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Sabotage the War effort


Thursday 27th March

Direct Action Against the War Effort

gather noon Princes outside M&S / BHS roughly opposite Scott Monument

Friday 28th March

Critical Mass

Meet 5pm at Hunter Square. Critical mass is a human powered wheeled demo - please come on bikes, scooters and skateboard. Bring things to make noise, flags and placards.

 

For latest see Indymedia or News

 

The past week has seen an incredible amount of spontaneous action against the war in Iraq. Virtually every town and city has been brought to a standstill by school students' strikes, marches, die ins, occupations, blockades and countless other actions. To counter this, the police have been pronouncing these “unauthorised” actions as being irresponsible, claiming that they need to know what our intentions are, and that they are seeking out the organisers of these actions, so they can reach an agreement with the demonstrators, and thus keep the protests under control - WE MUST NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.

It's the unpredictability of these events that are their strong point. If we are serious about stopping this war, we need to disrupt business as usual. Orderly, peaceful marches that pass off with a minimum of disruption can be easily ignored ( and indeed, allow the scum who are bombing Iraq to note sagely that you'd be locked up and tortured for demonstrating in Iraq- what a lovely democracy we have)   But by hitting them where it hurts- in the pocket - we can have a real effect.  The cost of extra policing, the hours lost throuagh people not going to work/being late etc. all adds up, and will make the war less sustainable for the British state.  Disorder scares the ruling class.

Make no mistake, this war is being fought for the needs of capitalism - to open new markets, to ensure supplies of raw materials like oil and to make the world safe for international capital.

Remember, the police's job is to maintain order for the state - the same state attacking Iraq. They are not your friend, they are not neutral, their job is to render any protest ineffectual, and allow the government to continue to do as they please. The police say they are concerned for our safety - is that why an officer bashed a 14 year old girl's head off a wall at the anti war action at the Castle on 17 March?  Do not talk to them, if approached, tell them you do not wish to talk to them. They can only take your details if they think you have committed or witnessed a crime.

We can only stop this war by direct action, to make the country ungovernable, and authorised, controlled marches will not do this. We've all seen it, thousands of people together, being channelled into a literal and metaphorical dead end, and having to listen to boring speaker upon boring speaker, usually politicians trying to convince us if only we vote for them, join their party, sell their paper........ and everyone starts drifting off... this week has seen an outbreak of such energy, that merely to channel it into dull marches would be a criminal waste of a real opportunity to disrupt the war effort.  The coming week needs to see even more strikes, disruptive marches, other direct actions...you know what to do.......

DON'T FOLLOW ORDERS - STOP THE CITY - STOP THE WAR

Contact Direct Action Against the War c/o ACE, 17 W Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA  0131 557 6242   www.autonomous.org.uk

We have access to printing facilities, meeting spaces etc for anti war organising, if school students or anyone else thinks they could use such resources please get in touch.

Public Meeting ( organised by Napier folk )

Thurs 20th

Princes Street occupied both at lunchtime and dinner time. 3 separate arrests of adults now released. 2 charged with breach of the peace.

 

 

ANTI WAR DEMONSTRATORS STORM EDINBURGH CASTLE

200-300 anti war protestors marched up the Royal Mile from Parliament Square, burst onto the Esplanade and stormed over the drawbridge to Edinburgh Castle. Striking school students from Firrhill, Boroughmuir and James Gillespies were prominent, comprising perhaps two thirds of the participants on the 17 March anti war action.

Two rows of castle officials and police were forcefully swept aside and around 30 demonstrators broke through into the castle itself. As frantic lackeys forced the doors shut the rest of the demonstrators hammered on the giant gates. Fierce scuffles erupted as the demonstrators inside the castle tried to re-open the gates to allow the entire crowd in. A 14 year old young woman from Firrhill school was assaulted by police officer B2547
who banged her head into the castle wall. The demonstrators' "Magic Carpet" - a kind of cross between a banner and a battering ram - proved its worth in the assault.

After staying inside the Castle for about half an hour, the demonstrators
negotiated their way out without arrests to rejoin those blockading the entranceway. The castle was shut down to all visitors for well over an hour as a giant banner proclaiming FIGHT THE BOSSES NOT THEIR WARS was
draped across the start of the drawbridge, which was filled with chanting demonstrators.

Suddenly a contingent of school students marched off. The crowd followed and soon we were marching in a totally illegal demo along Princes Street, with not a cop to be seen. Both sides of Edinburgh's main street were blockaded for several minutes. Finally the police caught up with us. Then it was off again along Princes Street, heading for the East End, and then up Calton Hill.

After drawing breath for a while the demonstration, by now composed almost entirely of school students, headed down the hill towards the US Consulate.
However the police had belatedly got organised and hemmed the demo in at the foot of the hill. People were forced to disperse in small groups, and a few, mainly adults, had their names taken. However to our knowledge there were no arrests.

This was a totally inspiring direct action against the war which surpassed the wildest dreams of the most optimistic activists involved. The unexpected large-scale participation of school students, who had organised walk outs to join the action, illustrates that opposition to this war has a potential to reach levels never before seen in previous recent anti war movements in Britain. Maybe we cannot actually stop our rulers starting the massacre but we can make them pay a heavy price in terms of disruption
of the profit machine, hopefully reduce the slaughter and make them wary of launching future wars.

And as we resist we can start building the new world, without borders,
states and armies.

For info on direct action against the war contact c/o Autonomous Centre of
Edinburgh, 17 W Montgomery Place Edinburgh EH7 5HA 0131 557 6242



SCHOOL STUDENTS STRIKES - AN INSPIRATION


School students' strikes against the war are sweeping Britain. In Edinburgh on 17 March up to 200 school students from Firrhill, Boroughmuir, James Gillespies, all walked out and were to the fore in the storming of Edinburgh Castle by anti war demonstrators.  Earlier Broughton High students walked out, and Leith Academy students were prominent in the anti war demo at Calton Hill on 17 March.
We are sure there must be more - let us know about your school.

Elsewhere in Scotland there were 500 - 1000 striking school students on the streets of Glasgow.  We heard that 300 students walked out in the small Fife town of Cupar, and 200 demonstrated down the main street.  Kirkcaldy has also seen school students' actions.  There have been school strikes in many places in England.

This kind of direct action is an inspiration and shows the way for everyone else.

FIGHT THE BOSSES, NOT THEIR WARS!


King George Bush the Second of America isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the bag.
He doesn't have the brains to see the big picture. But then, he doesn't need to.   He just does the bidding of those who are really running the United States of America - big business.

NO BLOOD FOR OIL


He is a figurehead selected for office on a dodgy minority vote, but one thing he does have going for him is the enthusiastic support of the oil companies. After all, like his daddy, Georgie is an oil company executive. Oil company executives don't actually handle the dirty stuff themselves   -   they just handle the nice green dollars it brings in. The plan to build a pipeline to bring billions of dollars worth of oil out from Central Asia led to a war in Afghanistan. Now the oil companies are backing another war against Iraq. Iraq has the second biggest oil reserves on the planet.

WORLD DOMINATION


Of course oil is not the only reason the US wants to attack Iraq. But don't believe their lies about concern for the ordinary Iraqi people.

What the US rulers are concerned with is to show that they are the toughest gang on the planet.  They want to send out the message to all potential rivals - mess with us and we'll wipe you out.

The US ruling class is out to assert its domination over the middle east in particular and the world in general.

NOT OUR DICTATOR


It's true that Saddam Hussein is a very nasty dictator. But the US ruling class have no problem with that. They support loads of nasty regimes.  Israel, where the state regularly shoots down children.  Colombia, where government-backed death squads murder with impunity. These are only two examples. Why it's not so long ago that the US government backed Saddam himself, against Iran.

No, the problem is that Sadam is no longer THEIR dictator.  He gets in their way.  So the US ruling clas demand that many thousands of innocent people must die in the cause of even greater profits and ever more power - for them. The figurehead Bush carries out their orders, and Tony Blair, the puppet of a puppet, drags  his  reluctant country along.

PUPPET ON A STRING


Despite his puppet-second-class status, Tony has delusions of grandeur. He thinks he is Maggie Thatcher. Because his idol was able to posture as a "great war leader" over the Falklands, he thinks he can do the same. He has
a rude awakening coming. Tony has apparently forgotten that masses of working class people defeated  Maggie when she introduced the poll tax, even though she was in a much stronger position than he is now.

Already we have had the biggest anti-war protests this country has ever seen.   As war starts, that opposition will intensify.

NO WAR BUT THE CLASS WAR

Also, while Tony has had his eye on warmongering in foreign parts, the class struggle is very much back on the agenda at home,eg with the firefighters and train guards disputes.
One of the best ways the working class of this country can help those in other countries threatened by our warmongers is by us vigorously asserting our own demands.

MAKE THE UK UNGOVERNABLE!

As bombs start to rain down on innocent civilians, the anti-war movement will have to turn more and more to direct action.  Legal demonstrations can be useful, but they do not really challenge the State.  We certainly don't need to waste time listening to the speeches of self-serving politicians.

We do need to seriously disrupt the workings of the profit machine.
Strike!  Take to the streets!  Stop the city! 

We do need to sabotage the war effort.
Invade military bases!  Blockade military convoys!

WE GOT THE POWER

The way to defeat Tony Blair  AND  Georgie Bush is through people being prepared to take direct action without asking anybody's permission.  So, Stuff Your Warmongering !  And while we're at it, Stuff Your Calls For Orderly Protest!   The way to defeat the militaristic habit of giving and taking orders is through disobedience.

All of us acting together have the power to stop this war - let's use it.

THE REAL BIG PICTURE

For anti authoritarian revolutionaries and anarchists,  direct action and solidarity are the means to change the world. Only working class folk being in total control of their own struggles can create a society based on liberty, equality and solidarity. REAL socialism can only be created from the bottom-up. By applying our ideals in the struggle today, we build the world of the future!



Thanks to the SCOTTISH ANARCHIST leaflet on which this text was based.  This new version is
the sole responsibility of the author, John Ball.

 

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