Direct action: now or never?

Friday February 28, 2003 12:33

by Ray

There are plenty of groups and individuals in the anti-war movement who are opposed to direct action as a general principle. They think protests should always stay within the law, and aim to change the minds of government ministers through sheer numbers. Fair enough, that's their position. But what about the other groups, that say they do favour direct action?

Reasons to oppose direct action:
It doesn't have public support
Its elitist
There are other more effective actions to take
Its not the right time

"It doesn't have public support"

Over 100,000 Irish people marched against the war less than two weeks ago. Survey after survey has shown that the vast majority of people oppose the use of Shannon by US warplanes. This level of support is completely unprecedented, and no other issue in our lifetimes is likely to have so much support behind it. If you're afraid to act with this many people behind you then you'll always be afraid to act.
Nor is this support conditional on campaigners avoiding direct action. Again, many surveys have shown widespread support for the Dubsky, Kelly, and CW actions. Its not unanimous support, but huge numbers of people can and do differentiate between cutting down fences and attacking planes on the one hand, and bombing people on the other. It will always be the case that some people are turned off by direct action, and would prefer compleely legal protest. So again, this is the high water mark. If this isn't enough support for you, you are effectively ruling out direct action _ever_, because nothing else is likely to come close.

"Its elitist"

One of the more common criticisms of direct action is that only elites can take part in it. Direct action, the argument goes, must always be organised in secret, and that rules out mass participation. It requires special training, special equipment, a willingness to climb fences in the middle of the night and risk long jail terms.
That's not true here. The planned action has been widely discussed. Everybody involved knows what's going to happen. No special training or equipment is needed. There is some risk of arrest, its true, but the level of illegality involved is quite low, and the number of participants is potentially high, so the risk is as low as it gets for these actions. Certainly no more risk than is involved in occupying a Gap store, going on wildcat strike, or refusing to pay bin charges.
Again, this is direct action with a real potential for mass participation.

"There are more effective actions to take"

Like marches? There has already been a march of 100,000 people in Dublin. If Bertie was going to be convinced by marches, surely that would have been enough. Where do you go from there? Try to have a march of 200,000 people? Try to hold a march every week? Public opinion is already clear. The Feb 15th was as clear a statement of public opinion as we can hope to get. Time to move on.
How about strikes? Sure, it would be great if Shannon workers refused to deal with US planes. But that's not going to happen any time soon, is it? There have been no mass union meetings in Shannon, no calls for a strike, and there's no prospect of industrial action in the near future. So calling for industrial action _instead_ of direct action is just a recipe for doing nothing.
And besides, direct action has been the most effective tactic so far. Of the four US carriers that were using Shannon, three have already stopped. Not because they were impressed with the turnout on the 15th. Not because Bertie was scared into chucking them out. Not because the Shannon workers refused to deal with them, or any threat of future industrial action.
No, 3 of the 4 US carriers have stopped using Shannon because people kept breaching security. People got into the hangars and painted or attacked US planes. Hundreds of demonstrators broke through the fence. Direct action is _working_.

"Its not the right time"

The anti-war movement in Ireland has unprecedented levels of support. The direct actions that have already been taken in Shannon have incredible levels of support. And war is less than a month away.
If you're in favour of direct action at all, you have to be in favour of direct action NOW.