Socialist Workers comes out in support of mass direct action in Shannon

Thursday February 27, 2003 12:58

by Stalin's airbrush - Not the SWP

But that was back in September and today its been airbrushed from their web site

'Some in the movement have counter-posed direct action tactics to marches and demonstrations. This is a false opposition.' 'Just as active protest is stronger than passively sitting at home, so militant tactics of protest are more effective.' 'What we need is large-scale direct action conducted by large numbers of people.' This is what is being proposed this March 1st in Shannon

Google thought this article should have been at http://www.swp.ie/resources/Direct%20Action%20and%20Revolution.htm, but its been removed from the SWP site. But Google has a cahe of web pages that no longer exist. This Cached version of the web page is at
http://www.google.ie/search?q=cache:knDhqx1OZPcC:www.swp.ie/resources/Direct%2520Action%2520and%2520Revolution.htm+shannon+airport+direct+action+war&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

This is the article

Direct Action and Revolution

The demonstrations at the end of September showed the anti-war movement speaks for thousands of people.

In Dublin over three thousand marched against the war. In London, a staggering 400,000 took part in what was the biggest protest since the second world war.

In addition there were further protests in Washington DC and San Francisco in the United States as well as Rome, Spain, Egypt, New Zealand on the same day.

The importance of protest marches like this is three-fold.

It is a public expression of opposition to the war. The mobilisation of large numbers of citizens on the streets contradicts the conventional view that politics is for specialists?an activity which takes place over the heads of ordinary people.

When numbers of people take to the streets to protest they are in effect saying that they are not going to leave it to this or that politician but are prepared to take things into their own hands.

No serious change in society is possible unless thousands of people adopt this attitude, whether over the war; job losses and redundancy payments or any other issue.

Secondly the experience of taking part in a protest march with thousands of other gives confidence to people. It proves we are not on our own. And it helps to arm people with arguments to take back to their workplaces, colleges or communities to build the mass movement.

Thirdly, taking protest action encourages people to organise further action in their locality, trade union, school, etc. As a result of large public meetings and protests, there now exists a large network of people in the localities building the anti war movement.

Just as active protest is stronger than passively sitting at home, so militant tactics of protest are more effective.

Large-scale direct action and civil disobedience really begins to challenge the prerogatives of our rulers.

For example the campaigns of mass non-payment against service charges have been effective in forcing local councils to end water charges and are presenting a real challenge to their imposition of bin charges.

The most effective actions are organised where workers are strongest?in the workplace. Mass political strikes are a demonstration of the potential power of the working class to change things. And occupations of workplaces really begin to challenge to right of the capitalists to control the economy.

Some in the movement have counter-posed direct action tactics to marches and demonstrations.

This is a false opposition.

The key issue though is mass participation. In the anti-capitalist demonstrations across Europe and elsewhere in the last couple of years, groups who regard themselves as the experts in direct action tactics had a vogue.

They quickly ran up against a major problem: Tactics which are the preserve of a minority exclude the participation of masses of people. And small groups are relatively easy for the police to contain or defeat.

What we need is large-scale direct action conducted by large numbers of people.

The courageous daubing of US fighter aircraft by anti war activists in Shannon a few weeks ago caught the imagination of many.

What we need to do now is to link this flair to a movement of thousands of people. We need to build a mass movement of opposition to the war that can bring hundreds and thousands of people to confront the US machine whether at through protests at Shannon Airport, the US Embassy or in work stoppages..

Therefore mass rallies and marches will continue to have a crucial role in building the resistance to Bush?s War without End and encourage the participation of large numbers of people in the movement.

We in the Socialist Workers Party look forward to the time when masses of workers take over their industries, factories and workplaces through democratically elected workers? councils.

These would democratically plan and re-organise the economy to ensure production for human need and not for profit. This would be the revolutionary mass direct action that could truly change the world.

Every protest, demonstration and strike where ordinary people take action on their own behalf contains a foretaste of this.