From: "Benjamin Franks" <benjfranks-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: AUT: RE: Research towards an anti-militarist project
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 13:53:41 +0000


Hi, as other lurkers *come out*, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do 
the same. I feel I still need to become further familiar with and assimilate 
some of the theoretical nuances before becoming a more regular contributor.

On Saturday I'll be joining the anti-war demo in Glasgow, organised by the 
Scottish Coalition for Justice Not War. Its endpoint is the SECC, where 
America's unofficial Foreign Minister Tony Blair is due to be speaking. 
Alongside the official demo, other groupings are planning their own 
activities outside of the official march. So the march provides an 
opportunity for both the spectacular opposition of mass dissent, described 
by Adrian, albeit hierarchically structured and containable, and for more 
autonomous activity.

Having moved in the last 2 years from the large urban conurbations of 
England where I grew up (Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and London) to 
Dumfries, the largest urban centre in Southern Scotland, but has a 
population of only 40,000. I have come to be aware of how different 
political or (anti-political) activity is structured in more rural settings. 
There are significant additional barriers to radicalism than in urbanised 
areas where there is a degree of anonymity.

The current campaign against the conflict has been the first time i have 
noticed people organising in any numbers for a broadly ‘progressive’ (i 
realise how problematic this term is) cause. Mini-buses have been organised, 
colleagues are meeting up to create banners, placards and the like. There 
was even a small, and entirely symbolic, demonstration against the war a 
weekend ago in the centre of Dumfries, organised by Quakers. Nonetheless, in 
the time I’ve lived here this is the first time I’ve noticed non-party 
political activity outside of the small university campus here. The only 
exception being fly-posting by the Countryside Alliance, this is a 
reactionary landowners lobbying group for the maintenance of rural 
bloodsports. The current anti-war campaign might not be a ‘movement’ but it 
is opening up opportunities for types of discourse in this area that have 
been, for the main part, silenced.



>From: Adrian Wilding <adrianwilding-AT-blueyonder.co.uk>
>Reply-To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: RE: AUT: RE: Research towards an anti-militarist project
>Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 11:06:31 -0000
>
>Hi Dave
>Glad to hear there is such a big response from your area going to
>London. My question to the guy Rob who you quote will probably open up a
>whole new - or old - can of worms (e.g. the popular front debate that
>happened a few months back). Yes, there seems to be an element in the
>popularity of the UK anti-war movement which is simply pro-nationalist,
>or at least pro-UK sovereignty: it merely doesn't want to see a UK
>government as the 'poodle' of Bush. There may also be a - much smaller -
>element which links on an unconscious level Iraq with asylum-seekers and
>wants no part of either. However, I think the size of this constituency
>could easily be over-estimated; I think in fact more people are now
>realising their affinity with 'old Europe'.
>It is also true - and banal - that much of the Stop the War Coalition
>and affiliated groups are not anti-capitalist, and have no class
>analysis (probably because they are themselves 'middle class'...) But on
>Saturday would Rob rather have a march of 50,000 anti-capitalist
>anti-war protestors or 1 million anti-war protestors? I suspect most of
>us, whilst remaining critical and wanting to argue with those going for
>their various 'parochial' reasons, would go for the latter. And this
>because the main aims of this march seems to me 1) getting this war
>stopped (did we somehow forget this?) 2) showing the government that it
>is not supported by the people, 3) changing public opinion 4)
>galvanising anti-imperialist feelings, however diffuse and mis-directed.
>The third point is not unimportant, and doesn't always happen only on
>marches or through internet discussion lists. The many millions who
>watched the 2 hour debate last night on the BBC will have seen Jack
>Straw skinned alive and lucky to leave the auditorium in one piece, the
>overwhelming consensus coming out anti-war. That from a reactionary
>national broadcasting corporation. These things can have an effect. Even
>if not in stopping this current war, but in making sure no future
>government gambles its electability on a policy such as Blair's. Already
>here in Scotland we are seeing a dramatic drop in Labour support ahead
>of elections in April and a shift towards anti-war parties such as the
>Scottish Socialist Party and Green Party. With proportional
>representation, as exists here, these trends are not insignificant. In
>purely party politics terms, these are eventful times. Now, of course we
>must look beyond party politics, and that is why point 3) can be such an
>important after-effect of Saturday. I don't agree with one contributor
>that this sentiment will be soon forgotton. To Rob and his ilk I would
>say: less sectarianism and less fatalism, and lets see what we can
>achieve in the next few weeks.
>Adrian
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>[mailto:owner-aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu] On Behalf Of Dave
>Graham
>Sent: 13 February 2003 08:43
>To: chris wright
>Cc: aut-op-sy
>Subject: Re: AUT: RE: Research towards an anti-militarist project
>
>Dear all
>
>Following the contribution from the OCAP member here is something from
>another list I belong that chimes in and will hopefully provoke more
>'joined up thinking' along the same lines - actually this is the
>beginning
>of a 'composition' analysis that I thought Autopsy was supposed to be
>about
>[that was for Nate]
>
>_________________________________________________________
>
>I think around 25 coaches are going to London for the Stop The War March
>from Nottingham area. Look's like it's going to be a big one. Me I'll be
>in
>Amsterdam. . . there's a big event organised there too!
>
>ITMT [e-mail for in the meantime?] a thought.
>
>There's two active campaign type groups in Nottingham at the moment: one
>is
>stopping the War,and the other is working around asylum/anti-deportation
>etc.
>
>A majority of people oppose the war; nearly half even if there's a
>second
>security council resolution. A much bigger majority oppose asylum
>seekers
>[altho' slightly contradictorily not necessarily the principle of
>asylum].
>
>Putting aside the organising 'cadre', within the Stop the War 'movement'
>is
>a large dose of parochialism: not a principled opposition to war / US/UK
>intervention but a fear of getting involved with anything East of
>Europe.
>
>It would be perverse wouldn't it if the effect of StheW was to actually
>help further construct a popular Fortress Europe?
>
>To clarify: this doesn't mean I'm not 101% in opposition.
>
>It might mean that darkness all around is getting to me.
>
>Interested to know what people think.
>
>Rob
>
>
>
>
>--
>Dave Graham
><davgraham-AT-merseymail.com>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>Get your free email address at http://www.merseymail.com/
>
>
>      --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
>
>      --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---


_________________________________________________________________
Overloaded with spam? With MSN 8, you can filter it out 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail&pgmarket=en-gb&XAPID=32&DI=1059



     --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---