NO G8 demo in Wellington
Around 40 people showed up for a demo today in solidarity with protesters world-wide who are protesting against the G8, Climate Change and Capitalism. Photos will come soon i'm sure...
The protest started at Midland Park where a speech by a member of the Acheh Support Group was made about Exxon Mobil.
The demo then went down Lambton Quay, unfotunately on the footpath. But the cops (lots of them around) were quite bossy about the whole affair... Lots of anarchist flags were flying in the Wellington wind. Leaflets were handed out to people explaining what the whole thing was about.
Further down on Lambton Quay the proposed Free Trade Agreement with China was auctioned off. Bidders traded workers rights, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Democracy, Biodiversity and FUN for the FTA in return.
The demo then went up to Marian Hobbes' office. Again lots of cops. Peole put up vampire teeth on her photo. Hobbes is the minister for the environment and also the local MP. But the Labour government is so commited to progress (progress of capitalism that is) that they completely forget about the environment... (Bypass, Happy Valley, Marsden B, GE...)
WE ARE EVERYWHERE!
Comments
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Yay Go wellington!!
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
We are everywhere? I don't know if all 40 of you could be everywhere... You shouldn't always amp yourself up to be bigger than you - it means you can't rightly judge your effect and where you have to move on to build.
40 people *is* a lot to help workers organising or knocking on doors to build up a community movement against rent, or organising unemployed...
Jo
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
yarn
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Thanks for posting the article.Hhowever i have to say i reckon there were about 50 or 60n of us not 40. Despite small nos in wellington, people are protesting all around the world and fortunately the anti globaliseation movemnt is evrywhere. Whatever our nos it was good to see people out expressing themselves beeing seen and heard.
Jo where do you get of telling us what to do without knowing us. You sound like you think all we do is street demonstrations. How do you know we don't participate in community and work place organiseing. Some of us do. Perhaps youvjust enjoy slagging people of.
Solidarity with those protesting the g8 everywhere.xxx mark
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Did anyone get any photos?
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
mark your a dumbarse.. stop smoking so much pot, and go back to wellington high a learn how to spell. The G8 in wellington was badly planned, like most of the crap in wellington.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
seems to me that such a small group should not even bother with a stupid 'theatrical' protest, whos listening????? obviously not much otherwise there would be more than the 40 or 50. its been the same old bullshit for years. seem like too uch of a 'cool' thing to do. if you were organised and actually planned on action rather than 'auction' then maybe i would have joined you along with many others.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
The G8 protests in Wellington were organised in spite of a lot of people finding it difficult to commit to actions that they promised to help with.
The auction worked well and had a reasonably good audience for a chilly day in the middle of winter.
The whole G8 programme from the teach-in to the demo to the movie screening to the dinner involved more and more people. The dinner had over 80 people, many who I hadn't seen before.
So know I don't think this was badly organised, hastily done, and it struggled. 'Sheesh' why don't you have the guts to put your name to your post so people can actually engage with you outside of this forum, instead of gutlessly whining from the sidelines.
Also, the aptly named "....." get involved and you would see that we do a whole heap more than street theatre and marches.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Always the same pointless anonymous whining...
The report's estimate of numbers was definitely on the low side, but the reporter is accused of "always" amping things up!
And if you can't spell yourself (it's 'you're' not 'your' and Wellington has a capital) don't throw stones.
Trivialities aside, it is hard to see how a demo like this has much political effect. I got lots of "good on you" comments as I was handing out leaflets, but is this enough?
Having said that, I'd still credit the organisers with trying to get something done, which is more than their detractors ever do (posting slag-off messages on web sites isn't worth shit, guys).
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
I agree with Sam. Good on the organisers and participants, but it's time to find a new way.
a march of forty to sixty people isn't going to scare george w bush, but forty to sixty people doing something creative and really challenging will make an impact and attract future participants.
on the flip side, perhaps its better to save ones energy for local/ national issues, rather than one in which our influence is minimal
no doubt this will piss some people off, but that's my opinion and i'm entitled to it.
perhaps some kind of cost/ benefit analysis of future actions would be good. weigh up how much the proposed activity is going to cost activists in terms of time money and energy, compared to how much it's going to cost capitalism.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Yeah, but also remember, people have been saying "let's be more creative and challenging" for years and it isn't easy to come up with something brilliant and new all the time.
There are some things we can do - one of which is to do less and better, to make sure our aims are clearedr and well presented, and to focus on things we have the energy to bang away at for years, if necessary, as it takes time to win.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
I am actively involved in a the Service and Food Workers Union and I don't ever see any of you lot helping out our workers. Most of them haven't got a clue what the G8 is. I also didn't notice many pacific islanders or maori. You'll find many of our delegates are. They may not come to big (or small) flash demos, but you should see them fight the boss. Yes, unions have their problems too - but at least we are helping people who are more likely to rise up against the system than a bunch of middle class activists on the dole. I support you for doing something, but you've been doing the same thing for the last 5 years (and perhaps longer, except I haven't been around long enough to see.) I also beleive in direct action like you do, but carnivals and making it more fun isn't going to get your brown sisters and brothers involved. How about going to those communities first, and then thinking about making them fun? Is something always better than nothing?
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
I'm a class war anarchist, and i agree with jo here.
The G8 demo was crap, you don't have cry about it and get defensive, its a fact. Lets not hype it up, Lets get real here. The ammount of anarchists in Wellington that arn't doing shit depresses me. Unite is a good place to start, more 'fun' and all that dress up crap doesn't do shit. Drop the hippie image, lifestyle bullshit is a dead end, it always has been, and the sooner 'anarchists' in Wellington learn this the better.
People shouldn't be afraid of critizesm, how else can we move foward?
The last trade meeting i attended to protest, the real struggle started when the unions showed up, not when the god damn faeries sprinkled hippie fairy dust.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
yes im back for more 'whining'. i moved to wellington in the hope of being able to meet some dedicated activists, but instead i found a whole lot of whinging hippies on the dole. All i got was that people were only interested in being seen as 'cool'. fighting capitalism is serious not fun. I was involved and have seen there are good things being done and there are some decently good poeple, but who do you expect to turn with street theatre and colourful hippy clothes and 'fairy' dust against corporate whores and facists? i have only been turned away.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
@jo
e-mail me! i'd be great to get in touch with you.
smushcapitalism(at)hotmail.com
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Well, this is getting a bit more constructive – but only a bit. Seems like some of you anonymous people do have something to say – so why didn’t you say it in the first place instead of making pointless remarks slagging people off? Do you really think that sort of crap is going to help?
(and sheesh: do you really think you first comment can be classed as useful criticism that should be welcomed to help us move forward? If so, you’ve got a bit of growing up to do).
If you’ve been around the anarchist movement and only found middle class hippies on the dole, you obviously haven’t looked very hard. Personally, I’m in a job, wear grey and olive drab, am scathing of hippie attitudes and, while ‘middle class’ is a bit of a meaningless term, still earn less than the average (even now, in the best paid job I’ve had in years) and own bugger all. And I’m not particularly unusual.
After 15 odd years in the anarchist movement, I must say I’m getting bored stiff with the people who say, in effect “I’ll join in when somebody else organises something that suits me”. If you want something, you need to build it, not wait for other people to do it for you. And if the anarchist movement isn’t up to your own wonderful standards, either show some commitment to it by sticking around and making it better, or forget it and work elsewhere.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
Sam, I think that's well said. Some of us do have to compromise in our jobs (such as unions) against our beliefs. But it doesn't necessarily mean we've compromised on our end goals. I appreciate people doing things like you guys (especially the anti-fascist actions - I actually liked the fairies) but how many times have I wondered what would happen if only you lot could use your skills against the union official crap and for everyday workers, we'd be onto something!
But anyway, back into hypocritical union oblivion I must go...
..rant...
...but then again that's where the 'middle class' have an advantage - they aren't in the position that everyday they have to compromise on their values... buying GE food because it's cheaper, using coal because its plentiful etc, we get less money than what you get on the dole but we have to work for it. It's not that I think lowly of those on the dole (good on ya if you are using it to build something - but be critical, who decides if you are building something useful?)
But you know, that's where the struggle is - having to confront and recognise the system that makes us compromise. It's not me that makes me destroy the environment, I'm in a position where I have to. That struggle it in our face everyday when we haven't got the luxury of not having to compromise.
(Because your on the dole doesn't necessarily mean you are in a situation where class conciousness will truly rise up in your minds. The unemployed maybe used by the ruling classes in bringing down the living costs of the entire workingclass, but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone on the dole feels that class exploitation. I do fear that a lot of activist type people mistake the appearance of something for it's substance. It is not being on the dole, as in getting money and not working that give you class conciousness, it is the broader social context in which it occurs. The liberalism of much middle class ideology tends to reify things and radical disaffected youth tend to latch onto supposed radical identities but actually play a part in depoliticising them?
Some thoughts... I'm interested in any comments.
jo
Jo
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
To "...." and "Sheesh":
If you want to engage in some off site discussion on these issues email me at the above email address.
To Jo:
The Wildcat Anarchist Collective and other anarchists who joined in has been involved in two pickets.
The second EPMU Colgate Picket:
http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display_any/31134
The public Unite! Reading Picket:
http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display_any/21122
In addition, we ran a number of stories in SNAP! on various union campaigns and struggles including one in Auckland Airport which involved the SFWU. Also, we approached some workers involved in a dispute at a local gallery who had gone public with their concerns but that unfortunately went nowhere as (to my understanding) the workers feared to much for their jobs.
Getting information on when pickets/solidarity work is happening and permission to join is like pulling teeth.
To my mind there are several reasons for this:
- Since the ECA many Union Organisers are incredibly overcommitted in terms of workload;
- The level of trust of activists (let alone anarchists) by organisers is close to nil. This is often because of bad experiences in the past, and also that if members are turned off by what the activists say they may blame the union and cut in to the organiser's bottom line;
- Many anarchists don't belong to unions;
- Even if you do belong to a union it is very rare that unions ask for solidarity across the union let alone the labour 'movement'. For example I belong to both NUPE and the PSA, NUPE will request help and solidarity at times (I get the feeling that the PSA will require the proverbial dead body before they will ask - unless it is to hand out pro-Labour pamphlets);
- Which brings me to one of the major problems which is that many organisers do not want to politicise industrial relations unless it is to assist with Labour when it is struggling (note the panicked response by some pro-Labour unionists to Brash's Orewa speech and the current campaign to get Labour reelected).
I have spent the last 12 months trying to overcome these barriers or work around them, and I'm about to start this again. If you can help, I'd really appreciate it. Please do contact me on the above email.
Re: NO G8 demo in Wellington
From what I've seen anarchists often engage in workplace struggles when they are involved, but are reluctant to be seen as jumping onto a bandwagon and very seldom get invited to participate. Neither do we want to adopt the phoney old Trotskyist strategy of going and working in a biscuit factory or something in order to be down with the workers.
Anarchists often aren't in traditional working class jobs, either because they've adopted a lifestyle of living on the margins in order to do things they find more satisfying, or because they've suceeded in finding a niche position in the workforce where they feel comfortable and such positions often aren't good places for struggle.
My own experience has been much like this - I was a PSA organiser in my youth as I had a government job, I was active in encouraging shopworkers to organise and get stroppy when I was working in London, but recently I've been doing things such as working for DoC in National Parks where there isn't much opportunity to organise (and the workers are usually better able to pressure management themselves than via the union) or working for NGOs, which is much the same.
The dole is perceived as a useful option at times, but I don't think anybody these days thinks of it as some sort of political calling or route to class consciousness. Nor do anarchists see themselves as living uncompromised lives. Under capitalism every lifestyle you can find involves compromises whether you are 'middle class' or anything else.
It's true that the media feed you images of radicalism to encourage you to adopt capitalist-defined rebellious roles (I'm so sick of seeing 1960's American images and styles being repeatedly recycled). Some anarchists seem to fall for this, but others don't.
One problem here is the lack of continuity in the movement and the limited knowledge of Aotearoa's radical history. Actually this is much the same in other Western countries as far as I can tell. It's not much helped by older activists who often seem to take a rather sneering and patronising attitude to young activists and don't engage with them.
labels are shit
Sam says:
"Neither do we want to adopt the phoney old Trotskyist strategy of going and working in a biscuit factory or something in order to be down with the workers"
In my experience that's not being"down"
It's been the stuff of my life as an activist.
Anything I have to help carry on the struggle comes from Marxist books and working on big sites.
Mostly from the struggles on the big sites.
There is nothing necesarily "old" or "Trotskist" or "phoney" about battling and learning on low paid jobs.
Labels are easy; that' why labels are shit.
Labels
Well, Don, I was referring to the Socialist Action types I remember who were largely a bunch of university-educated middle class trotskyists who deliberatly took jobs in factories in order to agitate, if this is the stuff of your life, I'm suprised, I never took you for a bullshit artist.
As you say, there is nothing necessarilly "old" or "Trotskist" or "phoney" about battling and learning on low paid jobs, in fact it's often a major learning experience. However, for middle class `revolutionaries' to deliberatly go and do low paid jobs to make themselves feel like workers, or whatever, smacks of deceit.
Anything I have to help carry on the struggle comes from working in all sorts of jobs, reading children's literature, watching movies, involvement in community groups, fighting campaigns, going through court cases, getting harrassed by cops, talking to my friends, travelling, being a union member, going tramping, playing football, reading capitalist magazines, arguing with politicians, fighting bosses, listening to people around me, studying science and especially thinking about the situations I find myself in during everyday life.
Sam,
"Socialist Action types " did not "deliberatly (take) jobs in factories in order to agitate"
From where I saw it hey came and stayed long enough ( ususally a matter of weeks) to sell a bunch of subs to Socialist Action and having done that, they vanished. They seemed to have a party policy of not taking delegates positions; refusing all nominations. But reserving the right to dump shit on the delegates who were elected.
It is actually much more of a Maoist tradition for middleclass activists to chose to work in manual industry.Leaders of a major trotskist player for many years, the British SWP, actually argued against it.
"for middle class `revolutionaries' to deliberatly go and do low paid jobs to make themselves feel like workers, or whatever, smacks of deceit."
I have not actually ever encountered anyone
doing such a thing. I have known of many activists of middle class origin taking low paid jobs to fight capitalism and learn from organised workers. That's what I did myself and if I was reincarnated I'd do just the same again, but a bit earlier.
"Anything I have to help carry on the struggle comes from working in all sorts of jobs, reading children's literature, watching movies, involvement in community groups, fighting campaigns, going through court cases, getting harrassed by cops, talking to my friends, travelling, being a union member, going tramping, playing football, reading capitalist magazines, arguing with politicians, fighting bosses, listening to people around me, studying science and especially thinking about the situations I find myself in during everyday life."
Well, my own preference is to run instead of tramp or play football, and I'd rather practice scales and arpegios than watch movies but - what the fuck - isn't all that just what people do as a matter of course?