Occupy London Stock Exchange

Wall Street Protests Spread To City Of London

Protests against the global financial system are set to hit the City of London as demonstrations that started in New York's Wall Street spread to the UK.

Part of a "global movement for real democracy" to highlight social and economic injustice , the action will see an occupation of the heart of the capital's financial centre.

A number of campaign organisations, including direct action group UK Uncut, say they will support the Occupy London Stock Exchange protests.

The so-called OccupyLSX group's Facebook page on the protest has more than 13,000 followers, with more than 5,000 confirmed attendees.

Laura Taylor, a supporter of the group, said: "Why are we paying for a crisis the banks caused?

"More than a million people have lost their jobs and tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed, while small businesses are struggling to survive.

"Yet bankers continue to make billions in profit and pay themselves enormous bonuses, even after we bailed them out with £850bn."

Another supporter, Kai Wargalla, said: "We want to stand with the 99% - the overwhelming majority who value people over profit.

"We want to make our voices heard against greed, corruption and for a democratic, just society.

"We stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street , protesters in Spain, Greece and the Middle East who started this movement.

"They have inspired people all over the world to step forward and make their voices heard."

OccupyLSX issued a statement that said: "The words corporate greed ring through the speeches and banners of protests across the globe.

"After huge bailouts and in the face of unemployment, privatisation and austerity, we still see profits for the rich on the increase." http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wall-street-protests-spread-city-london-030408843.html

Isakenaz wrote:Now its starting over here, wonder how many of us will be there?

Protests against alleged corporate greed and government cutbacks have been held around the world's cities.

In Rome, scene of one of the biggest rallies, riot police charged protesters after several cars were set alight and militants vandalised property.

Inspired by the Occupy Wall St movement and Spain's "Indignants", demonstrators turned out from Asia to Europe.

Organisers expect rallies in 82 countries, with the action due to come full circle in New York.

They said on their website that the aim was to "initiate the global change we want".

"United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future," it said.

Slogans painted in the Spanish capital Madrid are full of anger at politicians accused of serving the banks, not the people, and frustration over an economic crisis which has hit the poor and the young very hard, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports.

Masked militants

Police in Rome used water cannon and tear gas against several hundred protesters after bottles were reportedly thrown at them.

Television pictures from the city have shown streets packed with protesters, waving banners, close to the Colosseum.

Witnesses blamed attacks on cars and businesses on a small number of masked militants, dubbed the "black blocs" because of the colour of their clothes.

Among the militants' targets were said to be offices of the Italian defence ministry and a labour agency. At least one bank was attacked.

There was a message of support for the global day of protest from the chief of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, who is set to take over as head of the European Central Bank (ECB) next month.

"Young people are right to be indignant," he was quoted by Italian media as saying in informal comments at the G20 summit in Paris.

"They're angry against the world of finance. I understand them... We adults are angry about the crisis. Can you imagine people who are in their twenties or thirties?"

Outside the ECB itself in Frankfurt, Germany, hundreds of people gathered to protest on Saturday.

At least 1,000 people demonstrated in London's financial district but were prevented by police from reaching the Stock Exchange.

In Dublin, about 400 people marched to a hotel where an EU/IMF/ECB delegation involved in the country's ongoing financial bailout is staying, the Irish Times reports.

Madrid, where protests over the global crisis first began in May when hundreds took over the city's Puerta del Sol square, is to see its main demonstrations on Saturday evening, with all-night events planned.

Most of Saturday's rallies have been small, with traffic barely disrupted.

Hundreds of people marched in New Zealand cities while in Sydney, Australia, some 2,000 people - including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists - rallied outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.

"Occupy" protests were also been held in South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

It remains to be seen if any of the demonstrations turn into protest camps, such as Occupy Wall Street, which began with a small group of activists in New York's financial district a couple of months ago and has now grown to include several thousand people at times, from many walks of life.

Observers say that, while the original protesters in Spain had concrete demands such as seeking a cut in working hours to tackle unemployment, many "Occupy" protesters are vague in their demands. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15319924

So yeah there is already a lot of class consciousness there, and it will surely grow. Only problem is the same one the UK left has been facing for years now- no organisation is fit to lead the working class.

Isakenaz wrote:A comment on revleft sums up the political situation in this country, a left-wing that sees itself as having the right to be seen as the natural leaders of the working-class has no organisation worth a toss. To be fair though the fascist bogey men that everyone bangs on about are no different, the biggest threaet they manifest is in the imagination of the faux-left.

So yeah there is already a lot of class consciousness there, and it will surely grow. Only problem is the same one the UK left has been facing for years now- no organisation is fit to lead the working class.

Oh and I don't think any will be found amongst the British membership here either.

TheocWulf wrote:Fair one I enjoyed the first part of your post but the last sentance................................
Unless you include yourself of course

TheocWulf wrote:the more reactionary ones just see it as typical reds.

TheocWulf wrote:Part of me wonders if were not getting abit over excited,I know things have gone massive in Rome and Greece and may do in America and Spain but from what ive seen of the UK occupy folks is the the usual suspects middle class students and full time activists.Talking to most of my politicaly aware friends back up north thats how they see it and the more reactionary ones just see it as typical reds.

Perhaps we should concentrate on getting indigenous working class people involved before we start trying to gear it towards social nationalism.

Celtiberian wrote:Reactionaries dismiss any and all demonstrations for social justice to be nothing more than a few troublesome "reds" attempting to steer the otherwise servile and dim masses into unnecessary aggression against the status quo. We needn't bother inquiring as to their analysis of the situation, for it's undoubtedly inaccurate and therefore worthless to us.

Isakenaz wrote:

TheocWulf wrote:Part of me wonders if were not getting abit over excited,I know things have gone massive in Rome and Greece and may do in America and Spain but from what ive seen of the UK occupy folks is the the usual suspects middle class students and full time activists.Talking to most of my politicaly aware friends back up north thats how they see it and the more reactionary ones just see it as typical reds.

Of course we British are far to superior to get overexcited like the foreign johnies.

Perhaps we should concentrate on getting indigenous working class people involved before we start trying to gear it towards social nationalism.

Perhaps you're right, lets forget all this socialist nonsense and rally to the BNP or even the NF.

Coach wrote:May I ask what problems your mates have with "typical reds"?

Obviously I have problems with "the Left" too, but the devil resides in the details here.

TheocWulf wrote:they see them as a broad coalition of
Hippies
multiculuralist
mixed race
anarchist
internationalist
cosmopolitan
Jewish
non white
non British
non English (or Welsh or Scottish)
middle class
students and or teacher/lecturer
unemployed lay abouts

The list goes on but in summary they feel solidarity with many of the lefts fights but those that fill its ranks are not part of there or my Tribe if you like.

TheocWulf wrote:they see them as a broad coalition of
Hippies
multiculuralist
mixed race
anarchist
internationalist
cosmopolitan
Jewish
non white
non British
non English (or Welsh or Scottish)
middle class
students and or teacher/lecturer
unemployed lay abouts

The list goes on but in summary they feel solidarity with many of the lefts fights but those that fill its ranks are not part of there or my Tribe if you like.

TheocWulf wrote:Perhaps I should have been more clear they dont have a drama with the protest itself but they see the people takeing part as typical reds.

The list goes on but in summary they feel solidarity with many of the lefts fights but those that fill its ranks are not part of there or my Tribe if you like.

Isakenaz wrote:Well I guess I'm included in that list as I have been a student, trained to be a lecturer/teacher, and as a result of being disabled at the hands of some caring British industrialist, am now an 'unemployed layabout'. So I guess I'm not part of 'your tribe' either, but then maybe you're not part of mine either, your brand of non Hitlerian National Socialism is too expensive for the likes of me.

For a brief moment I thought it might be possible to build a united front that included all variants of left-wing nationalists, even Strasserites, but now I don't think so.

Coach wrote:"Tribe"? OMG, are you serious? Here we go again...not.
Stormfront called, they want their pwned pawns back, plus interest.

This argument will get settled among the working class masses in the streets, like it always has been settled.
Bring your latter-day brownshirts and your individualist Tea Party boys, and prepare to get schooled.

I look over the forum landscape and see that it has been about this all along. The involvement of Strasserites here has always been about trying to drag SPers back to the 'pro-white' movement. And you are encouraged by the centrist vacillations you've seen on the part of some here.
Watch me wipe my hands of it. Not going to repeat the fascist tragedy again. Not gonna give you an inch to take us back.

Celtiberian wrote:Your list was specific to the point of absurdity. Every nation, be it bourgeois or socialist-nationalist, is going to possess teachers and students, hippies (and various other countercultures), etc. so it's useless to hold anything against such people; you may dislike them on a personal level, but realize that no country is ever going to consist solely of people you happen to like.

TheocWulf wrote:well given your history perhaps not but if If you were around my mates and said "Hey im a student and training to be a lecturer" they would think middle class straight away.

As building a coalition Im not going to stress about that to much if you think strasserists cant be part of it,becuse after all it dosent exist outside of this forum does it?.

Celtiberian wrote:Frankly, your friends should be more concerned with the system which is literally exploiting them, as opposed to the teachers and professors who are trying to educate them. Obviously many professors are engaged in teaching curricula which attempts to justify the perpetuation of bourgeois society, but again, this should be blamed on the system and not on individual educators.

To be fair, with the minor exception of Germany, Strasserism doesn't have a very impressive record of street level activism either. The left-wing nationalism advocated by many of the revolutionary socialists on this forum is still in its embryonic phase, though the concept itself isn't entirely new. Furthermore, I advise you be careful with the sarcasm you choose to employ with respect to left-wing nationalism—it's a cause I take very seriously and I will not tolerate it being ridiculed.

TheocWulf wrote:
I wasnt mocking left wing nationalism I was mocking Isa non acceptance of strasserist in this Britsih coalition he was banging on about that does not exist.

Isakenaz wrote:Oh that's alright then. If there was a coalition, although that word smacks of compromise, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only left-winger that wouldnt want the participation of Strasserites.

In fact the continuation of any Strasserite presence on this forum, makes the likelyhood of any other British left-wing nationalist imput here unlikely.