5 Years after J18 in London’s Square Mile - Is Anti-Capitalism Dead in the Water?

international | anti-capitalism | feature

Saturday July 03, 2004 16:56

by a - b

'On June 18th the traders ran away. They fled the buildings'

From The Newswire:

In Genoa we sprayed the Carabineri vans with the slogan “We are Winning”. But increasingly it seems like we’re not winning. Where next?

"Its been five years since the global street party in London on June 18th 1999 brought the fight to where it mattered – the square mile, the heart of the City. Much as North American activists would like you to believe that the “Battle of Seattle” was the first major anti-capitalist street demonstration to hit the western/northern world, they’re just practising their usual cultural imperialism again (presumably they’re blinded to the reality of it with an inflated impression of their own self-importance) – now all the world can share in Michael Moore, Eric Schlosser, Greg Palast, Naomi Klein, etc, instead of hearing a range of global voices fighting against capitalism (someone referred to it as “McActivism” the other day)."

Despite the heralding of a new dawn by neo-liberal prophets, history had not ended, and down in the global south popular people’s movements had been organising autonomously in their communities for five years prior to 1999. In the rich north, where the quality of life is considerably better, but still many problems exist in society, this movement took its time to get started. But when it did, it arrived with a bang.

On June 18th the traders ran away. They fled the buildings. They shit their pants, the cops were caught on the hop and the London financial district was well and truly fucked over good and proper. There was a real sense of danger, excitement, and opportunity. The capitalists had never seen anything like it. They were used to seeing the lefties selling papers and collecting signatures for petitions, but the willingness of the crowd to engage in large scale direct property damage took everyone by surprise (including many of the protesters!). The crowd, with no central hierarchy or leadership, stayed one step ahead of the cops for most of the day, making it a success.

The cancellation of the autonomous Mayday events in London this year coupled with the recent failure of large scale street resistance to emerge against the G8 meeting in the USA seems to spell something of an end (or perhaps a refractory period) for the anti-capitalist movement in the “first” world. The Mayday Collective put out a long and detailed statement on their reasons for not calling the weekend or day of actions which had been a high point on the calendar for the past four years. There was the usual standard trade union/reformist march, populated with paper sellers from Stalinist/Trotskyist parties, reminiscent of the late 80’s.

Perhaps it is that the element of surprise is gone – and the capitalists are used to us taking our confrontations to their front door (or attempting to). The WTO delegates huddled together in fear in November 1999 in their conference centre, with the smell of tear gas coming in the ventilation shafts. This year at the “Reclaim The Commons” action in San Francisco, there were reports of biotechnology conference delegates laughing as police cut demonstrators out who were locked down at various traffic junctions, while others strode confidently with police escorts through groups of shouting demonstrators, not batting an eyelid. They know now that any time we try to organise a spectacular summit crash, they will have the forces of law and order on their side, and the cops will have done their intelligence homework.

Another argument runs that the anti-capitalist movement in the north failed to provide any coherent workable alternative economic model to capitalism when it was taking hold of people’s imaginations. There never was any one single answer – what gives the movement its energy is its diversity. There are a myriad of answers to the worlds problems, and asking people will give no one single ideology to follow. But the continuing hypocrisy of anti-capitalists in everyday life stripped the movement of widespread credibility. At this stage we ALL know about sweatshop labour, yet how many people running in the streets still wear Nike or Adidas shoes? Likewise we campaigned against the likes of McDonalds & Burger King, but many happily go home and eat meat from the supermarket. There are ethical alternatives out there; we cannot be expected to exist in a vacuum free from the market, but people are not seeking everyday solutions out and acting practically on their beliefs.

The G8 protests this year in the USA attracted very few people on the streets – at one point it was estimated that there were 50 law enforcement officials for each protester. But the anarchists there decided that they wanted to try and step beyond the simple “shut it down” ethos that had dominated the tactics of street confrontations with the state. Their action was called “Fix Shit Up!” and was an attempt to repair derelict houses in the economically depressed town of Brunswick (which is a first hand victim of the effects of globalisation). Again their efforts were hampered by police harassment but this was a valiant effort to take the ideals of DIY, anarchism, and autonomy to communities affected by poverty.

Perhaps this is what is needed for a couple of years in order to reinvigorate the movement. Bringing the ideas of a mostly street/summit based movement into local communities and applying the ethos of direct action to smaller, more manageable goals. Running around in circles with the cops may be fun, but unfortunately it seems to be getting us nowhere, with every summit seeing a drop in protester numbers and a massive increase in policing (often with violent oppressive consequences for those that do show up to demonstrate). Its not about diluting the message of our movement but applying it to situations where the effects of globalisation are immediately visible and tangible.

Reaching out into communities and developing links with other groups wont be half as much fun as smashing windows or setting police cars on fire. It will be tough work, lots of negotiation and discussion, and often boring as hell. But if we are serious about revolution, we will need a much higher level of support then the one we have now. This may take a few years to build (and again it is questionable how much potential support there is in the developed world), but at least in a few years time when we take to the streets again, other people who are not directly involved in summit confrontations will understand our means and methods, and hopefully lend us moral and logistical support.

A revolution is certainly not just around the corner as some over-excitable politicos would have you believe. But it can happen any time, now is always the best time. As Bob Black says, “You want revolution now? I wish I had your patience.” We will have to be patient though – as well as engaging in direct actions and summit crashes, we will need to constantly be re-evaluating our every move over the next five years if we are to achieve something lasting from the last five years. We need to step back and work beyond protest as protest. Otherwise it will all become another brief period in history for academia to pour over, or fodder for countless products for the market to consume (already happening) instead of a vibrant political alternative to capitalism, the state, and corporate monopolies.