[This is a reposting of an email that I had sent to some close friends on March 26th 2003 @ 05:35.]
| george> The theory of blocking off central London is a good | george> one but it will still piss people off to fuck. | | true. but, we should frame it as pedestrianising for peace as opposed | to blocking off central london. | | although it amounts to the same thing, one is confrontational, the other... | | george> Sounds like the stuff Reclaim The Streets tries to | george> do but with better ideas, dialogue instead of | george> marching. But that affair always gets hijacked by | george> rioters who are pissed off at the police. | | surely we shouldn't resign ourselves to accepting that as the only | possible outcome? if everyone is aware of it before, can't we take | precautions against it? | | on a side note, are people familiar with the roerich banner of peace? | it's the three red dots symbolising art, science, and religion, with a | red circle around them representing the totality of culture. the red | itself represents the colour of the one blood that unites us all. | | (btw, can someone come up with an alternative meaning for the third dot? | religion can be quite shitty...) | | here is a quick quote: | | // | The Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace movement grew rapidly during | the early nineteen-thirties, with centers in a number of countries. | There were three international conferences, in Bruges, Belgium, in | Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Washington, D.C. The Pact itself | declared the necessity for protection of the cultural product and | activity of the world-both during war and peace-and prescribed the | method by which all sites of cultural value would be declared neutral | and protected, just as the Red Cross does with hospitals. Indeed, | the Roerich Pact was often called The Red Cross of Culture. | | Just as the Red Cross is embodied in a protective sign and banner, | so does the Roerich Pact also designate a symbol-the one seen on | this page-to be displayed on a banner, The Banner of Peace. This | Banner, flown at all sites of cultural activity and historical value, | would declare them neutral, independent of combatant forces. | // | | i suggest we adopt the banner of peace for the pedipeace movement. that | nicholas roerich and ghandi knew and influenced each other lends us even | more weight. | | george> possible problems could be the way people would | george> be spread so thinly that it would be easy for | george> the bacon patrol to break up these small groups | george> and arrest/beat people without getting too noticed. | | good point. | | we need to keep the number of circles down until we've gathered enough | people then. as long as we make people aware of issues like these, then | they are likely to be relatively sensible? | | george> Do you really think they will allow sound systems | george> and parties in the street? They will seize your | george> equipment straight away because of that repetitive | george> beats law. | | then, let's find out more places like those UCL halls on oxford street, | where we could have sound systems blasting from within the buildings | themselves. | | the key is to get awareness out there. if it's just isolated pockets, | then it is very easy for them to picked off. but if everyone is doing it... | | george> A huge fiesta taking up the whole of zone 1 | george> would be amazing though. A lot of people | george> would go just for a good time, not caring | george> about the causes, and the more people the better. | | yes! yes! yes! | | (but even those who don't care so much will have their interest piqued | by the dialogues, and would hopefully gradually end up participating). | | george> But a lot of people that live in central are | george> rich and old and used to the world and happy with | george> the way things go on, so they won't support | george> you, but get pissed off by all the rowdiness. | | now, this does worry me. how can we minimise this? | | how can we also minimise the impact of the extremist militants / agent | provocateurs? | | how do we ensure that the police will never be able to resort to | truncheons and tear gases? | | george> It seems the whole protest/marching thing is | george> still popular (though showing lack of imagination) | george> when people feel strongly about a cause, but a | george> lot of the people who do care won't go because | george> they won't see the point, so many marches and so | george> little effect. The whole idea is stale and so | george> usual it goes unnoticed. | | right, we all know people (including ourselves), who although they agree | with the sentiments of no war, at times, don't think it's of any use to | go down to the marches. | | george> Expressing your discontent is no good if | george> no-one listens. | | *nod* | | one of the reason i find marches such a farce is because of the way they | are isolated from the rest of society. even on feb 15th, with a million | odd marching through london, to most londoners it was just a normal | day... the protests completely separate from their lives. | | george> This is a foolish attitude because it is because | george> people choose not to join in that there are not | george> enough people to make a difference. | | how do we get people to realise this? and, more importantly, to act on it? | | george> If the whole country united for change it | george> could come about but too many people take | george> the 'one man can't make a difference' attitude. | | well, with the dialogues, i'm thinking that we could reverse this mentality. | | basically, if you aren't there participating, then you effectively lose | your voice. so as to encourage all people to come and participate. | | george> Basically, i think the number of people taking | george> part in ya proposed idea would be outweighed by | george> the number not, and it would be hard to | george> organise them. | | but, if only a hundred thousand participated on the first day, that's | still substantial? | | do it on a nice sunny sunday... get half a million people down? | | i agree about it being difficult to organise them, but it's not impossible. | | george> I think you have too much faith in the genral public. | | the general public has to come to realise their own power. otherwise, | there is no hope. | | george> Although many will agree with you 'in theory' only a | george> much smaller hardcore will be motivated enough to | george> actually get organised about it... | | let's get *everyone* down. this isn't going to be a short war. | | we just need to create enough inertia to push people past the "agree in | theory" phase. it needs to be such a definite, that people will not even | think of using their cars on that day. | | let's sort out alternative bus routes. let's sort out routes to the | major hospitals so that people's lives aren't endangered. | | let's sort out routes for the police so that they can clamp down if | anyone starts throwing rocks at starbucks. let's sort out traffic routes | to direct people. let's sort out toilets and dustbins. | | let's get people like ms dynamite weaving their magic in the streets. | let's get *everyone* involved. not just radicals. let's have members of | parliament having dialogues with the average man on the street. let's | have policemen participating. let's have teachers. let's have doctors. | | let's appeal to mothers of conscience to stand in protection of the | circles. will police dare beat up pregnant women? will police dare to | beat up young children? will police dare beat up respected religious | leaders? will police dare beat up the elderly? | | let's have an independent media coverage throughout london. let's setup | terminals at all tube stations. where people could come and at the push | of a button print out the latest summary of events and dialogues. | | george> Keep trying and thinking about this hoipefully people | george> will soon not be resigned to acceptance. | | deep in their hearts, i believe people are tired of the bollocks that | they put up with on a day to day basis. i believe that people do want a | better future. they just don't see how it will be possible or what they | can do. | | once they realise that it is possible and that they can help make it a | reality, i believe that they will awaken. | | george> Also, we are only slaves to oil because we are not | george> given alternate energy sources to meet all our needs. | george> Sure they exist but reamin out of our hands. | | true. but something as simple as not using our cars. and switching over | our electricity to ecotricity would be a good start... | | chris> i think you can reach people and get them motivated, | chris> its all about language. | | agreed. it's all about perception. | | chris> Create your own infastructure and co-opt the existing | chris> one to reach people. | | from a media perspective, i think we are onto a winner here. | | see, most road blockades and marches don't get any press coverage not | because of some global media conspiracy (yes, there is a certain element | of that), but mainly because it's not news that sells. | | *oh look! yet another student has chained herself to a tree!* | | just not interesting enough. | | we need something that is dynamic. something that will get people's | minds and hearts racing. something people (i.e. the populace as a whole, | not just a minority) can get passionate about. something they will buy | the next days papers to read about. | | we can do that here. | | we have a sensationalist background of conflict. this will keep people | on their toes. the police will be out in the thousands. the people will | be out in the hundreds of thousands. | | but that will merely be a backdrop. the key is to refuse to let that | become the key issue. if we do, then all is lost. so, we should maintain | the sensationalism of that, yet focus on the dialogue that is important. | | let papers be filled with reports sent in from the various circles. let | papers create maps of what's happening at which crossroads. let papers | be crammed with wonderful photos of people celebrating life. | | let the banners of peace fly. let wonderful smells fill the air. let the | magical sounds of music sweep people up into ecstasy. let love blossom | under the spring sun. | | we could do experiments in art and science. in art, maybe as a grand | symbol, we could build a wall around the american embassy like they did | in rome! in the sciences, we could create community based wireless | networks! we can do fun things. we can push the boundaries. | | chris> no-one told people that they have to take responsibility | chris> for what their country is doing, educate themselves and | chris> regain control of their lives. They just used language | chris> that contained no responsibility. | | chris (and others), could you have a go at phrasing what i am saying | into "better" words please. i think i am reasonably good at avoiding | trigger words, and in fact constantly make up new words in order to do | so, but am sure it could all be phrased a lot better. | | thanks! | | matt> the police WILL NOT LET DEMOCRACY OCCUR IN THE STREETS. | matt> If you try to make this happen and advertise it as if | matt> it will be fluffy and lovely and discursive, you will | matt> just be fooling people who will end up with a truncheon | matt> in their face. | | i beg to differ. | | yes, i agree, the inertia is currently against our favour. but we don't | have to let it be so. the key is for us to strike pre-emptively. not on | the streets. but in the court of public opinion. | | i have been thinking that we should perhaps highlight events such as the | tiananmen square massacre and genoa. make people aware of what really | happened. (funny, those chinese were asking for more democracy and | accurate press coverage just like we are doing so now...). | | the developments that took place in the lead up to those events needs to | become common knowledge. the key here is to do it such that the police | would not be able to tear gas innocents without a public backlash. at | the same time, we must take care to avoid instilling paranoia, e.g. the | black bloc in genoa... | | also, what are famous scenes from movies? star wars is pretty good. we | should make use of strong imagery in movies, books and songs to get the | point across. we should emphasise the history of the likes of ghandi. | (perhaps we should all dress up like him?) | | the police are, at the end of the day, people just like the rest of us. | they are influenced by the opinion of others just as we all are. they | too have children, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, | friends, lovers. they too are influenced by what those people think. | | london can ring with more than that of the truncheon thing! london can | ring with hope and love. we can take the first step towards creating the | world we want. | | matt> There will (it looks pretty certain) be a large event | matt> within the next three weeks in London which will | matt> (hopefully) be similar to the event that happened in | matt> San Francisco....roving groups of people stopping | matt> business as usual, along with people blocking key | matt> intersections to shut down the city. | | why hopefully? sf was a disaster. | | the actions in san francisco have been counter-productive. it: | | a) as chris says, polarised both activist+public opinion. | | b) gave the polcie (SFPD) a good excuse to use rather draconian | measures. (in related news, didn't a police van drive over a | protestor in washington dc?) | | c) annoyed enough of the public so that many actually support the | SFPD "peace forces" in clearing out the "troublesome protestors". | | d) instilled paranoia and fear into many protestors. trust has | started to break down for fear of infiltration. and some are | afraid of doing any form of direct action for fear of their | lives. | | e) has started to splinter a movement into militant and non-militant | factions. seeing the horrors has made some people more militant. | but at the same time, the moderates are shying away. and without | strength in numbers, any action will get stamped down very quickly. | | we need the majority of people to stand up and support us. we should be | the people. not some "enlightened" minority. | | matt> I am well aware that this will not perform an educative | matt> function, but I think something like this is needed to | matt> hammer the point home that people will not stand for being | matt> screwed. If not now, when, if not us, then who? | | i am tired of seeing some trying to make martyrs of themselves. what | does blocking roads, and bridges and intersections achieve by itself? | what does chanting against the police achieve by itself? | | notice how words like "anarchists", "hackers", etc. are constantly | misrepresented? notice how these forces are the ones that actually | provide some form of real alternative, and thus a real threat? | | the point here is that the "establishment" would use any excuse to | misrepresent all actions. and escalated direct action with no dialogue | would only serve in their interests. gives them an excuse to represent | _all_ the "remaining" protestors as extremist troublemakers. | | and, is it me, or do people seriously underestimate the might of the | armed forces? as it stands, there is no hope for reclaiming the bases. | all it does is provides an excuse for the militant faction of the | movement to be labelled as "terrorists who pose a threat to national | security". | | reclaiming the bases, if it's to be done, has to be done from the | inside. with members of the armed forces refusing to refuel the bombers. | with dockers refusing to load arms shipments. with loved ones of | soldiers writing in to them to give them support to stand up against | their superiors. | | by chanting outside bases, all we do is cultivate an "us" and "them" | mentality. so instead, let's: | | 1) listen to each other. listen and learn. let's have a war on | ignorance. | | 2) empower ourselves with dialogue and try to come up with | solutions. it's easy to shout *NO* to things. but, without | providing alternatives, the shouting is meaningless. | | 3) celebrate life. this *is* your life, and it *is* ending one | minute at a time. enjoy it. end the solitude. choose life. | | giles> the problem with direct action is that most of the | giles> public think, whether right or not, that its just | giles> of bunch of thugs/peaceniks/hippies/wasters etc.. | giles> and will therefore never listen to what they are | giles> saying although they may actually find they agree | giles> with it if they took notice. | | *nod* we need to cater for everyone. | | giles> the answer isnt becoming more extreme but playing | giles> them at their own game and although it seems slower | giles> you cant change people's opinions overnight. i you | giles> act in a way that the media/politicians/public can | giles> find fault with then it'll make a much stronger | giles> point. | | (surely you meant can't?) | | in either case, i both agree and disagree. i agree that we should not be | extremist. at the same time, we must make a strong statement. | | blocking off central london is, in my book, a strong statement. yet, the | idea of dialogue is about toning down from extremist direct action and | instead focussing on education and empowerment. | | i think we have a good balance here. | | help me. i am just one person. i can't do this alone. but together, | anything is possible. | | -- | peace is now, tav | tav@espians.com
