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Not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Darcus Howe's Timely Insurrection 09 Aug 2011 10:48 pm It's not from the reporters and well-heeled media pundits where you can find insight into the London riots, but from the people they are obliged to interview, argue Joe Glenton and Jo Gough. read more      Politicians - condemning the riots from a different planet 09 Aug 2011 08:06 pm FE student Amy Addison-Dunne argues that most politicians live in such a different reality, their opinions on the riots can be of little value. read more      A short history of the London riot 09 Aug 2011 05:39 pm Politicians and journalists have rushed to blame the riots on 'sheer criminality'. The same cry from the defenders of the status quo has echoed down the centuries after every riot in London. read more      Theresa May and the Tories: relics without solutions 09 Aug 2011 05:02 pm The moralistic backlash from the Con-Dems and the media has begun in earnest. Jonathon Shafi takes on the reactionary critics, with reference to a challenging BBC interview with influential commentator Darcus Howe. read more      Public Meeting: Riots, Recession and Resistance | August 11 09 Aug 2011 12:27 pm Called by Coalition of Resistance and Black Activists Rise Against the Cuts - What do the recent riots in Britain mean? Why are they happening? What can we do in response? All welcome to come and discuss this and decide on what to do next. read more      Construction bosses back on the attack 08 Aug 2011 12:25 pm Two years after construction bosses got a bloody nose when they tried to smash union organisation on major construction sites, they think enough water has passed under the bridge to give it another go. Richard Allday argues they can be read more      Riots in the Age of Austerity 07 Aug 2011 09:27 pm Excessive policing in Europe and the United States shows that governments are resorting to ever more coercive measures in order to save their neoliberal project, writes Dan Poulton. read more      Tottenham: Nothing left to lose 07 Aug 2011 09:02 pm In the most unequal borough of the UK, young people do not riot just for the fun of it. Poverty and a lack of opportunities are the deeper causes behind the public anger that erupted in Tottenham over the weekend, argues Elly Badcock. read more      London riots - live blog 07 Aug 2011 03:24 pm Regularly updated and challenging the portrayal of the London rioting as simply a mass outburst of criminality without any roots in social problems and police harassment. read more      Superpower downgraded - the global balance of power shifts 07 Aug 2011 01:56 pm The world's leading economy has had its credit rating reduced as the ability of the US political system to manage the crisis is called into question. James Meadway looks at the implications. read more      Tottenham Burning – a first hand report of last nights events 07 Aug 2011 01:11 pm A first hand account of last night's riot in Tottenham by Reuben Bard-Rosenberg read more      Police killing sparks Tottenham riot 07 Aug 2011 03:32 am <="">h2> read more      Panic in the markets as Euro crisis deepens 05 Aug 2011 11:13 am As fear spreads across the world's stock markets, political leaders offer no real solutions. This might be the end of the Euro in its current form, argues James Meadway. read more      From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia 04 Aug 2011 06:47 pm From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia is an important contribution to understanding Bolivian politics, critiquing the politics of Evo Morales in an effort to analyse the limitations of his rule and the potential of the social movements that brought him to power. read more      International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organisation pulls out of Israel 04 Aug 2011 02:19 pm After extensive lobbying and boycott threats from the UK and around the world, the International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organisation has withdrawn its annual conference from Israel. read more      Will Palestinian statehood bring us closer to freedom for Palestine? 04 Aug 2011 08:13 am The UN Assembly vote on a Palestinian state is an important issue, but statehood can only be a first step in the struggle for the Palestinians' rights, argue Joseph Daher and Hesham Zakai. read more      Newcastle Counterforum: The Politics of Resistance | 10 September 03 Aug 2011 06:41 pm Discuss some of the big issues facing socialists and campaigners today. read more      Get involved Join Counterfire Contact your local Counterfire group Counterfire books Strategy and tactics: how the left can organise to transform society By John Rees Buy online   Capitalism and Class Consciousness: the ideas of Georg Lukács By Chris Nineham Buy online   Eleven Reasons to Resist the Con-Dem Cuts By Neil Faulkner Buy online      Our mailing address is: Counterfire 73 Maxted Road Peckham London, London SE15 4LF Add us to your address book Forward this to a friend Update your profile

Public Meeting: Riots, Recession, Resistance

Riots, Recession, Resistance

Speakers:
Lee Jasper, Barac (Black Activists Rising Against Cuts)
Symeon Brown, Youth Worker in Tottenham and SOAS Black Students Officer 2009. See him speakHERE 

John McDonnell MP
Andrew Murray, Unite the union

Clare Solomon, Springtime: The New Student Rebellion
Zita Holborne (Black Activists Rising Against Cuts)

Viv Ahmun Black Men in the Community
Josie Fraser mother of Demetre Fraser death in  custody
Merlin Emmanuel Smiley Culture

Aaron Kiely NUS BLack Students Committee

More speakers will be added in a while-check back in  abit

7pm Thursday 11 August
University of London Union (tbc-check back here later today)
Malet Street, London WC1
(tube: Russell Square, Goodge Street or Euston Square)

Organised by the Coaltion of Resistance and Black Activists Rising Against Cuts

Protest: clean up the press, clean up the police, clean up parliament

Protest when the Murdochs come to Westminster.

1.30pm, Tuesday 19th July outside Parliament.

Rupert and James Murdoch and Rebecca Brooks are being questioned in Parliament on Tuesday over corruption and criminality at the heart of the British establishment.

Make sure you are there so they know what we think.

Who Runs Britain?: Media & Democracy mtg with Laurie Penny & others. All welcome

Greek protesters withdraw €€ to crash the banks

News from the streets in Greece

Hello friends,

I am writing to you as we are experiencing huge demonstrations all over Greece on daily basis for the past week. After our entrance to the IMF, a year or so later people have had enough.

There are daily demonstrations happening in over 60 cities around Greece. Everywhere. In Athens yesterday some 200,000 people surrounded the parliament chanting "Thieves, thieves, thieves" and calling politicians names. They brought rope and hang a dummy representing a politician. Women, children, young, old, from all walks of life have come out with metal pans.

The movement is called "The outraged" and there is a web site and a face book blog created where people are joining and are exchanging ideas and organizing.

The movement is calling for direct democracy, for the IMF loan not to be payed off, for the corrupt politicians to go to jail, for change in the constitution and for the  Government  to step down. They also are saying they want out of the euro and to go back to our own currency, the drachma. People are starting to take their money out of the bank, effectively creating a "bank run" saying that if the government doesn't default on the IMF loan they will collapse the banking system. There is a call for people to start taking 100-200 euros each day out of their bank account until the government decides to default on the IMF loan, or go bankrupt. Whichever comes first.

There are assemblies happening each night on squares around the cities where people are getting together and talking about a new system using direct democracy. They don't want any political parties and when they see anyone with a flag or a sign from a political party trying to approach the demonstration or to come to the assemblies they turn them away, asking them to come back without any political signage or affiliation.

So far the demonstrations have been very peaceful. The movement has created a security group to police the demonstrations, so no provocateurs can infiltrate and cause problems. There are people camping outside of the parliament 24/7, there are teams created to feed people and teams created for legal support, medical support etc.

So far the people are learning how to self organize and the movement is growing at the speed of light. Just yesterday on the Athens face book there where 90000 people, today there are more than 110000.

People are massively calling TV stations and making their web sites to go down because they are not covering the uprising and/or are misinforming people.

Last night the politicians had to escape from the back entrance of the parliament, at night, through the park where security took them with flash lights because the people had blocked the front entrance. The outpouring of the people was so large, estimated at 200,000 that even the cops were not able to hold them back.

There is no stopping us now. Everyone is talking about change. People who never even talked about politics, are now coming out in an outcry for direct democracy. The government is scared and they don't know what to do. The prime minister has not appeared in days anywhere and has not made any comments.

It is becoming known now that the IMF deal is a big scandal. The agreement has been liked and is online and many constitutional lawyers are going to the streets to inform people of what has really happened. They have forced on us terms that are illegal even under International or European law. They are not allowing us to go to elections. The IMF agreement states that the Greek state cannot go to a Greek court to challenge the agreement and it cannot sale its debt in order to pay it back. We have to go to European courts (from 10-15 different European nations who are the creditors of the loan) and challenge the legality of the loan in each court individually. They, on the other hand, can sale the loan to another country.

They have asked that all political parties in Greece accept the IMF and EU loan as legal and that all political parties sign it, or else we will not get the next payment. That is why they refuse to allow us to go to elections. How can they stop us from having elections in our own country? Well it is a term written in the loan agreement. Yet it is illegal and there is no court in Europe or International that can uphold such term. But our stupid sold out government has no guts.

Our system is parliamentarian, so we have a President of Democracy, who is basically a person voted by all political parties in parliament, and serves as a check and balance in our political system. If he resigns the government gets dissolved as per our constitution. In the past week he has refused to sign anything that has been voted from the Greek parliament and the Government. We hope that he will do what is right and resign. If he doesn't sign an agreement or a law that gets passed in parliament, it doesn't come to effect.

Well, there are tons of things happening. It is crazy how people, especially the youth, has mobilized. Even the church is starting to come out for the protesters, although probably a political move to gain sympathy and approval from the people.

I will write again soon with updates, there are a lot of things happening and I cannot even begin to start elaborating on them. This same movement is also going on in Portugal for the past 3 weeks, in Spain for the past 2 weeks, and in Greece for a week now. It is spreading now in France, Italy, England and other countries. Last
Sunday it happened all across Europe in dozens of European cities.

Millions of people came out on the streets and is now been organized for the entire Europe.

This coming Sunday there will be a huge protest outside of the Greek parliament where protesters will come from all over Greece. Look for the government to possibly come out or escape via helicopters, like in Argentina.

OUT OF THE IMF, EURO AND THE EU NOW.
DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOW!!!
lots of love and peace

Spanish Revolution Storify...to be updated regularly

My Dazed & Confused interview

Thank you so much to Dazed And Confused Digital for the opportunity to be interviewed about our book Springtime: The New Student Rebellions. They published THIS selection from my answers for which I am grateful. Here are the full answers that could not be published due to me going over the word limit!!

Firstly, tell us a little about the form this book takes

The book contains moments and memories of the recent student protests. We took an eclectic approach, bringing different generational and international points of view together. They reflect the diversity of the movement and the connections between them. New shoots of rebellion have grown from the roots of the past - together they weave their way through articles, letters, essays, analysis, images, video screenshots and other art.

Secondly, were you worried about making what was quite a kinetic phenomena (!) into a book - a completely stationary object?

All books are a snapshot of history in one way or another. I hope Springtime will inspire others to reconsider how they perceive the student protests, or add alternative perspectives to get a deeper understanding. And, more than that, it is always necessary for us to record our own history as a 'taking note', as the Italian revolutionary Gramsci said, 'of actual events, seen as moments of a process of inner liberation and self-expression'. Otherwise we may only get to hear the voices of those in power. It is the self-expression of these new shoots that was most important for this book.

Springtime marks one of the first times I've ever seen Social Media championed in such a way. Usually Social Media discussion often flits back and forth between doom-mongering proclamations of declining individuality and what not, or the potential for marketing and selling you things. In your book Social Media seems to become more social Social Media!

I certainly don't think the Internet is some sort of 'out there' phenomenon; an organism with a mind of it's own. It has hardware, software and functions and features very much produced and used by human hands. We form relationships online not entirely different to how they form 'in the real world', in fact I would say that cyberspace is very much part of 'the real world'. We don't live in parallel spaces. We have always put on different masks for different tasks so taking on a different persona online is akin to this.

However, I don't buy the argument that it is some sort of equaliser, a free space in which we can operate outside of capitalist relations. Capitalism always finds ways of enclosing free space, of turning it into a commercial enterprise and those with wealth and power will do their best to prevent the spread of rebellion. Think of the closing down of Facebook groups or monitoring of twitter, whether here on a small scale or in Arab countries on a larger scale in recent months. 

I can understand why some people may be hesitant or even resistant to 'new media'. In Russia a century ago, some people initially objected to Lenin's proposal to produce an agitational newspaper because many people at the time were illiterate. He would organise massive meetings and literally read the articles to them. It may take a while for some people to understand the language of new forms of communication.

Marx once wrote 

'the beginner who has learned a new language always translates it back into his mother tongue, but he assimilates the spirit of the new language and expresses himself freely in it only when he moves in it without recalling the old and when he forgets his native tongue.' 

Or, more recently, Clay Shirky said that 'technology only becomes socially useful once it becomes technologically boring'.

Tell me about the role it played in the student rebellions and how you went about getting the immediacy of Twitter into a book?

Twitter was crucial for co-ordination of the various forms of protest, so using the hashtags #solidarity and #demo2010 we searched for tweets that captured the spirit of the protests - from the  NUS president's slightly understated 'looks like the biggest student demo for a generation' to the Met police's 'we would like to work with you' tweet and, more poignantly, the communique between parents and their kettled children. We wanted to demonstrate how we communicate and co-ordinate in the 21^st century.

Tell me about some of the new voices that emerged during those weeks?

We attempted to provide a space for voices so often ignored in society. This was a political priority, as was demonstrating the links between the present and the past and, hopefully, pointing to the future. A new generation of writer/activists has emerged, with the likes of Laurie Penny and Jody McIntyre moving from fairly low-profile blogging into more mainstream spaces but retaining their commitment to fighting for social change.  

It is no coincidence that conservative forces try to avoid and repress uprisings. They know that people gain confidence and a rapid political education when involved in social struggles, which is why I'm a little surprised at how quickly the new coalition government moved in implementing various forms of cuts. If they thought they could do this and no one would rebel, they are out of touch with reality.

A lot has been said about 'apathy'. Culturally / Individually - what (in your opinion) happened?

Students can never get it right: one minute they're apathetic, the next 'they're always protesting about something'. The apathy is an effect of a supposedly democratic society which has stripped away any real possiblility for engagement. A vote every four years is hardly the most enticing thing, especially when people feel that this vote is not listened to. Two million people marched against the Iraq war, many more millions now disagree with these wars: our governments do not listen to us. And then they want us to vote again for an increasingly similar selection of liars. No wonder people can't be arsed.

And, on the other hand, the actions of the students have exposed the hypocrisy of our governments. Condeming the smashing and burning of a few inanimate objects by students whilst at the same time bombing and killing millions in the middle east and north Africa. They have all of a sudden found a few extra billion pounds to carry out this new imperialist intervention in Libya.

What they try to cover over is the causes of the uprisings. People don't just go out and protest for no reason. The suffragettes didn't smash windows because they just felt like it; they wanted their voices to be heard when they demanded the vote, and we don't now condemn them for this historical achievement. 

Students protested so vociferously because, as a fifteen-year-old said on Newsnight, 'you're taking away our education and EMA, we won't be able to get work and if we have to sell drugs to make ends meet you will then blame us'. Enough said. 

(Working in a bookshop and all!) Tell us about the Book Shields?

Ha, shame you weren't able to pick up a momento! It would be against the wishes of the producers of these books to expose their identity but the very striking image of these massive polystyrene philosophy book shields (to protect against getting beaten by police) combined with the FE students having to set their exercise books alight to keep warm when kettled (Sorry I haven't got my homework Miss but...) has become symbolic of the contradictions in the government's education plans.

Although the book has this particularly emancipatory or at least a collective swell of direction or purpose, we still have to deal with the possibility that things are going to get worse before they get better. What's next?

No one can predict the future. But I bet things will get worse before getting better. The worse it gets, the more people will resist. We need to get across the argument that not one cut is necessary. They found money for war, so there's money to save our libraries and so on.

What we need now is a mass movement of resistance to all the cuts. Change is never brought by just a small group of militants. We need everyone: precarious workers and pensioners, unemployed and disabled people, single parents, civil servants and, of course, trade unions and so on. We shouldn't just be aiming for political change at the top but social change from below, for society to be run by us, for people and not for profit. Another world is possible, but only if we all organise for it.

If all we have done so far is weaken the coalition government that is insistent on smashing the whole of society then we will have taken a leap forward. Recent election and AV results were blamed on the LibDems reneging on the tuition fees promise. We did that: we, from the beginning of term, exposed their hypocrisy.  We will not put up with their lies and distortions anymore. We will continue to build resistance.

Protest TMRW (Tuesday) when Obama the war president meets the Queen

Troops Out of Afghanistan • Stop the Bombing of Libya • Free Palestine

Barack Obama makes a state visit to Britain next week, as he is waging three wars -- in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. 

Protest at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 24 May, when Barack Obama will meet the Queen. 

Called by Stop the War, CND, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Justice for Bahrain

PROTEST WHEN OBAMA MEETS THE QUEEN : TUESDAY 24 MAY

Counterforum full timetable-you can book your place in advance...

Discussions include: how mass protest can change the world; revolution and imperialism in the Middle East; tackling Islamophobia; The working class and the movement today; from economic crisis to slump

Event details

12 - 6pm

Upper Hall, ULU, Malet Street
London WC1 7HY
Map

Free entry, please register in advance

sam@counterfire.org

07872481769

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Timetable

Session 1) 12.00 - 1.15pm

The next steps: how protest can change the world

with:
Sanum Ghafoor, activist and maker of YouTube hit March 26th London: what really happened
Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition,(pc) socialist and author of several books including Material Girls:Women, Men and Work
Chris Bambery, socialist activist, author and National Secretary of Right to Work (pc)
Joe Glenton, ex-soldier who went to prison for refusing to return to Afghanistan

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Session 2) 1.30 - 2.45pm

From crisis to slump

with:
James Meadway, New Economics Foundation (pc), regular commentator on the economic crisis

Islamophobia: tackling the new racism

with:
Shamiul Joarder, Friends of al-Aqsa and the Enough Coalition against Islamophobia, and others

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Session 3) 3.15 - 4.30pm

Counterfire: What we do and why we do it

with:
Jo Gough, UNISON activist and member of Counterfire editorial board
Chris Nineham, vice-chair Stop the War Coalition (pc) and author of Capitalism and Class Consciousness: the ideas of Georg Lukacs

The working class and the movement today

with:
Neil Faulkner, writer, historian and officer of the Coalition of Resistance (pc)
Dot Gibson, pensioners leader and socialist activist

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Session 4) 4.45 - 6.00pm

Revolution and imperialism in the Middle East

with:
Egyptian activists from Cairo
Joseph Daher, Middle East commentator and student activist
Lowkey, rapper, activist and member of the Equalities Movement
John Rees, eyewitness from Egypt and Tunisia and author of Imperialism and Resistance

Book launch & party for Springtime: The New Student Rebellions

The New Student Rebellions

Edited by Clare Solomon and Tania Palmieri

OUT NOW in the UK; Published September 2011, USA

Book launch and party on:

Thursday 7 April, 2011, 6.30pm – 11pm

At The Venue & Gallery bar @ ULU, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY

Free entry / All ages / All proceeds to PalestineConnecthttp://www.palestineconnect.org

Come early for drinks reception

Books available for purchase at discounted price of £7

With talks and readings from:

Clare Solomon, (President of ULU)

Jody McIntyre , (Equality Movement)

Dr Nina Power, (Roehampton)

Jo Casserly, (UCL)

Ashok Kumar, (LSE SU)

Kanja Sesay, (NUS Black Students Officer)

James Meadway, (SOAS)

& more tbc

And open mic, poetry, live graffiti wall, music and projections by:

Noel Douglas, (Globalise Resistance), Tyler Perkin, (Havering Sixth Form College), DJ Steaz , Logic MC, (The Peoples Army & We are Dubist), Zain (Words Apart poetry group)

The autumn and winter of 2010 saw an unprecedented wave of student protests across the UK in response to the coalition government's savage cuts in state funding for higher education, cuts which formed the basis for an ideological attack on the nature of education itself. Middle-class students, teenagers from diverse backgrounds and older activists took part in marches, teach-ins and occupations, and also creative new forms: flashmobs, YouTube dance-offs, and the literal literary resistance of colourful book blocs.

The protests spread with wildfire speed, mainly organised through the unprecedented use of social media such as facebook and twitter. Web-savvy, media-literate students developed Sukey, the anti-kettling phone app, publicise their demands through online and traditional media outlets and continue to build ever-denser international networks of solidarity.

The winter of discontent now gives rise to the new spirit of rebellion this spring with a broader, stronger resistance to austerity measures. We have already seen the astonishing events in the Arab world, trade union rallies in Wisconsin on a scale not seen in America since Vietnam protests, direct-action by tax-justice campaigners UK Uncut – and 26 March will see 'March for the Alternative' the largest national anti-cuts demonstration yet. SPRINGTIME is both an inspiring chronicle of and companion to this movement: "the formulation of an experience" of a generation.

Rather than considering them a series of isolated incidents, this new book locates the student protests in the movement spreading across the entire western world: ever since the financial crash of 2008 there has been growing social and political turbulence in the heartlands of capital and beyond. From Athens to Rome, San Francisco to London – and the stunning events in Tunisia and Egypt that captured the world's imagination – students are playing a key role in developing a strong, coherent social and political movement.

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CLARE SOLOMON is President of the University of London Union and has been centrally involved in the student protests.

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ISBN: 978 1 84467 740 5/ $14.95 / £9.99 / Paperback / 296 pages

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For more information or to buy the book visit:

http://www.versobooks.com/books/799-springtime

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Become a fan of Verso on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Verso-Books-UK/122064538789

And get updates on Twitter too!

http://twitter.com/VersoBooksUK

Brilliant video of the WHOLE March 26 march

What an absolutely brilliant video. Paul gets the whole thing including speeches, music and even him chatting away or trying to avoid being removed! Flick through to see all the different banners, colours, actions and so on. Well done Fourmanfilms.