The Government Is In Chaos, Now Is The Time To Move Beyond Marching

Minnie says let’s all meet in Whitehall in 2pm and have some fucking fun.

We all know the fucking script.  This weekend tens, or possibly hundreds of thousands of people, will march through central London.  According to the People’s Assembly, who have organised the protest, we will be demanding jobs, homes, health and education.  The march will be followed by the usual speakers, who mostly all have health, jobs, homes and an education themselves – but it’s nice that they care enough to tell us what we want.  Most of them will also tell us to vote Labour.  Some stale old union boss will pretend there’s going to be a general strike.  The Socialist Worker Party will sell some newspapers.  Then everyone will go home and complain about a conspiracy because the BBC didn’t run this boring political non-event as headline news throughout the weekend.

It doesn’t have to be like this though.  The current Tory government is a fucking shambles.  Whatever the results of the EU Referendum they are set to tear themselves apart.  Their paper thin majority means they can barely even pass the laws they want.  The string of financial dodgy dealings, not least by dodgy Dave himself, is reminiscent of the worst of Tory sleaze to those old enough to remember.  The wheels have even come off the welfare reform gravy train as Iain Duncan Smith’s flounce has thrown the DWP into chaos, forcing Cameron to give his job to an obedient little chipmonk who believes in magic.  Osborne and Boris are at each other’s throat, cabinet ministers are plotting against the Prime Minister, toffs are going off message accusing those they once called hard working families of being under-achievers and only a miracle will see a Tory Mayor in London’s City Hall come May.  There has not been a weaker government in the UK than these clowns in living memory.

Civil disobedience, occupations, strikes, riots  – these are the things that cause government’s to crumble, backtrack or even implode.  Fuck this sham democracy if it means that a fraction of the population – the group with real capital power – can vote to destroy the lives of the rest of us.  Waiting for the next election is not an option.  Whoever wins our lives will still be shit.  If we are serious, if we really want change, then it is vital to move beyond marches, votes and empty sloganeering. There will not be a better time than this, the wind is with us.

On Friday night, the day before the People’s Assembly event, hundreds of people will join to March With The Homeless through central London.  This annual march takes place at night, going where it wants, and not asking permission from the authorities.  To take the streets, without asking them if they mind awfully in advance, to cause disruption and not agree to a policing plan, this is the kind of march worth having.  It will be meeting at Downing Street, 6pm, 15th April.  Spread the word.  Liverpool is also marching, details here.

On the day of the People’s Assembly march itself Class War have called on people to gather at gather in Whitehall at 2pm, for fun.  Later in the afternoon protesters will gather outside Top Shop’s store on The Strand where the odious Phillip Green has decided he would rather sack workers than pay them the living wage.  Meet at 4.30 pm, Top Shop on The Strand.  This is just down the road from Trafalgar Square where the People’s Assembly march finishes.  If you’re lucky, and leave early enough, you might even miss some of the speakers.  That’s the choice,  Stand around listening to some Labour Party apologist lying to you that they will make everything alright one day.  Or get up the road and join those being fucked over by one of the richest men in the UK and show all the bastards ripping us off that we mean fucking business.

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