Emancipation & Liberation

On the morning of July 6th, myself and Raphie DeSantos, both members of the SSP, were tasked with organising buses, bus stewards and getting people on buses to go up to Gleneagles from Waterloo Place in the centre of Edinburgh. It was a chaotic scene, with many more people showing up without tickets than with, and we quickly became swamped. At this point a special tribute should be paid to the contribution of Catriona Grant (SSP) in helping with this process, as without her organisational skills and ability to marshal people as efficiently and effectively as she did, many of the buses that were able to leave filled with protesters would not have.

An hour or so into the filling of the buses the police appeared in strength, led by officers from Lothian and Borders but comprising mostly officers from the London Met and Greater Manchester. They advised us that the march had been cancelled due to trouble up in Auchterarder with anarchists, whom, they claimed, were attacking buses taking protesters to the march. Upon calling comrades who were already up in Auchterarder we found out that this was false and that the police were trying to block and obstruct the demonstration from taking place.

Upon receiving this information we advised the police that they were trying to obstruct a legal demonstration and insisted that we continue filling buses for the demo in Gleneagles. They agreed that they had no legal right to stop us from doing so, but insisted that they go on to the buses to advise protesters not to go up to Gleneagles on the grounds of public safety. As they were doing this, we announced to the crowd still waiting to board buses that the police were trying to stop the demonstration. We exhorted them not to be intimidated or put off, that we were either going to march in Gleneagles or march through Princes Street. They responded with a wall of noise in support.

The police completed their attempt to put protesters, already on buses, off and three double deckers were ready to depart. Just as the first was about to pull away from the kerb, a police van pulled out and blocked it in. Seeking out the officer from Lothian and Borders whom we’d been dealing with, it quickly became obvious that she had deliberately disappeared, with her place being taken by officers from London Met. Our immediate response was to get the waiting crowd to blockade Waterloo Place, where we began chanting ‘Let them Go! Let them Go! and The People united will never be defeated!

By now both Donnie Nicholson SSP and SSY and Nick Eardley SSP and SSY were involved on the frontline, and again a special tribute should be paid to the contribution made by them from here on in.

A Superintendent from Lothian and Borders appeared and we demanded that he allow the buses to leave otherwise we were staying put. The crowd involved was roughly around 600 people and the Superintendent ordered the police van to move back to allow the buses to depart. When the buses left a massive roar went up both from those on the buses and those on the street.

We cleared the crowd back on to the pavement with the assurances of the police that there would be no further attempt to obstruct the demonstration. However, again, this proved to be a lie. For while talking the language of co-operation and conciliation the police were actively doing their utmost to stop more buses arriving to pick up protesters, doing so by calling the bus companies directly and advising them not to send buses.

Our response was to get the crowd back onto Waterloo Place, get everyone to link arms, and march down towards the police cordon that had quickly formed to try and block us from getting on to Princes Street. The superintendent re-appeared and we accused him of acting in bad faith, demanding now that we march through Princes Street. The crowd was by now behind us all the way and off we marched, chanting and singing as we went.

The police tried to steer us up the Mound but we insisted on going straight along Princes Street. They tried to block this with a line of police vans parked across Princes Street, but we succeeded in breaking through and continuing on. We reached the end of Princes Street, where some of us were of a mind to march up Lothian Road and into the Meadows for a rally. However, it became apparent that most of the crowd wanted to stay on Princes Street, so that’s what we did, marching back the way we came.

This time, policing the front of the march, were officers of the London Met. They were more aggressive than Lothian and Borders and some of them had removed the numbers from their shoulder lapels.

Regardless, we continued marching. Another Police Superintendent from Lothian and Borders then appeared to negotiate with us. He assured us that the four buses that they’d previously blocked had now arrived and were parked at the bottom of the Mound. However, he advised that they were already full of protesters (due to the actions, it has to be said, of an organiser arriving on the scene and splitting the march).

We demanded that we be allowed to verify that those buses were full before they were allowed to leave. The Superintendent agreed, but asked for our reassurance that afterwards we disperse the crowd. We gave him no assurance on that, it being obvious that he was trying to use us to do his bidding.

Denying democratic rights

A delegation, comprising myself, Nick Eardley, Kevin Connor and Vanessa Fuertes, all SSP members, left the march to check the buses. Waiting for us was Edinburgh City Councillor, Donald Anderson, whom the police had brought in to negotiate with us. We approached him, refusing to shake his hand when offered, and immediately demanded that he provide buses to take everyone up to Gleneagles. Not only that, we also took the opportunity of making a strenuous complaint at the presence of London Metropolitan Police on the streets of Edinburgh.

He promised to see what he could do to get us buses and went off, presumably to make a few phone calls to that effect. We then continued on towards the buses. Suddenly, the command, take them! was given and we were jumped on by the police and arrested.

The action lasted three hours or thereabouts, during which time we succeeded in shutting down Princes Street completely, a great success considering the role that retail corporations such as Marks and Spencer play in supporting the occupation of Palestine and exploitation in the developing world.

The SSP can be proud of the role its members played throughout, but a special mention should be made of Nick Eardley from the SSY. At just 17 years of age he demonstrated a courage and resolve way beyond his years. SSP National Convener, Colin Fox, sent in a message of solidarity and support to Nick whilst we were banged up in Livingston police station, which we all thought a magnificent gesture.

Nick Clarke looks at the left’s response to G8

Over a year ago, comrades from the anti-capitalist movement, Globalise Resistance and the Scottish Socialist Party came together to create G8 Alternatives. G8 Alternatives immediately started organising, agitating, and campaigning to make sure that, when the world’s leading imperialists turned up at Gleneagles in July, they were met by an organised, militant, international opposition, in the tradition of Seattle, Genoa and Evian. A programme of events was planned; the G8 Alternative summit, demonstrations at Faslane Nuclear base and at Dungavel Asylum seeker detention centre. The centre piece was to be the Wednesday protest at the Gleneagles Hotel to make sure the G8 leaders heard our opposition. This last event then became the subject of lengthy, Kafkaesque negotiations between G8 Alternatives, Perth and Kinross council and the police – but more of that later.

In December 2004, the Make Poverty History campaign was launched – white wrist bands and a demonstration in Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd July were announced. Dozens of NGO’s and charities joined under the MPH banner. This was followed at the end of May 2005, by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure announcing the Live 8 concerts. By strange coincidence, the one in Edinburgh was due to take place on the same day as the Gleneagles demo.

The challenge to the left, including the SSP, was how to respond to these two belated initiatives. Of the MPH event: Following its launch, numerous celebrities publicly came out in support, including many with a genuine concern for the issues, a record of campaigning, but with a naïve perspective as to the solution. MPH caught a mood and this together with the media coverage that the organisers were able to drum up meant that this event was going to be huge. A glimpse of this was seen by the number of coaches that were being booked by all kinds of organisations, from all over the UK. It wasn’t just the usual suspects.

Hijacked by the right

The SSP’s response, to campaign and mobilise for an intervention on July 2nd around the slogan Make Capitalism History, was correct. As July 2nd approached, we saw the campaign being hijacked from the right. Following the unprecedented anti-war demonstrations on 15th February 2003, the Labour government had developed new tactics in how to intervene with such mass movements. Government ministers were now insisting on joining the MPH event and speaking from the platform. And the organisers welcomed them – Gordon Brown, Jack McConnell and Hilary Benn all took to the streets.

At the same time as welcoming these representatives of British imperialism, the MPH officials were trying to marginalise the left and the less ‘compromising’ opponents of poverty and global capitalism. They attempted to deny the SSP and other progressive organisations the right to set up stalls in The Meadows – the assembly point for the march. The attempted sanitisation of this event was highlighted by the official call for everyone to wear white – was this a sign of surrender or counter-revolution?

Backfired

This backfired, as it gave socialists the perfect opportunity to make a recognisable intervention by wearing red – making a distinct socialist section of the demonstration highly visible. The SSP rightly seized that opportunity and we attracted many to our contingent from throughout Britain and internationally. Unfortunately the attitude of the SWP and the CWI meant that the size of the socialist section was not at the maximum.

The CWI adopted a sectarian position, refusing to join up with the SSP contingent. Instead of having a CWI section on the socialist contingent, they chose to march on their own – but at least they wore red! The SWP, on the other hand, appeared to submerge themselves into the white-banded, white-shirted morass. Although some of their platform members marched with the SSP contingent, the official SWP position was not to prioritise the building of the largest, coordinated, united socialist intervention.

Then we had Live 8. According to the official website: An estimated 3 BILLION PEOPLE watched LIVE 8 the greatest, greatest show on Earth. What was that about bread and circuses? How does 3 billion glued to a TV screen eradicate poverty? How does it pressurise the decision makers? Deliberately or not, the Live 8 initiative took attention away from the mass protests that were to take place. On July 2 and 3, the media was dominated with images and column inches of coverage of the concerts. TV and the print media treated us to photos and comments of the super-rich of the music business – Why were they here? What did they think of poverty? When’s their next album out? Then, following inane answers they tucked into the free, luxury buffet, as well as the complementary bar! Oh, and by the way, 250,000+ travelled to Edinburgh to take part in the largest demonstration in Scottish history.

MPH: mission accomplished?

So the message from Live 8 was leave it to those who know what they are doing; the masses should just sit back and enjoy the music – Sir Bob and Bono will change the nature of imperialism! Added to this was the decision taken by Bono, Bob and Midge to have the Edinburgh leg of Live 8 on the same day as the controversial Gleneagles demo! I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but… Was this a deliberate attempt to redirect protestors away from Gleneagles, as well as to divert the media from the state’s attacks on civil liberties – Ronan Keating was so marvellous, who cares about the right to march and the right to freedom of movement around Scotland?

Despite, the attempts of Live 8, Perth and Kinross council and various arms of the UK state, (with the US security services lurking behind the scenes) a successful, well attended demonstration did take place on July 6. Those taking part were remarkably patient and self-controlled despite the constant provocations of the authorities. In the lead up to the Gleneagles demonstration, the authorities had continually been obstructive to G8 Alternatives representatives who had tried to get the route and march details agreed with the police and local council. In March, SSP MSPs in the Scottish parliament had got that body to agree that the right to protest at Gleneagles should be upheld. As the G8 summit approached, Jack McConnell, Scotland’s First Minister, failed repeatedly to give assurances to that right.

Absolutely unrepentant

In response, all 4 SSP MSPs in the parliament that day stood up and in silent protest held up placards behind McConnell demanding he defend democracy and uphold the previous decision of the parliament. Reasonable enough you would think. However, by the end of the day, Parliament had imposed some of the most draconian sanctions against protesting parliamentarians in post war Europe. The 4 MSPs have been suspended for the month of September, their wages and allowances stopped for a month, as well as the wages of their researchers. All of this was imposed without them given a hearing. They were tried and sentenced in their absence, without any right of appeal. Frances Curran, one of those suspended, says she is absolutely unrepentant. Quite right.

We must be unequivocal in our support – both financially and morally. Although the August meeting of the SSP’s National Council voted almost unanimously to fully endorse the actions of the four MSPss, there are some in the SSP who have been critical of the MSPs’ action. The role of socialists in such a parliament must be different, to the run-of-the-mill careerists from the bourgeois parties. We are not a parliamentary party that believes that change and socialism will come through a vote in a parliamentary committee or First Minister’s Questions. It comes through the actions of those outside parliament.

If the SSP 4 had not protested about the suspension of our human rights to demonstrate against the world’s top 8 gangsters coming to Scotland, then when are we going to be different? They were articulating, not just the rights of people in Scotland, but of all those internationally that wanted to come and make their opposition seen and heard by those closeted away in the Scottish countryside.

Some critics say that the demonstration had already been given the go-ahead before the parliamentary protest. However the SSP 4’s actions were further vindicated by events on the day of the demonstration. Despite an agreement with the police at the eleventh hour for the protest to go ahead, on the day the police were determined to sabotage the event. It was only through the persistence and ingenuity of demonstrators that so many got to Gleneagles.

Rumours of cancellation, police road blocks and intimidation were all used to prevent us exercising our democratic right. In Edinburgh, many were denied the right to join the march and people were arrested when they organised a march along Princes Street to protest against police actions. (See separate article) However, the actions of the SSP MSPs, the draconian penalties and the media reaction meant that many more people were made aware of the Wednesday protest and the way the authorities from the Scottish parliament to Perth and Kinross council to the police tried to prevent the event taking place.

Although the G8 Alternatives slogan was ‘Stop the G8’, this was rhetorical, not a call to disrupt the official proceedings at Gleneagles. Some groups in the anarchist tradition tried to do just that. However, it was clear that the tactics of the combined security and police forces were able to handle all such attempts. Chillingly, it was only the actions of the suicide bombers in London, which brought a temporary halt to proceedings, as Blair was forced to leave the Summit. The ‘please don’t mention the war’ item, missing from the official G8 agenda, was rudely thrust forward. Not that the G8 leaders responded by recognising the enormity of their actions in Iraq (and elsewhere); the bombings just provided them with the excuse needed to ratchet up their attack on civil rights.

Although the Left’s successful defiance of the attempts by the state to obstruct the Wednesday protest was a definite victory; this too was soon swamped by the media attention devoted to the bombings. Internationally, particularly in many ‘Third World’ countries, where democratic rights hardly exist and imperialist violence is a daily reality, it won’t be the Left’s protests that have made an impact. The Left, particularly with its longstanding British constitutionalist tradition, has some way to go before it can make slogans, such as ‘Stop the G8’ a reality.

Nevertheless, unlike many well-intentioned, but politically naive, supporters of MPH, we at least knew the limitations of the G8 leaders. Is it not ironic that the two specially chosen official agenda items – African poverty and climatic change – should so soon explode in the G8 leaders’ faces? Within days of the Summit’s conclusion, Niger was revealed to be suffering abject famine conditions, with little being done officially to bring immediate aid. Within weeks, a hurricane struck New Orleans, revealing that ‘Third World’ conditions exist in the imperialist heartland of the USA, and the nagging worry that capitalist-induced climate change may be responsible. The need to ‘Make Capitalism History’ should now be clearer to many more people, who attended the massive protests in July. The SSP must match its wider political work with the policies, strategy and tactics, which can reach out to these people and make this slogan a reality.

The 2005 G8 Summit, held at the luxury Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland from July 6th to July 8th, was notable for many reasons but three which stood out in particular were:

• (i) the failure to come up with anything to alleviate unremitting poverty in Africa other than a pledge to raise aid by a paltry 15 billion dollars by 2010.
• (ii) a set of announcements on climate change which amount to the final and complete death of Kyoto and with it the assured continued degradation of the environment.
• (iii) co-ordinated bomb attacks in central London which came undoubtedly as a consequence of British involvement in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

This lack of substantive progress, any progress at all in actual fact, came despite an unprecedented ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign spearheaded by Oxfam. Designed to put massive public pressure on the leaders of the G8 to cancel the debt and come up with a package of measures on trade and the environment, it culminated in a huge march in Edinburgh in advance of the summit on Saturday, July 2nd, a march which attracted upwards of 300,000 people from across Europe and the UK. In addition, held in conjunction were live rock concerts in London, Berlin, Philadelphia, Tokyo and Edinburgh organised by those sycophants to the political elite, Bob Geldof and Bono. A veritable who’s who of multimillionaire pop and rock stars turned out for this ego spectacular, along with the odd Hollywood celebrity or two, all of whom it is to be hoped shared the same private jet to save on aviation fuel.

Ultimately this latest exercise in bread and circus political campaigning achieved nothing – nothing at all.

That it did achieve nothing would have come as no surprise to anyone in possession of an analysis which penetrates beyond the symptoms of economic policies and an economic system predicated on ever-increasing profits no matter the human, social or environmental cost. Indeed, the very idea that these eight men, leaders of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world, would come to Scotland, stay in the obscene luxury of the Gleneagles Hotel and, there, in between champagne receptions and rounds of golf, get to grips with the mayhem, misery and wars resulting from their policies and their economic system, was simply ludicrous from the word go.

This then brings us to that phenomenon otherwise known as the Global Justice Movement.

Arriving on the international stage with a bang at the WTO in Seattle back in 1999, this heterogeneous movement encompassing groups and people of all political stripe has grown bigger and more coherent with each passing year. And taking stock of this movement’s progress in such a short space of time, it does provide a measure of hope where previously there was none. Prior to 1999 institutions like the WTO, FTAA, and the G8, were able to meet in almost complete anonymity anywhere they liked. And at those meetings they went about their business unmolested and totally unchallenged. Well, not anymore they don’t. Now whenever and wherever they meet it’s under a state of siege.

An example of this came at this year’s summit in the shape of the biggest and most expensive security operation ever mounted in British history. A five mile perimeter fence, complete with watchtowers, was erected around the grounds of the Gleneagles Hotel and manned by thousands of police officers. Chinook helicopters were used to ferry riot police from location to location and above them fighter jets flew regular patrols. Out at sea, in coastal waters, a US aircraft carrier was in position with 2000 US Marines on board ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. All of this stands as a testament to the effectiveness and growth of the Global Justice Movement. Perhaps this movement’s most significant achievement in the six short years of its existence is in exposing the savagery and barbarity hidden behind the benign words and terms employed by the masters of the world to describe their economic policies. Words and terms such as globalization, neo-liberalism, free market, structural adjustment, etc., have all taken on a negative connotation in the public consciousness thanks largely to their efforts.

Working class movement

Various people, no doubt buoyed by the successes just mentioned, have referred to the Global Justice Movement, a movement which also encompasses the antiwar movement, as the New Left. It is here where the problem arises. For to label it New Left suggests that there was an Old Left which now no longer exists, or which has been abandoned for whatever reason. Well, this Old Left does still exist – it comprises the working class – and it remains the only force, or class, capable of taking on this juggernaut of imperialism and free market fundamentalism as it moves around the planet destroying both human and natural resources at an enormous rate.

The goal of the Global Justice Movement must now be to engage with the working class and draw it into the movement. Because, as effective and welcome as mass protests and demonstrations are, they can never be a substitute for mass industrial action. For it is only a general strike, in the UK but especially in the US, that can stop this juggernaut in its tracks, only the meaningful intervention of workers around the world that is truly capable of ushering into being the world without war and exploitation which all people of conscience and consciousness aspire to.

The mobilisation leading up to this year’s summit was organised largely by G8 Alternatives – a loose coalition made up of socialists, peace activists, environmentalists, academics, MSPs, and concerned citizens. In a week of protest marches, rallies and vigils, the event that stood out was the Alternative Summit held at various venues throughout Edinburgh on Sunday, July 3rd. 5,000 people attended plenary sessions and workshops on a wide variety of topics and struggles. Imperialism; aid, trade and debt; the politics of oil; and WMDs were just a few of the major issues analysed and discussed. Anti-imperialist struggles represented included those taking place in Palestine, Iraq, Latin America, and Ireland. Speakers and delegates included people like Susan George, Mark Curtis, Scott Ritter, George Galloway, Bianca Jagger, Trevor Ngwane, Dennis Brutus, Tommy Sheridan, and Eamonn McCann.

Thousands protested

Heavy-handed tactics

Three hundred and fifty protesters were arrested during and around this year’s G8, a direct result of the heavy-handed tactics of thousands of police specially drafted in from various parts of the UK. Their collective mindset was that of an army of occupation. Rather than prevent trouble and facilitate peaceful protest, they went out of their way to intimidate, confront and obstruct anyone who dared try to exercise their democratic rights to free speech and assembly.

Sadly, however, the most significant statistic was the 59 dead and 700 injured as a result of the four bombs which exploded in the London underground during the morning rush hour on Thursday, July 7th. Pictures of Tony Blair in the aftermath pontificating yet again about the need to face terrorism and the terrorists wherever they may be were every bit as nauseating as they’ve always been.

The irony is that the 350 protesters arrested were doing just that when they went up to Gleneagles. For, make no mistake, Bush, Blair & Co. are the most dangerous men on the planet, men collectively responsible for 100,000 and counting dead Iraqi men women and children; for the lives of those soldiers sent to Iraq who won’t be coming back; for the 30,000 children who die each day in sub-Saharan Africa due to hunger and preventable disease; and now for those 59 Londoners, many of whom would have been against the war and were killed on their way to work.

It is simple but true – the only way to prevent terrorism is to stop being a terrorist. These eight men, plutocrats all, their role and function that of representatives of the international ruling class, are terrorists of the most heinous kind. One day, if there is any justice in this world, the perimeter fence erected to protect them in their bubble of luxury at Gleneagles will be a permanent one erected to keep them incarcerated in the high security prison where they truly belong.