Liam redux

Coalition of Resistance meeting

"Burble on for three or four minutes throwing in some irrelevant personal information, one or two irrelevant anecdotes and avoid making a political point" is not the same as "make some practical proposals". It’s a subtle difference but one  which escaped several of the speakers in the final section of Thursday’s Coalition of Resistance (COR)…

Liam
2–3 minutes

IMAG0012"Burble on for three or four minutes throwing in some irrelevant personal information, one or two irrelevant anecdotes and avoid making a political point" is not the same as "make some practical proposals". It’s a subtle difference but one  which escaped several of the speakers in the final section of Thursday’s Coalition of Resistance (COR) meeting in London.That gripe out of the way let’s reflect on the positive aspects of the event which attracted about 170 people.

Paul Mackney set out the stall. In an unprecedented statement from the platform of such an event he said that the Coalition had no wish to impose a ready made template on what was happening in local areas. This was echoed by the Green Party’s Romayne Phoenix speaking on behalf of COR’s steering committee who emphasised the Coalition’s aim to be a resource for local groups of activists and communities which are up for a bit of anti-cuts action.

Most impressive speaker of the evening was probably Dot Gibson of the National Pensioners Convention. She added some important detail to the often made rhetorical point about how British Society after the War was able to afford a big expansion of social provision. A bloody big radical IMAG0011movement put "the fear of Christ" into the ruling class. She added that many active pensioners have a real memory of what active working class organisations look like and that any real movement has to involve them.

Things have gone wrong before but there was much that was encouraging about the evening. The dreadful choreography which is usually an inevitable aspect of these things was absent. Lots of people were called to speak and there was no telling in advance what they were going to say. It was a serious attempt to put in place the infrastructure for a national broad based democratic anti-cuts movement. As one of the photos shows a selection of remarks from the floor were written up to help stimulate discussion which suggests a willingness to engage with the real unpredictability of what a living movement might look like.

The conference on November 27 could turn out to be very significant.

 

10 responses to “Coalition of Resistance meeting”

  1. daveinstokenewington Avatar
    daveinstokenewington

    Yeah, but what we sad sectarians want to know is which groups are orienting towards CoR? Did the Swuppies send a couple of spies, or were they there in force?

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  2. Coalition of Resistance declares war on coalition government: report of activists meeting | Coalition of Resistance to Cuts & Privatisation

    […] Mac Uaid […]

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  3. Liam Avatar
    Liam

    Dave, off the top of my head Workers Power, Red Pepper, Counterfire, PR, SR, the Green Left seem to be the groups most enthusiastically in favour of the project. What I would have mentioned if I had written the report without three pints in me was that it was a younger audience than is usual at these things and the bulk of them were fresh faces (to me).

    The SWP sent a couple of people to plug their demo outside the Tory conference. They engaged positively with the meeting and were as well received as everyone else.

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  4. jim jepps Avatar
    jim jepps

    I wasn’t sure what to make of the SWP attitude.

    They sent three (?) people who all spoke in terms of cooperating with CoR and ‘relations’ with it which, to me, felt like they were actually distancing themselves from the group – however, they were there, they clearly support the aims and even if they don’t like the fact that others are capable of organising interesting and useful events they have at least accepted that this is true – so I don’t want to be too harsh or jump to conclusions…

    It was a good natured debate and I’d add to your list of participants the people who were clearly influenced by anarchist or autonomist ideas (small block of them I think a few of whom spoke)

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  5. daveinstokenewington Avatar
    daveinstokenewington

    What gives me (slight) hope that CoR will prove more worthwhile than various other J.Rees-inaugurated ‘united fronts’ in the past is that Counterfire are not big enough to monopolise the proceedings.

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  6. alf Avatar
    alf

    My experience so far with COR is that all forces recognise the old ways of sectarian hegemony seeking, top down approaches do not work. There is a genuine intention and practice of being open, inclusive and democratic.
    The various groups and individuals working this way have shown that we can build a movement and attract wider forces to it. The objective needs of the situation requires such a response and hopefully this will continue to be so.
    As Liam pointed out, the proportion of youth signing up for COR is a healthy sign. If we can build on this momentum then at last we are seeing the potential for something that at last is emerging.
    Yes even those who were cynical or negative about this project in the early days recognise that something is happening that is worth building or at least working alongside with.

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  7. jim jepps Avatar
    jim jepps

    Dave: I don’t think Rees (et al) are trying to monopolise it to be honest, and he and others said some very open minded things at the meeting.

    This might just be a recognition of size, but it also might indicate a reappraisement of previous tactics in the light of new circumstances. Given that Rees is a clever guy I suspect it’s the latter, which is to be very much welcomed.

    Alf: Where I hope CoR is going is to provide resources to the miasma of autonomous local groups that already exist. I’d be uncomfortable if it was trying to ‘unify them’ but to provide a space for them would be great.

    I’m hoping future meetings will be led off by the people who are organising local campaigns rather than ‘national’ figures.

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  8. alf Avatar
    alf

    No we must not attempt in anyway to “unify them” and undermine their autonomy. I prefer the concept of a network that links and supports autonomous groups.

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  9. David Ellis Avatar
    David Ellis

    As long as it doesn’t become a hopeless lump squatting on the anti-cuts movement doing nothing but marching and restricting policy to what is acceptable to the mildest of reformists.

    An anti-cuts coalition should really come from below with delagates from local committees coming together in a national conference. We should be encouraging mass participation in all walks of politics by the workers, youth, women and the communities under threat. I hope the CoR becomes a facilitator of that sort of thing. It could become the subordinate secretariat or resource to the real mass anti-cuts movement if one gets going. If it does not facilitate but acts as a break it must be shoved aside.

    But what of the Rees group? Do they have their own program? So far all I’ve seen it call for is more regulation of the banks. Socialists should work within it for now and argue for a fighting, mobilizing, transitional, socialist program (workplace committees, local control of all tax receipts from VAT to PAYE to Council Tax , local united fronts to fight the cuts in all possible ways, sit ins, election of anti-cuts councillors, unification of employed and unemployed and so on).

    Inflation, wage freezes, currency devaluation and tax hikes are generalising the attacks to broader and broader layers of workers and the middle class and an anti-cuts movement with a socialist solution can focus and direct the growing anger for a meaningful fight with the coalition to pave the way for a workers government quite unlike the pseudo New Labour one that has squandered the last 13 years and handed power back to the class enemy.

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  10. ray rising Avatar
    ray rising

    A Coalition of Resistance can become a mass movement only so long as it turns outward to draw its strength from ALL those opposing parliamentary cuts. The main threat to this necessary broadening will be from those who will seek to divert the autonomous cells into primarily, parliamentary pressure-release channels. A petition-less Chartism – purely extra-parliamentary with its own life, its own organisation.

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