Where now after May Day for the anti-capitalist and anti-war movement?

by Outsider Tue May 18, 2004 19:10

Went to gig- well done Rory Eva and all. A really great night. Interesting open debate, music and a good crowd. Good luck GR.

by Rory H Fri May 14, 2004 12:50

Surely after Genoa, Evian, and now Dublin, everyone knows the policy of GR/SWP/IAWM/AEIP is...

RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

by Chekov Thu May 13, 2004 15:43

You don't have to be psychic to guess which protests the SWP will be talking about.

1. The title mentions the anti-capitalist movement. The AEIP traditional leftist event was probably the only event of the weekend that most people would not associate with the new 'anti-capitalist' movement.

2. If they were talking about the AEIP carnival then Rory would be fronting, not Joe.

3. "also showed us the effect of differing tactics" This is referring to the Grassroots events presumably. I can't think that there is too much controversy about the AEIP tactic of asking the police if they could have a march, saying 'yes sir' when they were told that it would have to be re-routed and having 2 hours of speeches, mostly by politicians, folllowed by a march. Their 'Thatcher's Children' leaflet has already made it clear what they will say here.

4. SWP fronts do not just appear at random. GR came onto the scene in the post Seattle period when the SWP suddenly realised that something big was happening that they had no control over or even contact with. It is the scruffy, 'anti-capitalist' front. By contrast the IAWM and AEIP are esentially fronts designed to accomodate the timid liberals of the Green Party and Labour.

Last Autumn the SWP made a strategic choice to push a broad liberal front rather than the anti-capitalist front. Joe/GR was shelved and Rory/AEIP was pushed (both organisations seem to have one member). This strategic choice was a consequence of F15 which the SWP interpreted as being a sign that hundreds of thousands were on the verge of flocking behind their banners and into the party. They decided that the days of the militant anti-capitalist protests were over (Rory said it himself on primetime) and that the new movements were much broader and had to distance themselves from the dreaded 'violence' or any discussion of it, lest they scare away the timid liberals who were just on the verge of flocking to the revolutionary party.

This was all based on the delusion that the people who came out on F15 constituted a 'movement'. They didn't, it was a one-off show of opinion on a particular issue and 'the movement' evaporated almost immediately. The SWP have not been able to reconcile themselves with this truth and have been conning themselves ever since into believing that the mystical 100,000 are still on the verge of being mobilised by RBB et al. This delusion caused them to spectacularly misread what was likely to happen on Mayday. Their broad 'mass' movement turned out to be about 1/3 the size of the 'anti-capitalist' fringe.

They compounded their mistake by rushing to produce a leaflet condemning the organisers as 'Thatcher's Children', presumably in the belief that there would be a huge media backlash against the 'violence' . Again they got it spectactularly wrong and so not only did they miss out entirely on the biggest anti-capitalist protests the country has seen in this era, they went on to denounce them as Thatcherites!

In a desperate bid to capitalise on the success of the DGN anti-capitalist mobilisation, they bring GR back from the dead, to attempt to somehow jump on the bandwagon. I think it is far too late and they are far too discredited to have any success this time. For a couple of years now they have been digging themselves deeper and deeper into their grave. Come the end of the Summer they might have a single counciller to show for all their work, but they will be incredibly isolated and distrusted by pretty much every single activist in the country who is not in their ranks. They are on the way out. Expect a few kicks and desperate blows as they sink, but sink they will.

Thanks for the lead off Gramsci. Any more questions?

by Gramsci's burger Thu May 13, 2004 01:37

Quote:------------------------------------
I should have said "the organisers of the Mayday protests that GR will be talking about".
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How do you know? I see no mention of Farmleigh, Ashtown or anything else specific in the GR release.

But it was you who are the Mayday Organisers isn't it - so they must be talking about you.

by Chekov Thu May 13, 2004 00:28

But GR aren't refering to the carnival. I do not mean to claim that DGN had any part in organising the AEIP carnival, which was very successful as far as I could see. I should have said "the organisers of the Mayday protests that GR will be talking about".

by martin Wed May 12, 2004 23:37

"...the Mayday Organisers (Dublin Grassroots Network)..."

and not defending SWP tactics/policies/behaviour, etc. anyone that proclaims to be THE organiser, THE movement, THE way, THE answer, THE party, ad nauseam, whilst ignoring the contributions of others (regardless of whether or not they believe that contribution to be as worthy as their's), can fuck right off in my opinion...

by david Wed May 12, 2004 22:50

DGN only claim responsibility for the protests that were organised by DGN. I have not heard a single Grassroots activist claim any credit for the success or otherwise of the AEIP "carnival"

The DGN have also refrained from using these events as recruiting mechanisms to any platform. There were no WSM people looking subscriptions to the WSM, there were no Gluisteach people or residents against racism people trying to capitalise on these events to further their own campaigns. It was a single minded strategy that tried to get people involved and give people ownership of the movement in whatever way they felt comfortable.

Hopefully new activists will feel empowered enough to take the initiative and get involved more broadly, but they will be coming in as equals, not as lowly paper sellers

by martin Wed May 12, 2004 22:07

just a thought... while i'm as unamused as the rest of the rest of ye when the SWP crawls out of the woodwork to claim complete responsibility for actions/protests/marches/demos/entire movements etc, surely is it not the same thing when grassroots network - or those simply speaking on its behalf - refer to themselves, repeatedly, as the definitive mayday organisers and scoff at anyone else's involvement? now, true, the DGN mobilised the largest numbers over the may day weekend - i attended, and enjoyed - but there WERE other events on. seems hypocritical to attack the self-appointed vanguard of the left, when your own indignant self-importance seems to have clouded your vision and understanding of a varied and inclusive movement a bit...

by Chekov Wed May 12, 2004 21:37

That this gig and fundraiser has NOTHING to do with the Mayday Organisers (Dublin Grassroots Network). It has NOT been organised in consultation with us.

by Lazarus watch Wed May 12, 2004 10:21

I wonder what party he is in?
(And no - its not the SWP)

by Badman Tue May 11, 2004 19:06

Nicola Byrne
Sunday September 21, 2003
The Observer

"Up to 30,000 anti-globalisation protesters are due to descend on Dublin when European Union heads of state meet in the city during Ireland's presidency of the EU next year.

Globalise Resistance, the international anti-capitalist organisation which oversaw the protests at summits in Genoa and Gothenburg among others, say they will 'mobilise' at least as many people this time to travel from within and to the Republic.
....

'Ireland will never have seen anything on the scale of this,' said spokesman Garrett Mullan. 'We have ample time to prepare and we're confident of mobilising between 20,000 and 30,000 to protest. Ireland is cheap to get to and the air and ferry links with the rest of Europe are good. We plan to make a big statement.'"

Well GR certainly seem to have failed to deliver their promised 30,000 protestors. Considering the high goals that they set themselves, I'm sure that they'll be a little disappointed that they only managed to mobilise, eh, zero.

Considering the way that they don't exist at all anymore, this attempt to suddenly relaunch them AFTER the protests are over, in order to hopefully scoop up a few naive recruits for the SWP, is the height of cynicism. Come on folks, the parrot is dead, it's not resting, gathering its strength or stunned. It's dead. I know that Kieran Allen is a master in the black arts, but bringing a corpse back to life is probably beyond even his evil powers.

by anti SWP Tue May 11, 2004 19:04

SWP attempt to ressurect another front group which failed to do anything constructive, ever. AEIP dies on June 31st with the end of the EU pres, but sure Rory can revive the dead horse.

Will the money go to the DGN legal & medical crew who did all the hard work over the Mayday weekend, visiting prisoners, making phone calls, organising legal representation? WILL IT FUCK. GR were too busy labelling the DGN as Maggie Thatcher's children instead of doing practical groundwork.

You just dont get it do you? Nobody is interested.

by Lazarus Watch Watcher Tue May 11, 2004 18:56

Hey Lazarus Watch, get your fax straight. This fundraiser was arranged in consoltation with GN. It was originally not a fundraiser for jailed protesters but in light of the arrests was changed to a fundraiser.
You are just a cop shit stirrer!

by David Tue May 11, 2004 14:51

How many of those newly created jobs were in the arms sector or producing "dual use" goods?

How many of our capitalist jobs rely on the cheap secure oil supplies guaranteed by these wars?
If you're pro capitalist than you are supporting these wars even if morally you oppose them.

by Lazarus watch Tue May 11, 2004 14:48

Only yesterday on another thread (see link) we got this.
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Answers
by Jonno Monday, May 10 2004, 4:30pm

By the way, the Socialist Party is not currently involved in GR. We hardly could be, given that the organisation has disappeared again.
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Miraculous recovery chaps!!!
GN should contact these jokers straight away and ask how their fundraising money will be divided. If the answer is not satisfactory, request that they desist from advertising it as a fundraiser for the defendents.

by Joe Tue May 11, 2004 14:46

In the third world work is a dream

In the first world it has already become a nightmare

Ireland has moved quite fast from the first position to the second.

The actual anti-capitalist movement (as opposed to the SWP) understand this quite well. Unemployment is miserable, so is spending most of your waking life either in a soulless cubicle or stuck in a tailback on the M50.

by John Tue May 11, 2004 14:42

Grim news for the anti-capitalist movement in Ireland. The latest unemployment figures have just come out and they show a fall of 4,400 in a month and 6,300 over the same month last year. Even the left-wing Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed has welcomed the figures, saying "they were a sign that the economic recovery was taking hold". The unemployment rate in Ireland is now 4.4%, the 3rd lowest in the 25-member EU. At this rate of fall, I predict Ireland will have the lowest rate in the EU by autumn.
Its much better than in Germany which has a Left/Green government and where unemployment is going through the roof, up to 10.5% last month. And, to think that this time last year lots of contributors on this site were predicting the imminent collapse of the capitalist system in Ireland. So, my advice on 'where now for the anti-capitalist and anti-war movement in Ireland' is that you drop the anti-capitalism bit. You can continue to be anti-war if you like, its perfectly honourable. Pro-capitalists have conflicting views on the war, in fact they are split down the middle. If you marched under the banner of 'pro-capitalist but anti-war', you'd probably get 10 times as many people at your marches. Just trying to be helpful with this suggestion.

by no 6 Tue May 11, 2004 14:38

any excuse lads, what rock did globalise resistance crawl under last year, and funny how it suddenly reappeared.

rather then set up a new front to lure people in, SWP just dusted off the old GR banners they've had in storage.....