Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 225 February/March 2012
As capitalism sinks deeper into crisis, the ruling class continues to cut services and force down wages and working conditions; its relentless drive for profit brings war and racism in its wake. Over the last 18 months, lots of people have been drawn into political activity for the first time, from the August 2011 riots to student protests and UK Uncut, to campaigns to save local services, to the Occupy movement. FRFI tries to draw lessons from these experiences and to turn defensive battles into a revolutionary offensive to end poverty, war and racism and build socialism. We need your support and active involvement.
No cuts – full stop
Wherever we are active, we are helping to build opposition to the public sector cuts and the dismantling of the NHS. Every week in cities around the country we hold street activities to protest against the cuts; to argue that the working class should not pay for the crisis, because we did not cause it. In December FRFI supporters in London joined a march against ward closures at Chase Farm hospital, and in January supported a protest outside the House of Lords as it debated the Welfare Reform Bill.
In Byker, Newcastle, FRFI supporters held a meeting in January to discuss the capitalist crisis and the need for organised resistance to the next round of cuts. Elderly people there are particular targets, with wardens in sheltered housing to be replaced by a telephone system, care packages cut and an increase in charges for meals on wheels.
In Govanhill, Glasgow, FRFI supporters exposed the city council library’s practice of throwing out books without consulting the community. The books are now being sold to library users at affordable prices (www.nocutsfullstop.com).
Alongside cuts to services, wages and working conditions are under attack. Electricians in the construction industry have shown the necessary response: consistent action with or without the official backing of the union. FRFI supporters have joined electricians’ protests in Newcastle, Glasgow and London. On the marches we have consistently exposed Unite’s refusal to risk its huge assets and investments by challenging the anti-trade union laws, and have called for action led by the rank and file which would unite the directly-employed with agency workers.
FRFI has been part of the Occupy London movement from the outset, and continues to join it every week in opposing the parasitic banking and finance sector. In January Nicki Jameson from FRFI’s editorial board spoke at the tent university on Resistance behind bars. We are currently preparing for an action outside RBS in Angel on 25 February, and we call on the Occupy movement and everyone interested in fighting the cuts to join us.
In January, the police and council dismantled the camp in Newcastle and then incinerated hundreds of pounds worth of equipment. In response activists, including FRFI supporters, called a series of meetings to find other ways to continue the struggle, from political education to direct action. An initial street event took place on 21 January with an open megaphone, and further actions are planned; contact FRFI in Newcastle to join in (see Events).
Stop political policing!
If resistance to the government’s onslaught is to be successful, a movement needs to be built that has a clear understanding of the role of the state in defending the interests of the rich, and must be prepared to defend all those targeted for repression. The August uprisings reflected working class people’s frustration with harassment from the police and council, anger at the millionaires, and expressed the massive inequalities that exist.
Yet those targeted for the state’s revenge since the riots have received little support from the main organisations of the British left or the trade unions. At the Manchester pensions rally on 30 November, a Unison speaker from Manchester City Council called for ‘a round of applause for Sir Richard Leese and all the Labour politicians who support us’ – the same Richard Leese who said following the uprisings that he wanted to ‘send a shudder of fear through the thugs who did this’ and called for evictions of families and the stopping of benefits. We need urgently to build public political defence campaigns. The success of this approach has been demonstrated by the Glasgow Defence Campaign, which FRFI supporters set up last year (see page 4).
Fight imperialism – Hands off MENA! No intervention in Somalia!
FRFI supporters continue to show their solidarity with all those fighting imperialism in the Middle East and North Africa, with weekly pickets of M&S’s flagship store in London in solidarity with Palestine, and other actions in Newcastle, Glasgow and Manchester.
In Newcastle, a meeting organised by FRFI supporters in December discussed resistance, self-determination and our role in the heartland of imperialism. This was important because groups and individuals like the Socialist Workers Party and the anarchist Ian Bone, founder of Class War, have given their tacit support to NATO’s imperialist intervention by celebrating the defeat of Gaddafi. FRFI by contrast refuses to condone or accept imperialist intervention – see ‘Alex Callinicos asks us to celebrate NATO’s war on Libya’ at www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/ international/2356-alex-callinicos.
NATO has killed 60,000 people in Libya, with barely a murmur from what is left of the anti-war movement. The urgent challenge facing anti-imperialists is how to build real resistance to the war-drive. In January FRFI supporters in London attended a meeting entitled Is Western democracy worth killing for? The panel’s analysis was excellent, but left unanswered the question of what we should do.
An FRFI supporter then announced that we want to organise a response to Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for imperialist intervention in Somalia. Britain will be hosting a conference on 23 February in London to get backing for intervention into what Cameron defines as ‘a failed state that directly threatens British interests’ (see page 16). On 24 January we held the first organising meeting. FRFI calls on its readers to join us in organising this action, against what will be yet another imperialist bloodbath; come out on 23 February! Follow on twitter for updates @HandsOffSomalia.
Solidarity with socialist Cuba!
Our campaign Rock around the Blockade stands in solidarity with socialist Cuba. In January, events were held in London, Newcastle and Manchester to mark 53 years since the triumph of the revolution, and supporters have been working hard over the last few months to prepare for our solidarity brigade which is going to Cuba in February, with meetings, film showings and fundraising events (see page 6).
Join FRFI – Build the movement for socialism in Britain!
FRFI supporters organise protests, street events, film showings, public meetings and cultural events to make sure that the argument for a revolutionary alternative is heard loudly. We support local campaigns and argue for the defence of the working class against the onslaught of cuts and criminalisation. We stand for socialism and promote Cuba as an example of how society can be organised in the interests of ordinary people. This work needs to grow, and for that we need more people to get involved. The fightback has to be massive – get involved, get active!
