Direct Action posts

Dear DA,

Surely in the 21st century Parliament needs to be reformed. After all how many of our MPs went to private school and university? It doesn’t sound like our Parliament is full of commoners. A Parlia-ment full of commoners will mean more varied debate and not for self-interest.

Yours faithfully, SH.

REPLY: As far as the kind of social change that we envisage is concerned, whether or not parliament is reformable is a side issue. Parliaments, the parties and politicians that infest them, along with other hierarchical bodies like the reformist unions, have the power to make decisions over our heads without having to ac-count for their actions. Against this, we see direct action as the way forward for our class – that is, in the words of our Aims (on p.2), “action by workers ourselves, not through intermediaries like politicians and union officials”.

Address Unknown

Dear DA,

Dear Comrades,

We are feminists who have come together from a number of groups to organise an event on Saturday 14 February 2009. We are excited and energised by the current resurgence in feminist activism in the UK, but we think that the kind of feminist movement we build and the kind of politics it has, matter.

We are committed to an anti-capitalist feminism which sees the interconnections between all struggles against oppressions and against capitalism, and we want to build an event that creates an open space to discuss this and develop our ideas. But we don’t want to just talk about our politics – we want to fight to actually change the material conditions of women’s lives, to fight misogyny and our own exploitation, and to involve as many women and men as possible in the campaigns that will be at the centre of this event.

September saw the first Bristol Anarchist Bookfair for many years. Stalls, activities and workshops were organised and hosted by a variety of groups. South West SF, organised a workshop to discuss the still relatively taboo subject of mental health. Specifically, it was concerned with examples and methods of mental health users and workers organising themselves to resist and/or compensate for a system that treats and contains mental ill health in a fashion that is often distressing and damaging for those concerned. South West SF argued that, although many user-worker relationships are restricted and damaged by the oppressive system in which interactions take place, mental health workers and service users have as much, if not more, that unites them as separates them. There is a need for service users and workers to collaborate to address not only individual care needs but also collective issues.

On November 22nd, thirteen British National Party members were arrested in Liverpool city centre for distributing racist material. The pamphlet in question was a BNP “report”, purporting to be about “hate crimes against white people”. It begins with a nauseating denunciation of racism by BNP chair and Holocaust denier, Nick Griffin, which is followed by a welter of lies and scare stories about foreign workers, asylum seekers and Black and Asian communities in this country. It is designed to produce fear and hatred amongst white voters, and to drive them into the arms of the BNP.

The world’s political elites are looking just a little jaundiced now that the free market god is proving to be a touch fallible. The days of free market triumphalism are long gone as our shell shocked leaders try to prevent the world economy sliding into prolonged depression. With free market solutions now dead, the big question is whether or not massive government action will be enough to avoid an economic meltdown.

My, my…how times have changed. For thirty years the free market could do no wrong, then suddenly all change and it’s state intervention that’s now the one true faith. Even our own steadfast leader, Mr Brown, has undergone a St Paul-like conversion. Now Mr Prudence is to be found strutting his Keynesian stuff all over the world stage, championing the idea of state intervention on a grand scale. How easy our politicians glide from one set of principles to another, hardly pausing to adjust their moral compasses.

As for the social democratic left, they truly feel their time has come. The Guardian is now stuffed with articles paying homage to the new god that is Keynesian economics. The new social democratic dawn is upon us and a land of egalitarian milk and honey beckons. The dark days of New Labour have now passed and the next election will see the state interventionist forces of good do battle against the dwindling power of the evil free market Tories.

The current economic crisis is entirely a product of capitalism itself, spawned by the inherent instability of “boom and bust”, the signature of an insane and immoral system of organising society. But even in the best of the boom times crisis has never been too far removed from the relentless exploitation of resources, both human and natural, in the mad pursuit of profit for the rich and powerful. That this system has brought us to the brink of disastrous climate change is now beyond doubt.

In the face of climate change, big business prefers to fiddle while the world threatens to burn. However, the economic climate is only exacerbating the situation. A prime example of this is the European Union pact on climate change concluded in December last year. Corporate predictions of job losses, warnings of increased costs, and threats to move out of Europe have easily persuaded servile politicians to water down the original proposals.

Dear DA,

I have been monitoring a little group of Nazi fascists, English National Resistance, for a couple of months:

The interesting thing about them is that they are purposely attempting to replicate similar movements in Ger-many who have taken on the anarchist style of dressing in black; they even have the anarchist antifa flag logo as their logo! From their site it seems they are getting active – graffiti, banner drops, leaflets – in a few cities.

Just thought I’ll let people know. No doubt we will run into them at some point – it’s always good to be on our guard especially if they turn up in black trying to infiltrate demos, etc.

In solidarity, AN

Dear DA,

The Miami 5 were trying to prevent Miami fascists, aided by the CIA, from carrying out sabotage in Cuba. They were arrested in 1998 as “terrorists”, have been in US jails ever since and have been denied regular family visits.

Join the campaign for their cause by writing to:

Secretary of State
Hilary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Dept. of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC
20520 USA

Urge her to grant temporary visas on humanitarian grounds to 2 of the prisoners’ wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, who have been refused visas nine times and have not seen their husbands for 8 and 10 years.

Dear DA,

May I commend DA for the article Anarchism and Crime in the Spring 2009 edition. It’s nice to read anarchists discuss this issue sensibly.

Not sure what exactly “the policing role would...be carried out only as part of a balanced job complex” means.

Can I assume it means we the people policing ourselves and each other, as community militia, workers and residents militia, protecting ourselves and each other and coming to decisions by free association and direct democracy, with former skilled police constables training the rest of us in crime prevention and detection and forensics being retained as needed?