Hundreds of protesting occupiers are now an integral part of the St Paul's Cathedral’s ecosystem. Strikingly enough, the original target in solidarity with the occupiers on their ongoing demonstrations in the Wall Street was the Paternoster Square, where London Stock Exchange - the world’s fourth largest stock exchange is situated, was thwarted by the state security.
More than 200 tents of many colours and dimensions, sheltering the radical protesters popped up in the vicinity of the church and many of the clerics are finding it difficult to come in terms with the spirits of the demonstrators. The occupiers are well organised and their activities are well coordinated which obviously reinforced my suspicions of them networking with their counterparts in the Wall Street. The tent city dwellers are often engaged in many debates among themselves, many of which are centred on politics and also have an exclusive list of various social and radical political activists, especially from the left and anarchic organisations. The masks of Guy Fawkes are so popular among them that it could be righteously termed as the mascot of their ongoing protest against the establishment.
The obvious banners are about Capitalism and its crisis, social inequalities and asserting their newly acclaimed super majority status “We are the 99%!” Though it is more lately claimed, it is always better to be claimed. In a very friendly conversation with the occupiers, one of the occupiers put across everything in a nutshell “Capitalism ain’t for the majority of people” and after a pause, “ain’t workin’ no more mate”.
Last so many months, with its distinct paroxysmal repetitiveness the media came up with the headlines like “Marx was right”, “Capitalism in crisis” and “Richest 1%”. Well, there is an anti capitalist mood prevalent among the people now, like the anti-war mood, anti-American/ Bush mood and even the anti-dictatorship mood evidently perceived from the last “Arab spring”.
The obvious linear chain reaction of milestone events from the last year “Arab Spring”, “2011 Spanish protests” and the recent “Occupy movement”- spreading over 95 cities across 82 countries are demonstrating the notion of “Domino effect” in a political disclosure of this kind of global impact. These recent widespread occupations and the demonstrations of the students and workers deemed than termed to be “anti-capitalist” or “anti super rich/ ultra rich” or “anti-plutocracy," or "anti-corporate” or “anti-bankers” outbursts were often lacking a political orientation and alternative. Energy levels are high, and so the levels of tensions among the layers of the social stratification, especially felt during the 2011 London riots. In England, masses of people are getting alienated from the society; tripled tuition fees, crack down in the welfare and support services, and a widely perceived lack of a mass political alternative front to represent the interests of the ordinary working class people. Therefore rather than becoming a serious challenge to the institutionalised establishment - obviously characterised by the exploitation of the vast majority, these protests often end up as a far cry from the changes they sought to seek. This argument often raised from the obtained wisdom gathered from the past political struggles and tensions. It is time to understand that regime changes are not the means to an end. The need is a serious political alternative representing the needs of the people and the society. What is the step ahead?
How the call for an alternative from the protesters would be materialised? The past legacy of one of the world’s first industrialised nation was a strong and organised working class movement of which the Labour party – the current opposition party is an offshoot. Ironically, the Labour party, apparently a party endorsed by the major trade unions in Britain and financed by the political levy paid by the ordinary rank and file trade unionists, is no different from the ruling Conservative and Liberal Democrats coalition in carrying out the cuts in public expenditures attacking jobs and services apart from a consistent rhetoric to slightly mitigate those attacks in dismantling the welfare state.
The organised working class action in Britain has radically changed the lives of the ordinary people from the days of the industrial revolution, which is characterised by lack of job and social security, harsh working hours and brutal work environment to one of the first welfare states in the world, with more improved working conditions and standard health and safety practices for the well being of the workers. The Influence of the British trade union movement was diminished and constrained during the time of Margaret Thatcher, under whose iron handed regime some of the most anti trade union laws have been enacted and many of that was not repealed even by the successive Labour government.
In the 2011 Trade Union Congress, facing the angry trade union delegates, Ed Milliband, the present Labour party leader has openly condemned, the June 30th (2011) one day strike action, called by around 750,000 public sector workers including the teachers, after a democratic ballot among the workers. Now around 3 million workers among the present 6.5 million union members are expected to take industrial strike action on November 30th which would be the largest co-ordinated action ever seen in Britain and this would be sending shivers right down the spine of the establishment.
This passing period of time is inclined to observe a dawdling paradigm shift among the people to recognise and ascertain once again, the importance of the organised working class action, and the calls for an alternative would be naturally thrusting upon the future events signalled and lead by the political representation of the working class people for a society which sustains the needs of the vast majority ordinary people than the greed of the tiny privileged 1%.
-Sajith Attepuram
-Sajith Attepuram
