Change is gonna hurt.

national | miscellaneous | news report

Sunday March 02, 2003 21:05

by Captain Moonlight

A Lot!

How blessed I am not to belong.

Direct Action vs. Mass Movement

How blessed I am not to belong . . . to the SWP, WSM, SP, IAWM, GNAW, etc. And so it was to Shannon I went with an open mind and a readiness to read the situation on arrival. The numbers weren’t big, it’s true, but 300 (299 + me) seemed respectable enough in the context of the overall turnout, and so I elected to join the group heading for the fence. Of course, I knew we’d fail in the stated objective, just as we’ll all fail in the coming months (or does Richard Boyd Barrett actually believe we’re capable of stopping this juggernaut tearing though Iraq? Incidentally, why was he 3 steps ahead of the people carrying the IAWM banner? Were they leading the march or was he?). Was I scared? Yes. Of arrest or a smack with a baton. That’s why it’s hard to build a mass direct-action movement – people are not afraid of the publicity regarding violence, they’re afraid of violence itself. But that’s not a reason to reject the tactic. Think of the miners. They knew that marching around their various cities wouldn’t hurt, but they recognised the need to confront the scabs and cops at the collieries. In 1968, Eamon McCann and co. called demos that they knew would be attacked by the RUC, but they didn’t balk. The list is endless – need I go on?
Of course, direct-action is messy. You can’t sell the paper, no-one’s interested in your speeches, you don’t get to look like you’re in charge. But if the other 1,100 at Shannon had acted on the principle of solidarity (as I did), the outcome would have been at least more interesting. The cops would have beaten us, hundreds might have been arrested, some would have been hurt. That’s the point – street politics (and revolution, I’ve heard) demand of us something hard to give. I’m not even sure I’m willing to make those sacrifices. But that doesn’t mean the argument for direct action is wrong. You see, like 1,350 people out of the 1,500 at Shannon, I’m a softy in the pampered western mould. Guess I need to see cruise missiles heading up the street before I get really serious. Guess Richard Boyd Barrett etc. need to as well.