Fighting against the biggest polluter in Europe
From 19 to 24 June, supporters of the RCG joined the group Ende Gelände for a weekend of direct action, blocking coal infrastructure in the German Rhineland. Four coal power stations, run by the corporation RWE, make the region the largest CO2 source in Europe. Ende Gelände brought 6,000 people together to attack the root of the climate crisis, explicitly fighting ‘against capitalism and for climate justice – worldwide!’
Activists travelled from all over Europe – buses coming from as far as Sweden and Spain – to successfully block the open pit mine in Garzweiler and the coal supply to the Neurath power plant for 45 hours. On our way to the mines we passed through several villages that are set to be destroyed by RWE to facilitate the expansion of the coal mines. We were greeted with open arms by their inhabitants, standing as a united front against the injustices against people and the planet driven by corporate greed for profit. The horizontal organising structure, the prioritisation of welfare structures for activists and a strong sense of solidarity and community allowed the base camp to function smoothly – a microcosm of what strong communities are capable of achieving.
The ever-repeating failure of politicians to address the climate crisis in a meaningful way was highlighted by the German Coal Commission’s agreement to phase out coal use as late as 2038. With scientific evidence showing that we have just about 10 years to radically change the way we are organising society and the economy before we dive into an irreversible spiral of climate collapse, the inactivity of the governments kills.
The police spared no effort to crack down on the protesters. Police horses, multiple helicopters and police forces drafted in from other states were used in attempt to suppress the movement. Legal demos were stopped and kettled by the police, arrested activists were denied their right to a lawyer, two activists were hospitalised with broken bones. The police violence that the activists experienced shows once again that as soon as the climate discourse prevents the system from smoothly running and endangers the profits of the capitalist class, any means necessary will be applied to silence these voices. Friendly relations with the police, a tactic employed by other climate groups, stay intact only if the people inconvenienced by blocked streets are working class civilians rather than those that keep the system running.
The emergence of capitalism is inextricably linked to the use of fossil fuel power. In The Poverty of Philosophy, Marx writes that ‘in changing their mode of production, … [men] change all their social relations. The hand-mill gives you a society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill society with the industrial capitalist.’ The domination of fossil fuel power is imperative to the capitalist mode of production. Fighting the relentless extraction of coal and oil, is fighting capitalism at its root.
Lena K
North London
Monopoly capitalism in China
In regard to recent articles and letters on China (see FRFI 266-7) I wish to draw attention to my recent experience of working in China for a start-up company entering partnerships with labour supply companies and educational institutions. First all it is clear that Chinese companies work hand-in-hand with high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and the Chinese Communist Party fully promotes and supports capitalist big business. No capitalist enterprise exists without the support and backing of the CCP. One impressive feature of modern China is the level of technological development. Networking and surveillance technology is widespread. Control centres in educational institutions monitor all classroom activity. Likewise, the state uses this technology such as facial recognition systems for state surveillance measures which make it extremely difficult for any communist or socialist organisation to exist.
From my observations the unique features of Chinese society indicate not only monopoly capitalism but state capitalism. I would conclude that Chinese socialists have an extremely difficult task in building an alternative to capitalism given the level of state repression. However, there is a bedrock of Maoist ideology among the Chinese working class which indicates why such a level of state repression is necessary in the first place. Let us consider ourselves fortunate that the conditions for political work in this country are not as yet so difficult as in China. Indeed we cannot have illusions about China. Chinese nascent imperialism is every bit as reactionary and exploitative as its imperialist rivals and should be treated with equal hostility.
Peter Sinnott
Liverpool
Anthony Grainger: inquiry cover-up
On 11 July, more than seven years after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) executed Anthony Grainger as he sat unarmed in a parked car in Culcheth on 3 March 2012, the Public Inquiry into his death issued its report. That it will make uncomfortable reading for GMP is a testament to the perseverance of Anthony’s partner and family as they have continued to pursue justice for him. GMP attempted from the day Anthony was shot dead to justify his killing, knowing that his family and the Justice 4 Grainger Campaign were fighting to expose the truth (see FRFI 229). The Report paints a picture of a Tactical Firearms Unit (TFU) with an incompetent leadership promoting a complacent, arrogant culture that led to a series of operational mistakes which culminated in Anthony’s death.
Nobody comes out of the Report looking good and its author Judge Teague, in the time-honoured tradition of these ruling class reports, concludes it with a list of nine ‘weighty’ recommendations supposedly to prevent a similar situation arising again. The seven years which have dragged out between Anthony’s killing and the publishing of the Report have achieved what the ruling class set out to do – diffuse the anger and militancy that spontaneously arose after the shooting and lead it into the dead end of the British legal system. After all the justified criticism of GMP in the Report its final conclusion is, unsurprisingly, that the copper who shot Anthony, Q9, did so ‘in the honestly held belief that he was reaching for a firearm with the intention of discharging it at Q9’s colleagues’.
Since Anthony’s death in 2012 police killings continue with seeming impunity, according to figures produced by Inquest the police have shot and killed 17 people with 145 people dying in police custody.
Bob Shepherd
Manchester
XR is wrong about police
On 15 July, comrades from the RCG in London attended the first day of a ‘Week of Action’ organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR) outside the Royal Courts of Justice. The 200 or so protesters were a far cry from the tens of thousands mobilised in April. But more dispiriting than the numbers was the political tone. The most passionate speech I heard was a man speaking from the XR platform to thank the police over and over again for their cooperation and steadfast commitment to protecting society. This was met with enthusiastic cheers from the otherwise lifeless and predominantly white, middle-aged and middle-class crowd. Respect for the police is sacrosanct, honoured with first place in the XR ‘rebel agreement’!
A short while later, in contrast to this petit bourgeois fantasy, we witnessed a small but telling example of what the British police are really like if you are black or working class. Barely 20 metres from where XR had sung the praises of the apparently unassailable boys in blue, we saw a young black man cornered in an alley by seven City of London police officers. We went over to ask if he was all right and wanted witnesses, as we were entitled to do. Immediately the police turned on us and started yelling that we were obstructing the course of justice which is an arrestable offence. We stood our ground, despite their continued attempts to intimidate and bully us into leaving the scene, until the man told us he was okay.
As we walked away a police officer shouted to his colleagues to stop us. Several other officers jumped out of the van nearest us, ran towards us… and grabbed the nearest non-white person they could see, an unfortunate cyclist who happened to be passing! Even when we explained it was us they wanted and not him, at first they refused to let the cyclist go. We were accused of ‘swearing near a minor’ and split up to face further harassment and the threat of being arrested and ‘thrown in the back of the van’. A textbook case of the routine racism and thuggery of the British police and their total contempt for civil rights – a lesson it seems the petit-bourgeois XR leadership has yet to learn.
Cassandra H
South London
Scotland’s drug deaths
There has been much coverage recently of the dramatic rise in drug deaths in Scotland. While there has been plenty of talk about the rise in misuse of benzodiazepines as the cause, and calls for decriminalisation and more resources as a solution, there has been little discussion of the role that poverty and deprivation play in this crisis.
In poorer urban centres, such as Dundee and Glasgow, the drug death rate is nearly twice the Scottish average. These areas have also been among the hardest hit areas by austerity and the increased social deprivation that comes with it. Some of these cuts have directly affected the resources that were available to problem drug users and have eroded what little remained of the community networks that are vital in tackling drug use. Also, in a time of increased austerity it seems unlikely that any of the radical suggestions for supervised ‘fix rooms’ or any other suggestions that involve any increase in spending will see the light of day. Especially when these policies clash with Britain’s harsh punitive drug laws.
Instead of solving the problems that lie behind drug use the only measure the Scottish government is taking is to continue the criminalisation of drug use and supporting the heavy-handed approach that Police Scotland takes with drug users. It seems that even in times of austerity there’s enough money to lock up those working-class people who are in most need of help.
Duncan Murray
Glasgow
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 271, June/July 2019
