sheer buffHoonery

as a great fan of our former minister for war, i was particularly excited to see an interview with geoff hoon in the indy. after 5 yrs as head of m.o.d., during which time he oversaw the invasion and occupation of afghanistan and iraq, hoon has now been relocated to a new job as leader of the commons. in typical buff hoon style he sees this as a continuation of his tireless role in pursuit of 'democracy'. tasked with salvaging the abysmally low voting turnout hoon has the usual neo-labour solution: if they won't take part in our democracy we'll force it on them! hoon favours compulsory voting backed up with financial penalties for non-participation. well i suppose that's an improvement on violent theft of your country, which is apparently reserved for those nasty arab types.

the article states that "Refreshingly, Mr Hoon does not blame voters" for their non-participation. that's a change of tune since last month then when hoon wrote a comment for the guardian entitled 'MPs deserve more respect'. this was at the height of tony blair's awful 'respect' diatribe, and we were supposed to believe that urchins in hoodies were about to undermine the fabric of society. then hoon argued that "one of the consequences of [more rights and freedoms] is far less respect in our society - for authority and also for our traditional institutions, including parliament." hoon neglected to mention that the decision of the government to go to war in iraq against public opinion, and in a hail of lies, half-truths and misunderstandings from mps, may also have had a role to play in this lack of respect.

but back to the interview, which describes hoon as the man who "was tipped for the sack more often than any other minister." having seen his execrable performance in front of students at nottingham i'm not surprised. so why didn't he get thrown out?:-

"Hoon is also seen in Downing Street as a good team player and safe pair of hands who can play with a straight bat. He had a lot of practice on Iraq."

playing with a straight bat? playing with a ballistic missile more like. safe pair of hands? i wouldn't let him near the trigger. in a candidate for understatement of the year hoon summed up the government's mistake in iraq:-

"What we didn't do, I accept, was properly anticipate the level of violence people were prepared to use to oppose the creation of a democratic society. I don't think we appreciated the level of fanaticism and sheer anarchic violence that people were prepared to employ."

yes, that's right geoff, they're opposing the creation of a democratic society. the brutal and illegal occupation of their homeland has absolutely nothing to do with it. and what a beautifully "democractic society" coalition leaders had in mind, as they held out against the possibility of direct elections as long as they could. i'm sure that no "fanaticism" or "violence" could compare with neo-labour's devotion to armed intervention in iraq either. a glimmer of what the establishment fears the most is seen in there too. whilst this violence certainly wasn't "anarchic" i don't think it's a random choice of word.

"These people have an agenda to destroy democracy, whether that is in Iraq, US or the UK."

would that be the cabinet geoff? sorry, that's a dangerously disrespectful thing to say about our benevolent dictators.

my personal highlight from hoon's gems of wisdom, however, is this little nugget:-

"I am not discounting the fact that there is a strong intellectual argument for saying that in a democracy the results of the election should reflect the wishes of the electorate."

i don't think that really needs commenting on. remember folks, our democracy's in safe hands!

london fallout 2: still falling

Tony Blair praises police in the wake of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, wrongly suspected of being a bomber (25th Jul):-

"I think it is important that we give them every support and that we understand that had the circumstances been different and, for example, this had turned out to be a terrorist and they had failed to take that action, they would have been criticised the other way,"
"At the same time therefore, in expressing our sorrow and deep sympathy for the death that has happened, it is important that we allow the police and support them in doing the job they have to do in order to protect people in this country."

...and some history
...and some more

Meanwhile, Two-thirds of Muslims consider leaving the UK

The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks.

And don't forget who else is a target:-
UK police seek powers to attack web sites
Fairford coach action

outlaws

have recently been engaging in a debate with alex at utopia over legal systems. basically, he thinks they're necessary and good, and i don't. why? i suppose partly as a reaction to what i see as the historic emergence of the law as an instrument of the state, used to wield power over its subjects rather than to bring about justice. having just finished foucault's discipline and punish this anger is rather strong at the moment, and it's not helped by the recent extra-judicial shooting of a man on the london underground, and calls for ever more invasive and repressive laws to 'counter terrorism'.

the problem, as i see it, with an overarching legality, is that it is by its nature a rigid structure that is useless without enforcement, almost always by repressive means at the hands of the state. it is the state's appropriation of moral authority and its imposition on the people forced to live within it. my view is that communities and individuals must be able to democratically decide on how to deal with disagreements and injuries, and that the solutions must be non-violent and aimed at repairing damage and injury rather than pandering to blood lust and the artificial 'need' for revenge. these codes must be voluntary, although to 'opt out' one must accept the possible withdrawal of a society's support.

i think that people often confuse 'right action' and 'right livelihood' with the law. this ends up with the rather bizarre situation that violations of moral values are often challenged as breaches of the law instead, as if the law were something designed to protect ordinary people. the major application of the law in modern society is to retrospectively punish those who have already committed crimes. i do not believe that this has the effect of deterring those punished from crime, but rather breeds resentment of the system that has punished them. to reduce the possibility of power being wielded by the strong over the weak (the source of most of what i see as 'true' crimes) we must endeavour to build communities in which none has reason to resent the others, by making them as equitable and accepting as possible. property 'crime' is the result of an unhealthy attitude towards material possessions. it is not startlingly original of me to suggest the system of usufruct, whereby 'things' are only 'possessed' whilst in use. this would encourage a greater sharing of resources and the eradication of theft for need or to achieve wealth (something that would no longer exist).

the underlying principle guiding these thoughts is that in a world in which each individual feels useful, included, and empowered, the desire to violate the person of another is greatly reduced, as is the desire to punish those who do violate others. it is replaced by a compassion for other humans, a much better tool for healing the societal rifts created by such acts.

Police shoot dead brown man for wearing coat

Tailing The Tube Suicide Bomb Suspect
Friday July 22, 03:53 PM

Specialist officers had been tailing the man shot at Stockwell Tube station from his home, says Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt.Police believed the Asian man was responsible for an attempted attack on the nearby Oval Tube on Thursday and had set up surveillance on him.
Brunt said officers had followed the man from his home and that the initial plan was to arrest him.

But from his home to Stockwell Tube, events overtook police and marksmen were forced to shoot.

Despite temperatures of around 22C (72F), officers and witnesses said the man was wearing a heavy coat under which it was feared may have been a bomb.

Brunt said: "Intelligence officers had suggested he was the bomber from Thursday.

"Officers were confronted with the very real possibility that this man did have a bomb."

Initial examinations though, said Brunt, did not discover any explosives on the suspect.

london bombings: the fallout

the last few days have seen a number of developments surrounding the 7/7 bombings in london. firstly, on monday international affairs thinktank chatham house published a report making the link between british foreign policy and the bombings. according to the report:-

"the UK government has been conducting counter-terrorism policy 'shoulder to shoulder' with the US, not in the sense of being an equal decision-maker, but rather as a pillion passenger compelled to leave the steering to the ally in the driving seat"

i was first aware of this whilst watching the bbc news at 10 (i'm staying at my parents' at the moment, this is part of the nightly ritual). their report was typically unable to outright criticise the government, and concluded with a bizarre interview with former pakistan president benazir bhutto saying something to the effect that london would have been a target anyway. yeah right.

then, on tuesday 19th july, the guardian published the results of a poll conducted before the publication of the chatham house report, finding that two-thirds of the public believed that there was a link between the decision to invade iraq and the bombings. despite desperate government attempts to lay the blame at the door of the muslim community, and manufactured bogeymen:-

"33% of Britons think the prime minister bears "a lot" of responsibility for the London bombings and a further 31% "a little"."

the poll findings have been analysed in detail, and with speed, by the excellent milan rai and maya evans of jnv in their article majority realism.

so people have been making the fairly elementary and highly predictable link between britain's terrible iraqi adventure (carried out by well-protected politicians) and the much-increased risk of terrorism (to 'soft' targets, civilians like you or me). not surprisingly, we've also been placing the blame at the door of the head honcho, everyone's least favourite politician, mr. tony blair. after all, if anyone could have avoided taking britain to war it was him.

other news, however, has detailed the government's responses to the terrorist attacks. today's guardian brings us news that special branch are to track british muslims. new legislation being drafted by charles clarke intends to make a new offence of "indirect incitement to terrorism" whatever the hell that means. given that terrorism means what 'they' do to 'us', and never the other way around, this will soon be used to bang up anyone suggesting the use of violent resistance to the state no doubt. on a related note, we have id cards looming in the background, and there will be an attempt to scare the general public into accepting them no doubt. the same old story: never accept the blame, just find a suitable scapegoat (british muslims) and use the fear to your advantage.

now is the time for the anti-war movement in britain to stand up and shout about the link between britain's terror abroad and the increase in terror against british citizens at home. it's time to make people realise that the true perpetrators of terror, the leaders of britain, the usa, et al., are not those who will suffer from terrorism, but they do intend to profit from it. we must endeavour to bring to the public consciousness the realisation that insecurity for one is insecurity for all. we must endeavour to bring about peace and justice for everyone if we want it for ourselves.

vertical nightmares

just been reading an article that will be of interest to those who attended the esf in london last year. written by emma dowling who was (reluctantly) part of the organising process it details some of the shameful tactics indulged in by the 'vertical' camp (swp, gla, unions) in order to control the organisation of the event, and ignore the demands of the 'horizontals'.

this is the kind of thing that makes me question whether any broad left coalition will ever be able to work, given the huge divides between the authoritarian and libertarian camps. it had been suggested at meetings of the lenton anarchist forum that we attempt to engage in dialogue with socialists, and hold some kind of conference where we could organise around issues that we held mutual positions on. however, i've always been suspicious of the tactics and party-sheep arrangement of hierarchical socialist groups, and this article reinforced these suspicions. of course, it could work out very differently on a local level, but it's certainly something to be cautious about.

a nottingham social forum has previously been attempted, without much success. its demise came about, in my opinion, due to the lack of clarity about the purpose of the forum. this was partly due to a divergence of approaches (wannabe maoist guerillas sitting down with trade justice campaigners and academic liberational pedagogists was never going to be conducive to agreement) and partly due to the fact that we were stuck with two different (and irreconcilable) structures: world social forum ("big bang" type event) and sheffield social forum (ongoing community talking space).

another world is possible, but perhaps ultimately we all want one that's slightly different...

love and rage iv - winding down?

having well and trully caught out the plod on wednesday, they were understandably unwilling to let the same thing happen again. at 3am on thursday morning, the campsite was woken to the news that 50 riot vans were heading towards the site. rumours spreading like wildfire in the methane-enhanced atmosphere of the camp we all thought we were moments away from an invasion and brutalisation at the hands of the old bill. rather more intelligently, they decided to cordon us off completely. being encamped in a bend in a treacherous river, this was relatively easy to do. most of us went back to sleep, still shattered from our efforts of the previous day.

we awoke to find ourselves still blocked in. a meeting was called to discuss our tactics, and after about two hours of futile debate (one of the facilitators described it as like "trying to nail jelly to a wall") a runner suddenly arrived with news of the london bombings. we returned to our barios to discuss everything, with rather different ideas about what to do in light of the news. it was eventually decided that we should not do anything militant or confrontational, but rather focus on remembrance of those killed by terrorism and state violence. i felt this was the only feasible option, but some considered this to be akin to "calling a day of inaction". i was happy to stay to explore the site, and get involved in its workings. in the evening there was a 'kid's party' in front of the police cordon, during which we formed a big circle for a minute's silence. it ended in a giant hokey cokey. i'm not entirely sure if it was done with an appropriate amount of respect, but it was certainly in keeping with the mood of not being repressed by the violent forces fighting against us.

friday had been claimed as a day of action against climate change. a small affinity group from the notts bario had planned on taking a banner around some local petrol stations and talking to people, as a low-key action. after reports of locals angry at the property damage wreaked in their town, we weren't too keen on getting involved in any scrapes. the plan was derailed somewhat when it was revealed in a site meeting that an outbreak of dysentry was rapidly turning into an epidemic, and that some shit pits rapidly needed digging. myself and a few others volunteered for the job, but missed out on going out with the banner. from their reports it seemed to go down very well, and talking to local people reinforced the fact that they were largely very supportive of our actions.



so on saturday we wearily climbed aboard our minibus and headed home. many new alliances made, and plans afoot for further actions. winding down? never for long.

to be continued...

p.s. to see all my photos, go here

love and rage iii - just below the horizon(e)

my reports thus far have been rather descriptive as, with the possible exception of the faslane blockade, the events i was invovled in up to the point i left edinburgh were variations on the traditional protesting techniques (conferences, marches, rallies) that i'm pretty well rehearsed in now. on arriving in stirling for the eco-camp/"horizone" (or if you're in the mainstream media, "eco-camp" for full disdain), i was introduced to a whole new situation (the protest camp) from which i learnt a great deal about protest tactics, and anarchist organising.

we got there late on tuesday night to find stirling crawling with police. managed to get a lift with a dissent minibus on its way back from dropping people off in the ochil hills. the mood at the site was tense to say the least, and it had very much the feel of a place under siege. found our way to the nottingham bario and got a briefing from a. apparently most people had already left in affinity groups to spend the night in the hills walking towards blockade points in the morning. our remaining options were to either join the 'suicide march' (mass-walkout of militant types in the early hours), rapidly form our own affinity group, or wait til the morning (risking a police blockade of the site) and join the kids bloc. in my mind we were never going to be sufficiently prepared to walk out into wild terrain, or find enough like-minded people, in a few hours. whilst i see the tactical usefulness of militant marches, my general feeling is that my panicky nature and extreme displeasure with having the shit kicked out of me by well-armed thugs, generally mean that i chicken out (for the good of fellow marchers as much as my own). attending their meeting confirmed this was the right move. a detailed plan already seemed to have been formulated which was only referred to by name, and they were going to leave in less than an hour anyway. we waited to watch them go, in what looked like a column of well over 500. well... i didn't pack any black clothes anyway.

we ended up having brief sleep in the sumac centre's marquee before waking to the sound of incoming reports from the suicide march on speaker phone. things sounded pretty hectic out there, but they'd made it to the m9 and were successfully blockading which was a pretty impressive feat. as expected, the police had thrown a cordon around the site, so i ended up spending the morning as usefully as i could helping n. serve tea and coffee for veggies. by around midday the kids block were getting ready to go tho, and despite getting a few odd looks for wanting to join them, me and s. found a space in the van of a local carpenter, crammed in with a group of travellers, an irish guy in a straw hat, and some girls from the findhorn community. our driver was a legend - he tore down the roads steaming through or round police stop and search points, egged on by our newfound pikey friends. we passed a trashed kfc which raised our spirits further. amazingly we managed to get within sight of the gleneagles perimeter fence before being section 60ed. being searched for weapons in a van full of power tools and saws was interesting, but the tayside coppers believed our story (altho they spent a lot of time trying to get as much personal info out of us as possible, making notes on physical appearence, etc.) For the second stop and search the police decided it wasn't safe to have about 9 of us crammed in the back of the van and forced everyone who wasn't sat up front to proceed on foot. not too bad as there only a few miles to go (police whizzing all around on scrambler bikes, quads, 4x4s and even a chinook helicopter).



a few miles further on, we came to a bridge over the a9 3/4 mile from gleneagles hotel, which had been occupied by an impromtu kids picnic. we joined in and tried to avoid the glares of the fully kitted up riot cops stopping us from proceeding. spent a few hours partying with a sound system, samba, etc. before they closed in and forced us back. managed to chat to some of the critical massers and it seemed like the day's blockades had been a success. for a nice collection of materials attempting to summarise what went on, check out this article. our driver had buggered off unfortunately so we were forced to walk in the rain to auchterarder to find transport.



got there to find a huge police presence and a few nottingham peeps, whom we accompanied to a local drinking establishment. they were showing sky news which had plenty of footage of people breaking through the fences at the earlier g8 alternatives march, and being soundly twatted by the police. provoked a lot of rage, but not as much as when tony blair came on to sermonise. finally got word from the dissent transport crew and went out into the street to be picked up... just in time to see hundreds of police break up an impromtu gathering in the main street and arrest a clown. bastards!

back to horizone (stupid bloody name) to chill, catch up with other people and reflect on the days events. the site by day was a beautiful place, situated in a bend in the river forth and surrounded by the wallace monument on one side, and stirling castle on another. food was always filling and cheap, and usually very tasty too. hygiene arrangements were a little suspect (friday saw an outbreak of dysentry raise it's ugly head) but it was the chemical toilets rather than the compost ones that were to blame. most of the jobs that needed doing seemed to get done voluntarily (i ended up doing a bit of shitpit digging, a security shift, and a lot of food prep) although at times it seemed that the conscientious minority were doing all the work for the rest (grumble, grumble). decisions were made by consensus decision making in site meetings in a big marquees, which were supposedly attended by bario (neighbourhood) delegates (spokespersons), but this system didn't quite end up working. barios were also supposed to have regular meetings to discuss matters too, but ours ended up not doing this as often as would have been +trully+ democratic i felt. the problem was one of lack of communication rather than a lack of awareness about the need for direct democracy. the demographics of the site were overwhelmingly white which took a bit of adjusting to, and, despite the presence of a "wimmin space" and queer bario, patriarchy could be said to be having a fair influence over certain things, such as who ended up volunteering in the notts kitchen. but then, it would be hard to move straight to utopia in one fell swoop. it was certainly an inspiring experience to be involved in this temporary autonomous zone. despite the constant police harassment in the form of constant helicopter surveillance, semi-permanent search cordons and even bringing evidence gathering crews with cameras up to the sit perimeter, it was a place that we could feel safe in.

still more to come...

love and rage ii - a tale of 2 shutdowns

the first two actions i took part in were the faslane blockade on mon 4th july and the protest outside dungavel detention centre on tue 5th. our bus left for the faslane nuclear base, which houses four of britain's trident nuclear submarines, at 4am and was intended to get to faslane (on the west coast of scotland) at 7am for the start of the blockade. trident ploughshares and scottish cnd have made this base an important target for anti-nuclear activists with many successful blockades over the years. my entry point into the world of activism was through anti-war campaigning and i felt compelled to join in with this protest against the hidden terror of nuclear weaponry.

the early hour really messed up everyone's sense of time, and it seemed like mid-morning even tho it was only 7.30. we were disgorged from our coach at the north gate, which was festooned with banners and cake stalls. time for a coffee. we knew that the base's activities had been shut for the day, which made the protests seem a little hollow, but it seemed like the festivities were going to be well worth joining in with. rhythms of resistance from sheffield were getting a good samba going and the mood was peacefully defiant. our party decided to follow a troupe of clowns from circa along the long perimeter road, lined with police and huge razor wire fences. at the bottom of the hill, on the edge of the loch, we joined in with the clowns to play peekaboo with police patrol boats, hiding behind blades of grass and leaves. a guffaw was heard issuing forth from a guy with binoculars. if only they knew who the joke was on...



the south gate crew were being kept lively by a sound system playing reggae. blockaders in lock-ons littered the space in front of police lines, and a geisha brigade from nottingham bowed serenely. i spent a while chatting to a veteran cnd campaigner and local, who told me all about the base, the warhead store and how they've been playing cat and mouse with mod for years. apparently the base is situated in faslane because it's the cloudiest place in britain, which makes it difficult to survey by satellite. soon general panic of the circa made the announcement that the clowns were about to launch operation weapons of mass distraction, a highly satirical bit of street theatre about the way that the press were diverting attention from the real issues at the g8 to 'violent anarchists' and the like. later on, much to everyone's immense enjoyment, a police fit team with silly yellow caps were chased back behind police lines by clowns jumping in front of the camera and saying "hello mum!".



visited the oil depot gates too, and passed a guy sitting on the fence. also took some time to have a look at the faslane peace camp, a collection of benders and caravans in the woods along the road. the countryside was amazingly beautiful, really contrasting with the obscenity of the base. a potent reminder of the potential annihilation we face every day.



the next day we were off to a very different, but no less heavily defended place. dungavel 'immigration removal centre' is a place where failed asylum applicants to the uk are held before being deported. it looks a lot like a prison - very grim. especially when plastered with about 1000 police and their riot gear. especially when you know that extremely vulnerable people who have probably been incarcerated before are held within its confines. especially when you know that the police have had them all removed to a prison for the duration of the protests.

we nearly didn't make it. the police did their best. a few miles away from the centre our coach was stopped and searched by police under section 60 of the public order act, ostensibly to look for weapons (although why they suspected that we'd be taking weapons is anyone's guess). the usual police intimidation and deterrence of legitimate protest it would seem. one officer started asking for peoples' details, which is not allowed under s60. fortunately we caught him out, and after a lot of shouting and bullshitting by a superior officer, they backed down, did a half-hearted pat down of a few people and realised they would have to let us go. the presence of rosie kane msp probably speeded things along too.

the demonstration itself seemed a little hollow given the huge police presence and the fact that we couldn't reach out in solidarity with anyone cos they weren't there. nonetheless it brought home to me the terrible manner in which our nations treat unwanted immigrants, and the devastating effects of imposing borders.

love and rage i

perhaps unsurprisingly i didn't blog during the g8. unsurprising because most of the time was spent either a) camping, b) travelling from one part of scotland to the other in buses and occasionally c) protesting. the experience has been pretty inspiring and i feel like i've had a bit of a glimpse of the 'other world' that we're always being told is possible.

i spent the first part of my week in edinburgh, largely taking part in well-organised traditional protesting activities. on sunday it was the mph (or muff as i chose to abbreviate it further) march, which, despite being huge, was rather insipid. i've mentioned before my distaste for the "white man's burden" implication of it all, and it didn't change my views. nonetheless, i hope it will have brought otherwise fairly apolitical types into contact with those whose campaigns are more radical, and seek an end to the political structures underlying poverty.



it was these kinds of people (war on want, world development movement, people & planet) whose "corporate dreams, global nightmare" conference i spent much of sunday attending. there were 5 sessions in all, and i ended up being there for 4 of them. first up were those opposing privatisation, led by george monbiot whose polite demeanour was stretched to the limit by the g8 rhetoric and popstar obfuscation of the issues. also on the panel was trevor ngwane, a south african from the anti-privatisation forum, whose calm but unerringly radical view captivated the audience. he had a busy week - we were on the bus to dungavel with him on tuesday where he gave another stirring speech. next up were samir amin and walden bello to speak about global trade rules. i found this one a little dry i have to admit. was good to hear about the upcoming protests in hong kong around the world trade organisation's meetings in december tho. lunch and time to bump into a large grp of comrades from nottingham, with tales of the g8 bike ride (overwhelmingly positive) and, most importantly, directions of where to go for a vegan lunch. the afternoon's sessions were on fighting corporations with two amazingly inspirational southern activists: the head of the coca cola boycott campaign in india, and a campaigner against shell in nigeria. unfortunately i didn't get the opportunity to note their names, but their presentations were enough to impress upon me the immense importance of solidarity campaigns with those in the global south, who are +really+ on the front lines of the fight against poverty. finally there was a session with the yes men. it was pretty bizarre being a few metres away from two guys who you've previously only seen starring in a kind of gonzo movie (even more seeing them at the dissent! eco-camp later in the week!) but their presentation was a bit lacklustre. there's no doubt that these guys are committed tho, but i recommend the film as a better introduction



during this time i was staying at the campsite set up by edinburgh city council at the jack kane centre in craigmillar. despite previous reports on indymedia making the set up look like a prison camp it was actually an ok place to be. the locals were amazingly friendly (considering we'd nicked their sports centre and football field for the week) and seemed to be generally supportive of our protests. in fact, that was the impression i got from people all over scotland during the week was one of support for those who were willing to act against the authorities, who'd imposed the summit on scotland without its consent.

summer holidays

just an announcement that blogging looks set to be sporadic over the next few days, as i'm off to edinburgh at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning and will be spending the week registering my dissent against the g8 meetings. it's gonna be interesting... i may manage to pop into an indymedia centre (intend to meet up with a pal at the forest, which is where they are in edinburgh) at some point and post a few updates on the sitch. packing my camera to capture the sites. s'gonna be lurvely...