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Gothenburg - EU Summmit protests Thousands of us went to Gothenburg to take part in mass peaceful protests against third world debt, the destruction of the environment, human rights abuses and for a more democratic EU. Instead we were beaten, whipped, attacked by dogs, arrested, jailed and shot at by the cops. The brutal police repression in Gothenburg marks a turning point in the anti-capitalist movement. Despite the Swedish government's claim that it would negotiate with us, the police - and SAS-style troops - broke all agreements they had made with the organisers, and used violent repression - up to an including the shooting of three demonstrators. Typically, Tony Blair welcomed this brutal repression. What happened - June 14 Even before the start of the 10,000 strong anti-Bush demonstration, riot police surrounded the convergence centre... before ANY action had taken place. Several hundred people - including Swedish Revo - were preparing white overall materials there for the next day's march. The raid was clearly designed to stop us protecting ourselves against police violence. Despite several attempts, we failed to breakout. Meanwhile not far away thousands of people were gathering for the start of the anti-Bush demo. When news filtered through about what was happening several thousands marched from the anti-Bush demo to the occupied convergence centre. By distracting the police the demonstrators allowed some to escape. This showed the strength of mass action. However we still couldn't raise the siege and the police stormed the centre and arrested all those unable to escape. June 15 - Batons, dogs, whips and bullets A massive march against the summit had been organised, but the Swedish police stopped the march after a few hundred metres. Up to this point not a blow had been struck nor a stone thrown at the police. Suddenly the demonstration was attacked along its sides by riot police using dogs - which bit and mauled dozens of demonstrators (and some of their own handlers - heh, heh). Then they charged us with mounted riot cops, lashing out with batons and whips. Despite brave resistance - armed only with banner poles and stones - the cops split us up and forced us back. The so-called riot then followed. We put up barricades against the police from the chairs and tables of the cafés which lined the street. Some smashing of shop and bank windows clearly served no purpose but was understandable as a reaction to the tooled-up violence of the riot police. Anyone who condemns the "violence" of the demonstrators, faced with dog bites, batoning and trampling by horses is totally out of order. Self-defence is no offence! In reality the Swedish police wanted a riot to justify a violent clamp down. In the afternoon lots of protesters and organisers were arrested in the streets and parks long after the fighting was over. In the evening the cops - and some fascist thugs who mysteriously slipped in and out of police lines - attacked another peaceful protest, this time a street party. A riot cop picked up a rock and threw it at some protesters as he walked through the street party. At that point people began to confront the cops and chase them away. This was when some police officers drew their guns and started to shoot. Three people were shot. The most serious - a young Swede - was shot in the back as he ran away and is still in hospital in danger of his life. Again this is an attempt to intimidate, split and weaken our movement. This attempt will fail. Young people and workers can now see the ugly face of the corporate state, unmasked. June 16 - Enter the SAS Saturday's demo, by contrast, took place without a single cop to be seen. We marched in a block with the anarcho-syndicalist unions and the Black Block. Anti-police slogans were prominent. But at the front of the march a Swedish Left MP disgraced herself by congratulating the police for "doing a good job in difficult circumstances". But such toadying to the powers that be doesn't stop them acting like complete bastards. In the evening, hundreds of riot police encircled a few hundred of us peacefully protesting against the shootings... before arresting dozens of us. British and Swedish Revo members were among those arrested. We were bussed out into the country and held for six hours, 25 to a "cell" (in reality a cage with a concrete floor). Police undercover agents - still wearing black balaclavas and hoodies - scoured the cages, pointing out protesters they claimed were troublemakers. In defiance we kept the guards busy with stupid requests and sang and yelped into the night. We were released at four in the morning, cold, hungry and angry. Meanwhile anti-terrorist squads - the Swedish SAS armed with machine guns and radar directed pistols - raided a second convergence centre where 200 or so people were sleeping. They made them lie face down, spread-eagled on the rain soaked ground, outside the centre, before a number of arrests were made. The excuse was that they were looking for German bomb-making terrorists! Not surprisingly none were actually found. During all these raids more than a thousand demonstrators were arrested, detained for six hours and photographed. The majority were released without charge. Others were deported. Dozens have been rushed through quick trials for "breach of the peace", many without the presence of any lawyer or legal support. Some - like Paul Robinson - await trial on more serious charges. A campaign must be waged for their immediate release. What are they frightened of? The scale of repression in Gothenburg represents an organised violation of our rights. Tony Blair and the new Home Secretary David Blunkett want to extend their bans against "football hooligans" to "political trouble makers" and ban travel to international protests. Why has Gothenburg become such a culminating point? The main reason is clear. For years we see the growth of an international anti-capitalist movement. We see mass protests in the Third World, mass strikes, land occupations. We see demonstrations of young anti-capitalists, immigrants, militant trade unionists, anarchists, socialists and communists - all joining in mass protests against global capitalism and its institutions. This is a real threat to the bosses and their governments. This is the reason why they are now starting to criminalise its activists. They fear that as we become better organised, as we develop links with the working class an open anti-capitalism will emerge in the workers' movement. This is a declaration of war on our movement - and we must organise NOW to repel this attack Political lessons We have to prevent the media, the bosses' parties and the official labour leaders from isolating and effectively outlawing our movement. We have to launch a massive campaign to defend the right to assemble and demonstrate, the freedom to travel from one country to another. But the key way to avoid isolation is to turn to the rank and file of the workers movement, to involve them in our actions, to win them to militant tactics. The capitalists want to isolate us. But we shall not fall into their trap. Gothenburg was a turning point for the anti-capitalist movement because it showed the need for a political step forward. The reformist leaders showed their true face by denouncing the arrested protesters, not the cops. They have to be challenged, thrown out of the movement and replaced by democratically accountable fighters. As we have seen in Quebec and Seattle, our protests are most successful when anti-capitalists and unionised workers unite in action. We need greater numbers and these can only come from mobilising the unions - from below - as well as radicalised young people. Strategy & tactics - Where Now? But even numbers alone will not be enough. We need organised numbers clear about our aims. We need a democratically recognised leadership of the actions including all the political, social, trade union, environmentalist, anti-fascist, anti-racist organisations, parties, and groups supporting the action. Above all we need to organise defence of our demonstrations against police attack, defence capable of helping the mass forces to break through police lines and guard against police agents provocateurs. But this means challenging not only the reformists, but also the many of the anarchists. The tactics of non violent direct action (NVDA), those advocated by Ya Basta!, and also of those of the Black Block all have the disadvantage of restricting themselves to one tactic. Both NVDA as well as the trashing of the Black Block are an ineffective way to actually stop any determined repression. NVDA is useless faced with state or fascist violence which, as in Gothenburg, has decided to smash us up regardless of how that looks on TV. The Black Block's smashing up of city centres alienates local workers from our movement (some local workers spat at us the next day) making it easier for the cops to bash us. It is also easy for the cops to infiltrate the Black Block and start riots when we don't want them. What about Ya Basta! and the White Overalls? While their disciplined defence of demos is great they also have shortcomings. Their public preparations open them up to a pre-emptive strike like the convergence centre being shut down. Their renouncing of even defensive violence means they cannot strike back and break police morale. Their visibility and relative immobility means they cannot change tactics halfway through a battle. Ya Basta claim to be at the service of the demo. But once they have assumed leadership there is no Plan B to fall back on - like the Zapatistas, they are effectively an elite fighting force who report back to an unarmed mass every now and then but in practice are unaccountable. So what's our answer? Each demo poses different problems and opportunities. There are no standard answers that the cops will find impossible to combat. But as a principle we should favour mass meetings to thrash out the political priority for the demo or action. Then a sub-group of known and trusted activists representing all the groups should meet in secret to hammer out a practical plan of action. Lines of communication should be clear - from front line to stewards to the body of the protesters so that changes of plan can be implemented and breakthroughs quickly followed up. |
NEW YORK - Jan 31 - Feb 3, 2002 |
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