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May Day March and Rally

May 04, 2013 10:30

Date Star-blue1 Published: May 02, 2013 12:16 by Ben |

Tagged as: cuts day history local_communities may repression work

Meet on Forest Rec Ground (Goose Fair) from 10.30, for march to move off shortly after 11. Rally at speakers corner when the march arrives there.

Places:

May Day march and rally, organised again this year by the Trades Council, and hopefully once again with lots of particiaption from rank and file trade unionists and others. A variety of speakers (which as last year has attracted some debate on indymedia!) and hopefully an outdoor rally this year (weather and army permitting - unless we can fight them both off? I'm up for trying.)

Comments

so...

Comment Published: May 02, 2013 14:34 by just wondering?

Will the authoritarian apologist for rape be speaking at the rally or not?

best way to deal with this?

Comment Published: May 03, 2013 19:07 by Ben

Have the signatories to the NIKpetition spoken to women SWP members about how we might best support them? Or is this just being used as another stick to beat the Trades Council with?

typo

Comment Published: May 03, 2013 19:09 by Ben

Typo: ignore letters NIK

@Ben

Comment Published: May 03, 2013 20:56 by Beating stick

You seem to be suggesting that it's inappropriate to challenge a public figure for his support of rape apology and think it would be better for it to be dealt with behind the scenes.

Fuck that. That never changed anything. This issue needs to be confronted head on.

by all means confront it...

Comment Published: May 03, 2013 21:34 by Ben

.... but just branding someone an "authoritarian apologist for rape" doesn't really do that. It just erects barriers to proper discussion and challenge.

I sincerely wish that there were more diverse and critical views like yours within the Trades Council - there certainly is lively debate already - but few of the critics on Indymedia seem willing to get involved. Come and confront it head on by all means!

The TC Women's Group (who are just getting going now - see their newsletter for Reclaim the Night, Nottingham Women's Conference, Matchwomens Strike Festival etc etc) would surely be a good place to air some of these issues too? Like how to deal with the Martin Smiths that pop up everywhere from time to time (and yes... possibly more often - and less well dealt with - in organisations where power is concentrated and hierarchical).

But no, once again it seems easier for people to criticise and dictate from outside. The first I heard that any of the anarchists in Nottingham cared about what was going on in the SWP was when once again there seems to be an attack on the Trades Council.

See you all tomorrow I hope anyway.