Forgive me, but the comments of a great number of protestors - not
specifically this May Day, but generally - seem more than a little
patronising to those of us who may well be in broad sympathy with the plea
for a fairer world, but are both cynical enough to think that this is not
necessarily the best way to do it and suspicious of the motives of SOME of
those that get involved. I have known quite a few self-proclaimed
anarchists and quasi-Leninist Marxists, and while many of the former were
compassionate people rebelling against what they identified as a crap
political-economic system and the marginalisation, not to say brutal
suppression, of any lifestyle that wasn't counted as 'normal' by the powers
that be, some of the former, and all of the latter, were violently
contemptous of the 'common people of the world' they were supposedly
speaking for. I get the impression that for many of those in favour of
'total revolution' people aren't fully human until they are shown the error
of their ways. I also feel totally patronised by commentators such as Naomi
Klein, who takes a book to tell me what it took my parents five minutes to
tell me when I was practically still in nappies. And hasn't she ever read
David Harvey. It pisses me off that people are ignorant of history and of
other people and then take it upon themselves to tell many people what they
already know already but aren't in the position to take their beleifs
further than the pub, or don't have the self-righteous to assume that they
know all the story(s). GRANT US CAPITALIST APOLOGIES A LITTLE CREDIT, WHY
CAN'T YOU?
At 01:33 PM 5/3/01 +0100, you wrote:
>Forgive me, but the comments of GrahamG may seem a little patronising
>and dismissive of people who are seeking to develop forms of
>'alternative politics' - however inadequately some may see this as
>being. The media has been full of people winging on about how
>protestors have no coherent politics - capped of course by Tony Blair's
>accusation of these protesters as having 'spurious' politics. But of
>course many of these people do have fairly coherent politics, at least
>in as much as any of us have such a thing. What such comments seem to
>imply is that "we have not heard the media report anything from you
>that we feel is coherent therefore you are misguided at best, dangerous
>at worst".
>As for violence, the comments of Peter Shirlow ARE very relevant here,
>there has been much debate within many so called 'anti-capitalist'
>groups about the ways the movements are being represented, how stories
>are being planted in the media to portray protesters as 'terrorists'
>(indeed what a long and sordid history there is of this) and what to do
>about this.
>Events prior to may day suffered incredible intimidation from the
>police, including harassment and surveillance at that symbolic bastion
>of democracy - Hyde Park Corner - in the case of the
>self-styled 'Wombles'. Since then, some may remember, there have been
>many, many stories in the papers of specialist firearms teams being
>drafted in to deal with rioters armed with machetes, etc. etc. Aiming
>partly to 'deter legitimate protesters' as the Deputy Commissioner of
>the Metropole Police admitted on monday (see Indymedia.com on this and
>other aspects of the build up).
>Do not forget about those people also imprisoned within the police
>cordon for six odd hours, as another section 60 order (of the Public
>Order Act) was imposed (third time in a row for such protests) and the
>effect this had on the people in there and around the meeting.
>
>To then just start accusing protestors for engaging in violence is too
>easy, it forgets context both before and on the day, and does what the
>media does which is focus all the blame on the protesters for being
>violent .
>
>
>
>
>On Tue, 1 May 2001 16:56:07 +0100 Graham Gardner <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>> Criminalisation by state and media are clearly an important issue, but I
>> feel I have to say that those protestors who engage in violent acts are
>> also very centrally to blame; the idea that they are passive bodies upon
>> which the brand 'criminal' is inscripted is hard to swallow. I think if
>> they were more constructive in terms of alternatives to our present
>> hegemonic politics, and didn't just keep stating the equivalent of "smash
>> evil capitalism and grow all your own veg.", they might get more widespread
>> sympathy.
>>
>> GG
>>
>>
>> At 03:10 PM 5/1/01 +0100, you wrote:
>> >There are several issues around what the May Day violence
>> >represents. A good deal of which is well known to those of us who
>> >live in Northeren Ireland. Although I am against violence I find the
>> >interpretations of and response to violence, by the State, quiet
>> >alarming.
>> >
>> >Without doubt the state and media organisation have done more
>> >than enough to enusre that members of the demonstration are
>> >criminilalised. There is a whole history of this from Northern Ireland
>> >through to the Miners Strike and the Poll Tax demonstrations. The
>> >central aim of felon setting is to dilute the rationale of opposition to
>> >the 'crimes' committed by the State and global capitalism. A good
>> >tactic in ideological confrontration is to let violence occur in order to
>> >permit felon setting and of course deny the right tolegitimate
>> >protest.
>> >
>> >A more alarming issue is that the police have been armed with
>> >rubber bullets. Given that their use in Northern Ireland led to tens of
>> >deaths, especially among children, over the past 30 odd years is in
>> >itself testimony to their misuse. But the fact that they are now
>> >being issued as a means of crowd control seems to suggest a
>> >futher decline in democratic accountability within the UK.
>> >
>> >At the end of the day more people will remember attacks upon
>> >McDonalds before they even think about the impact of global
>> >economics upon fellow societies. I wonder why that is? Any
>> >answers Tony Blair?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Dr Pete Shirlow
>> >Senior Lecturer
>> >School of Environmental Studies
>> >University of Ulster, Coleraine
>> >BT52 1SA
>> >Northern Ireland
>> >
>> >Tel: +44 028 7032 4687
>> >Fax: +44 028 7032 4911
>> >
>> >
>> Graham Gardner
>> Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences
>> University of Wales
>> Aberystwyth
>> Ceredigion
>> SY23 3DB
>> Wales
>> UK
>>
>> Tel: 0044 (0)1970 622606
>> Fax: 0044 (0)1970 622659
>> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>----------------------
>Christopher Wilbert
>Anglia Polytechnic University
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
Graham Gardner
Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 3DB
Wales
UK
Tel: 0044 (0)1970 622606
Fax: 0044 (0)1970 622659
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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