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Direct Action www.direct-action.org.uk Winter 2009 contents Direct Action is published by Solidarity Federation, British sec- Inside this issue: tion of the International Workers Association (IWA). 4: Dreaming in the Downturn - will state intervention DA is edited and laid out by the herald a new dawn for social democrats? DA Collective, and printed by Clydeside Press. 6: Japanese Lesson Views stated in these pages are not necessarily those of the Direct 7: Shameful Scenes as BNP Gather in Liverpool Action Collective or the Solidarity Federation. 10: Self-Organising in Mental Health We do not publish contributors’ 14: Have your Say - anti-capitalist feminist conference / names. Please contact us if you reforming parliament? / address unknown want to know more. 15: DIY Politics - solidarity between community, workplace and Subscriptions social movements (for 4 issues ) 16: Anarcha-Feminism or Death! - the relevance of anar Supporters – £10 chism and feminism today Basic – £5 (Europe – £10; 18: Recessive Tendencies - a tale of boom, bust and that rest of the world – £15) old devil called capitalism cheques payable to ‘Direct Action’ – return to: 20: Workers Control, not Controlled Workers - the case DA, PO Box 29, S.W.D.O., for libertarian socialism and workers control Manchester, M15 5HW. 23: International - italy / greece / colombia To contribute 25: 50 Years of Fidelismo - global focus on cuba If you would like to help out or 30: Reviews - realizing hope / a century of writing on the iww / contribute articles or photos, work is entirely voluntary. demanding the impossible / chris wood We welcome articles of between 250 and 1,500 words on industrial, 32: The Curse of Oil - a closer look at oil dependence social/community and international issues; on working class history; 35: Contacts Directory and on anar- chist/anarchosyndicalist theory and history. Articles may be sent as hard copy, on a disk or by email, and can Aims of the Solidarity Federation only be returned if accompanied by a request (and SAE if appropri- he Solidarity Federation is an organi- which arise from our oppression. We recog- ate). sation of workers which seeks to nise that not all oppression is economic, but Tdestroy capitalism and the state. can be based on gender, race, sexuality, or Capitalism because it exploits, oppresses anything our rulers find useful. Unless we Contact us and kills people, and wrecks the environ- organise in this way, politicians – some DA Collective, PO Box 29, South ment for profit worldwide. The state claiming to be revolutionary – will be able to West PDO, Manchester, M15 5HW because it can only maintain hierarchy and exploit us for their own ends. 07 984 675 281 privelege for the classes who control it and their servants; it cannot be used to fight the The Solidarity Federation consists of locals [email protected] oppression and exploitation that are the which support the formation of future revo- consequences of hierarchy and source of lutionary unions and are centres for working Bulk Orders privilege. In their place we want a society class struggle on a local level. Our activities AK Distribution, PO Box 12766, based on workers’ self-management, soli- are based on direct action – action by work- Edinburgh, EH8 9YE, Scotland darity, mutual aid and libertarian commu- ers ourselves, not through intermediaries nism. like politicians or union officials – our deci- 0131 555 5165 sions are made through participation of the [email protected] That society can only be achieved by work- membership. We welcome all working peo- www.akuk.com ing class organisation based on the same ple who agree with our aims and principles, principles – revolutionary unions. These are and who will spread propaganda for social or direct from the DA Collective not Trades Unions only concerned with revolution and revolutionary unions. We ‘bread and butter’ issues like pay and con- recognise that the class struggle is world- ISSN 0261-8753 ditions. Revolutionary unions are means for wide, and are affiliated to the International working people to organise and fight all the Workers Association, whose ‘Principles of issues – both in the workplace and outside – Revolutionary Unionism’ we share. 2 Direct Action www.solfed.org.uk Winter 2009 editorial Climate Change & Economic Crisis HE CURRENT ECONOMIC warnings of increased costs, and has laced it with various sweeten- crisis is entirely a threats to move out of Europe have ers in the face of pleas about hard Tproduct of capitalism easily persuaded servile politicians times from the biggest polluters. to water down the original propos- These trading schemes like ETS itself, spawned by the inher- als. have already come in for much crit- ent instability of “boom and icism – see, for example, contribu- bust”, the signature of an The pact has three main aims, all to tions at www.thecornerhouse. insane and immoral system be met by the year 2020 – to cut org.uk/subject/climate – for, among of organising society. But Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions other things, reducing the buying even in the best of the boom by 20% (compared to 1990 levels); to and selling of permits to pollute to times crisis has never been cut Europe’s energy consumption yet another means of making prof- by 20%; to raise the share of renew- it. What’s more, the expanded too far removed from the able energy to 20% of Europe’s scheme widens the scope for profi- relentless exploitation of total energy production. teering. From 2013 companies in resources, both human and Predictably, EU politicians have processing industries like steel, natural, in the mad pursuit hailed this as an ambitious agree- cement, and many others, will get of profit for the rich and ment which will lead the way for- their permits for free while many powerful. That this system ward to a new worldwide agree- central European (coal based) ener- ment to replace the Kyoto protocol gy producers will get theirs at a has brought us to the brink at UN negotiations to be held in huge discount. While the nominal of disastrous climate change Copenhagen later this year. As cost of permits is expected to be is now beyond doubt. usual, the politicians are pulling passed on the consumers, these the wool over our eyes. companies will ludicrously be In the face of climate change, big allowed to pocket a handsome wind- business prefers to fiddle while the In the race to cut Europe’s green- fall running to many billions of world threatens to burn. However, house gas emissions the centre- euros. the economic climate is only exac- piece is to be the expansion from erbating the situation. A prime 2013 of the existing European As an example of to the rest of the example of this is the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). world the effect is predictable and Union pact on climate change con- Since its inception in 2005 this ETS Copenhagen is likely to be another cluded in December last year. has hardly set the world alight…! round of political backsliding Corporate predictions of job losses, But now the December agreement played to the tune of corporate greed. The present economic crisis confirms there are no real capitalist solu- tions to capitalist prob- lems, on temporary fixes – the scuppering of Brown’s fantasy to end- ing “boom and bust” is yet one more proof of that. Alarmingly, the cap- italist response to climate change shows few real signs of being any differ- ent. Instead, in the tradi- tion of crises, past and present, paying for the climate crisis will fall dis- proportionately on us, the international work- ing class, rather than be allowed to threaten cor- porate profits. 3 Direct Action www.direct-action.org.uk Winter 2009 economic crisis Dreaming in will state intervention herald a Y, MY…HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED. FOR THIRTY ing spree is aimed at eliminating years the free market could do no wrong, then poverty rather than saving capital- suddenly all change and it’s state intervention ism. It’s as if the very same Labour that’s now the one true faith. Even our own leadership, which was quite M relaxed about the filthy rich and steadfast leader, Mr Brown, has undergone a St Paul-like about growing inequality, has now conversion. Now Mr Prudence is to be found strutting his suddenly found its social con- Keynesian stuff all over the world stage, championing the science. This is nonsense. Labour idea of state intervention on a grand scale. How easy our doesn’t give a toss about the poor. politicians glide from one set of principles to another, hard- Since 1997 they have allowed mil- ly pausing to adjust their moral compasses. lions to languish in grinding pover- ty and did nothing. All we heard off As for the social democratic left, Keynesian project was, after all, them for a decade was the same old they truly feel their time has come. designed to save capitalism from mantra that there is no alternative. The Guardian is now stuffed with its own destructive nature. Its aim It is only when capitalism is threat- articles paying homage to the new never was, and never will be, to ened that suddenly billions are con- god that is Keynesian economics. undermine the capitalist system. jured up from nowhere to save the The new social democratic dawn is Quite the contrary. whole system from going down the upon us and a land of egalitarian toilet. milk and honey beckons. The dark The over excited liberal left would days of New Labour have now have it that the current state spend- So let’s not be fooled by all the crap passed and the next election will see the state interventionist forces of good do bat- tle against the dwin- dling power of the evil free market Tories.