UK: "RED" Ken: Stay Away On May Day

["James Tait" <red-rebel@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stay away on May Day - Mayor

by Mayor Ken Livingstone
VOTE: will you take part?



  Ken Livingstone: 'Avoid the May Day Monopoly protest'
  ======================================

On 1 May this year, a demonstration will take place in London calling for
the cancellation of Third World debt and the eradication of poverty; a stop
to the privatisation of the Tube; and an end to environmental pollution.

I support all those objectives and so do many others. I therefore want to
explain clearly why all Londoners should not go on this demonstration.

The right to peacefully protest is one of the most important we possess.
Many millions of people gave their lives in war to defend it, others
suffered persecution to achieve it. If there were an attempt to limit this
right then Londoners, and the police, know that I would be one of the first
to defend it.

But on 1 May we are faced not with an attempt to exercise the peaceful right
to protest but by a deliberate attempt by small groups of people to promote
violence and destruction of property in London. Furthermore this violence is
central to the objectives of those organising this action. There is a
procedure for all those who wish to organise peaceful protests. It is to
contact the police and work out all the details of the demonstration as
early as possible.

The Metropolitan Police has long experience of such activity and an ability
to handle crowds of up to hundreds of thousands of people. This was known to
the Anti-Apartheid Movement, CND, the campaign against the Industrial
Relations Act and many others whose protests peacefully influenced British
policy and history.

Those organising the "MayDay Monopoly" protests on 1 May have deliberately
chosen an entirely different course. They have intentionally refused any
contact with the police. Rather than trying to minimise the possibility of
violence or disorder on May Day this is clearly an attempt to maximise it.
Equally clear is the image chosen by these organisers to project on the
internet and elsewhere - masks and uniforms of boiler suits padded to
protect them from the police.

Apart from a tiny handful of Londoners who came from dictatorial regimes,
who must protect themselves from dangers to their lives if they exercise
their right to protest, there is no excuse whatever for anyone to appear on
demonstrations concealing their identity. If they are urged to do so it is
because those calling for it wish to commit illegal actions and conceal
themselves from the police.


  'Don't be fooled. What is planned by May Day Monopoly on 1 May is not a
peaceful protest that may go wrong' - Ken Livingstone


The stickers produced to be used in Piccadilly Circus with the slogan
"revolutionise your consumer rights - take the lot" are clearly aimed at
smashing in shop fronts, as are the parts of the May Day Monopoly website
which lists specific commercial targets in the West End. The hostility of
the Monopoly organisers to the organised labour movement implies that they
are likely to be equally indifferent to the concerns of shop workers about
the targeting of their workplaces.

These facts make it totally clear that the promotion of violence and
destruction of property is a deliberate and central aim of those organising
this action. While presenting themselves as speaking for the majority, these
methods are an expression of manipulation and elitism. The extent to which
members of the public are asked to participate is on the terms of the
organisers. It means that those who turn up wanting to protest peacefully
end up as protecting fodder for those who have planned their violent
actions. It is the innocent who are often caught unprepared in
confrontations with the police. If the protesters' objectives are so benign
and democratic they do not need to hide behind anonymity.

Finally, in addition to the basic right of all Londoners to go about their
lives without intimidation, those who organise this activity act against the
interests of the causes they claim to represent. Support for cancelling
Third World debt, of banning non-medical animal experiments, protecting the
environment and fighting poverty will be weakened, not aided, by pictures of
damaged people or property after the demonstrations.

Quite apart from the actual illegality of what is proposed, the disruption
that is intended and the intimidation that many innocent people will
experience, the aim is to carry out individual acts of violence whose main
impact will be to alienate the vast majority.

I know from my own experience last year that these protests are a tool
against those who support peaceful protest or oppose Third World debt.
Regardless of my frequently stated opposition to the protests, The Sun
announced that "a vote for Ken is a vote for them", next to a picture of a
defaced Winston Churchill statue.

I have met the Commissioner of the Police for a full briefing on the planned
May Day events. I have asked him to ensure London is safe on May Day. Anyone
whose intention it is to engage in criminal activities should be arrested
and charged. In particular, within the law, I would hope that attention will
be paid, even before any trouble starts, to those attempting to conceal
their identity.

While operational policing is under the Commissioner's control, and not
mine, I would like to give the clearest possible political message to
ordinary Londoners. Don't be fooled. What is planned by May Day Monopoly on
1 May is not a peaceful protest that may go wrong. It is a deliberate
attempt to create destruction in the capital. There is no way to share some
of the aims of this demonstration and participate in it without furthering
the aims of the violent people who are at its core.

People wishing to find out about peaceful demonstrations should contact
their local police station.

I urge all Londoners to stay away from the May Day Monopoly protest on 1
May.

VOTE: will you take part?


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© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 24 April 2001
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