I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

Some Anarchist Bookfair Comments

I could only spend about six hours at the Anarchist Bookfair yesterday, but feel the event is important enough to offer some comments upon it.

Organisation was exemplary. The old Anarchist Federation line that anarchy is organisation is actually demonstrated by the bookfair, comfortably the largest Anarchist event in the UK. It remains the case that if a martian were to land and wander in, we might not be able to take him to any leaders, but we would be able to take him into a political movement that is confident, aspires to do something and is both open and accessible.
My twins were placed in the creche, which was divided into two rooms - one for older children, the other for toddlers and below. The Anarchist movement and its publications never talk about the family (even vague critiques of the nuclear family seem to be taken as read now) but the creche was well staffed, clean, safe and the children happy. Anarchism was again organisation.

Reunion wise it was great to meet so many people I had not seen for several years - I even kissed and made-up with John from Libcom. One interesting issue to emerge from speaking to people like Conor, Dave from Preston and Joni from Manchester (eighth in the UK strongman competition this year) is how serious some activists, but more usually semi-retired activists take their participation in sports.
I wonder if martial arts, boxing and strength training all offer more instant and more personal success, than the long grind of political activism? In gyms there tends to be little of what makes politics unattractive - the sectarianism,the negativity, the lack of defined or achievable goals, the police harrassment - all are absent. At some stage I would like to write more about this, but would welcome comments here.

Of course there are downsides. It is depressing to see American leftist ideas on race enter the UK Anarchist movement, as evidenced by the meeting on "white privilige and racism" or the rise of related literature over the past couple of years. Such guilt tripping is common to approaches to race in what were 'settler' societies - the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They don't and won't work here - and are probably very far from applicable now in the likes of the US either. The bookfair still faces the challenge of spreading its influence and strength over the following 12 months. It would be useful to see all the meeting organisers for 2011 asked to write a brief follow up report in six months time, and again in time for the 2012 bookfair website, on how the bookfair helped - or did not help - their campaign.

One final point. I was slightly alarmed on leaving to see, on the free table in the hallway, leaflets in support of the campaign to Free Babar Ahmad. A long term Islamist activist in the UK, Ahmad was injured fighting for the Mujahideen in Bosnia in the early 1990s, and went on to set up Azzam.com, the most important Jihadi website the UK has seen. It was named after Abdullah Azzam, who ranks alongside Osama bin Laden or Aayman al-Zawahiri in terms of importance as a Jihadist leader over the past 25 years. Azzam.com was particulary praised by Chechen Islamist fighters for its support, and such connections were to lead to Ahmad's eventual arrest and the closing of the site. There are perhaps reasons to have some sympathy for Ahmad - he was badly beaten up by the Territorial Support Group on his arrest in 2003, and has waited far too long to be extradited to the United States, where he faces serious charges.

I can't help thinking his treatment in the UK has probably been fairer than that Anarchists would receive under Sharia, and that whoever placed a pile of his support leaflets at the bookfair either thinks Anarchists are a bunch of liberal idiots who will support any cause going, or is already such an idiot themselves.

The odd gripe aside, overall it is a big thumbs-up to the bookfair organisers, and toall those who make it such an excellent event to attend. If the revolution has not been achieved, I shall go along next year.

Anarchist Bookfair Today

I shall spend a few hours at the Anarchist Bookfair today in Mile End.

Despite having said I will never work on a stall again, I am going to do a few hours at the Notes From the Borderland stall. Do pop over and say hello.

Saving Dale Farm? Do Not Expect Morality From The State

Amongst the coverage of the Dale Farm eviction yesterday, I was struck by this quote from Jake Fulton, which appeared at 1503 on the Telegraph's live blog:

"They're torturing people up there. We are trying to resist peacefully."

I am assuming Jake Fulton was one of those activists 'locked on' to the tower that was constructed by the travellers supporters. Locking on, often using bike locks, has been a common method on environmental protests for years. A workshop covering it is shown in the recent Just Do It film about environmental direct action, and it is standard tactic when occupying buildings, or trying to prevent evictions.

Locking on is a stupid, dangerous tactic that places the security, health and safety of the individual in the hands of their supposed enemy - the police and bailiffs. Anyone with a basic knowledge of pressure points or who remembers how to do a 'chinese burn' from childhood, will be able to inflict severe pain on the individual who has 'locked on'. Is this the 'torture' to which Jake Fulton refers? If so, he and a few others need to wise up, and actually start believing their own hype about police riot squads and court appointed bailiffs.

I can't imagine too many Irish travelling men would voluntarily lock themselves in a position where they can be made to suffer by the police. Quite why environmental activists are putting themselves in that position, on their behalf, is beyond me. It is easy to portray such activists as naive, gullible middle class dreamers, because in cases like this, that is how they behave.

Do not expect morality, or fair treatment, or the Queensberry rules, from riot police. Because if you do, you may end up being 'tortured'.

Who Is Number Seven?

Lacking anything constructive to do over lunch, I decided to look at the website of Mayday magazine.

It was devoid of text, with only the message "Hacked by Number 7" remaining.

So - who is number seven?

Ali Soufan Interviewed

I shall certainly be tuning in to Radio 3 at 10pm on Monday 17 October when Night Waves has an interview with Ali Soufan.

Soufan, a former FBI interrogator, is hawking his new book "The Black Banners: The Hunt For Al Qaeda" and appears to have licence to rather stick the knife into the CIA. An interesting 45 minutes should ensue.

Cameron and Faith: Where Is The Big Society Going?

An interesting insight into the vision David Cameron has for Britain comes from an article he has written for issue 68 of Keep The Faith magazine.

For the uninitiated, Keep The Faith styles itself, according to its blurb on Google, as 'Britain's leading magazine about black faith'. Personally I am not sure how 'faith' can be black or indeed any colour, and I feel rather perturbed by the suggestion that it can be. Then again I have always been a staunch atheist, so what do I know?

In a way, Cameron's approach to Keep The Faith is far from unique. Issue 68 is devoted to a series of condemnations of this summers riots, and Cameron makes it clear that he sees faith as a way of countering such violence. Underwhelmed as I was by the political content of the riots, it is hard not be reminded of the way the 1980s urban clashes were followed by politicians embracing multi-culturalism, community leaders and religious figures in the inner-cities - all to buy off future problems. Put simply, the Prime Minister does not want to see young black kids on street corners, but in church. Here Christianity remains in its traditional role as far as British political leaders are concerned - it is for civilising black people.

What is also interesting, and deeply disturbing, is how Cameron sketches the big society to this audience. Consider this quote:

"I don't agree with people who say there is no place for faith in society and public service. Just look at the good work of faith schools - including the one my own son and daughter attend - or the work of Street Pastors and the Salvation Army. In every town and every city, there are charities and voluntary organisations of all faiths doing teriffic things. And through the new Localism Bill, they are freed up like never before to transform their local communities. This revival is at the heart of what I want to achieve."

The privatisation or reduction of public services, with religious organisations filling the gap, was envisaged in the US by the neo-Conservative right and by George W Bush. In Britain, it picked up pace in London with Ken Livingstone's funding of East London Mosque's welfare programmes, and is set to continue with the big society. On this issue at least, the right, the left and the centre-right appears in harmony.

Several problems emerge with this approach. Firstly, what about those who don't want their local community 'transformed' by the church down the road? When Cameron praises faith schools, is he really unaware of the division they have fostered in Northern Ireland, and to a lesser extent Scotland? Why is their promotion in England going to be different, especially when we already see significant differences between, to take one example, Muslim and non-Muslim communties in places like Birmingham and east Lancashire? What if traditionally antagonistic faiths compete for influence in the same area, both looking to 'transform' the community?

Writing for Shift magazine in 2010, I warned that the big society was likely to end up as an Islamist beanfeast. The reality now appears worse - a beanfeast for any religious current going.

 

Challenge 25? No Thank You

One depressing advert doing the rounds at the moment is Asda's promotion for Steinlager, which ends with Asda proudly announcing it is part of 'Challenge 25'.

Challenge 25 is a policy (now law in Scotland) which asserts that anyone who looks as if they are under 25 and attempting to buy alcohol should be challenged, and asked to provide proof of age. No proof - no beer. This nonsense comes to us courtesy of the United States, where a whole series of big stores have long abided by similar policies - often due to the distaste born-again Christian store owners held for alcohol. In 2001, at the aged of 32 and already stark staring bald, I was refused four cans in an Arizona supermarket on the grounds that I was under 40, and did not have proof of age. Whilst I had the pleasure of walking out and leaving a large amount of shopping on the conveyer belt, the petty unjustice of it still rankles.

The Challenge 25 orthodoxy ticks several boxes for those in authority. It means pretty much any young person on a night out is now required to carry identification with them. That is passport, photo driving licence or (no doubt) a specially created card made by the Challenge 25 industry - at considerable expense. Next, expect to see certain city centres shut off by police on Friday or Saturday nights this winter - with entrance only allowed to those who have had their ID checked. No ID - no city centre visit.
Bureaucrats will of course have a field day with all this nonsense - add up all the passports and driving licences lost by pissed up owners that will need to be replaced. Secondly all the staff expected to 'challenge 25' will need training - hence the training courses from as little as £295 from one retailer. With the pub and nightclub industry struggling in most cities, we can of course expect the costs of these changes to be passed on to one group of people only - the paying customer.

The next time politicians decide to make a push to reintroduce identity cards in Britain, we will be told that the ID cards will make life more convenient for us. How? Well, you will no longer have to take your passport or driving licence with you when you buy alcohol. Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier tried this nonsense when she was a Home Office Minister in 2009 - and no doubt others will follow. It is the oldest trick in the book - use one unpleasant and unneccesary law, to pave the way for another unpleasant and unneccesary law.

Unless I return to Arizona, I am very unlikely to be challenged to prove my age when buying beer. If you ever are, I really do encourage you to walk straight out and go to a pub, club or off licence where the owners and staff area little less petty. In resistance, we find life. In acceptance, we find only drudgery.  

Will Darcus Howe Bring His Cheque Book To The London Anarchist Bookfair?

Saturday 22 October sees the annual Anarchist bookfair in London.

This is the largest gathering of Anarchists in Britain (and Europe?) and as usual has a fascinating line of speakers, stalls and films. The bookfair also never lacks for incident - the battle of the ghetto blaster on Holloway Road, the egged fundamentalist Christians last year or the Libcom collective learning that if you constantly do-down other people on-line, some of those people will bite you on the arse in 'real' life.

The bookfair has had some success in recent years in dragging in non-Anarchists. I took former World Welterweight champion Terry Marsh along one year, whilst Paul Mason has taught a few Anarchists that the BBC is not all bad. That's why I am delighted to see that this year Darcus Howe is speaking on the recent riots. Darcus comes from the era when Britain actually had black radicals (as opposed to trustafarians and black Mayoral advisors) and has things to say on race, and Englishness, that do not always sit easily with liberal platitudes.

But Everyone has a past. In an earlier era Darcus Howe scammed one very high profile London printing co-operative, staffed mostly by Anarchists, by ordering a large sum of work he never paid for. I am sure Darcus has lots to say about this summers riots, how areas like Brixton have changed in recent years, and on relations between the police and the community. Is it too much to hope however that when he comes to Mile End on Saturday 22nd, he also brings his cheque book with him?

England on Tour

I've never been much of a rugger bugger, but you have to hand it to Martin Johnson and the boys.

In their month in New Zealand they have packed in white water rafting, bungee jumping, dwarf throwing, several nights on the piss, a bit of rugby with a 'you win some you lose some ethos' and then rounded it all off by daring the daftest member of the tour party to jump in the harbour.

Just like any other rugby club tour!

Meg Hillier: Now Representing Hackney South?

A curious tweet earlier today from Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, who lost her place in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet re-shuffle:

"Thank you twittersphere for kind comments. I have freedom to speak for Hackney freely for first time in five years"

I am sure those who elected Meg Hillier in 2005 and 2010 will be interested to know that her Ministerial and then Shadow cabinet careers came first, her Hackney constituents second.

Brendan O'Neill On The Conservative Party Conference

This article from Spiked is easily the best summary I have found discussing the never-never land of contemporary British politics, as evidenced by the party conference season.

Whilst the economy continues to go down the plug-hole, Cameron was to be found styling himself as a sort of PC version of England's 1982 World Cup mascot Bulldog Bobby, demanding we show some pluck. When O'Neill writes of Cameron's apology to women for perceived laddish language, we see a commentator who actually grasps what is happening in the world:

In effect, he was bowing to pressure from minuscule numbers of influential women – primarily highly paid newspaper columnists and expert pollsters – who have been warning him to speak in a way they consider to be ‘appropriate’. That such a dinner-party spat can take centre stage at a party conference in an era of recession is a searing indictment of the hermetically sealed nature of modern British politics. This unedifying clash between professionals over how the fairer sex should be addressed brings to mind the old court system, in which mannerisms of speech and the depth of one’s curtseying were also treated as the be-all and end-all, elbowing aside burning political issues. The return of speech ritualism is further evidence of the isolation of the political class.

More please.