Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Seize the bank and seize the tower

...As some bright feller once writ.

The steady media drum beat announcing impending violence and mayhem is part of a strategy of detterance, deterring people from protesting (cos they don't want to be in the violence) and allowing a sucker punch if none occurs ("the police took effective action that stopped the violent minority, your honour").

Over the weekend, Donal Macyntire, on radio 5, had an interview with a journalist, who had infiltrated the Gleneagles movement. Such unbiased questions of the "was there a secret hierarchy" sort, and the journalists on facetious and contemptuous comments guaranteed that it would be ten minutes of supporting the caricature of anarchists. Did the bloke in black really have a bodyguard, or just a heavy mate? Hmmmm.

Of course, that today's protests will in all likelihood be swatted away easily by such cheap media tactics demonstrates just how futile and worthless they are: anarchy is a game at which the police will beat you.

It might be fun to protest, I was there at the great May day riot a few years ago, it was great fun, honest. What is needful, though, is the slower, grass roots, boring job of organising politically: education, meetings, networks, votes. That would scare the bejaasus out of the powers that be. Really, we should try it.

With a bit of luck soon I'll have news on a Euro election bid by the Socialist Party, maybe the Euro elections would be the place to start?

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1 Comments:

Anonymous A Very Public Sociologist said...

Dear Bill

I didn't have an email address for you, so I hope you don't mind me leaving this here.

I'm writing to invite you to take part in the Carnival of Socialism. The Carnival has been bringing a fortnightly round up of everything that's going on in the global socialist blogosphere for the last three years, and draws from a wide and eclectic mix of blogs. It has had the added bonus of helping the blogging left become a more cohesive and welcoming place, as well as delivering more audiences to the blogs that have already taken part.

But the Carnival needs your help. We are looking to expand the number of volunteers beyond a core group of 'usual suspects'. Previous Carnivals are located on its dedicated blog at http://carnivalofsocialism.blogspot.com to give you an idea of what hosting a carnival entails. We have sessions booked up until 26th April but need volunteers for dates after then. So how about it?

If you would like to sign up for a Carnival, know someone who might, or have any other questions about it please drop me a line at philbc03 at yahoo.com

Socialist Greetings,

Phil BC (A Very Public Sociologist)

7:26 PM  

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