Standing on Their Own Feet Or on Ours?

anarchistmmweehly Vol 32 No 31 riOVERNMENTS are always very to extricate themselves, without be- prepared to admit. The campaign is quick to condemn and deplore ing accused of 'selling out' by their mainly centred around the refusal of ' violence when it is used against respective supporters. the Catholic community to pay rent them, but all the time they are wag- *2? and rates. If religious differences ing war on their own populations NEAR BREAKING POINT can be forgotten and a common in the name of 'Law and Order'. Such a situation shows \pry bond created between the mass of Such hypocrisy and double stan- clearly that nothing worthwhile can ordinary people, then this civil dis- dards are fully illustrated in the come from the compromised solu- obedience could spread to the statement issued after the conclusion tions that are the stock in trade of Protestant areas. Let us face it, the of the tripartite Government talks politicians. Their answers could Protestants also suffer from indig- on Northern Ireland. It reads: 'We lead to disillusionment and resent- nities, injustice, low wages, and poor are at one in condemning any form *SpV '■"■ t •■■■•.-•>a*-v.tv13fc:V-J~. ■ '. ¥r \£-\. ■':'<*.^^!.^/'Ui/^jKjp,-ki,f-^AJi^ fulness on the part of either of the . housing. We know that Catholics of violence as an instrument of il'*;(»»'>,i,^'lk"'f-l<*. -»fr''^ . Vt'/i'li'/-- 1 '' '*■ ■''■**4fflv- ■ ' V'^&f«Ufl*?tivr r two religious communities. The have suffered more because of the political pressure and it is our danger, obviously, is that this en- inability of the State and the capi- common purpose to seek to bring mity could break out into wide- talist methods of production to pro- violence and internment, and all spread open hostility between them. vide the wherewithal of life, but other emergency measures, to an The bombings and shootings by the Protestant workers are not much end without delay.' Provisional IRA has made matters better off. Their prejudices have In itself, the act of internment is worse and internment has played been used by a political, religious a violent measure, even discounting right into their hands. There are and economic minority to hold onto the cruel treatment by the army of plenty of signs that Protestant re- their power and privilege. the internees, and was an instrument sentment is near breaking point. As anarchists we assert the com- of political pressure upon the oppo- There has been fighting between mon bond which exists between all. nents of the Stormont Government. Protestants and Catholics on build- We want people to stop letting them- The crime of these opponents was ing sites and the former have ordered selves be divided by those who .want a political one, but governments the latter off the sites. to govern, to order, to imprison and and their systems of law always Segregation of the two com- intern others, whose opinions are define political acts as criminal in munities has been the deliberate thought to endanger their positions order to try and discredit any policy of the religious leaders of of power. Anarchists believe in opposition. both faiths. It has suited their pur- revolution, but not in destruction Such double-think on the pan of 'OOPS SORRY' poses and has become so ingrained for its own sake as implied by Sir politicians is turning support away in the thinking of people that it Alec Douglas^Home, when he was from them and making people Catholic population have an almost Maud ling. However, these MPs are has now become not just a difference speaking at the United Nations on realise that they have to rely on total distrust of the Unionists, and insisting that all internees are re- of religion, but one of race also. A the question of Northern Ireland. their own efforts. John Graham do not put all that much faith in the leased before they will consider this. striking example of this is to be Tt is governments and nation states says in the Financial Times that Catholic members of Stormont.' The representatives of moderation found in the field of education that have caused more destruction, 'There can be few countries in Both Mr. Heath and Mr. Lynch and compromise have got themselves where schools are wholly Protestant war, death, famine, exploitation and Europe where politicians are held are hoping that the opposition MPs into a difficult political situation or Catholic. Being in the majority, inequality of the human race than in such low esteem. Most of the will take part in the talks with Mr. from which they are finding it hard the Protestants have used this differ- anyone else. It is the minority of ence and ruled on this premise. the ruling class, whether political, Equally, one would not put it be- economic or religious, that has yond the realms of possibility for a divided people and trodden them Catholic majority to react in exactly into the ground, using the. jackboot the same way if they were given the of the Communist or Fascist State chance. or the slip-on shoe of the 'democ- racies'. Standing on their own Feet FORGET RELIGION We only want to destroy the in- the GLC, the LTE and 'the authorities' While the authorities are capable stitutions of the State that function refuse to consider transport as a social i of handling the bombings and in this way. We dedicate ourselves service to be provided 'free'. The shootings of the Provisional, there to their destruction, knowing that chauvinism of local ratepayers is assumed is little they can do against the cam- only when they lie in ruins will the to be so general that 'free-' transport paign of civil disobedience. This people be free to build a society or on ours? would 'only benefit strangers 'and tactic has gained vast support and based on 'liberty, equality and foreigners'. If the real concern of the 1 is worrying the local authorities and fraternity'. TlflTH THAT BLANDNESS which feet which are being stood on. GLC is money there is a simple solution Stormont far more than they are P T to the problem of traffic and transport in "" characterizes official utterances, the Reflection will show that since the London Transport Executive has in- our large towns. majority of users of London Transport Colin Buchanan in his book Thi Mixed formed the Greater London Council that are London ratepayers, and indeed almost because of their 'financial needs, which Blessing writing of the' motor-car said, all of them are British taxpapers much 'Now, suddenly as it were, a startling are higher because of wage and cost of this 'fairy gold' is being taken from increases since fares went up in August new habit has developed. A single one pocket (ours) and put into another invention, in the course of a few years' last year', it will be necessary to impose (whose?). London Transport Executive fare increases on London Transport of development, has placed within the grasp pays tax on its fuel (central government); of every man and woman a means of ussinn Spies an average of 13%—on the Underground, driving licence fees (local governments); Where a great decimal diddle took place, rapid personal movement ten or twenty motor vehicle tax (including road fund); "' times faster than walking. Suddenly, at a r\UR WONDERFUL government has, the rest of us, in Britain, Russia and some increases could be as high as 100%. rates on garages and bus signs and This, we are further informed is necessary stroke, the familiar arrangement of build- *-' for reasons best known to itself, everywhere else as well. Generally,'our' shelters (local government); pay-as-you- ings, streets, and footways that have ^just revealed that many members of the; spies and magents are rather more cir- because the GLC says that London earn taxes from bus employees (central Transport must (wait for it!), stand on endured so long as to seem unchangeable, Soviet diplomatic corps, trade delegations cumspect, less crude, more 'gentlemanly' government); social security insurances are jerked out of date as people race and companies, and the like, are, in fact, i than their Russian counterparts; they are its own two feet and make an annual for employees (central government) and operating surplus of two million pounds! and jdttle in the streets in their new- secret agents and officials of the dreaded • also at a greater disadvantage. It is ' probably least but by no means last, found mobility. It is not a rilatter of Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti. easier to spy in Britain thaft in the Since this two million must come out 1 dividends to stockholders of 'nationalized' of the London travellers, it would seem building a few roads, it is a matter' Spies 1 And, instead of sending just two Soviet Union. companies and interest rates to loan of dealing with a new social situation. or three packing every couple of months * * * (and indeed it is often , literally , so in companies for purchase of vehicles and the rush hours) that it is the travellers' : New urban arrangements are needed if or so as has been the usual practice Spying is, of course, a dirty game. It rolling-stock (who ?). the killing and wounding, the noise and of both Tory and Labour administrations, is, however, inevitable within capitalist The complexity of these transactions stink and confusion, are to be avoided. have declared over one hundred Russians (including Soviet State capitalist) society. demands art army of clerks, accountants, Alternatively, the old arrangements inay persona non grata and told them to get All States attempt to steal the secrets auditors, cashiers, civil servants, lawyers, yet suffice if the new mobility is sur- out within a fortnight.

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