I was one of the lucky hundreds of thousands of protesters that took the streets of London during last weekend against the latest cuts that British Prime Minister Cameron announced recently. Thousands of union members, pensioners, youngsters and workers decided to shout loudly against an austerity package, that could take away their dignity, just like it did in Ireland, in Greece, in Italy and Portugal recently.
Unemployment is rising rapidly in the UK and whoever decides to go to university goes into debt for the rest of his life. NHS is going private, while 1 out of 4 women can't afford to retire anymore, as their pensions are so small, that they would not be able to survive with such a small income. As a result they work well in their 70's...
The most interesting thing that happened during the rally on Saturday (October 20th 2012) was that thousands of protesters broke away from it. Various divisions of the police were trying to avoid the inevitable, aiming to control the most courageous demonstrators from taking the struggle 1 step further. The loyal dogs of the system wanted to control the Occupy, the Anonymous and the anarchist protesters, but fortunately they failed.
The demonstrators managed to create a colourful chaos at the centre of capitalistic London. Playing the drums and dancing to music, they created traffic jams on Oxford Street and Regent Street, as tourists were looking at them, not knowing how to react.
But then the most awkward thing happened: Protesters - who were constantly followed closely by the police - were attempting to storm several multinational companies, that have found their way out of paying billions of pounds in taxes such as TOPSHOP, Vodafone, Starbucks, McDonald's, Primark and Boots. Fortunately many times the brave protesters succeeded to enter these shops, shouting "Pay your taxes" and then leaving.
The Police though, instead of helping the tax payer against the multinational tax thieves, or even letting the demonstrators go in their shops, do their little protest and leave, they were attempting to block the entrances of this shops , like nightclub bouncers ahead of the demonstrators'... "invasions" . By unsuccesfully attempting to kettle the demonstrators, provoking them, arresting them without any reason, terrorising them and beating members of the press up, the loyal dogs of the state wanted to break the moral of the people, but I am sure they did not succeed. After all this it is quite clear to everyone now that the UK Police is not on the side of the people.
The truth is that the police on Saturday was supporting a bankrupt social system, which is in a coma. For too many years Britain has lost its moral and its morals, all in the name of consumerism and capitalism. Harrods was the symbol of fake prosperity of the world, and all the pseudo elegant and posh people had to do their shopping there, as well as in Oxford Street.
Now that all the world had admitted that praising the markets brought us into this mess, the common people cannot be convinced that it was all their fault, and that they have to be punished for it, by having their income and benefits slashed. The greatest challenge is to convince the British people that a revolution of values needs to take place. I know it is hard, as the people of Britain have never had a proper rebellion even, but we have to build it up.
Whether it is going to be a new party that will support the public sector, the welfare state, the workers and a new decent lifestyle for everyone against the City and the multinationals, or whether it is going to be an armed struggle, the true left powers of the island - and I don't mean Labour - need to fill that gap, and they need to do it fast. Otherwise, the fascist BNP and EDL will grow with their agenda of hate, and then there is a threat of Great Britain decaying to the dark ages...
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