Anarchy vs. Chaos - An Introduction to Anarchism

BARF, the recently-formed Bath-based anarchist group, put on an Introduction to Anarchism event in on Saturday November 24th, with speakers and discussions about anarchism, with around 25 people attending, and ample amounts of free tea and cake.

The event started with a short introduction explaining the take on anarchism that BARF promotes - essentially that it is against oppression, discrimination and capitalism; that people are generally decent and responsible and can determine what they do without need for authority and that power corrupts, even temporary power.

The next section was a history lesson, with a talk on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, where a huge anti-poverty and pro-democracy rally took place and was broken up by police, with 18 deaths and hundreds injured, and the eventual implications of movements and demonstrations where people fought for their rights on today's society.

Anarchism in the workplace was the next topic, with the speaker knocking dead the suggestion that anarchists tend to shy away from work with the statement "The best place to contest capitalism is the workplace". We live in a so-called democracy, but at work it is often a dictatorship, and the workplace that anarchists wish to see is very different. Unions are now bureaucratic structures and their aim is not anti-capitalist - the struggle needs to move beyond what unions can achieve. A big part of anarchism is direct action - taking action yourself, rather than waiting for unions to do it, and in the workplace, solidarity with other workers and looking out for them is the key to defending rights at work. An example of an anarchist workplace is occupied factories in Argentina, where factories facing closing down are now run by the workers. Working hours are now down and wages are up, and excess profit was used to build a co-operative hospital.

The final talk of the day was on anarchism and violence. Anarchists are often portrayed as violent, however the is a large pacifist contingent within the anarchist movement. There is no guarantee that you can avoid damage to things other than the target during violent actions, and the assassination of a leader simply results in a new leader. The debate about violence in anarchy masks the other aspects e.g. workplace organising and community projects. Violence may be necessary in some cases, especially if there was a revolution. Millions die in wars and of starvation and in the workplace from being over-worked - all of which are symptoms of capitalism, which poses the question: Is it more violent to break a window than to fight a war? However, the means have to be consistent with the ends and violent means could result in violent ends. In order for the people to take over, we would have to face police and military - violence may be necessary, a large movement in solidarity could make it easier.

The second half of the event was taken up with discussions over tea, including overcoming barriers to anarchism and supporting those affected by the legal system.

For more information on BARF's take on anarchism, see the very first on by guest blog series "Politcal Perspectives", written by BARF - What is Anarchism?

BARF's website is here: https://network23.org/barf/

For more information on the Peterloo Massacre, On This Deity has a short  article, and for a more detailed account check out http://www.peterloomassacre.org/history.html

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Occupy Bath Move Your Money Street Theatre: The Movie

The video from the Move Your Money event last weekend:

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Occupy Bath - Move Your Money Street Theatre

That's right - Occupy Bath is still alive and well, and had a lot of fun today with some street theatre in Bath City Centre.

Three money bags danced around outside the "Big 5" high street banks and also in our spiritual home of Queen Square. We all took turns wearing the bags (which were see-through) and danced around to a selction of folk, indie and rock music, handing out flyers on the Move Your Money campaign and the B&NES Council Move Your Money petition. We generated a lot of interest and were only told to move on once, by Lloyds. We made sure that the bank staff had flyers about our campaign before moving onto Santander, just a few shops up. RBS had closed by the time we got there, so we had plenty of time to dance around outside there and spoke to a lot of members of the public.

A video camera was present throughout the day - the video is here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/occupy-bath-move-your-money-street.html

We certainly attracted a lot of attention and hopefully made people think about who they bank with. The "big 5" - RBS (which owns Nat West), Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Santander speculate on food prices, avoid tax through tax havens, invest in oil, nuclear and other polluting industries (including tar sands extraction in Canada and Madagascar which has destroyed rare habitats and poisoned drinking water), pay themselves huge bonuses for failure, and of course some - in particular RBS - were a key player in causing the credit crunch. The alternatives? Local Credit Unions and ethical banks and building societies, such as the Co-operative, Triodos and Nationwide. More info on the Move Your Money campaign is here: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/

You can sign the petition to get B&NES Council to Move Their (Our!!!) Money from Nat West to an ethical bank here: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=5

Occupy Bath will next be appearing at the Visions for Change event on 28th April at the Friends' Meeting House, York Street, organised by the Bath People's Assembly. More info on the events tab here: http://www.bathpeoplesassembly.org/

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Do the right thing - Move Your Money!

It pains me to say it, but I've been inspired by our PM, David Cameron. He talks a lot about "doing the right thing", whether it's on the NHS, RBS, Libya, Afghanistan, hard-working families or the EU veto. It's his favourite phrase. I don't necessarily think he has done "the right thing" on these issues. What is "the right thing" anyway? Is it letting the government and the banks walk all over you while they pay each other a fortune in bonuses on top of their extortionate salaries, and not making a fuss about it? Is it staring at a TV screen watching endless reality TV and soap operas while neglecting the bigger (and even smaller) issues going on in the world? Is it shouting at someone for attempting to make a positive difference - even if you think they are doomed to fail and possibly going about it the wrong way? Maybe, if your name is David Cameron, George Osborne or Boris Johnson.

In my view, "doing the right thing" is not a simple matter, and sometimes personal sacrifices have to be made. I've only got so much time, and the day is never long enough to fit in everything I want or need to do, or spend time with the people I want to spend time with. Sometimes by doing "the right thing" I end up neglecting other "right things". Sometimes by trying too hard to do "the right thing", I've ended up doing the wrong thing. 

"Doing the right thing" is subjective - certainly Mr Cameron and myself do not see eye-to-eye on his proposed NHS reforms and the economic and environmental policies of the coalition government. To me, "doing the right thing" involves standing up for yourself and your fellow humans and other animals. It involves finding the path of least harm - or most benefit - to all concerned. I occupied Bristol, Bath and London because I did not think our government was "doing the right thing". I still don't. 

RBS, Barclays, NatWest and all of those other high street banks that the public have grown to hate due to their risky investments, investments in unethical businesses and huge bonuses have, by my definition, not done "the right thing". They have created inequality, funded arms dealers and companies involved in environmental devastation - and then the people responsible have rewarded themselves for doing well. Definitely, definitely, definitely not "doing the right thing". But banks such as the Co-operative/Britannia and Triodos and many credit unions have done "the right thing" (or at least not nearly as many "wrong things"). They invest in ethical businesses and put money towards environmental initiatives and community projects. They share profits with their customers. They don't fund wars. So this blogger salutes those banks that have done "the right thing" - and is going to reward them moving their money to one of them. At least, what little money I have. It all counts.

Meanwhile, The Bath People's Assembly, with the support of Occupy Bath, have got on board with the national Move Your Money campaign and organised a petition to try and persuade Bath and North East Somerset Council to Move their Money from NatWest (owned by RBS) to an ethical bank. The petition can be found here - do "the right thing" and sign it! Or, if you're not from Bath, set up your own campaign.


The petition: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=5&RPID=4813932&HPID=4813932

Previous post on Occupy Bath: Occupy Bath and Bristol - January 2012
Next Post on Occupy Bath: Moving Beyond this Representative Democracy

Further Reading

More info on the Move Your Money campaign can be found here: http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/

Indymedia article on the B&NES Council Move Your Money campaign: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/707610

Now Bath article on the B&NES Council Move Your Money campaign: http://www.nowbath.co.uk/local-news/call-for-council-to-bank-ethically-42630/

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