March in the City posted by Richard Seymour

Two quick points. First of all, there is to be a march in the City of London, starting at Mansion House station from 4pm on Friday 10th October, opposing bail-outs for the bankers and demanding that the government defend pay and jobs instead. As the seriousness of this crisis becomes ever more apparent, so does the ability of governments to do anything meaningful to stop it. Even today, both Wall Street and the European stock exchanges have plunged as more companies fired staff and reduced operations. What the government can do, however, is stop running policy in the interests of those who have benefited most from the boom and are most responsible for the slump. So, turn up if you're available, why not?

Second point, if you attended the anti-Bush protest in June, you need to be aware that the police are still pursuing people from that protest. Bear in mind that this follows revelations that there were police provocateurs in the march trying to stir things up and create a conflict. Clearly, there is a politically motivated attempt to deter protests and undermine the morale of oppositional movements. In this vein, at least one person I know of has had his face splashed in the London papers with a Crimestoppers number underneath it, and he has had to go and turn himself in to face charges. Subsequently, because his face was in the papers, his employers have started a witch hunt against him. So, bar this in mind: anyone who was there - even if you didn't do anything likely to give rise to suspicion - does face the possibility of harrassment. There may be attempts to nab people at future demonstrations, but please don't allow this nonsense to intimidate you. When the state is on a campaign to deter protest, it becomes all the more important to defy that campaign. Stop the War's advice is to contact a solicitor first, and then to let the StW office know.

Labels: capitalism, financial sector, protest, stop the war coalition