Some Impressions of 5 November
‘Build a Bonfire! Build a Bonfire! Stick the Tories on the top. Put the Lib Dems in the middle and burn the bloody lot!’
On 5 November I made my way to the advertised People’s Assembly demonstration on Westminster Bridge. It was a traditional type of protest and not a particularly well-attended event. The highlight was the burning of energy bills, an event few of those in the crowd could actually see, and then we had some speeches, which few of those in the crowd could actually hear, over the noise of the fireworks now going off.
I drifted off towards Parliament Square to catch the Tube from Westminster. As I approached, the flashing blue lights and pounding music indicated something was happening. I was surprised to see that there was a much bigger crowd in Parliament Square. There were many V for Vendetta and other masks; Anonymous, anarchist and other flags; home-made placards. There were virtually no signs of any of the traditional Communist groups. In all it was younger, livelier and noisier than the protest I had just been with.
Shortly afterwards the remnants of the Westminster Bridge demonstration turned up. It was something of a cultural mismatch initially, chants about the NHS were not generally taken up by the Anonymous element, and the Trades Unionists of the Bridge protest seemed a little nonplussed by the booming bass-heavy music.
They merged happily enough, though, and after some minutes of milling round, cheering those who had climbed onto the statue of Churchill (what a pity he couldn’t be given an Anonymous mask) there was a general move north and then westwards.
The march on Buckingham Palace had begun.
The police had been behaving pretty sensibly but seemed wrong-footed as the crowd surged out out the Square into Whitehall and up the Mall. An attempt to block us there was unsuccessful; we simply walked round the police line and there we were, in front of Buckingham Palace with police rushing to form a cordon.
The Victoria Memorial was occupied, more and more police arrived, as did more protesters – and quite a few spectators. Again, we milled about while a few of the more nimble folk scaled the Memorial, and then fireworks were launched at the Palace – at least two direct hits were scored.
Good humour prevailed but as the police were beginning to look twitchy the Memorial was suddenly abandoned. Again the police were wrong-footed but the crowd dissipated on the retreat down the Mall into ever smaller groups.
What do I make of it? It was an exhilarating evening but I wouldn’t say it had any wider significance in itself.
That said, I think there are some lessons for us. There is no doubt which movement – the People’s Assembly or Anonymous – was more successful in enthusing people. Its anarchic nature gives it a credibility. Its iconography is cool and genuinely challenging – there is evidence the powers-that-be really don’t like these identically masked protesters.
Those masked protesters to whom I spoke expressed deep anger at the way things are, an understanding that very radical change is needed, and a desire for justice, but a pretty total lack of belief (or even hope) that Westminster politics will change anything. If there is any sort of idea of how this change is to be achieved, it is through direct, subversive action – typically internet based, of course – to undermine corrupt institutions.
This does not amount to nearly enough. You cannot mount a serious opposition on that alone. You need the boring leg-work of meetings, of policy discussions, of internal elections. Ultimately you need to have spent the time building the intellectual case, in changing the climate of opinion. No Westminster Government is going to be quaking from a few hundred protesters firing rockets at Buck House.
But we can learn something from Anonymous’s (lack of) organisation, their spontaneity and their use of symbolism. If Left Unity is to succeed it will need, above all, to gain credibility with a huge swathe of the population who loathe what the neo-liberal coalition is doing to Britain but for whom the nitty-gritty of electoral politics is utterly irrelevant, who’ve heard so many lies from politicians they don’t even register what they saying any more.
Easier said than done.
But a number of Left Unity members have posted on the need, alongside electoral campaigning, to be building alternative Left institutions that bypass or subvert
those of capitalism. For our actions to be proof of the words we speak. In effect for Left Unity to start the revolution, giving power to people, without waiting for anyone.
I came away from the Guy Fawkes Night protests with a sense of the potential that now exists on the non-traditional Left. If its suspicion of anything resembling party politics can be allayed, if it can be given the mechanisms for sustained and focused action, we might just have the makings of a new world.
Tim Powell
tepowell@ymail.com
8 comments
8 responses to “Some Impressions of 5 November”
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Good article. At the moment Left Unity is a dying duck. Old fashioned politics will not do anything much to improve the present situation. Young people are showing what is needed. Street based action can induce governments to implement valuable reforms.Left Unity should tap into this strand of political action and also develop its own programmes to help people in difficulty now – no need to wait for an election to begin this work.
The Guy Fawkes mask protest:
Having an image of a man who wanted to replace a hierarchical Protestant Monarchy for a hierarchical Catholic Monarchy, such radical progress! Granted LU isn’t all that inspirational,(the potential is there if we get our act together) but rather that than donning a Guy Fawkes mask for the reason I gave earlier.
‘Those masked protesters to whom I spoke expressed deep anger at the way things are, an understanding that very radical change is needed, and a desire for justice,’
So they clearly have no concrete alternative other than undermining institutions via the internet. The People’s Assembly, I grant you is very limited in terms of alternatives and will be in a difficult situation when it comes to the election, but they do at least have something, even if it is uninspiring left-Keynesian or Labourite, it’s still better than prancing around in a mask of a reactionary historical figure.
Anonymous are juvenile and pointless it shows the desperation of some people that they might look to them for support
Nov 5 then clearly shows that we need lulz, spontaneity and symbolism on our side. Marches are good, and so are attempts at helping the Queen with her energy bills. Why not both?
What did they achieve, apart from preaching to choir? Did they build houses, put nurses in hospitals or raise wages?
What do they symbolise, apart from being obviously pissed off? We are all pissed off.
There is no organisation or homogenous aims. You can call LU ‘dying ducks’ if you like, but standing in front of a palace saying ‘down with the system’ achieves nothing. Real leftist change comes from solidarity through action.
Get a grip, get off of statues and get on doorsteps.
I share the deep frustration at the tendency – let’s leave names out of this – to say politics is a waste of time and so see protest as a viable alternative. As Daryl points out, it wasn’t protests that built hospitals etc. But it is protests that have helped save hospitals, so I would say we need both climbing on statues and getting on doorsteps.
Anonymous are politically dreadful and have no organisational traction, people need to stop looking at them (and “the Occupy movement,” as if it exists) for any sort of inspiration. Please.
Thanks for a great article that summed up my impressions of Nov 5th.
The anonymous demonstration was young, vibrant, international (it linked with similar events going around the world) and put into sharp relief the difference between the traditional trade union /socialist / nation based left and the new anti globalisation /occupy / anonymous movements that are emerging and resonate much more with young people.
Of course there are room for both . There has to be or we will get nowhere. Traditional left movements have always recognised the importance of youth and for young people to organise separately. Young people from the student demos of 2010 through occupy, UK Uncut and the anonymous movement have been setting the agenda for the left in so many ways.
The older left follow in the youths footsteps and hopefully can play that role of focusing ideas and bring more organisational coherence. This is a very traditional dynamic and I see no contradiction.
I could even do a very traditional thing here and quote Lenin ““Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.”
The young movements are inspirational and can indeed show many ways forward – after all they are the future. Working outside the traditional political framework , working internationally, embedding the networked technologies the internet offers into the heart of our politics and the choices we can make today to confront and change the system.
My favourite banner that night “the revolution has started -use bitcoin”. (when are the left going to catch onto the revolutionary potential of bitcoin?)
I really do hope Left Unity can help encourage, nurture, organise and unite with these great new youth movements