Notes on the violent minority

The Millbank riot and some of the subsequent student protests have been widely condemned in the media as the actions of a 'violent minority'. NUS president Aaron Porter infamously described the riot as ‘despicable’. Property destruction, we were told, undermined the message of the NUS’ peaceful protest. This was the behaviour of ‘anarchists’, outsiders hijacking what would otherwise be respectable political protest in a liberal democracy. But liberals would do well to reflect on their own glass house before casting such rhetorical stones.

Liberalism: doctrine of the violent minority

Liberalism in fact is nothing but the ideology of minority violence par excellence. Margaret Thatcher’s favourite thinker, Adam Smith, was refreshingly frank about this back in the 18th century:

Oil Be Damned: why global capital, state power and oil dependence is a recipe for disaster

If money makes the world go round, oil sure comes a very close second. With surging worldwide demand, upward price trends (despite recent falls) and dwindling reserves concentrated mainly in US-unfriendly states, this priceless fossil fuel has become a major magnet for conflict, instability and power politics. Most recently, this has been borne out by the imperialist forays by Russia into the Caucasus, and by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. The slavish and unwavering pursuit of oil as the catalyst to economic growth also remains the principal cause of global warming, with energy related emissions set to double by 2050.

Review: Chris Wood

Chris Wood – Dulwich, 19th December 2008

Chris Wood is a rare thing indeed, an articulate English folk singer with moving songs and an approach that takes on many of the ills of the modern world from a radical perspective.

I was fortunate enough to have been given a double album of his two CDs, The Lark Descending and Trespasser. These are both fine records that examine what it means to be English in a much more sensitive way than the likes of Billy Bragg, mixing contemporary songs with traditional, with a slight emphasis on Wood’s home in Kent.

Review: A Century of Writing on the IWW

A Century of Writing on the IWW (Steve Kellerman)
Boston IWW 2007 – 38 pages – $5.00

This bibliography of books on the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is the most complete work of its sort by a considerable margin. It is divided into four sections – general works (books exclusively about the IWW); biographical works; miscellaneous works with some bearing on the IWW; and writings by IWW members. The appendix on the IWW in fiction is so extensive relative to what has been available in the past as to constitute virtually an original work.

Available for $5 a copy from: IWW Literature Dept., PO Box 42777, Philadelphia, PA 19101 ($2 shipping for first item, 50¢ each additional item). For bulk orders contact Boston IWW, PO Box 391724, Cambridge, MA 02139 (50% discount on orders of six or more).

Review: Realizing Hope- Life beyond Capitalism

Realizing Hope: Life beyond Capitalism (Michael Albert)
Zed Books 2006 – 208 pages – £14.99 – ISBN: 978-1842777213

Michael Albert is perhaps most renowned for his acclaimed exposition of participatory economics in Parecon and Moving Forward. In Realising Hope, his most recent work, he transcends the primarily economic framework of participatory economics, and thoughtfully applies the principles of equity, diversity, justice and self-management to wider domains of human organisation, interaction and experience.

Colombia: Repression Continues

The Colombian state’s policy of murdering trade unionists, indigenous people and social movement activists continues unabated in 2009. In London, the Colombian embassy sees frequent pickets protesting against these abuses. The photograph here shows a picket on October 23rd last year, which was specifically in solidarity with sugar cane cutters, striking public sector unions and the indigenous Minga people. The organisers, Polo Democrático UK and Colombia Solidarity Campaign, were joined by the Solidarity Federation / IWA, the Latin American Workers Association and Hands Off Venezuela. The sugar cane cutters have since won a major victory in December bringing pay increases and improvements in terms and conditions – further info: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/ view/1625/

Greece: After the Tear Gas

The cowardly police murder of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens on December 6th was the catalyst for days of rioting, protests and occupations. Although these have now largely died down, the country remains on a knife edge.

Greece has a turbulent history, being ruled between 1967 and 1974 by a US-backed military dictatorship – a regime brought down by a mass rebellion inspired by students at Athens Polytechnic in 1973.

In the run up to the recent shooting, the country was rocked by a series of high-profile scandals implicating the government, church and judiciary. Wanton police brutality and racism are rife; unemployment levels have soared to 70% among the 18-25s; 1 in 5 Greeks live in poverty, and low pay and high prices run in parallel. To top it all, neo-liberal reforms and austerity measures have compounded a biting recession.