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Title: Millbank Fire Author: Anonymous Date: November 21, 2010 Language: en Topics: direct action, economy, riot Source: Retrieved on June 8, 2012 from http://325.nostate.net/?p=1270#more-1270
âLeaflet to be printed and circulated should you like the taste of it.
Breaks down into three parts: Cuts are not an issue⊠(an article about
resisting capitalism and not getting stuck on resisting the cuts) /
Keeping It Real (advice for those new to doing stuff) and Some Lessons
From Millbank (4 practical lessons to be learned and put into effect
everywhere). Please circulate through your networks, should you wish.â
Although the impact of the cuts have yet to hit us hard, in recent
months loads of local anti-cuts campaigns have sprung up to try and work
together to resist the austerity the State wants to impose upon us. But
it seemed like the fairly spontaneous attack on the Tory HQ at Millbank
on the 10^(th) November Demo-lition seemed to really light a fire under
peopleâs anger about the cuts. Everyone was talking about Millbank. It
seemed like this moment had ruptured the political silence that had been
accompanying the collapse of the economic bubble in 2007.
But when people talk about fighting âthe cutsâ, it sometimes seems like
itâs just a new political âissueâ. But it isnât. Itâs much more
essential than that. Issues are things like opposing nuclear power or
being against animal testing. But the cuts are not the same thing. They
cannot be resisted in the same way. The reason the cuts are being made
all across health, housing, education and so on is to maintain the
profits that can no longer be made from a busted economic housing bubble
and the bonkers levels of individual debt (credit cards, loans mortgages
etc). Now the profits to be made are going to come from squeezing the
living standards of a large section of the population. The cuts are not
being made because the economic system hasnât worked, they are being
made because thatâs exactly how the economic system does work. It never
stops trying to screw us for more and more of what we have had to fight
to maintain over the centuries. The cuts are about how politics works at
a systemic level, about our everyday lives and how we live and not just
party politics or campaign issues. The Tories make the cuts with relish
but if Labour had been elected to power they would be making just the
same level of cuts to maintain the same level of profits for the same
rich people.
Itâs not just cuts in education and upping the fees thatâs the problem.
The problem is that the cuts in general mean weâre all pretty fucked.
Whether youâre a student in a F.E college or University, whether youâre
a working single-mum, whether youâre self-employed, whether youâre
unemployed, whether youâre working a precarious temp job, whether you
working a good job in the public sector. The depth of the cuts means
most people are going to become worse-off.
There are differing trains of thought that link the cuts to âThe Crisisâ
or âThe Deficitâ or âThe Toriesâ but for many there is a much more
simple truth â itâs just called âLife as normalâ. The rich have been
getting successively richer in this country and the poor have been
getting poorer. If the cuts are setting out to re-float a busted economy
of over-inflated debt and speculation by taking more and more from the
poorer section of the population, well, itâs just more of the same for
most people. Poverty, crap jobs, insecurity, health problems â well,
thatâs just how weâve been living anyway. But do you feel like
politicians will sort it out for you? Do you feel like if you keep your
head down and work hard, youâll be okay? Do you feel scared? Had enough
of that shit yet?
Mass unemployment is coming and the accompanying disciplining of those
unwilling to work for shit wages or for free. The promise of a good job
and good life after University is an illusion. The systemâs guaranteed
to be there but the jobs arenât. Most college leavers and graduates will
join the 600 Euro generation alongside their counterparts in France,
Italy or Greece. Itâs no wonder that those countries have seen huge
levels of militancy and great new tactics of resistance as they have
already been suffering the harsh realities of the imposition of
austerity. It seemed like a little bit of that European fire was finally
burning at Millbank last week when the ante was finally upped. That
resistance has to remain at that level â always collective and open,
always going beyond the polite and useless limits set up by political
parties and unions, always ready to occupy, block, to strike, to walk
out, to be adventurous and to be excessive! Anything is else is just
more of the same shit. Who needs it?
Here follows an Excerpt from a statement read out at the General
Assembly of students at the University of Rennes, France, 25 October
2010
âNowadays, audacious experiments of the 2006 movement exist as the basic
modes of militant actions in the struggle against the current
government. In Rennes, the department stores are targeted in every
demonstration. The Marseilles strikers paralyse the harbour and add to
their city the beat of the movement. The train drivers are also on the
front line, and the lorry drivers have joined the movement. We know that
in order to win, we must be able to counteract the government strategies
of waiting for the deterioration of the fightback and techniques of
intimidation. This can particularly be seen in the increase in the
police violence.
What is needed now is the spreading of the tactic â the economic
blockade â to intensify the fightback with a means that is accessible to
all and to disrupt them in a far more certain manner than the peaceful
demonstrations and rallys which have absolutely no effect. Being ready
to move quickly, of being able to gather as quickly as possible in one
point to constitute a mass that can not be flushed out, as well as
spreading to block the city at ten different places at the same time,
this will be our tactic. The question of which are the priority targets
for the blockade seems already solved: roads, train stations, department
stores, distribution centres. Of interest are any blockades which
contribute to the spreading of the situation. Letâs think about tourism
which constitutes one of the main profitable economic sectors of the
City fancy hotels and restaurants, big cultural shows, luxury stores â
the list is endless.â
Millbank has now helpfully polarised the debates but there is something
worth remembering from the day â it was a fairly easy victory! The next
few years will not see our victories so easily come by but this should
not make us forget the joy, collectivity and solidarity of that day.
Those who think they can now step in and try to control our anger via
negotiation or undermine us through party politicking â we will push
them aside because this movement belongs to us all.
STRIKE> OCCUPY> BLOCK THE ECONOMY> TAKE BACK OUR LIVES!!
No Ifs, No Buts, Capitalism Sucks!!
Keep safe. Maintain open communication with people you trust. Know your
surroundings and your friends. Act together!
Try to rely on argument and intelligence. Slogans are a staple for all
sorts of political factions and usually very boring. They alienate many
more people than they win over. Be smart, be funny, be approachable.
Have a laugh.
Donât get isolated. Youâre surrounded by people who are angry and sad
about whatâs going on, but they keep quiet most of the time. So talk to
people, find out how they feel about the situation â and what they might
like to do. There are a thousand reasons for fighting back (and reasons
not to, as well.)
Have confidence in your judgement. Donât be afraid to back out of a
situation which you no longer agree with. Things move quickly, can get
out of control. Maintaining a critical stance is never a bad thing. A
good group is a collection of individuals working together.
Consider the possibility that political activity could be a condition of
happiness. Be wary of ways of acting that only feel like a burden â and
ways of discussing which feel like placing a burden on others. They
donât often go anywhere pleasant. Although, you fight, itâs important to
enjoy yourselves because real life is what we are fighting forâŠ
The lessons of Millbank (and the past) should be obvious â if youâre
gonna go for it then mask up or FACE PRISON! Itâs that simple!! By
masking up, we mean covering your whole face and not just your chin! And
stay masked up too because cops and journalists never stop taking
photos!! Even if youâre not gonna for it, the more who mask up the
better for everyone. We have to encourage people via Internet, leaflets
and by word of mouth on demos to MASK UP. How many photos of people
going nutso without any face covering have you seen? Spreading a culture
of masking up means that we are taking our actions seriously â support
one and another!!
A serious lesson is that we have to stop news photographers taking pics
or videos of people doing stuff. They are basically putting peopleâs
liberty at risk! They must be told to fuck off, be blocked and moved
away from the any actions. If, after being told to move, they refuse
they should be physically confronted (in whatever way seems fit). The
pics they take could put you in jail! But, itâs just as bad all the
people who take also photos and post them on Facebook, blogs etc. doing
the cops jobs for them. The cops trawl these sites to try and identify
people. Be conscious of your actions! Donât photograph people doing
stuff!
Donât fixate on a confrontation with the cops if youâre outnumbered.
Move onto the next thing! Find your own actions, targets, streets to
occupy. The cops have to wait for orders to act. They move slow. We
should keep it lively and keep it mobile! If the cops block us one way,
then letâs find another way! In this way, we avoid pointless set-pieces
and we avoid getting rounded up in police kettles.
12 Volt battery Sound System on bikes or pushcarts are amazing ways to
move large blocks of people fast! They also make a demo or riot more
like a party! They inspire us to come together around the sounds and to
keep moving! We need more sound systems on demos!! And we need more drum
bands and freestyle MCâs on the megaphones because a riot is like a
festival!!