Red Tuesday - 28th March

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Mike Harman
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Mar 29 2006 23:26
Devrim wrote:
Catch, I am not critising Libcom for not doing a leaflet. I think that Libcom does a good job, and that the reportag on France has been excellent.

Cool. I wasn't posting the pensions stuff up because I thought you were criticising it, just to let you know it was there in case you'd missed it. To be honest I've not looked at it properly myself yet embarrassed

Quote:

What is anarchism in Britain doing?

I used to worry about stuff like that, now I'm not sure if the question is the right one even.

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Steven.
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Mar 29 2006 23:28
Catch wrote:
Devrim wrote:
Catch, I am not critising Libcom for not doing a leaflet. I think that Libcom does a good job, and that the reportag on France has been excellent.

Cool. I wasn't posting the pensions stuff up because I thought you were criticising it, just to let you know it was there in case you'd missed it. To be honest I've not looked at it properly myself yet embarrassed

It's only about 20% up, I'm trying to do the rest but no time...

Barry Kade
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Mar 29 2006 23:52

Thought I'd add:

Devrim said

Quote:
Looking back on this now I realize that these were basically defensive struggles in a period (post miners strike) where the British working class was being well, and truly shafted.

Yeah, when i joined them in the 1980's the SWP taught me to see this as a 'downturn' in class struggle. But this was too linear a perspective. A downturn suggests to expect that one day there will be a simple 'upturn', a return to the syndicalist and sectionalist certainties of the seventies. Of course, what we have seen over the interviening 20 years was instread a total global restructuring of the working class. Therefore the 'rules of the game' might have changed somewhat!

One of these changes is what Catch refers to:

Catch:

Quote:
just about everyone just gives up and moves to the next one

.

The increased (illusion of) MOBILITY is one of the keys to the new (temporary) ruling class hegemony. New labour call it "life long learning" - the role of education and aspiration in diffusing working class resistance. "Move on up"- Once upon a time this motown dance tune invoked us on the dance floor to try to perform this manouvre , but now it is merely a nauseating neo-liberal joke.

Instead of collective resistance, they promised that the education system would increase class mobility. - but only at the individual level. Now a whole generation of my younger friends try to ignore the cataclysmic student debts they owe. But still, the dominant idae for young people in Britain is this: "In a shit job?" -dont organise, just: 'Move on up'.

Under thisn scheme, education is not to be an intellectual liberation, but merely an instrument for the further commodification of life and the standardization and immobilisation of a new order of capitalist hegemony.

So strikes are only a tool of the old and the loosers,m who are seen to fear for their pensions or being ill and needing a health service. This is just one of multi-facited veil of illusions that currently maintains the dominance of capital.

But it is only a brittle veil, which we hope is easily shattered, as has happened accross the channel. In the next months, new sites of struggle will be discovered in the UK that I cannot yet anticipate.

If on this website, we together can forge new weapons to liberate ourselves from such snares and instensify the class war, then all our virtual verbiage will be worthwhile!

Now, where isn that second bottle of Rioja?

XXX

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georgestapleton
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Mar 30 2006 00:01

On the pensions feature it says 'Last reviewed/edited by libcom.org April 2006' But it still march!!! Spooky. black bloc

Barry Kade
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Mar 30 2006 00:55

just thought, before I crash out, Id say this:

Our struggles were built through incredidible sectional strength in the 60's and 70's. (sectional strength means working class militant loyalty to a particular workplace, trade or local group of their workmates). Under the generalised ruling class assaults in the 70's and 80's this then generalised into a 'class war' perspective of sorts amongst many miltant trades unionists.

However, under the dominat strategy and dead hand of our union bosses in the 1980's and 90's, we remained confined within this sectional and defensive outlook. We lost, heavily, bitterly, being picked off one by one. This was in the face of a generalised ruling class offensive. We lost. big time.

Out of these depths of defeats, a new consciousness has been born. This did not start as a pure class consciousness. Rather it was a generalised (thus bourgouse influenced) general political consciousness. It first really showed itself amongst a tiny minority of students and intellectuals in the so called 'anti-capitalist' movements marked by Seattle and Genoa.

It then expanded to embrace millions with the movement against the Iraq war. Now it is taking up the 'social question', most notibly for us in the great anti-CPE manifestations in France and the Pensions strike in Britain.

Thus todays class strength is not built through sectional or localised battles as it was in the '60's and '70's. Rather it is built by connecting each group of workers with this generalising poilitical outlook.

Thus todays workers in Britain understandably will show more confidence in coming out against the war and other big issues like pensions ,rather than over sectional issues where they stand alone. At this current moment It is now through a general and politcal trades unionsim that working class strenhgth will be rebuilt.

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georgestapleton
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Mar 30 2006 09:43

Good post Barry. I'd like to think you're right. One thing that has always worried me about libcom is the localism that some people seem to advocate. Some people think that anarchists should only be involved in local struggles, or in sectional industrial struggles. I think this is a big mistake. You point out the 60s and 70s were dominated by sectional struggles as opposed to united class struggle. This may be why, but regardless if it isn't, Capital has been restructed over the last 20 years to be able to respond to local struggles quickly and effectively due to its increased mobility. I think that if we want to see a working class movement emerge that can win we need to build a general movement and one that is not exclusively based in local and sectional struggles.

Thoughts?

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Steven.
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Mar 30 2006 09:48
georgestapleton wrote:
Good post Barry. I'd like to think you're right. One thing that has always worried me about libcom is the localism that some people seem to advocate. Some people think that anarchists should only be involved in local struggles, or in sectional industrial struggles?

Who? confused

TBH I think Barry is being over-optimistic, but still...

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georgestapleton
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Mar 30 2006 09:51

Okay the localism that seems to get advocated sometimes. wink

And you're right I wouldn't hold out for the revolution in the next 5 years or anything. Although, it would be nice......

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Steven.
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Mar 30 2006 09:53
georgestapleton wrote:
Okay the localism that seems to get advocated sometimes. neutral

The only person I can think of who does that on here is Nick Durie. I know certainly with me + the libcom group people we don't advocate localism or sectionalism, just that you're best organising around something that affects you directly. The more general this is, mostly, the better! (Like pensions, working hours, etc.)

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jef costello
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Mar 30 2006 09:59
rkn wrote:
This is interesting - BBC tested for bias:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/03/337058.html

No wonder its so bad.

This is turning out to be a good thread. more please

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Devrim
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Mar 30 2006 10:15

Catch, what is the right question? Actually I don't think that there is just one right question. There are lots of them, but I think that this is one of them.

Mike Harman
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Mar 30 2006 18:19
Quote:
Catch wrote:

What is anarchism in Britain doing?

I used to worry about stuff like that, now I'm not sure if the question is the right one even.

Not sure I put that very well. Essentially, at the stage we're at with almost everything occurring being nearly entirely defensive, anything that tries to be 'anarchist' or about 'anarchism' often (not always) ends up retreating into a subculture in the UK.

With the pensions crisis I'd want to see a pamphlet that explains exactly what's going on in clear and unequivocal terms and ways it can be fought. A lot of propaganda by anarchists doesn't necessarily do this.

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Steven.
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Mar 30 2006 21:14

Just to say our pensions feature is now pretty much complete, and will be kept up-to-date. Tell your friends!

www.libcom.org/pensions

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Jacques Roux
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Mar 30 2006 22:40

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4861494.stm

New strike dates.