Beyond Broken Windows: Anti Cuts Action in the West

On January 15th & 16th some anti-cuts activists from Bristol headed up to Manchester for the first Network-X gathering. The aim was “to establish a network that will allow libertarians to co-ordinate and support each others struggles” as part of the wider anti-cuts movement.

The decision was taken to form regional networks of anti-authoritarian groups fighting the cuts. As Bristol Anarchist Federation’s Anti-cuts Action Campaign has already been working on this for a while we hope to further this network. At present we have built links and are in contact with groups and individuals in Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, Stroud, Taunton, Hereford, Wiltshire, Cardiff, Newport and slightly further away in north Wales and Northern Ireland.

We don’t look to replace groups like Bristol Anti-Cuts Alliance and our affiliation form is winging its way to their secretary as I type. Our simple aim is to network with groups and individuals in the west to share ideas and mobilise for actions.

We support alliances such as BADACA and believe there are some great individuals working in them, their strong union links and ability to organise large scale mobilisations are vital to the anti-cuts movement. However they are all to often stifled with bureaucracy and party politics making them unable to mobilise at short notice and some within groups such as these abuse the platform to push their party line and show little interest in actually taking action.

The Facebook revolution has made it almost too easy to call demos, although it is great to level the playing field in this way, people are calling events and then not providing and propaganda/placards/banners etc needed, and as a result (like the recent Bristol EMA demo) protests are failing. Conversely where materials are provided and a demo properly organised the group calling the demo can take the opportunity to push their particular brand of politics and puts newspaper sales before fighting the cuts. We are also concerned about certain political parties who are moving to build power by hijacking organisations such as the NSSN and NCAFC.

Radical Workers, Unionist, Anarchists & Students on Bristol demo October 23rd

Anti Cuts Actions 13th – 19th

Heres the latest of your (nearly) weekly updates on how the restiance is fighting back against the state bank and business backed attacks on the working class, students, elderly, disabled and just about everyone who isn’t them and their rich mates.

Monday 13th:
The Daily mail wanted to get its readers to vote against the students since the riots, however a backlash against the paper got them the opposite result.

Tuesday 14th:
The Education Activist Network holds a protest at the department of business against the cut of EMA.

In Italy blockades, riots and street protests errupt around the country as Berlusconi narrowly avoids loosing a no confidence vote. (remember, the movement is international!)

Rebellion is in the air – report from the front lines of london

While we’re sure most of you have already seen the news reports, for a slightly more radical take on todays events read on…

(We’ve collated the first hand reports friends and comrades who were on the streets of london have relayed to us, no hearsay, rumours or corporate media lies).

From the start of the day police attempted to control the march (with the infamous TSG lining up at the front to lead the way) and failed. Hundreds of protesters ran down side streets to keep ahead of the police lines, rendering them useless.
As people made their way into parliment square, fists, battons, horses (and the existing fencing) were used to attempt to keep the demonstration on the whitehall side, and perhaps feed it to the rally point on embankment. Again the police couldn’t contain the angry students who quickly took the whole of parliment square. As police battled the main group there, hundreds broke through police lines into the surrounding area. Many came back to catch the police unaware, charging in to weak spots behind their lines, at one point they ran through lines of parked and empty police vans getting to within a stones throw of parliment.