How we got to here
A front page article in Freedom a few months back stated that we are living through a unique set of social conditions. Add to that strange and turbulent times and it gives a fair indication of the last six months as editors of Freedom newspaper. Both of us were literally thrown into the role, unexpectedly and certainly unprepared, and, given that neither of us have a journalistic background and have limited writings skills, it has been a steep learning curve – and one that’s still on an upward trajectory. What we do have is over 30 years experience between us as active participants in the anarchist movement, and it’s this that we draw on in writing, editing and developing Freedom as a paper.
The accusation by one of our more senior and charismatic anarchist comrades that Freedom was ‘an irrelevancy’ is a little unfair and perhaps a little true as well. For years the paper has been simply treading water. What Rob Ray, the last proper editor, brought was a desire to move beyond inward-looking personal viewpoints and brought a certain journalistic standard, one that we hope to maintain, and one I am personally grateful for. The paper will not become an insular private club or a mouthpiece for airing our personal grievances and petty disagreements – if it does we know we would have failed.
As part of the Freedom Collective we are looking at this as a bigger long-term proposition. The need for the anarchist movement to be more visible, more accessible, more involved and more relevant is at the forefront of our thinking. As such we hope the paper, the bookshop and publishing become a necessary and vital part of the movement’s infrastructure and a means by which we can usefully express and communicate anarchist ideas to a greater number of people.
Freedom Bookshop
Previously the bookshop was hidden in a small damp and dusty room on the first floor of the building. When Andy began managing the shop some two years ago it was with the intention to create both a self-sustaining commercial enterprise and a proper environment for anarchists to feel at home in (essentially drag the place into the 21st century). To this end the shop has exceeded all expectations. Already it has become an active social space and hub for London anarchists to meet, where the federations hold their meetings and all manner of groups and campaigns put on events. Along with LARC across the road, it forms a pivotal role in creating a visible anarchist presence in London. The shop itself is now bright, airy and accessible – we serve coffee and there are chairs and a table for people to sit and read. Come the summer we will be having chairs and tables outside and we are in the process of extending the building to include a downstairs kitchen and toilet.
The role of the shop has become:
- a welcoming place for people curious about anarchism to come and find out more, and hopefully get involved;
- a radical social and political centre;
- the first port of call for anarchists outside the capital, and from across Europe and the world to find out what’s happening here.
Freedom newspaper
The ultimate ambition for the paper is for it to become an anarchist movement paper. Given the anarchist mindset and the troubles besetting Black Flag this may well be beyond our reach. It does however give us a clear aim and a desire to build a genuine anarchist movement that Freedom can be a part of, represent and promote. The politics of the paper I think reflects our political and social backgrounds. From a personal perspective I want a paper that ordinary working class people – my family, the people I grew up with, the people I work with, to feel comfortable reading, and for anarchists to feel it goes some way to promote a credible anarchist identity. The sentiment ‘grown up politics for pissed off people’ is something to aspire to. The paper also now has a functioning internet presence where limited news articles will be posted up, but we remain committed to producing the hard copy every two weeks.
Freedom publishing
We continue to print anarchist classics that would otherwise get lost amongst the fuzz and distortion of the internet age. We are in the process of reprinting the classic Tintin comic book Breaking Free. A worthy addition to next year’s Christmas list!
Goodbye noughties
Time for us to take a retrospective look at the decade. In December 1999 things were looking up for libertarian politics. The upsurge of protests from the campaign against the Criminal Justice Act in 1994 had intertwined with more traditional anarchist strands to forge a genuine alternative to the perceived triumph of liberal democracy. The collapse of the Soviet Block had not only discredited Stalinism but undermined the 57 varieties of Leninism as well. New Labour had proved to be much the same as Old Tories. With Parliamentary and Authoritarian Socialism written off maybe people would fancy the libertarian kind.
What went wrong with anti-capitalism.
The power of the forces of reaction to recuperate opposition is well known, but it reached new heights with anti-capitalism. Most shocking was not that the ruling class was able to convince the masses that capitalism was just one aspect of modern society rather than it’s ruling ideology but that this concept pervades deeply into the politically active radical scene. While the ’90s saw a gradual convergence of single issue campaigns into a united attack on capitalism as a whole, the noughties have seen the opposite. A fracturing of campaigns many losing touch with the reality of class exploitation leading to a shopping list of oppressions competing for activists.
The war against terror
No apologies for using the proper acronym because 9/11’s after effects dominated the decade and twatted the revolutionary project good and proper. It is a coincidence that the last appearance of the wombles as a padded block was at the DSEi arms fair on 11th September 2001, but very symbolic. The unwillingness of the movement to adopt collective self-defence on demos ensured the success of kettling as a tactic and allowed the surveillance tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams to first marginalise and then render powerless those willing to resist police
Defeat on the street
After the J18 Carnival against Capitalism in 1999 there was an inquiry into the policing of the event. Older readers will remember that after the Poll Tax riot of 1990 there was an inquiry, and even older readers will remember that after the Brixton Riots there was an inquiry. So it comes as no surprise that after the G20 there have been all manner of inquiries. Unfortunately there is one big difference. All the previous inquiries were about why the cops got a kicking, whereas this time it’s the protestors whinging about police violence.
Rioting is the icing on the cake of working class power. For those of us in the marzipan of the politically active proletariat, the noughties are an object lesson in how neglect of the stodgy cake of industrial and community organisation has led to the icing flaking off and the inspiration of the almond paste drying up.
Climate confusion
Anarchists have been harping on about the environment since the days of Kropotkin. This decade has seen unprecedented interest in green issues and global warming in particular. Sadly, rather than reinforcing the need to get rid of capitalism and replace it with something nicer, we now have a growing authoritarian trend which is calling for state repression of the working class to avert climate change. We badly need to reforge the alliance between libertarian politics and class consciousness if the planet is to be truly saved. What we need is the unity shown in Doctor Who: the Green Death where ex-miners and a hippy commune combine to defeat the dangerous pollution of global chemicals.
Green shoots, or Red and Black ones.
No prizes for guessing Freedom’s prescription for the next decade: the need to build a solid base of industrial and community organisation; showing that class struggle is the solution to climate change not an alternative; taking a professional approach to street action; ensuring effective opposition to fascist and police violence – and having an exciting paper to spread the word. All so simple, but the simplest thing can be the most difficult.
