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G20 London - April 2nd '09

cantsin said:
fair do's , thought you were another boring right winger out for a snipe - the barriers are always going to be the focus of any of these protests, and the confrontations are a bit ritualized, but what are the alternatives ?
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To be honest, I think summit protests are a total dead end, they achieve nothing useful. There are so many other things that all that time and work could be put into, community organising, workplace organising, anti-war action, fuck it, even a few more social centres would have more positive effects than a few hundred activists exhausting themselves and risking arrest for no good reason.
 
Compared to other summits, the G20 in London would perhaps be the first occasion in the UK since the onset of the collapse in neo-liberalist capitalism, to have a demonstration which means more than just a bunch of activists on the streets. G20 is the representation of the 20 biggest capitalist states to institutionalise a new bretton-woods style agreement, something which will have an historical effect in the years and decades to come. It is up to politicos to attempt to mobilise as many thousands as possible and to circulate what the G20 is and what its trying to do. Already the 'radical' NGO's and the Trade Unions are mobilising, as well the direct actionists/former-RTS types. From what I have heard there will also be a specific red/black anarchist call-out that will go out international to mobilise for London.

If anything, G20 is an important date globally - and if any new re-emergence of class power is to show itself, G20 seems like an ideal opportunity.

So, you are right summits are pretty useless now-a-days to mobilise for but G20 shouldn't solely be seen as an activist event, it has the potential to be something much more - we should try and make it so.
 
Raw SslaC said:
Compared to other summits, the G20 in London would perhaps be the first occasion in the UK since the onset of the collapse in neo-liberalist capitalism, to have a demonstration which means more than just a bunch of activists on the streets. G20 is the representation of the 20 biggest capitalist states to institutionalise a new bretton-woods style agreement, something which will have an historical effect in the years and decades to come. It is up to politicos to attempt to mobilise as many thousands as possible and to circulate what the G20 is and what its trying to do. Already the 'radical' NGO's and the Trade Unions are mobilising, as well the direct actionists/former-RTS types. From what I have heard there will also be a specific red/black anarchist call-out that will go out international to mobilise for London.

If anything, G20 is an important date globally - and if any new re-emergence of class power is to show itself, G20 seems like an ideal opportunity.

So, you are right summits are pretty useless now-a-days to mobilise for but G20 shouldn't solely be seen as an activist event, it has the potential to be something much more - we should try and make it so.
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Nothing of any real importance is decided at these summits. Even if they ever were important, there's no longer any need for rulers to physically to one place to make decisions any more, modern communications technology rendered that idea obsolete some time ago now. If you stop them meeting at the G20, they'll just make their decisions elsewhere

But even if you were right about the G20 being signifigant, you are not going to get the kind of numbers necessary to seriously disrupt it between now and April. The most you can hope to achieve is to be a minor nuisance to the cops and a media spectacle.
 
you may be right, but it is worth a shot for the point of organising a mobilisation based on a politics that is relevant to many of our "constituency" i.e. other working class people who are at the sharp end of the recession. It shouldn't be seen as the be all but atleast a day to gather our forces. Blockades are just one form of action, maybe a day to target banks, bailiffs, or CEO's should be organised to coinside withit.
 
Raw SslaC said:
you may be right, but it is worth a shot for the point of organising a mobilisation based on a politics that is relevant to many of our "constituency" i.e. other working class people who are at the sharp end of the recession. It shouldn't be seen as the be all but atleast a day to gather our forces. Blockades are just one form of action, maybe a day to target banks, bailiffs, or CEO's should be organised to coinside withit.
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yep that sounds like a better idea.

IB, i don't think they are a total dead end and i think over the year i have mixed up my feelings of annoyance with idiots who think summit hopping is the be-all and end-all with and summit hopping itself.
 
Taxamo Welf said:
yep that sounds like a better idea.

IB, i don't think they are a total dead end and i think over the year i have mixed up my feelings of annoyance with idiots who think summit hopping is the be-all and end-all with and summit hopping itself.
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I just don't see what could possibly come out of it that would be worth the effort involved. These summit protests require accomodation, legal support, medics, money and a fuck of a lot of work. What do we get out of it?

To assume some one off activist spectacle is somehow going to jump start a new workers movement strikes me as absurdly optimistic and substitutionist.
 
In Bloom said:
I just don't see what could possibly come out of it that would be worth the effort involved. These summit protests require accomodation, legal support, medics, money and a fuck of a lot of work. What do we get out of it?

To assume some one off activist spectacle is somehow going to jump start a new workers movement strikes me as absurdly optimistic and substitutionist.
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Its just one day. In London. I wasn't assuming people would come from all over for it. It certainly won't stop me being involved in other stuff, if anything it will be a bit of a motivator to get more involved, and will be something to look forward to.
 
In Bloom said:
I just don't see what could possibly come out of it that would be worth the effort involved. These summit protests require accomodation, legal support, medics, money and a fuck of a lot of work. What do we get out of it?

To assume some one off activist spectacle is somehow going to jump start a new workers movement strikes me as absurdly optimistic and substitutionist.
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That's all true i suppose. But it would never be me organising it so i hadn't really thought of it like that.

I guess i come at it from the point of view that it will happen anyway and be organised by radical liberals.
 
this looks interesting....

'Don't let the Financial Fools make the rules!'

On April 1st – Financial Fools Day – we'll show the G20 what meltdown means. Capitalism has been heating up our world for years, melting the icecaps, burning up the rainforests, driving the planet to climate chaos tipping point. Now we're going to put the heat on them. These bastards are trying to get away with the biggest April Fools trick of all time. Their neo-liberal, freebooting, tax-dodging, bonus-guzzling, pension-fund pinching, unregulated free market world's in meltdown, and those fools think we're going to bail them out. They've gotta be joking!

We can't pay, we won't pay, we're taking to the streets.

At 12 noon, April 1st, we're going to reclaim the City, thrusting into the very belly of the beast: the Bank of England.
What better place to put Capitalism on trial than the steps of the Royal Exchange?

On April 2nd, we're going to bang on their hotel doors, to deliver our message of a world beyond capitalism.

Abolish financial markets before they abolish us!

Lost your house? Lost your job? Lost your pension? This party is for you!

www.g-20meltdown.org
 
Nice words from the champion rabble rouser Ian Bone:
Last May when we were sentimentally celebrating the 40th anniversary of May ‘68 at Conway Hall it seemed inconceivable that within a year similar possibilities might present themselves to us. How different the world looks now - and what opportunities there are for radical change - if we’re bold enough to seize them.

The concurrence of the recession and the G20 summit in London with continuing uprisings in Europe means that what happens on the streets of London that week will echo round the world. If the world leaders meet with just a bit of activist push’n shove and a broken McDonalds window then they’ll know they can whether the storm.

But what if……………on the streets are the sacked Cowley workers, the oil refinery wildcats, the agency workers, the newly unemployed - yes - the working class! The people who’s noses are realy presed up against the walls as they are from Latvia to Iceland. They may not be content with a bit of ritual damage and off home to watch it on the telly….what is there to lose? Capitalism may be tottering but it will still need a big fucking push into the grave.

If we hold central London for hours that’d be good…. but what if we held it for days - what would that be? We need more ambition than usual, more boldness, more audacity and tenacity, more imagination. The anarchist movement here is suddenly in better shape than seemed likely a few months ago- there is a goodwill towards working together manifested in the hard work towards the June conference.

Fun has reappeared with pub crawls, speed dating, red and black socials and zombie walks. We need to rid our heads about what’s happened before and see what’s possible now. Often revolutionary moments are past and lost before they are even noticed.

We have 6 weeks left to organise and spread the word with imagination. …..our comrades from all over Europe are coming…..take the week off work/college/playstation/games controls - get down to London for the start on March 28th - and stay till we’ve finished.
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personally i would like to see the G20 demo being more than just an exclusive middle class student day trip of pointlessness which such things usually are :rolleyes:
 
In Bloom said:
It's not even really clear what Bone means by "holding central London" for any period of time at all. Idiotic to say the least.
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.. it isn't that bizarre .. i assume it relates to e.g the Thais recent demos or the ukrainian orange revolution where thousends took over the centre of their capital cities
 
In Bloom said:
Our arms would be bloody tired.

It's not even really clear what Bone means by "holding central London" for any period of time at all. Idiotic to say the least.
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here we go again.....abstract / vague / supremely optimistic / etc , but " idiotic to say the least " ????

again - WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST you fucking moaning minnie ?
 
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