Revolutionary Communist Group

FRFI 223 October/November 2011

A protesters camp in Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street, New York, 28 September 2011.

Every day brings news of an ever-deepening crisis of global capitalism as neo-liberal economic policies continue to dominate in the major capitalist nations, reflecting the overwhelming power of financial capital. The US debt crisis remains unresolved and the minimal measures put forward by President Obama to stimulate the US economy remain locked in the political stalemate of the US Congress. In the eurozone, the sovereign debt crisis of the ‘peripheral’ states is destabilising the euro and undermining European monetary union in its present form. Stockmarkets are plunging, with bank shares leading the fall as the global economy faces a new recession and the prospect of sovereign debt defaults in the eurozone. DAVID YAFFE reports.

In early August the rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) unprecedentedly downgraded long-term US Treasury debt from its triple-A status to AA+, questioning the creditworthiness of US government debt. S&P doubted the efficacy of the plan that Congress and the administration had agreed to tackle the deficit and pointed to the weakened ‘effectiveness, stability, and predictability’ of US policy making and political institutions at a time when challenges are mounting (Wall Street Journal 6 August 2011). IMF estimates for US growth in 2011 have been sharply cut to 1.5%, down from the 2.5% predicted in June.

Read more: Capitalism Fractures - No End to Global Economic Crisis / FRFI 223 October/November 2011

The occupation at St Paul’s, in the heart of the City of London, and the wave of similar protests across the UK and Europe, are a sign of the inevitable resistance that is to come, as more and more sections of the working class see their living standards being sacrificed to pay for the capitalist crisis.

Inspired by the ongoing occupation of Wall Street in the US, thousands of protestors, including many of those involved in last year’s student protests and university occupations, descended on the City on Saturday 15 October with the aim of occupying the London Stock Exchange headquarters, symbol of Britain’s parasitic capitalism.

Read more: Occupy LSX: resistance sets up camp in the heart of British imperialism – Oct 2011

Photo: Demonstration in support of the California prison protesters, 29 July 2011, outside the California Tourist Office in London, organised by Brighton Anarchist Black Cross, Irish Republican Prisoners Support group and London Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

On 26 September 2011, hundreds of prisoners held in California’s punitive Secure Housing Units (SHUs) resumed a protest hunger strike which had originally commenced in July, ending after nearly four weeks, having secured some immediate concessions from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).  The prisoners’ spokesmen made clear in July that they were not abandoning their protest, but were prepared to give the administration a ‘grace period’ in which to meet their demands. When it became clear that this was not happening, the protest resumed, ending this time after three weeks, when the CDCR promised to review all SHU prisoners whose sentence relates to the controversial process of ‘gang validation’.

Read more: Message from Californian prison hunger striker

On Saturday 15 October at 11am the occupy movement spread to Glasgow as tents were erected, anti-cuts banners hung and progressive messages chalked on the red surface of George Square, in Glasgow’s City Centre. Opposite the occupation sits Glasgow City Council’s (GCC) chambers of corruption which are controlled by the Labour party. Below is an eye witness report and observations of a Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) supporter who has attended the occupation in solidarity on Tuesday 18 and 19 October;

Read more: Occupy Glasgow! Eye Witness Report - 19 Oct 2011

On Saturday 29 October Occupy Newcastle came under attack, first verbally during the day, from a combined mobilisation of several fascist organisations, and later that night physically, from an unidentified group of racists.

The combined actions of Counterfire, Labour councillors and police left the occupiers open to these attacks. For over a month, CounterFire/Coalition of Resistance and Labour Councillor Dipu Ahad had been promoting a ‘Rising against Islamophobia’ event to take place on 29 October at Grey’s Monument in the city centre. The organisers had invited a speaker from the Occupy Newcastle camp, which has occupied the Monument since 15 October. There were reports that the racist English Defence League (EDL) were planning to target the event, but leading Counterfire members had stated that there was no need for self-defence because the police would ensure its safety. The day before the event the following statement was issued announcing that the event had been cancelled:

Read more: Fascists attack Occupy Newcastle

Occupy Wall Street is now in its sixth week and has spawned clones in every major city in the US, and in many minor ones, as well as in hundreds of other cities throughout the rest of the world. The ruling class wants rid of it – a constant reminder to working people of the inequities of capitalism and the charade of capitalist ‘democracy’, and a constant reminder to the ruling class of the precariousness of their power. In their desperation to be rid of the movement they have tried ignoring it, dismissing it, patronising it, ridiculing it, sneering at it, condemning it, lying about it, and embracing it, trying to hug it to death. None of this has worked. People have had enough. So the ruling class has resorted to club rule.

Read more: Occupy Wall Street – Occupy Oakland!

On Saturday 29 October Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! joined the United Friends and Family Campaign (UFFC) for their annual march from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street, organised in protest against police violence, brutality and deaths in police custody in Britain. FRFI has supported the march since its inception 13 years ago.

Read more: Adding insult to injury - police attack families of victims of state violence - 29 Oct 2011