London, Monopolise Mayday - beware of pretenders.

national | miscellaneous | news report

Tuesday April 02, 2002 21:34

by jimmy

GR and their pseudo rebellion

Monopolise Mayday

Globalise Resistance - which styles itself as the anti-capitalist
movement, but has been dubbed by others Monopolise
Resistance has teamed up with the London May Day
Organising Committee, which is linked to the Greater London
Trades Union Council and South East Region TUC, to host an
event called United for Mayday. The announcement from
Globalise Resistance proudly boasted that: This is also the first
time a march will go to Trafalgar Square while Parliament is
sitting. May Day is building up to be another incredible event.

The London May Day Organising Committee was more honest:
Marches to Trafalgar Square are forbidden on days when
Parliament is in session, under a Sessional Order dating from
1829. Despite this, the Mayor of London has made the Square
available to us and the Metropolitan Police have agreed to the
march, on the understanding that this does not set a precedent
and that the march will be disciplined and orderly.

Of course, Trafalgar Square is simply an empty space. If
Globalise Resistance, the London May Day Organising
Committee or anyone else wanted to hold a demonstration there
they could simply do so without seeking permission. Numerous
anti-capitalist events have been held in London and elsewhere,
without the state being consulted.

Behind the Globalise Resistance bluff, what is planned is the
usual boring march, taking much the same route as in 2000,
followed by a rally at which the speakers will include Tony Benn,
Barry Camfield (T&G), Ruth Winters (FBU), Mark Serwotka
(PCS), Diane Abbott MP plus other MPs. trade unionists,
environmentalists and anti-capitalists [i.e. Guy class traitor
Taylor and other Globalise Resistance members]. Excitement
indeed!

Having begged the state for permission, Globalise Resistance
obviously have good reason to be grateful. But behind this
ridiculous posturing lies the serious problem of the lack of a
revolutionary critique of the state. We can not forget how last
Mayday the state waged an unprecedented campaign against
those anti-capitalists, revolutionaries and others who wanted to
gather in central London to celebrate Mayday. The press was
used to disseminate misinformation, lies, smears and threats.
The cops made open threats of violence, whilst Lord Harris, the
Labour peer and Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority,
called for the cops to shoot protesters. Mayor Livingstone, the
enfant terrible of the labour camp (who Globalise Resistance
and their parent SWP had supported in his election campaign),
placed paid-for adverts in newspapers warning people to stay
away. Even the Home Secretary and Blair got in on the act. On
the day itself Globalise Resistance marched straight into the
cops trap by turning up at O

We need to consider the nature and purpose of the United for
Mayday alliance and question the nature of the unity. The minor
trade union bureaucrats in the London May Day Organising
Committee have for years organised a pointless and boring
traditional march in London. Over the past two years they have
lamented the attention given to anti-capitalist actions:
If you read or watched the mainstream media you would have
thought the only things going on were the protests of the
anti-capitalist coalition. The coverage ranged from the death of
civilisation as-we-know-it to sorting out your fashion statement
as a WOMBLE or spikey. No attention was given at all to, what
has been characterised as, the boring old trade union May Day
March which went from Highbury Fields to Clerkenwell Green.
(Statement of the Organiser of London May Day Organising
Committee, carried in Voice of the Unions see the similar article
in The Morning Star 2/5/01)
For them the link up with Globalise Resistance offers a
perceived route to credibility. The trade union and labour
hierarchy, who for years paid at best lip service to Mayday,
fears the growing militancy amongst some sections of the
working class and the possibility of a genuine link up with
anti-capitalists, which may lead to the adoption of the tactics of
direct action and the rejection of sterile trade union and electoral
politics. No doubt they have an eye on the local elections on
May 2nd. They are backing United for Mayday as a safety
valve.

Globalise Resistance also wants a safe alternative to openly
defiant actions. Last year they discovered anti-capitalism and
joined the actions in Oxford Circus. However, the illegal nature
of the action obviously proved to be too much, so a safer form of
protest had to be found. Globalise Resistance is, we should
remember, a front for the Socialist Workers Party. In the guise
of another front, the Socialist Alliance, they too will contest the
elections on May 2nd. Last year the sigh of relief amongst
Globalise Resistance/SWP activists when the election was
postponed was all too apparent, but it will not happen this year.
They cannot risk trouble on Mayday and present themselves as
good bourgeois democrats the next day, particularly when they
have real hopes of picking up a few council seats and being
allowed to participate in the rationing of local services. At the
same time however they must dress up their Mayday proposal
as the radical alternative, to satisfy those who do not share their
electoral

The third party to this alliance is the state. The states interest is
all too obvious. Last year, despite the huge campaign, the state
failed to deter a significant minority from coming to central
London. Since then we have witnessed Genoa, the uprising in
Argentina, the war on Afghanistan and, in the run up to Mayday,
preparations are in full swing for a renewed war against Iraq.
This year, having sanctioned a demonstration in central London,
in Trafalgar Square, the state will be use this to justify state
violence against anyone who dares to defy the false unity and
takes action elsewhere in London. However, anyone wanting to
consider the risk of being in Trafalgar Square needs to look no
further back than Mayday 2000, when large numbers of people
were attacked by the cops. As last years Mayday Monopoly
Game Guide warned: Remember this is their territory, the place
they want us!