"The Storming of the Bastille", by Jean-Pierre Houël.
According to the Times, Scotland Yard is expecting big trouble during the G20 summit, which is being held in London on 1-2 April.
The officer commanding the police response said that a hard core of protesters
was intent on storming buildings and provoking violence.
“Everything is up
for grabs. That is the aspiration, to get in and clog up these City
institutions as best they can,” Commander Bob Broadhurst, of the
Metropolitan Police, said.
“We are seeing unprecedented planning among
protest groups. Some of the groups of the late 90s are coming back to the
fore and there is a coming together of anarchists, anti-globalisation groups
and environmentalists. They are plotting and planning what they are going to
do and the picture is changing almost every minute. They have some very
clever people and their intention on April 1 is to stop the City.”
There's a palpable air of crisis to this story, a mood of circling the wagons, very 1789. It's hard to tell if this is for real - if the protests really do pose a danger to G20 politicians - or if this is a story manufactured by government PR, with the aim of providing cover for a massive crackdown.
Also interesting is how the Times chose to accept without question the police view, and play up the "violent disorder" angle. But there are other, deeper, angles to this story:
When I think about the times we are living through, two big questions grip me. Firstly, can our national and international institutions do what's needed to ward off economic and environmental crisis and collapse? Answer: probably not - the track record to date hasn't been flash, and our politicians seem to lack the skills, inclinations and imagination to tackle the problems.
And secondly, is this an epoch of transformation in the way we organize ourselves politically, economically, socially and in relation to the natural world? Answer: probably - and if so, what are the key areas of transformation, and how will change come about? Through violent upheavals, grassroots organization, re-invigoration of existing institutions, and new forms of networking and organizing - or all of the above?
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