at the event in central London the day before - the Support our Troops rally! Or the fact they regularly hold events on the same weekend as the London Soldier, the army's biggest PR and recruitment drive in the South East! What, actually talk to someone who might support the war? Sod that, lets go and listen to the SWP and its Islamist mates talk bollocks on the other side of the city.

Well done to those who turned up and made a stand on Sunday, you actually had more of an impact media wise than the last 3 to 4 years of marching. You are inspiring people.

Never back down, never give in, dare to struggle, dare to win.

You anarchists should go on the STWC coalition demos and distribute tracts about how the STWC is a SWP vehicle, which is either an MI5 front or a counter-revolutionary party, with all the anarchist ideological analysis that entails. Then people will have informed choice whether to follow the vanguardist types into their riots.

Great post, well said, I do think as anarchsts there is more we could do and should be doing, if people within STWC are frustrated and not towing the line (sTWC stewards at the front trying to stop any attempt to push past the police) and as you rightly point out STWC leadership are only going to lead this recent and inspirational turn into more deal making with the state, like the unions, then it is ripe time for an alternative.

I refer you to an ealier comment:

A proposal:

If there is one thing amonst all the active anarchist groups in the uk that we can agree on, it is that we don't want war, and would like to see a militant movement against it. There are plenty of groups with resources, that if pooled, we could build a strong militant movement against the war. Specifically I am thinking of a militant version of STWC, without the hirachy, or underlying recruitment agenda.

off the top of my head i can think of quite a few networks, groups, and organisations who could contribute to this(I am not a member of any of these): EF!, SolFed, Anarchist Federation, IWW, and maybe even some single issue campaigns might want to get on board, like Smash EDO, and Shut Down HK. (sorry for anyone i missed, I am writing this whilst thinking it).

whatya think?

"

I won't be holding my breath - unlike some tories, I'm not into asphyxiation.

> before the demo people on this site stated that it was not banned
> now that this has been proven false

It hasn't been proven false, the road was closed, the march wasn't banned.

If there was a ban the road would have been open to anyone not demonstrating.

> people have then claimed that stop the war supporters did not attempt
> to break through police barriers

No, they've pointed out that Stop the War stewards tried to form a second line to support the police.

> so it must of been the anarchists who were holding socialist worker placards

Yes.

its stupid to assert that everyone that holds a particular type of placard is of that leaning. the socialist and the left list and respect were handing their anti-war placards to everyone. it is stupid to say that everyone that was holding an swp placard was/is part of swp, they didnt check to find out what political leaning you were before they gave them to you. also with the barrier being taken down, they wasnt done exclusively by the anarchists that were their, it was a popular response initiated by those who were at the front of the march, it is silly to surgest that anarchists werent there taking the barriers down because they were, however it is equally stupid to say that 4-12 people were able to get 1000 people to cheer and support the work of those at the front, just as many sticks were thrown from the back as from the front. although many people from the swp were chanting anti police slogans, when they came to the front it was to try and stop people take apart the barriers, therefore it can be concluded that the leadership of the swp didnt intend to take the barriers down and for the most part were not in control of the march, even though they tried, especially to the beginning when they physically tried to stop people getting in front of their banners or moving at the speed they wanted to by pushing people back and forming a line and not letting anyone past, you can see it in various photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8tckeRra90

this fella had an impact on the cops, despite what we sometimes all think, they are in fact human(well the majority are anyway) and can influenced if done in the right manner. Resorting to violence ain't ever gonna achieve that and also justifies their actions to themselves

STW should never have started working with the cops in the first place. If they really wanted to march there were no barriers at the St James Place end. As a rule of thumb remember that STW will take you to where the police want you to be taken ;-) Same thing happened at the Tony Blair noise demo. I did see a few banners proclaiming STW and SWP to be rubbish and in bed with the govt. (It easy enough to take apart the SWP banners and turn them around to write your own(although this does piss off the STW stewards, oh well)

The general masses have still got a lot of waking up to do. I believe a lot more people were woken up to the reality behind STWC on Sunday. Direct Action has mass support in Latin America as a legitimate tactic, but we are not on the same general level of consciousness in this country. Still, there's plenty to still be learnt from our South American brothers and sisters. This was taken from the AP this morning...

"Protesters take police hostage in Peru"
Thousands of protesters have overwhelmed Peruvian riot police, taking at least 60 hostage and defeating their push to end a week-long blockade in the mining region that has left cities without food or fuel.

AP article and few pics @

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4587091a12.html
VIDEO:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7458517.stm

of course i believe that anarchists were trying to take down the barriers, but anarchists do not have a monopoly on this activity, what you are implying is that anarchists who constantly demoan the swp and other groups as agents of the state (or lesser insults) would be willing to carry socialist worker placards, i don't think they would be. the people on the demo will be from all traditions and non. just for arguments sake who on this site has or will carry a socialist worker placard? (they look better when they are flying through the air at the police).

left without food or fuel in the UK so whatever those peruvians are doing cannot be compared to anti war demos here IMO.

How would British cities react to such shortages and would those peruvians do the same if their country were doing the sort of things our country does abroad while they have plenty in their stomach ?

Anyway, it seems to me that STWC is at some pain to avoid/prevent some form of escalation of the confrontation from taking place.

WTF do they give a shit if a government building is stormed by a crowd of protesters or else of that sort during a protest against the lawless genocidal acts perpetrated by our country they organize ?

AFRAID OF THE MASSIVE MEDIA COVERAGE IT WOULD YELD MAYBE ?

WTF do they give a shit that Tony Blair can go in and out his conference without even hearing a protester ?

BECAUSE POOR TONY CANNOT COPE TO BE CONFRONTATED WITH ANYTHING REAL JUST LIKE STALIN COULD NOT AND ALL THE STREETS HAD TO BE EMPTIED WHEN HE PASSED THROUGH ?

I once chucked a glass coke-a-cola bottle at a copper, does that mean i'm a corporate whore sponsoring the mega corp, see stick use stick simple as, and hey if i was to travel to a demo with a piece of 2-by-4 do you think the met would let me through the barriers at the tube? Any way why bring tools when the swper stoods provide them for you

Wake up..

StWC 'will not co-operate' with police

Comments

Interesting development...

we put the coffee on quite a while ago

@ rogue

stopping the wars

note "to our satisfaction"

/thread

liberty and solidarity/anarchist-communist

Monkeybot

reading the bans

clearing up a few points

This is how to deal with the cops

Protesters take police hostage in Peru

of course

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