Price Reduction Campaign

This was a step back from the immediate form that it was going to take in the sense that we orginally planned to make an action of negotiated Price Reduction before XMAS, this will in on JANUARY 10th. We felt that we need to make the case FIRST and learn from the issues/responses/desires of other people - so in a way it will be asking people what they feel about food prices, what they feel about the campaign..etc.

In parallel to this we have set up a team of negotiators that will be the contact between the campaign and the store manager. An open letter will be drafted by the communications group, which will form the basis of the politics of the campaign, and will be sent to the Hackney Gazzette. We wanted the negotiations to be transparent and involve people, so we will make a point of publishing responses.

This event/action is aimed at moving beyond protesting against the economic crisis to actively sparking the imagination of what forms of struggles people can take to influence it for their own benefit. This is not a one off stunt, it is part of a wider mobilisation of antagonism that is occuring, and will increase when bosses annouce huge lay-offs at the end of January, and aims to also support proposals for occupations of empty housing, demonstrations at the HQ of utility companies and any formations of working class oppositions that occur whether as strike actions, anti-debt and anti-repossesion support groups.

We are asking comrades and groups to support this initiative and get involved in mobilising people for it. It would be good if othr price reduction initiatives round the country could aim for January 10th as a date for similar action to get thatsense of momentum developing.

more at  http://ianbone.wordpress.com/

Meanwhile in South Yorkshire

R. Hood

Under starry skies

Barnsdale

Sisters, Brothers, commoners all,

Gentle folk of Barnsdale and beyond, I am sure you know only too well that there are some dark times ahead. The cost of living continues to rise; millions face unemployment; pensioners will die this winter as they attempt to make what little money they have stretch just a tiny bit further; child poverty increases as taxpayers money is given to ‘help’ the banks, tens of thousands of people have already lost their homes to those same greedy bankers and tens of thousands more shall be made homeless very soon; there are food riots across the world as the rich put corn into their cars instead of the mouths of the hungry; supermarkets reduce the price of tomato ketchup to pretend that they’re doing you a favour whilst they continue to make a £90-per-second profit; the government tells YOU to tighten your belt while THEY spend billions (of YOUR money) on an illegal war (not that they’ll spend that money on equipment that will save the life of a mother’s son); carers work themselves into illness as hospices are forced to close due to lack of funding; And as this list of obscenities steadily grows, my old friends - the taxman, the sheriff, the magistrate and the bailiff – smile contentedly as they count their ill-gotten gains.

During a previous dark age a commoner (the myth that he was a ‘Sir’ was added much later when the aristocracy wanted to paint themselves in a better light – but don’t believe the hype, the rich have never helped the common man and they never will) from Barnsdale (South Yorkshire) grew so tired of the injustice of the rich constantly robbing the poor that he drew together a company of brave men and women (the fact that the original poems hold women in high regard is another fact hidden by later propaganda) whose actions would turn the tables on the powerful and the corrupt. There’s little need to retell that tale here; for so noble were their deeds that they have passed into legend. But injustice is still with us and so - even though they may wear the guise of ‘corporation’, ‘politician’, ‘bureaucrat’ or ‘shareholder’ - are the robber barons. And it would seem, as things go from bad to worse, that it’s time to get the band back together.

Anti Poverty Action (APA) will be an umbrella group whose name pretty much says it all. To be more specific we shall carry out ‘Direct’ and ‘Indirect’ actions designed to highlight and counter the effects of state induced impoverishment. APA will act as a ‘banner’ under which various independent/autonomous groups or individuals around the country can act with anonymity; this will afford a degree of personal protection similar to that of the Animal Liberation Front (love them or hate them their modus operandi has been a constant bug bear for the centralised state and has stopped the ALF becoming just another ‘please-give-us-just-£3-a-month’ charity).

Direct Action will be undertaken by the ‘Robin Hoodies’ (though independent groups might want to use another moniker, something like ‘The Chavaliers’, the ‘New Improved Model Army’ or the ‘Tollpuddlers’. The Robin Hoodies are simply a posse of green hoodie wearing activists who will target all those who profit from other people’s suffering – from banks to supermarkets; energy companies to bailiffs. These will be high profile, imaginative acts to grab people’s attention (something akin to the original Fathers-4-Justice campaigns). The media shouldn’t be courted for our own sake, but rather to raise the profile of our ‘Indirect’ actions. There are several events currently being planned for various locations in South Yorkshire; partly due to the Robin Hood/Barnsdale connection, but also because 2009 will see the 25th Anniversary of the Miner’s Strike and South Yorkshire has some old scores to settle.

In conjunction with the more high profile direct actions we must also conduct activities designed to help people counter some of the effects of an economic downturn. We can set up groups similar to the ‘Claimants’ Unions’ who can give advice with regard benefits and the law as well as be able to offer physical back-up against bailiffs, etc. This can be combined with the development of an APA website to further distribute essential information. This information should be productive as well as defensive; i.e. we can talk about allotments and community based solutions to impoverishment - there are free/low-cost solutions available for every aspect of modern life; in fact, with the right knowledge, you can begin to live very comfortably by buying less. Using the principles of upcycling we can offer everything from computers to passive solar heating - all made from waste materials. The network of existing Social Centres should come into their own; rather than the usual – and somewhat tedious – hedonist parties we should try to create more family friendly activities; open source media labs can easily be adapted to provide free ICT training and equipment (for anyone, not just the impoverished - The ‘Impoverished’ is a more agreeable term than the ‘Poor’ as it better describes the fact that people are made - and kept - poor by outside forces).

Anyone with heart enough for the job can find out more by contacting

 http://barnsdale.wordpress.com/

underclassrising.net are active in the PRICE REDUCTION CAMPAIGN

At this moment in time we like to go under the name of underclassrising.net who are a mixed bunch, between us we represent most of the various ‘flavours’ of anarchism; class war, anarcho-syndicalists, eco-anarchists, marxist- autonomists, stirnerites, tolstoyans, mutual-aiders, punks, etc. we meet for drinks, parties, walks, discussion (OK, fights) and activism on a (sometimes) regular basis.We don’t think that a website is ever going to change the world and we’d encourage anyone living in South Yorkshire to get off their arse and get physically involved in anarchist politics.send us an email wordwarfreeatrisedotnet for more,otherwise we will see you on the streets.