A couple of months ago it would have seemed improbable that a former drag queen turned daytime TV presenter would become the voice of the outraged opposition to the Con Dems for millions of people. Take a bow Paul O’Grady.
It was even more unlikely that a group of students would trash the Tory headquarters. Clearly things are moving in British society and every political organisation is going to have to make hard choices. No. That’s wrong. They are easy choices. Do you stand with or against people moving into action against the Con Dems?
The Green Party’s Jenny Jones who is also a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority failed the test on the very first question. While it’s obviously daft to drop a fire extinguisher onto a moving crowd of friends and cops Paul O’Grady got it right by explaining that it should have been used to batter open the doors of Tory offices. Jenny Jones, who self identifies as being on the progressive wing of politics, on the other hand opted to issue a scabbing statement saying:
"In my 40 year experience of going to protests, the violent people aren’t real protestors at all. They are criminals who use the cover of a demo to do as much damage as they can. Real protestors want to make their point and get good headlines for their cause.”
That’s exactly the sort of quote that a class traitor would offer to the Daily Mail. (Note to self – write something about Aaron Porter.)
The party’s honour is saved by the Young Greens who rightly say:
“This is what you get when you condemn a whole generation to a lifetime of debt, unaffordable housing and a lack of decent jobs.”
They add:
“We fully support direct action, occupations and other activities that utilise sensible tactics to show the Government we will not accept higher fees, and we will not accept cuts to higher education funding.”
Just occasionally you end up obliged to support daft tactics as well but let’s not quibble. The point is that a fault line is going to start running through every trade union, students’ union, political party, Christmas party and football team as the struggle heats up. It’ll be around trivial stuff like vandalism but underneath it will be a choice about whether you’re on the side of the fighters or the capitulators. Jenny Jones won’t be the last to jump the wrong way. That’s exactly the sort of “leadership” that needs to be swept away by a new radical movement.
Liam redux 
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