BBC News reports that "police and protesters" were injured in "scuffles," as "demonstrators attacked the Royal Bank of Scotland with missiles and entered the building in the City" following on from "clashes" at the Bank of England. However, despite these admirable attempts - typically dressed up by the media so as to give the appearence that the protesters and not the police initiated the "clashes" - "mounted police and riot officers" have been able to "push demonstrators back" and "separate groups of protesters."
Clearly, this is not good enough if we want the causes behind the protests to advance. The government does not listen to public opinion, as the Iraq War demonstrates, and simple marches can easily be routed by police, under the usual guise of "public order," and turned into nothing more effective than yelling from a soapbox. Meanwhile, any direct action that becomes too aggressive can easily be written off by the corporate press and state propaganda as "extremists" and "militants" (the latter word's negative connotations entirely generated by the state and mass media) whose views do not merit consideration.However, the fact remains that direct action is still the only truly effective form of protest. The anarchists who attempted to occupy the Royal Bank of Scotland, and those who prior to today promised to "storm banks" and "bring London to a standstill" had the right idea. Unfortunately, they didn't go far enough. Greater numbers and much earlier action, perhaps even in the pre-dawn hours before the police assembled, could have seen the heart of the financial district occupied by anarchists and anti-capitalists. Then, by staying right where they were and refusing to either capitulate to police demands or be drawn in by the usual incitements to violence, the movement would have a distinct advantage. The only way the authorities could end the action on their own terms would be to themselves do what the protesters promised to do by "storming" the City and wreaking great destruction in one of the world's biggest financial centres.
It is still not too late to do this. The G20 summit is but one day. The economic crisis is predicted to go on for at least another year, perhaps two. And the devastating effects of global capitalism have been ongoing for decades. Even without the symbolic imagery of this particular day, the anarchist and anti-capitalist movement can still mobilise massive action against the ruling classes who rain down such devestation on the poor whilst profiting from their own mess.General strikes, such as those seen recently in France, and building occupations akin to actions by Greek Students or Canadian auto-workers are just the tip of the iceberg. What we need to do now is to take the discontent, anger, and fear wrought by the financial crisis and turn it into something tangible. Just as in Greece, we need to see unrest "like a winter with a thousand Decembers" across the globe if any significant change is going to come by.
As with so many other things, we can look to Greece when we need a call to arms for such a massive mobilisation of the working class;
VIOLENCE means working for 40 years, getting miserable wagesIf we really want to see an end to the current crisis and an improvement in the lives of ordinary people, then we cannot ask politely that our leaders grant us it from above. We must snatch it from below.
and wondering if you ever get retired…
VIOLENCE means state bonds, robbed pension funds
and the stock-market fraud…
VIOLENCE means being forced to get housing loans which finally
you pay back as if they were gold…
VIOLENCE means the management’s right to fire you any time they want…
VIOLENCE means unemployment, temporary employment,
400 Euros wage with or without social security…
VIOLENCE means work ‘accidents’, as bosses diminish their workers’ safety costs…
VIOLENCE means being driven sick because of hard work …
VIOLENCE means consuming psycho-drugs and vitamins
in order to cope with exhausting working hours…
VIOLENCE means working for money to buy medicines
in order to fix your labour power commodity…
VIOLENCE means dying on ready-made beds in horrible hospitals,
when you can’t afford bribing.
