(en) Ireland, wsm.ie: The most successful G8 in Northern Ireland ever? + Capitalist Smoke Screen and Mirrors

At the post G8 press conference, PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot claimed the G8 summit in 
Enniskillen was the 'most peaceful and stable' in its history. The G8 gangsters may have 
left dazzled and wined by our local political class but beneath the media spin and 
smokescreen lies the ugly reality of a new Northern Ireland of one rule for the rich and 
powerful while the rest of us must accept our place in the ladder or face the 
consequences. We only need to look no further than the selective internment of Marion 
Price and others. ---- Over the last couple of days we have witnessed an temporary police 
state in action and a template for managing similar events in the future. An 
unprecedented security operation and lockdown with up to 8,000 armed thugs, drones and 
watchtowers, widespread stop and search, 'fastracked' courts- all the trappings of state 
violence on display to preserve and uphold the interests of wealth and privilege. If 
anything only confirming why anarchists have no illusion in the state and its primary role 
in society!

All geared to supporting a carefully choreographed pageantry locked behind fort Knox 
subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of at least 50 million pounds. Money which could
have been better spent on alleviating poverty, mass unemployment and invested in our 
schools and hospitals but this has and will never be the priority of our ruling class. 
Opening the North up for business, eliminating any dissent and cosying up to the dealers 
of austerity and state terror will never deliver any long term benefits to the people of 
Enniskillen or elsewhere; except more of the same in the form of increasing poverty, 
declining wages and working conditions and benefit cuts.

As the journalist and writer Larrie Penny noted, 'It is also about pomp and show. It?s a 
pageant of neoliberal capitalism functioning whether local residents like it or not. That 
sort of pageantry requires the suppression of dissent, especially in a political climate 
where the elite's only answer to a drop in living standards and a collapse of faith in 
democracy is to line up an epic number of police with water cannons and tear gas.' (1)

As the system and the G8 unravels before us, the rich and bankers have never had it so 
good while more and more workers become permanently displaced; income and wealth 
inequality widens; and the ecological catastrophe threatens the continued existence of the 
planet as we know it. The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we channel this 
anger and disillusionment towards building an effective mass movement that will shake the 
foundations of this rotton status-quo, what tools do we use and what change do we really 
want? How can we make the greatest impact at the coalface in our communities and workplaces??

US President Barrack Obama sensationalised speech may have dazzled a mainly young audience 
and media at the Waterfront Hall with a Mexican wave and sound bites but beyond the smoke 
and mirrors is a speech delivered with drones based on absolute waffle and fiction that
would make Joseph Goebells proud.

The reality is that the cracks cannot be easily covered up in the ?New Northern Ireland.? 
With sectarian conflict institutionalised and always ready to explode at any moment along 
with the decimation of the manufacturing sector, the highest level of unemployment and 
poverty in the UK provides a lethal cocktail. A new confident labour movement must fill
this vacuum in a non- sectarian manner which is not afraid to challenge state repression 
and imperialism.

So Matt Baggot wasn't far wrong that this was the most successful G8 conference ever in
terms of the peaceful, tranquil image it promoted to outside investors and vultures but
who could of predicted any other outcome other than clashes with the police and an 'armed 
action'. Especially against a weak and divided opposition that posed no real challenge to 
its smooth running in comparison to previous summits and went out of its way to warn off 
any 'trouble makers'. The strategic location of the conference and massive security 
operation supported by a media propaganda offensive and scaremongering may have helped to 
marginalise any disruption.

The reality is our local ruling class was easily able to diffuse any confrontation by 
confining any opposition within official, typically legalistic channels with the 
compliance of sections of the reformist left who have no intention of rocking the boat or 
the harmless straightjacket of what the state considers as legitimate or illegitimate protest.

Indeed any attempt to move outside the box was swiftly repressed as in the case of 30 
protestors from the republican group RNU who attempted to reach Waterfront Hall on Monday 
morning during the Obama speech only to be met with overwhelming force beside Belfast City 
Hall. The ?dissident republican threat? turned out to be an empty gesture highlighting 
its relative containment with the exception of small protests and sporadic armed attacks 
which amount to merely armed propaganda rather than in real threat to the status-quo.

There was a brief ?action? that strayed from the boring ritual of marching from A- B, or a 
possible police gesture to justify its overtime and massive show of strength, whenever a 
tiny section of the security fencing was breached on Monday evening but this was nothing 
in comparison to the last G8 held in Scotland where a several hundred strong Black Block 
fought running battles with the police and managed to block the main highway for several 
hours leading to Gleneagles.

In searching for answers we should not overlook the distinctive weakness and 
marginalisation of the left and anarchist movement including republicanism; and an 
inexperienced ?anti-capitalist? movement in Ireland, in terms of its lack of 
infrastructure and social base that can mobilise tens of thousands of working class 
people. It was thin on the ground and unable to capitalise on growing anger and 
disillusionment which tends to express itself in a sectarian and reactive fashion such as 
the flag protests from earlier this year.

This is despite sections of the left and mainstream union movement spending a lot of time, 
effort and resources into building a mass rally in Belfast city centre last Saturday and 
promising up to 20,000 people to lobby our leaders and demand action over climate change, 
poverty and hunger the attendance was very poor.

Despite another draft of empty promises these demands in the end are met with the usual
blind indifference that also allows opportunist politicians and patronising celebrities
such as Bono to jump on the bandwagon. It is not just a matter making ?demands,? or of 
this injustice or that unfairness ? it is the whole system that is rotten to its core. 
Poverty, war, racism, sexism and all the rest of the problems we face are not exceptions 
to the rule or single issues ? they are the rule.

Capitalism cannot exist without the state creating poverty, without fighting wars, without 
oppressing people because of their race or gender and upholding class privilege. Therefore 
if we want to win, we need to recognise that being right and moral isn?t enough. 
Unfortunately, our society is not a debating chamber where everyone is given an equal 
voice, and the decisions that affect our lives are not taken on moral grounds. If you have 
not realised already our rulers don?t care about doing right by us. What they care about 
is power and wealth, and supporting the interests they represent.


To some extent this lack of opposition marks the end of an era of 'summit hopping' and 
massive militant demonstrations that accompanied previous G8 events. This to some degree 
can be viewed in a positive light; in terms of the marginalizing path of protest 
mobilisation, focusing energy preparing for short term actions and moving from 
demonstration to demonstration instead of a long term vision and strategy. But anarchism, 
can be, and must develop infrastructures and culture of resistance in workplaces and 
communities fostering a libertarian culture of self organisation, mutual aid and mass 
direct action.

While the continuing squabling by rival powers over the conflict in Syria dominated 
proceedings, these summits are a spectacle where our global and local ruling class sets
the agenda; it is important to link day to day struggles against the water charges, public 
sector cuts etc to the wider neo liberal agenda the G8 symbolises.

Class oppression maintained by the capitalist system is not simply a small cabal of the
ultra-rich in Wall Street or Washington or small elite group of G8 leaders. It is 
reproduced in every workplace, every police station, every dole queue, every courtroom,
every prison and every territory occupied by Western militaries, and can only be sensibly 
understood and confronted as such. This system is global capitalism backed by the armed
force of the state, a pattern of economic and political exploitation that reaches into 
every aspect of our lives.

We should be under no illusions. We are at a crossroads and the choice is stark. Either we 
the working class acts as a class and wrests power from the capitalist class or economic 
stability will be restored by state repression, dismantling social services, cuts to 
benefits and slashing wages and conditions. The current crisis cannot be transcended 
through half measures and limited reforms or by voting in a new set of politicians no 
matter how 'revolutionary'. We need to think in bold terms, to view our commitment to 
building a new society as an immediate strategic priority, not as a goal for some vaguely 
defined future.

The only solution is in one where we realise our own class power, we can finally take 
control of our lives, our communities and workplaces? free from exploitation, alienation 
and oppression. This future, a libertarian communist one, is truly a future worth fighting 
for.

1)
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/06/g8-comes-new-northern-ireland-place-where-no-dissent-will-be-tolerated

WORDS: Sean Matthews

Fermanagh G8: Capitalist Smoke Screen and Mirrors

Monday's Anti-G8 march and rally through Enniskillen should undoubtedly be viewed as a 
huge success by everyone who attended it. Giving the fact of how the media, both the press 
and television, has played a full role in subjecting the population to weeks of 
sensationalist scare stories, it was a surprise that anyone even left their homes on 
Monday as the G8 leaders flew into Fortress Fermanagh.

Of course we have come to expect this as previous summits have staged similar scare 
stories. There was no end to the wild accusations, supposedly there had been thousands of 
?anarchist extremists? hell-bent on causing violence on the day however this can only be 
viewed as part and parcel of the state sponsored hysteria programme. Choreographed 
Government spin in their attempt to justify the millions spent in what has been one of the 
largest ever security operations the state has undertaken here.

A jovial PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot wasn't long in getting front of the cameras just 
as the six-mile security fence, that encircled the Lough Erne resort, was being dismantled 
to proclaim that the G8 summit in Enniskillen was "the most peaceful and secure" in 
history. Policing the entire two-day circus has been estimated to have cost ?60 million
which included a deployment of four thousand seven hundred PSNI officers, along with 3,600 
from other UK forces, not to mention sixteen judges put on stand-by and the construction 
of a temporary 'custody centre' to deal with up to 260 possible prisoners. Clearly 
designed to further intimate anyone planning on traveling to protest and voice their 
opposition to the representatives of big business and imperialism.

On the day, for those who did manage to travel to Enniskillen, by coach, car or by boat
were stopped on entering the 'militarised zone' by teams of 'Police Laison' officers who 
handed out information flyers declaring protesters should 'Stay Safe - Stay Peaceful - 
Stay Lawful'. In all, it is thought that several thousand people mobilsed successfully to 
show their opposition to the summit from all corners of the country, which included trade 
unionists, environmental and anti-capitalist activists who formed part of the main 
contingent raising issues from Anti-Fracking, to workers rights and world hunger.

At the Lough Erne resort to hear a number of speeches celebrated what was a positive and 
successful march and rally, with Irish anarchist organisations from the Workers Solidarity 
Movement and the Belfast Solidarity Federation making up the anarchist contingent who 
condemned the entire G8 farce and the hysterical smoke screen thrown up around any 
opposition to it wasting millions on security alone while millions around the world 
continue to face the hardship of mass unemployment, poverty and hunger, war and 
environmental destruction.

WORDS: Sean Dubh