Stop the Cuts with a General Tea Break

[Update: the protest suggested here works equally well for any other issue, such as dissatisfaction with the tax arrangements in the UK, Trident, &c]

Just to clarify, the GP Conference in Birmingham wasn't all darkness and frustration. 

I went to the fringe on "How can the GP fight the cuts?" called by the GPTU group.

The speaker was Rob Johnson, a West Midlands UNISON Organiser, and a Labour PPC and supporter. He spoke well about the devastation that Gideon is about to unleash, and how we need to form a wide alliance. Inspiring. Any questions?

There followed a series of diatribes against NewLabour from members of the Green Left and others.

So much for solidarity. I used to wonder if I should join Green Left (and if they would allow me) but I don't think I'll bother.


I proposed the idea of a General Tea Break as a form of solidarity-creating direct action against the cuts.

What the Cleggeron is proposing to do to the UK people is truly damaging and ideologically driven.

• The cuts must be stopped.

• Petitions and demonstrations, though necessary, are not sufficient.

• Strikes are unpopular, and damage the economy still more.

• A General Strike would be effective, but the people are not yet ready for it.  They may be in a year or two, but by that time the damage will be done.

• Therefore, let us start with a General Tea Break. Here's the plan
  

Every Monday morning, at 9 am, cuts activists meet up at work at the water cooler or someplace, and talk about the cuts for 5 minutes. That's all. Talk about the cuts for 5 mins. Anyone who comes along "Hello, we are just discussing the cuts. What do you think". 
After 5 mins they get to work. 
As numbers gather, the time slowly extends.
If management comes and says "Why aren't you at your stations?"  the response is "We are talking about the cuts. They are going to wreck this country, do you not agree?We were just going back to our stations, but since you are here, we would like to know what you think? Do you think it will end up with a General Strike?"

Management will get the idea, as soon as they realise it is happening in other companies. They will realise we are tooling up for a General Strike, on the QT. They will have a word with the Treasury, which will have to calculate on the economic costs of a General Strike.

I do not promise that this will stop the cuts in their stride, but it is a useful weapon. The thing is, it is so small (5 minutes, growing) that waverers will be encouraged to join. It could go viral.

Anyway, it was well received by the meeting, two commenter mentioned it, (which is like getting a ReTweet) as did Rob Johnson who actually said he would take it forward.

Once again, creative thinking may be seen as intrinsically wrong by some in the GP policy community, but not by all other groups. 

Homage to those who stand against the forces of dictatorship

I get choked when I watch these videos of the current pro-democracy demonstrations in Iran. The sheer courage and persistence of the Green Movement, the students of Iran, in the face of the cowardly swaggering police and Basij militia is an example to all who aspire to something better than the moronic, thoughtless exercise of power that holds in Iran, and in a different way, in Britain, where the authoritarians in Tory, NuLabour, the Civil Service and the Police Agencies are slowly nudging us in the direction of the Iranian situation.

These beautiful young Iranians are not just demonstrating for themselves and their own country, they are standing up for democracy everywhere.

If you want to help the Iranian democracy movement, click this link.

Professional Policing?

Further to the Dialogue with an Officer, below, who feels that the G20 Bishopsgate violence is wholly due to protesters and in no way due to the police tactics, take a look at this.
1:44 - officer lashing out with force.
2:08, 2:17 officer using edge of shield.

These people had nowhere to go. The police were not trying to move them on, they were trying to crush them. How can this be happening in Britain?


[Update 7 Nov 2009: Guardian: Culture of Impunity at TSG, 5000 complaints, 0.18% upheld. I rest my case.]

Fair Policing?

This is republished here for the convenience of the police officer who is debating policing standards with me here.

I have asked him to comment on the professionalism shown by the police in this tape.

Evidence of agents provocateurs on demonstrations

An anonymous police commenter on this blog has questioned whether agents provocateurs are used.

So I have searched for instances on the web.

The black bloc anarchist assault on the Royal Bank of Scotland building yesterday certainly had an air of being stage-managed. The target was announced in advance, the authorities knew that the building was a prime target, and yet it was the only one in the street not boarded up. A cafe across the street was boarded up and yet the RBS building was left completely vulnerable to attack. (this link contains a review of more instances)

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards. (This is a common theme that also goes back to Geneva. Demonstrators should look for, and record, this phenomenon)

Here is footage of 3 oddballs in the USA. Version of same incident here.
Saturday September 26 2009: Three undercover officers attempt to infiltrate a March Against Police Brutality at the University of Pittsburgh, but fail miserably due to their horrendous disguise attempts I am including foreign examples, because the nature of globalisation to standardise policing. If Anonymous argues that British policing is not as extreme, it is nevertheless necessary for us to know what it will look like if it comes.

Three masked men, one carrying a rock on a union demo in Quebec. Strong evidence.

Genoa G8 summit 2001. Black Bloc "Anarchists"seen coming through police lines again (see above). Eyewitness account - just one of many, too many for denialists to deal with.

My own personal experience is of being heckled at Aldermaston while doing a satirical performance dressed as Major General Frankley-Madde, ranting against the CND and Feinds of the Earth. The crowd (bored, waiting for hours for the police to let us board our buses) were attentive. Two guys with flat caps and badges placed dead centre were heckling. This hat-badge is described elsewhere as a mark of an AP, so that the police do not hit them. Infiltrators are also known as "hairies" in "intelligence" circles. So be suspicious of anyone with a hat and a beard. Not all, but some may be working for the other side...

I also saw the Sparts (Spartacist League) marching up to join an anti-Iraq war rally in Hyde Park with a huge, professionally made banner, reading VICTORY TO SADDAM. Billy Bragg was speaking at the time, and expressed our feeling "Here come the CIA". A group of us went to meet them, chanted "What about Halabja" until they took their banner down and slunk off home.

By the nature of the beast, it is difficult to prove infiltration and agents provocateurs, but "proof" comes from evidence. The anonymous police commentators on this blog have one view, and will continue to deny. It is our job to be on the qui vive for agents on demonstrations, and to extrude them out of the crowd back into police lines where they belong.

Dialogue with an Officer Over Kettling &c.

Photograph: Chris Ison/PA; Thanks to Observer; link below.

[This is a response to a comment on the piece about Ian Tomlinson and the TSG, the latest Anonymous comment, as the Comment slot would not take it]

Good Consternoon, Aftable.

Thank you for taking the trouble to visit and for such an extensive comment. I will deal briefly with your substantive points, as I am short of time this morning.

Anon: This phrase concerns me 'Members of the unit would also be screened by being hooked up to a polygraph and exposed to images and key words to see if they respond to right wing triggers.' Your answer is to alter what is an apolitical organisation into one which is filled with the 'right' (or left) kind of people

RL: OK: provide left wing triggers too, in order to balance it up. Would that be acceptable to you?
Would you be prepared to place a £10 bet, proceeds to go to Practical Action, on which side will get more positives?

Anon: At the G20 people in some places were not behaving, and it was necessary to try to restore order.

RL: Events at the Climate Camp give you the Lie Direct.


Anon: It is not the fault of the police or any police tactic on the day that lead to violence, but the intent of some in the crowd.

RL: The police are beyond blame in any circumstances?

Anon: As to your criticism of containment as a tactic, how do you propose that we prevent the events of the may-day riots of around a decade ago. This tactic has proven highly effective at stopping this kind of disorder, if this is removed from the options it is only a short time till we see disorder like this again and we will be blamed for failing to keep control of them.

RL: Kettling/containment may be used as a response to real violent disorder, but must never again be used on peaceful demonstrators.

Anon: Granted the containment tactic will lead to some non violent people being detained, however this has been a tactic for around a decade and the vast majority of people are aware of it, yet choose to come to protests (generally the tactic is used at illegal protests as opposed to organised and lawfull protests).

RL: So any demo we choose to go to may result in being detained? We should bring tents, provisions and sleeping bags to all demos? Will you provide Portaloos?

RL: You have also mentioned 'agents provocateurs' please justify this, as this is not a tactic the police use, we attempt to minimise the use of force, not incite it. This is in my opinion an absolutely outrageous allegation and should be corrected immediately.

RL: The grossest example is with the Black Bloc in Geneva - admittedly, italian police, not peelers, but we have to make sure we don't even set off in the Italian direction.

I personally have been heckled by a pair of what I reasonably suppose to be agents provocateurs at an Aldermaston demo.

Craig Murray has an incident here.

And here's an Observer piece.


More evidence

UK agent provocateur search here, full of evidence.

Anon: You have also contradicted yourself, you have said how you are not 'anti-police' yet you repeatedly fail to show respect to the anonymous poster calling him 'Anonymofficer.'

RL: I have to differentiate the Anonymi who write in. I do not respect Anonymouses as much as people with an identity, just as you would tend to be suspicious of masked demonstrators.

Anon: And finally when you compare the tactics of the British police with our continental cousins, we do not use tear gas, we haven't used baton rounds. We very rarely even get our helmets on, even when under attack from missiles, for fear of 'provoking a riot.' So how do you propose we deal with the admittedly small corps of protesters intent on causing disruption?

RL: see above. You can defend yourselves against real trouble. Just please refrain from attacking and provoking non-violent demonstrators. Please, in all our interests - yours and ours. Remember that we are all there to uphold democratic values.

To finish on a note of agreement, I hope that we can both agree that it is regrettable that the media give more coverage to violent demos than to non-violent demos, which is itself an indirect incitement to riot.

The case for a General Pause to counter Global Heating

Weggis has asked my opinion on the best treatment for the climate change denialists such as Clive James, Richard Littlejohn, Jeremy Clarkson and Melanie Phillips.

Denial. It's a very difficult condition to treat, because it is a psychological ego defence mechanisms set in place in order to blank out information that would tend to take them out of an existing in a comfort zone. Apologies if this sound like psychobabble. It really is not. It's quite simple; we all do it; forgetting to go to the dentist involves denial.

The model lies in addiction treatment, and as you point out, James, Clarkson, Littlejohn and their gullible readers are addicted to the carbon based lifestyle. As we all are, but some of us want to break the addiction before it kills us, but Clive, Richard, Jerry and Mel have no intention or desire whatsoever to break their habit.

Therapists agree that the addict has to come up smack against the wall of reality before they can start to be motivated to make the challenging life style changes that they need. Once they have done that, recovery is possible, and my 30 year experience convinces me that the 12-step process of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most successful approach, certainly for alcoholics.

It is the reality testing that we are waiting for at the moment , which is why, sadly, I think it is going to take something in the order of a Great Flood of London to make our leaders turn their talk into walk.

The alternative to waiting for disaster to start the process of the transition to a green, decarbonised economy, is a General Strike. Since the people are far from being ready for this at the moment, we should start with a little General Pause: (or perhaps, General Tea-break) a ten minute delay in work, which we spend discussing AGW with our work colleagues. This should take place on Monday at 10am until 10:10am

The idea of the General Pause/Tea-break is that it is slight enough for people to do it without fear, and not enough for productivity to be threatened so that it is not a sackable offence. On the other hand, once it has spread to a critical mass of the workforce, and associated with slightly more asertive means, such as turning off lights, and putting computers on standby, employers and politicians will see in it the seeds of a potential General Strike, and this may move them to start to take action on AGW instead of continuing with their meaningless chuntering and blithering about how good they are at solving it.

I have to say, before the ubiquitous Anonymous steps in to say it for me, that it is all very well for me to advocate the General Pause, because I am retired. However, I do locums, and sometimes my locums are on Mondays, so I could request no bookings at 10am, and go and speak to the patients in the waiting room.