Repression of British students presages explosive class struggles

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Repression of British students presages explosive class struggles
22 November 2010

The witch-hunt and arrest of student protestors accused of involvement in the
occupation of the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank Towers, London on
November 10 must serve as a warning to all working people.

The 55,000-strong demonstration against education cuts and a potential trebling
of tuition fees saw minor acts of vandalism that are now being portrayed as a
mortal threat to civil order. Absurd claims are being made that the police “lost
control” of the capital’s streets, with the aim of rushing through repressive
measures. Initial reports suggested that a handful of police had received minor
injuries in the course of the occupation, but this figure was subsequently
inflated to over 40.

The media and the police have whipped up a frenzied atmosphere, centred on the
one potentially serious incident, when a fire extinguisher was thrown from the
roof of Millbank Towers. Accounts have changed repeatedly, but there is no
evidence that anyone was injured.

Despite this, Police Federation Chair Paul McKeever called for the individual
involved to be charged with attempted murder. A 23-year-old student was
initially arrested and released before an A-Level student handed himself in.
Edward Woollard is just 18 and faces charges of violent disorder and a possible
five-year prison sentence.

So far, at least 61 people have been arrested over the Millbank incident,
including 12 youths who are under 18. The police trawl is being widened to
include any individual who was in the vicinity of the protest. The media has
published CCTV photographs of alleged offenders, calling for them to be turned
in for prosecution.

The purpose of this hysteria is to provide a rationale for the police taking a
no-holds barred approach to future protests. An unnamed senior police figure
told the Observer that the student protest would help end criticism of the
police “for being too provocative,” particularly after police violence at the
G20 demonstration last year resulted in the death of newspaper vendor Ian
Tomlinson. He gloated that “during the next demo no one can say a word,” against
police actions.

Daily Telegraph columnist Matthew D’Ancona gave vent to the authoritarian
impulses now gathering momentum, declaring, “I suspect most viewers will have
seen the rioters as spoilt brats who would benefit from a bit of waterboarding.”

D’Ancona’s vile sentiment is not so far removed from reality. The Observer has
revealed that defence firms have been working with the UK armed forces and the
police on a “militarisation” strategy to counter civil disorder. Police officers
are to receive SAS-style training in the use of heavy weaponry. The government
has placed orders for armoured vehicles, more surveillance equipment and body
scanners, and there are plans for the introduction of unmanned spy drones in UK
airspace to provide intelligence on future demonstrations.

Last week, in a further attack on civil liberties, the Metropolitan Police’s
public order CO11 branch forced the Fitwatch web site to close. The site had
been giving advice to students threatened with arrest for their involvement in
the Millbank occupation. Fitwatch was set up in 2007 in opposition to the
provocative close-up filming tactics used by Forward Intelligence Teams during
demonstrations.

The Observer cited police sources that have been involved in the monitoring of
left-wing groups and claim to have identified an increase in “politically
motivated disorder.” The newspaper listed a plethora of covert spying
institutions that most people will never have heard of.

The office of the “National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE)” was
“feeding information” to Scotland Yard’s “National Public Order Intelligence
Unit,” which “in turn works closely with the Confidential Intelligence Unit that
monitors political groups throughout the UK.”

The Labour government created the National Public Order Intelligence Unit in
1999. That same year, the Association of Chief Police Officers created the
Confidential Intelligence Unit. Together they have built up huge databases on
various left-wing political groups.

The incident at Millbank is being used as a pretext to implement measures
prepared over a long period by the state to counter the growing threat of
working class resistance to austerity measures and the resurgence of
revolutionary socialist ideas.

The student protest showed how real this danger is for the powers-that-be. Not
only did it involve academics, staff and university students, but it also
mobilised many working class youth in further education colleges. Almost all of
those arrested are between 18 and 24—the very age group that has borne the brunt
of the economic crisis, with high levels of unemployment.

Commenting on the protest, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation,
Peter Smyth, stated that the UK is heading towards a “winter of protest.” “If
the British are not going to protest now, they are never going to do it,” he
said. More serious disturbances would occur, he added, saying, “It’s inevitable.”

It is not the student protestors that should be prosecuted. The £85 billion-plus
austerity measures being imposed by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government
are a crime against society. They will devastate the lives of millions of
working people and destroy the futures of the younger generation. While jobs,
education, health and vital social provisions are being destroyed, billions
continue to be handed over to the banks and the super-rich continue to reap
enormous bonuses.

The ruling elite have already ensured that the legitimate anger of working
people can find no means of political expression within the parliamentary
framework. All the official parties are the political representatives of
financial oligarchy and are agreed that working people must foot the bill. Now,
like their counterparts across Europe and internationally, Britain’s ruling
elite is intent on criminalising every extra-parliamentary form of opposition to
their class war agenda.

This situation points to the major political problem confronting workers and
young people as they seek to develop resistance to these measures. Nowhere do
working people have a political party that represents their class interests
against those of big business and the global financial elite.

The National Union of Students’ siding with the media witch-hunt in condemning
the student protestors only underscores the perfidious role being played by all
of the organisations allied to the trade unions. The Trades Union Congress
speaks vaguely of a plan to organise a demonstration sometime next year.
Meanwhile, trade unions in both the public and private sector are helping to
impose wage freezes, pay cuts, “rationalisation” and layoffs. To the extent that
they make any nod towards the broad-based anger, it is to advise the government
that it must “draw some conclusions” and “change its mind.”

This is wilful deceit. Faced with a systemic crisis of the capitalist profit
system, the bourgeoisie intends to destroy all the social gains won by working
people. To do so, it must resort to violence and repression. Against this,
workers and youth in Britain and internationally face a struggle for political
power against the big business parties and the repressive forces of the state,
which necessitates the formation of workers’ governments pledged to socialist
policies.

Zach Reed

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/pers-n22.shtml

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