17.04.1997

Seeds of resistance

Saturday’s march for social justice in support of the Liverpool dockers actually made the news. OK, it was only to denounce “anarchist yobs” and “leftwing hooligans”. But given the virtual media blackout of the dockers’ dispute, it was only to be welcomed that the event went noticed at all.

Over 7,000 attended the march from Kennington Park to Trafalgar Square. The environmental and ecological activists grouped around Reclaim the Streets provided the main force. Along with their anarchist allies, they dwarfed the rather pathetic backing from both the revolutionary and reformist left as well as the trade unions.

The organisers of the event wanted the day to be a carnival, and that was certainly how the day felt. Large numbers donned face paint, carried balloons and danced in the sun. There was plenty of music, and the spirit of the occasion was summed up by the slogan, “They wanna fight, we wanna dance”.

Even though the overall sentiment of the march was characterised by a distrust or suspicion of all political groups and organisations, there was a genuine sense of resistance to ‘the system’ and everything it represents. Though the Socialist Workers Party eagerly handed out their ‘Blair, which side are you on?’ placards, there was no doubt left in the minds of the marchers and anarchists as to what the answer was. Slogans like ‘Don’t vote - resist’ and ‘Don’t vote - cause trouble’ dominated the march and the carnival. For all the inadequacies and limitations of the Reclaim the Streets ethos, it was they who showed the energy and determination to shake off the shackles of bourgeois conformity on the day, which is more than can be said for the Labour-voting SWP.

This proved too much for the authorities. Police in riot gear invaded Trafalgar Square and tried their best to incite a riot. Kevin Hargreaves, a member of the Dockers Support Group, condemned the “very, very provocative” police behaviour, and a spokesperson for Reclaim the Streets observed accurately: “The police turned up wanting a fight”. The dockers also condemned the police harassment and intimidation on the day and reaffirmed “their support for those groups, including Reclaim the Streets, who continue the almost impossible struggle for justice in Britain today”. The bourgeoisie just cannot tolerate any sign of disobedience or resistance, no matter how pacifistic it may be.

Naturally, both Michael Howard and Jack Straw fell over themselves to condemn the “rioters” (they did not mean the police). Straw, warming to the prospect of Howard’s job, angrily fulminated: “I condemn this disgraceful behaviour, which is an abuse of the right to protest.”

The real “abuse” of course comes from the state and its agents, which want to batter us off the streets and into the gutter. We must fight to kick them into the gutter of history instead. The march was both a dire indictment of the organised working class movement today and a taste of the spirit of resistance which can be put onto the offensive - if it is fused with a class programme capable of transforming the whole of society.

Danny Hammill