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5 Years after J18 in London’s Square Mile - Is Anti-Capitalism Dead in the Water?
 international |
anti-capitalism |
feature
 Saturday July 03, 2004 16:56 by a - b
'On June 18th the traders ran away. They fled the buildings'
 From The Newswire:
In Genoa we sprayed the Carabineri vans with the slogan “We are Winning”. But increasingly it seems like we’re not winning. Where next?
"Its been five years since the global street party in London on June 18th 1999 brought the fight to where it mattered – the square mile, the heart of the City. Much as North American activists would like you to believe that the “Battle of Seattle” was the first major anti-capitalist street demonstration to hit the western/northern world, they’re just practising their usual cultural imperialism again (presumably they’re blinded to the reality of it with an inflated impression of their own self-importance) – now all the world can share in Michael Moore, Eric Schlosser, Greg Palast, Naomi Klein, etc, instead of hearing a range of global voices fighting against capitalism (someone referred to it as “McActivism” the other day)."
Related Links/Materials
Photograps from the June 18th action in London
Why London Mayday was cancelled this year
Reclaim The Commons in San Franscisco
G8 Fix Shit Up!
Another article on the possible end of the anti-capitalist movement
Discussion thread of the article on Urban75
Despite the heralding of a new dawn by neo-liberal prophets, history had not ended, and down in the global south popular people’s movements had been organising autonomously in their communities for five years prior to 1999. In the rich north, where the quality of life is considerably better, but still many problems exist in society, this movement took its time to get started. But when it did, it arrived with a bang.
On June 18th the traders ran away. They fled the buildings. They shit their pants, the cops were caught on the hop and the London financial district was well and truly fucked over good and proper. There was a real sense of danger, excitement, and opportunity. The capitalists had never seen anything like it. They were used to seeing the lefties selling papers and collecting signatures for petitions, but the willingness of the crowd to engage in large scale direct property damage took everyone by surprise (including many of the protesters!). The crowd, with no central hierarchy or leadership, stayed one step ahead of the cops for most of the day, making it a success.
The cancellation of the autonomous Mayday events in London this year coupled with the recent failure of large scale street resistance to emerge against the G8 meeting in the USA seems to spell something of an end (or perhaps a refractory period) for the anti-capitalist movement in the “first” world. The Mayday Collective put out a long and detailed statement on their reasons for not calling the weekend or day of actions which had been a high point on the calendar for the past four years. There was the usual standard trade union/reformist march, populated with paper sellers from Stalinist/Trotskyist parties, reminiscent of the late 80’s.
Perhaps it is that the element of surprise is gone – and the capitalists are used to us taking our confrontations to their front door (or attempting to). The WTO delegates huddled together in fear in November 1999 in their conference centre, with the smell of tear gas coming in the ventilation shafts. This year at the “Reclaim The Commons” action in San Francisco, there were reports of biotechnology conference delegates laughing as police cut demonstrators out who were locked down at various traffic junctions, while others strode confidently with police escorts through groups of shouting demonstrators, not batting an eyelid. They know now that any time we try to organise a spectacular summit crash, they will have the forces of law and order on their side, and the cops will have done their intelligence homework.
Another argument runs that the anti-capitalist movement in the north failed to provide any coherent workable alternative economic model to capitalism when it was taking hold of people’s imaginations. There never was any one single answer – what gives the movement its energy is its diversity. There are a myriad of answers to the worlds problems, and asking people will give no one single ideology to follow. But the continuing hypocrisy of anti-capitalists in everyday life stripped the movement of widespread credibility. At this stage we ALL know about sweatshop labour, yet how many people running in the streets still wear Nike or Adidas shoes? Likewise we campaigned against the likes of McDonalds & Burger King, but many happily go home and eat meat from the supermarket. There are ethical alternatives out there; we cannot be expected to exist in a vacuum free from the market, but people are not seeking everyday solutions out and acting practically on their beliefs.
The G8 protests this year in the USA attracted very few people on the streets – at one point it was estimated that there were 50 law enforcement officials for each protester. But the anarchists there decided that they wanted to try and step beyond the simple “shut it down” ethos that had dominated the tactics of street confrontations with the state. Their action was called “Fix Shit Up!” and was an attempt to repair derelict houses in the economically depressed town of Brunswick (which is a first hand victim of the effects of globalisation). Again their efforts were hampered by police harassment but this was a valiant effort to take the ideals of DIY, anarchism, and autonomy to communities affected by poverty.
Perhaps this is what is needed for a couple of years in order to reinvigorate the movement. Bringing the ideas of a mostly street/summit based movement into local communities and applying the ethos of direct action to smaller, more manageable goals. Running around in circles with the cops may be fun, but unfortunately it seems to be getting us nowhere, with every summit seeing a drop in protester numbers and a massive increase in policing (often with violent oppressive consequences for those that do show up to demonstrate). Its not about diluting the message of our movement but applying it to situations where the effects of globalisation are immediately visible and tangible.
Reaching out into communities and developing links with other groups wont be half as much fun as smashing windows or setting police cars on fire. It will be tough work, lots of negotiation and discussion, and often boring as hell. But if we are serious about revolution, we will need a much higher level of support then the one we have now. This may take a few years to build (and again it is questionable how much potential support there is in the developed world), but at least in a few years time when we take to the streets again, other people who are not directly involved in summit confrontations will understand our means and methods, and hopefully lend us moral and logistical support.
A revolution is certainly not just around the corner as some over-excitable politicos would have you believe. But it can happen any time, now is always the best time. As Bob Black says, “You want revolution now? I wish I had your patience.” We will have to be patient though – as well as engaging in direct actions and summit crashes, we will need to constantly be re-evaluating our every move over the next five years if we are to achieve something lasting from the last five years. We need to step back and work beyond protest as protest. Otherwise it will all become another brief period in history for academia to pour over, or fodder for countless products for the market to consume (already happening) instead of a vibrant political alternative to capitalism, the state, and corporate monopolies.
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Comments (25 of 25)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25This article hasnt been posted anywhere else on other Indymedia newswires.
The movement dies down elsewhere just as it's taking off in Ireland. Typical, really, always at least five years behind :-) (remember mullets in the 90s?)
D.
Reaching out into communities to build a base? That is exactly what any halfway decent left wing group has been trying, with varying (mostly little) degrees of success, to do for years. Have you only discovered this now?
By all means go do it but do not expect to be discovering fertile ground too easy, in the real world work on issues (in Ireland) like bin tax and anti-social behaviour (yes- community "policing") has brought support from working communities.
it feels like such a long time.
there's a dinosaur called "saturnalia langer".
movements don't die, they become something else that is why we use that word.
we dont try and convey something static, never did it's organic. It goes sprouts grows energises comes back spirals models moves. Oh it was very moving. moved me anyway. But it ought be remembered that for the vast majority of people who took part in that bit of mass psychological resistance and alternative groundwork still can't put it on their CVs. It don't help you buy toilet paper.
However worthy, most protest movements deal with whatever a chosen few have deemed to be trendy issues or political footballs.
Some middle class will always be frustrated (e.g., nationalists from C18-C21), and will endeavour to dragoon the populus into this private bourgeois discontent, while at the same time, keeping control of the dogma.
If there is a whiff of hierarchy of any organization, there is probably some doctrine involved that requires some sort of education or initiation.
The main point is - the self-appointed saviours of humanity (on the bottom rung), like their counterparts on the top rung, tend to preach, and prefer not to listen, dialogue or learn from their would-be footsoldiers. Frustrated that no-one listens to their polemic, and that the proletariat will not act on their prince-like kiss, they fail to see the white heat of humanity - that it's empathy that communicates more than ego, understanding more than doctrine.
Leadership is good - that is, leading by example; encouraging people not to be afraid to be themselves or say what they really think.
More importantly, as a-b rightly says; back to the practical, the everyday revolution; doing things constructive that actually make a difference. Do to or for others as you would have them do to you in the same position.
The free economy will bring down that of exploitation and competition, but now through demos or even direct action, but through positive engagement in that free economy.
Don't just theorise
LIVE YOUR ANARCHY, LOVE YOUR ANARCHY
yeah it s hard to belive it s 5 years but so what
nice one to the person who wrote this article its well written and the sort thang we need to talk about about
but we nah dead
the anti capitalist movement is not dead
maybe as a spectacular news story that came to a head circa genoa we are dead but so what
somebig demos ie mayday in london have become un workable but that is largely due to police tactics we get swamped by pigs
we cant do that anymore we need to change our tactics makeour resistance tactical and unpredictable
even every day project workable
mayday was cancelled in london but so what essentially the closely knit and boring circle ofpeople who have organised anticapitalist actions in london for the last few years have run outof ideas
they had no right to unilaterally cancel mayday
how many of the thousands of people who over the years have celebrated mayday in london actually went to their boring meetings??
they should of said nothing and see what happened
but why should the same peopleorganise mayday every year?
there was certainly a really low turn out for the g8 in america but that is due to many people going low key if not underground due to post 911 paranoia police pressure
and people moving away rightly or wrongly from largescale akshun
anyway look at what was achieved in ireland this un heard of anti state and anti capitalist anti war action things are looking up
in the majority world the struggle continues day by day
capital and state are always in a state of unsteadiness and unstable power relations
the world is still restless hence the growing police state to keep tabs on us
as mumia says
"todays empires are tomorrows ashes and not to resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression"
or something likethat
often things really goes upside down
just when they seem really quiet
people always have and people always will fight power and opression
love and respect
benny blanko
pp no job no future no problem
the transformation of bringing global to local is on going. Four years ago irish activists were going to Faslane to tackle militarisation etc. Now they are protesting against Ratheon and Shannon. The ideas of European privitisation agendas are being tackled by students opposing privatistion in Colleges. The bin tax etc etc the transformation is a slow and tedious process. Capitalism isn't a house of cards unfortunatley, challenging it can't be niether. GIVE FOLKS A CHANCE
Pity about the kind of troublemakers who have dishonoured it. People got turned off because of the type of people involved.
j18 .....troublemakers.... turned off?
do you know what your trolling?
these anarchists are giving up already? give me a good old fashioned communist anyday, they're in for the long haul
I can see why someone who only got involved in the last 5 or so years might feel that things have slowed down but you want to take a bit of a longer term perspective on it. The first recorded strike happened amongst the tomb builders of the Valley of the Kings some 3,500 years ago if you want to go back that far. There have been a lot of ups and downs since then.
J18 and the summit protests worked because they were something new that the state took time to adjust too. The numbers who took part were if anything less than the numbers of protesters who took part in later summit protests but it took the state a couple of years to polish its tactics to the level at which it could deal with all but massive numbers. Follow the histofy from Seattle to Prague to Quebec to Genoa and you see a history of bigger numbers achieving less because of a better and better prepared state.
On the other hand the summits which are symbolic exercises legtimising the decisions made before them have been undermined. Most have now fled the major cities to off shore islands and police dictatorships.
You advocate a turn to community organising. Yet the ONLY purpose of the summit protests was that they made it easier to organise on a local basis. You seem to want to turn this on its head so that the only purpose of local organising is to prepare for summit protests. What would be the purpose of this, such protests could never have been anything more that a spectacle.
Local organisation (and developing global co-ordination) are the goal even if often they don't attract the same excitment of the big protests and even if they involve you organising with people who look like your parents.
Some have being saying it for a while
It ain't gonna be easy people, but I reckon it's doable. Outright success as we might wish for may never happen. But we must get as close as we can get. Even if that’s only 10 to 20% of the way that would mean the saving of millions of lives over time and the reduction of oppression on so many more millions.
If just one life can be saved by our actions, or one persons misery eased by our action, then I reckon our actions are worth it. And have achieved, albeit not to the extent that we would have wanted them to achieve.
The "movement" seems to be continually growing around the world which has to be a good thing. Though I would fear it could run out of steam, as I think the author of this article is alluding to, if tangible results are not achieved.
I also very much agree with the author that CONSTANT, CRITICAL, self-assessment must be made over the next 5 years by EVERYBODY if we are to have any chance of succeeding. To this end I believe the use of STATISTICS is vitally important. Though certainly life is not all about statistics, I feel good statistics are vitally needed in order to be able to make critical assessments. Again much of work and success (or lack of!) is not easy to gage.
When 150,000 went to the streets of Dublin and so many millions around the world - these were easier statistics to quantify and they were plain for everyone to see. And we can of course see how these statistics pointed to success, even if only momentary, being achieved.
Can anyone point to any statistical sites which are gauging our gaging?? Are there any!!!
Just SOME of the stats that I would like to see:-
1. Obviously the growth in Indymedia is one great thing. Anyone got exact stats? And has anyone got stats on hits worldwide and on the Irish sites and comparisons over time??
2. I would also like to see stats on the major worldwide demos. Are the numbers definitely decreasing and by how much? Do the protestors feel they have achieved something? Will they go again? Do they feel its getting pointless? We need SURVEYS.
3. Has anyone got figures for the numbers at the Bush protests??
4. It would be nice to try and get some figures on the level of activism in Ireland and indeed worldwide. How many activists are out there? Is this number growing? Not easy to figures to ascertain for sure - but nothing in life is easy!
But there is always a way.
Regards,
98% of people in Ireland have a TV and the average Irish person watches 3 1/2 hours a day. In Italy and the US its 4 1/2 hours a day.
Most people don't lead - they follow. They follow their parents; they follow their culture; they follow their teachers; they follow the ads and movies and shows they see on TV.
It is not enough for those who don't accept the status quo to just denounce it and protest against it. SOMEBODY must lead the world to a better place - a better way.
Maybe that 'somebody' is a person,; maybe its an organisation; maybe its a government; maybe its a movement or a book or an alien presence from the planet zog. Maybe its a hungry African kid. Whatever. But some mind or minds have to imagine and invent a new way of living and being that WORKS.
If people have a choice between what they have and something better, then they'll choose something better. If they have a choice between what they have and the unknown, then most people will stick with what they have - however destructive and damaging it is.
Those who would change the world must invent a new way that works. I don't know what this new way might look like, but here's some guesses;
-It would be open source
-It would be viral
-It would provide for basic material needs
-It would be accessible to anybody
-It would confer status/dignity and security
-It would be genuinely independent of the corporate capitalist world
How about a genuine open-source religion that taps the power of spirituality without the baggage of the past?
How about an open-source currency - a currency for every occasion?
How about a genuine open-source economy running parallel to corporate capitalism?
How about an open-source media (!!!)
The new way is right in front of our eyes, but we don't know what it is yet. We need creativity and imagination to see it.
hmm stats i dunno bout that?
its not about the 100,000 did on the streets its what they did next
how they live their(my) lives
What about about all the people you know who own their own businesses, part of the capitalist system? Are they to be condemned?
The above would include street traders in my mind also.
What about farmers markets, people selling their own organic produce, their own arts & crafts, software, etc.
How about more grass-roots capitalism!
A good place to begin opposing, or at least restraining, capitalism is in your own workplace by organising a union. After all, workplaces are where we create wealth. most of which we don't receive, and where we spend most of our waking hours.
Any Indymedia reader wanting to know more can e-mail me at the address above.
i dont really understand the urge to go back and discuss all this on indymedia ireland now, what happened in London June 1999.
and the photos and versions of what happened are many-
My only thoughts are there were objectives-
* To print and distribute as many copies as "Evading Standards" as possible.
* To close the Bank of England and suspend trading on the London City Floors.
* To create a media furore.
* To plant the seeds of a Left popular revival associated with street based "carnival" activity.
and all these objectives were achieved.
Imagine if in 5 years indymedia vancouver (for example) start a feature thread analysing Dublin's Mayday or Ireland's EU presidency.
And only link to - I don't know, Connolly Youth.
Class War are the only people who claimed that the LIFFE was anything but prolonged silliness and that it "had" worked. Most of us on the ground at that part of London that day, know it wasn't so. It was a secondary objective which proved too tempting for some. And the "ruck" in the hallway was more a result of the taunting exchanged between jobbers and protesters the previous half hour as the crowd had passed their bar on the corner of "Bank" Street.
more links & better analysis of what happened by __more__ people who were there. can be had simply by typing "j18" into google.
http://www.infoshop.org/june18.html
http://www.urban75.com/Action/j18_r1.html
http://flag.blackened.net/af/org/issue52/j18.html
http://www.vanguardonline.f9.co.uk/01009.htm
http://bak.spc.org/j18/site/ukimages.html
The "microgroup" I went with thought it was all great fun. But fun which was put at risk by both aggresive drugged up others as much as inexperienced and unhelpful police.
The LIFFE thing actually spoilt the late afternoon list of actions by upping the antagonism.
I had with many others planned on boarding a train to the continent at 18h30 at Waterloo. I really think this might have happened if the LIFFE event had not been "overdone".
But by teh time we arrived at Waterloo, our playful confiscation had turned into hijack and no way in hell were we boarding that train.
But J18 wasn't an end to itself. It was always envisioned by the myriad groups who participated as a "rallying call". I don't think we wished to "rally" thousands of people to their local stock markets to "smash 'em up" because that would only have given the insurance and glazier sectors of the economy more work. We wished to return "protest" and "assembly" to "the street".
I don't think the events of J18 have anything to do with MayDay, or there is any "important" historical connection between the activism supported or not supported by the London May Day assembly this year, last year or next year. Many people left London in the following years for a huge variety of reasons. And this is very important for all to remember, the mass psychological template changed as well. In 1999 as in 1998 we were all still rather "millenial" in tone.
The objective was to close trading in the City of London that day that year. The Objective was acheived. In many ways the antics being celebrated above, ran counter to the psychological advantage offered by the closure of the Bank. The moment when the Bank closed, there were only fifteen people outside it. I was one. It was achieved peacefully and with little ceremony or panic. The vast majority of protesters were still walking rather happily from Liverpool Street waving their flags, and they didn't see the final moments.
There was no "handover" of sword, or anything like that, it was short, polite and "quite civilised" thinking about it now.
- Mr Pemberton Leigh, It is time to close the Bank.
- You heard them. Close the Bank.
& so the Bank was closed. It would have been very silly to continue closing stock markets on publicly announced days as that would have played into the hands of the insider traders.
Anti Capitalism isn't dead in the water, the term is just no longer used that much. It was first used outside of microgroups by the Daily Telegraph that year, who also if we really scratch ourheads and remember claimed the gig had been an Irish dissident republican attack on decent British Values.
The following year, a clear attempt was made to attract different people with more postive agenda. And the year after that, Monopoly finally met with Policing that was planned to completely disrupt any carnival atmosphere and "bore" the protesters into "giving up".
By that stage, London had most certainly lost it's place on the Geo-political stage. Please remember there was no summit in London either in 1998 or 1999. J18 was a solidarity action.
2000 and 2001 saw mobilisation of protesters for Gothenburg and Genoa and Barcelona. And then the differences in tactics and political development became very clear.
Gothenburg and Genoa are still being appealed in the courts, Live rounds were used in Sweden, and in Italy one young man died. For those who thought to organise such protests, that was a terrible shock. And no-one could pretend otherwise. A member of that "microgroup" with which I had distributed "evading standards" talked about the possibility of "setting up our own media" the importance "of translating the movement out of english/american" et cetera, was on the square in Genoa filming when Carlo was shot. And had very mixed feelings about where our protests were going. We realised that we needed to get the message out of contact with Police.
Barcelona on the other hand was a complete success the World Bank cancelled it's summit, the only time a world institution did so. And I suppose that was a sign of succesful activism, it certainly acted as an impetus in BCN at least to develop a different approach to "mass moblisation". So many of us took part in J18 as in Mayday, we all have different memories, some of us stuck to the same formula, others sought to improve it.
Let me be honest, If I see a thousand, twenty thousand, a hundred thousand on the street, I prefer they are reflected in neutral to positive mass media terms, and that they go home without criminalisation, and resolve to repeat the experience. I want them to finish the day better informed, better networked, and with enthusiasm to become involved in grass roots activism and indeed in the process to shape mainstream Left or Liberal politics.
That is possible now.
Five more years please.
LEARN & DO IT BETTER.
the flag arrived some ten minutes after the Bank was closed. "This was the objective".
Im not sure what you are trying to say scarecrow
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some people think you a limp dick and a part timer if you don't do property destruction. (even "tactical" property destruction ) how could you ever change there minds
In my opinion, it started with the May 16th 1998 G7 protest in Birmingham which was the first Global RTS. The events in Jakarta in April of 1999 and the immediate looming of the Millenium Bug predictions led to the urgency of what happened on J18.
Myself, I was in Cologne that day, where the G8 summit was being held, and there was a fair amount of action there too. I was with the ICC and RTS and we got rumbled badly each day for three days straight. I got beaten so badly I couldn't walk.
What difference did it all make? Well, one of those who stood by my side in Cologne that day is now running a certain office in the British Houses of Parliament... J18 and other such protests were testing grounds for ideas, it was an opportune time... the next time it comes, we'll know what we are doing, and we could be in control...
More urgent matters at hand right now... our world is being torn apart by imperial warmongering... we are regressing perhaps.
"our world is being torn apart by imperial warmongering"
The warmongering has been replaced by an actual war which took place in Iraq.
Open source is a great inspiration. Wikipedia as well as Linux. Funny how the "New Economy" prophesised by the venture capitalists turns out to be run best under communism.
Thought on attacking capitalism in a naive way:
You can't solve economic problems with cultural or purely political ends, much less with feeble attempts at violence. Economic problems must be solved with economic solutions. The idea of the "open source" or rather, cooperative economy, needs to take hold in a confident fashion.
Race, Anarchy, and Punk Rock:
The impact of cultural barriers within the anarchist movement
by Otto Nomous
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/07/16/8639235
"Yes that's right, punk is dead ... Punk became a fashion just like hippy used to be and it ain't got a thing to do with you or me."
- lyrics by Crass, The Feeding of the Five Thousand (1978).
Ever since the historic protests against the WTO in Seattle at the close of the last millenium, anarchism as a revolutionary theory has been sought after by an increasing number of people from wide ranging walks of life than ever before in recent memory. However, the undeniable fact remains that the make-up of the anarchist movement in the U.S. for the last couple of decades has been a largely homogenous one, i.e. predominantly white and middle class. It also happens to be the case that the vast majority of people who identify themselves as anarchists in the U.S. today are connected to "alternative" subcultures, such as punk rock, in varying degrees. As a person of color and an anarchist with roots in punk rock, I have become deeply concerned with the lack of diversity within the anarchist movement. As long as we fail to attract significantly diverse participation, thus remaining isolated and politically weakened, and fail to link-up with and support anti-racist struggles, we shouldn’t keep our hopes up for any radical social transformation in this country. I began to realize that a significant part of the problem lies in the subcultural lifestyle of many anarchists, including myself. What follows is an attempt to offer insight in finding answers for the ever-pressing quest for "diversity" within the anarchist community.....
more at:
ive read that before its a good piece,
it be handy if it provied solutions :/
yeah we live in virtual commuites or tribes is that how they refer to it now...
i have little connection with my actual neighbourhood and im not really in a hurry to do so, so you go to the city, but the you don't parachute in communites saying here we to save the day... you';d really have to hae some sort of relationship with em first, but if you don't operate in the same social, work or interest cirlces as "them" the oppressed then you can't get to know em and thier lives it a bit of a non-starter...
The global justice movement was certainly taking off in a big way in 1999-2001. Remember Genoa, in July 2001? But then came the September 11 terror attacks. Even since then, the kind of people who gave the energy to the global justice movement (and I mean people like me) have been deflected into opposition to the U.S.'s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and everything else that has come out of 9-11.
Note that timing: Genoa in July 2001, then the terror attacks in September 2001. Coincidence? No way baby. Look how Iraq preoccupies virtually everybody on the progressive side of the political spectrum. There is scant energy left to think about anything else - just look at progressive websites like Common Dreams, which are pretty much entirely about Iraq (and the upcoming US election).
IMHO we need to get back on track. Of course it's important to oppose misadventures like the Iraq war. But at least part of their purpose in waging this war is to prevent us from waging the war against neoliberalism. It's keeping us DISTRACTED. The war against neoliberalism is really what counts, and it's victory in that war that will decide whether countries like Iraq really have a future.
"Note that timing: Genoa in July 2001, then the terror attacks in September 2001. Coincidence? " You're an utter moron. How could you think this. Lets cripple the anti capitalist movement? How? By flying a plane into a center of international finance! Don't flatter yourself......