Reform or Revolution

July 2009 | | Send to a friend

Five hours is a long time. Especially when it rains. Observation time. Time for reflection. There is no euphoria during the five cold, wet hours - they simply must be endured. With iron will and a firm belief in a fairer society, a better world. To begin, just at twelve noon, under the umbrella of a café in Ekstrablat Bokenhaymer Warth collide demonstrators and police. All the rain we would say a prankster. But in this day jokes do not go. The demonstration is extremely serious. Missing only beer. Finally, on Ryomerberg (central square in Frankfurt), shortly before five in the afternoon, the pavement has rolled plastic cups of beer and other kasnokapitalisticheskoto miracle of coffee-to-go, along with leaflets, which are printed as emotion and protest . Almost every Union and club organization and party printed its own proclamation (handing is even "utopian" edition of "Die Zeit"). Only anarchists look over the horizon and call: "Workers leave work, come to the demonstration." Construction of the fourth floor of a new administrative building waving cheerfully. How they respond to the requirement of the revolutionary party of the Left (ten euro minimum wage, 40-hour working week) is not transmitted in the press.
Almost everyone in Germany who left sectors has a name or abbreviation, supports this demonstration - trade unions, organizations for environmental protection and development, immigrants, social initiatives and Christian groups. There is a guard of honor and duty retrograde, who steadfastly Tote shabby gallery semiprofile and beards of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
It is noteworthy that no green. Apparently in the eyes of critical citizens belong to a bunch of parliamentary leadership. And since the left are represented, could speak of a new extra-parliamentary opposition. Given the many red flags are divorced, which the letters K, M and L in different sequence dominate, it would be difficult not to think of "Life of Brian" by Monty Python, in the immortal words of the great President of the Palestine National Front "The only people we hate more than the Romans are those of the other Popular Front of Palestine." Many small groups stand to each other and pretend not to notice. The idea of ​​a broad popular front again and again rises from the organizers - the later afternoon grizzled guitarist diligently presents one of the classics to the popular front - but the unity of the incompatible end-time is a dangerous illusion, and many people believed in it were punished by Stalin's henchmen with deaths. How little in common between the participants reflected in the slogan of the demonstration: "We will not pay for your crisis!" This or air pressure or a radical call for civil disobedience. But none of the speakers and none of the posters are not calling for a tax boycott to seize the assets of all financial speculators from citizens, to blockade the German Federal Bank. While chanting "We will not pay for your crisis!", Each of twenty thousand demonstrators to pay for private investments, pensions, insurance, savings any time lose its value. How, in this case to stop this financial bloodletting? The explanation ends with the organizers call "Pressure for continuous economic growth, competitiveness and profitability of the organization is opposed to the economic social and environmental objectives. We need alternatives to capitalism - will remain as it is now. " The compromise we can see clearly behind this phrase. Is a weak little voice of the resolution, which ends with the words "will remain as it is now." Of course, the caravan goes on. Barricades of 1848, 1918 and 1968 will tremble.
Republican tradition of protest and rebellion again omaskaren from the daily routine of the demonstrations in Frankfurt. "Jump you fuckers" (Jump, bastards!) Wrote a young man of gray cardboard. These are anarchists shouted in 1929 to Wall Street banks and are rapidly applause when bankers (led once more by shame and humiliation, unlike today) were deposited the windows. The story told me that Gene T. - one of those demonstrators who wear a backpack with memories and compare contemporary with the past. Jin was a sympathizer of squatting is a free spirit, who like many other radical liberal people, sees an opportunity to "lands" the ideals of their youth. To walk with him around Frankfurt is to study the topography of the protest. Soon after the procession began to move, go along "blocks" - that once were four-storey houses, Ignaz Bubis property in which the clearing in 1974 led to large street fight with police. Today this corner belongs to the bank KfW. A little later we see the balcony from which Alexander Kluge shooting footage for "Germany in Autumn". A few steps further is the Institute for Sociological Research, which was located "Frankfurt School" of Adorno and Horkheimer. Speeches of the scenes and trucks are entwined in this update of the landscape, resembling female voice and the famous house No. 93 of the November revolution in 1918-1919. And while chanting "traitor state is to live the union" appears building that was located service centers Joachim Klein, who in 1975 attacked the OPEC conference and otherwise repairing old clunkers. More sounds a sarcastic voice ("Travel, eat sausages, come home and think that you did something") while flying cakes from Cafe Laumer, then in 1969 when long-haired man was sacked and throwing a Commune - Fritz Teufel (the ideology of "fun revolution" of 1969 - Ed.) tails in the porch with pieces of cake.
Siggi B., a generation younger than Jin has also experienced its socialization demo of this asphalt. Bill locksmith, prompted him to murder Benno Onezorg (student killed by plainclothes police officer in West Berlin during a demonstration in 1967 - Ed) on the street. "It was second day of June and we were excited, angry, aggressive, very different from today. Our opponents were not banks, Bild newspaper. Shortly afterwards there was a large demonstration against the Vietnam War, Vietcong flags flew on the roof of a building. Then came the civilian cops and toppled one of us on earth, and another fell from the roof so badly that remained permanently disabled. Berserker, I went to the park, found stones and threw them first. " To this day no risk of ignition of such emotions. On the contrary, rather you feel that the Germans demonstrators has given valerian. A little live music, a little chanting of slogans - not to mention that once the slogans were better and the soundtrack - too. Otherwise, Jin and Ziggy would continuously dig songs and old wisdom: "Destruction what they destroy," or "breath", "history is created." "Not even the obvious," said Jin: "Who pays this, who has so much money?" And shows the Republican Club and Club Voltaire. Indeed, little dadaistichna potion would be bad. While demonstrators barricaded undisturbed past the market, both men remember the aftermath of the journal Pflastershtrand. "The important thing was how many windows were broken on the last show, not the number of demonstrators." So to eat street of Frankfurt, luxury Gyoteshtrase was tightly breakaway from the police. Luxury must be protected.
Earlier Ryomerberg was able to absorb large numbers of people. When restored historic buildings still missing, bare hill it contained tens of thousands. Meanwhile, the round square with narrow streets to become like him is inflated colorful balloon. Can not see the speakers, because some of the activists were lined up close together and have erected large banners in front of your scene. Their voices are still heard, and one would doubt or insufficient courage or controversy.
A leading German newspaper formulate an appropriate title for the prevailing mood: "Trade Unions: Medora must yield" (President of the German national railway company Hartmut Medora resigned in March 2009 - Ed.). It was this demonstration: we want a new economic order, we want to change the relationship we want social revolution, but before that Medora to go. " Or in the words of an Organizer: "Some of you asked whether we should sign a letter in support of Opel, or to save the world? We offer: sign the letter and save the world. " Meanwhile Medora go, what do we do now? In these words there is hardly any mood. In all demonstration thin, old friends talk to each other, eat some of the wraps to the historical museum.
Requested by many of the nationalized banks only a matter of excitement. Too obvious that this is neither a panacea nor a real step towards socialism. The fact that leading representatives of the old financial system as Alan Greenspan supported the nationalization makes critical left to speculate. In the near future a nationalized financial system will inevitably lead to familiar problems: the omnipotence of bureaucrats, corruption and inaction. Regardless of how an economy is organized, it requires management and free of micro structures, rather than centralized hierarchy apparatus. And sorry, but is it so objectionable to learn from the disastrous mistakes of the twentieth century?
As a leitmotif sounds great title SOLIDARITY, sometimes associated with "international". Solidarity, however, can only be achieved by common action. Examples are a scarce commodity. None of the speakers does not specify what was decided recently subsidizing the export of milk of the European Union, which would rob hundreds of thousands of small farmers, mostly in Africa, at the expense of some little more milk. A deeply undemocratic and immoral act makes funny words of President Koehler's not forget Africa in crisis. Changing this solution would be international solidarity.
Separate votes on the periphery of the official event to discuss the growing strength of other issues. Whether this crisis will help the progressive forces? "On one hand - says Siggi B. - impoverishment often serves as a catalyst for revolution on the other hand the state apparatus can not sleep, work preventively to be retaliation. In this case, the situation may become worse. " Many could read the anger of the people said one woman in eco-uniform, but where this has gone to anger? No riots over Commerzbank or Deutsche Bank. No shares for directors and ministers. "Before we talk about alternatives - added others - must be resisted. Look people - lethargic, selfish, blunt at the television. A demonstration of our future come much less than usual attend Valdshtadion (city stadium in Frankfurt, now called Commerzbank Arena - Ed.). We need resistance, massive resistance, then we can continue to talk. "
Indeed, it is surprising that the biggest crisis since immemorial not cause virtually no serious growing protests. What causes this? We do not believe you already have the other, the group of the grouping. So atomized individual and you live in? We do not believe you already have in the future of our society, Europe, the world? Or just wait? Ultimately, only a few years after the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, large protests erupted and uprisings. Then people waited patiently for several years, relying on the actions of their government, but then gigging shops and fought police who dumped impoverished families from their homes. Perhaps the economic situation has further deteriorated when it comes to civil disobedience. Or we are all postmodern ego monsters, each with Facebook and your personal playlist in the ear.
The real excitement came when he spoke only Oskar Lafontaine. Autonomous apparently were prepared, their naizvadiha raw eggs and threw them to the speaker, whose bodyguards frequented eggs with glass shields, like playing cricket in his free afternoon. The words of Oscar disappeared among chanting, dressed in black, who leaped up, shouting and whistles and sang as a rap: "Without God, without country, without a country." A proportion of people join, the other protested. When an Organizer noted that one must direct his anger at those responsible, she said: "It is one of them." For a few moments became tangible sense of excitement and mobilization actually spark political ambition, because it broke off in the Lafontaine would help as much as the resignation of Medora.
Furthermore themselves autonomous and anarchist look infected oesnafyavaneto of society, as earlier that day was. On his first truck they threatened police that had to comply with distance, a few minutes later announced that police had receded a bit. When anarchists and police agree that the administrative procedure, it is clear that there is something rotten in the state.
"Still I wonder," said Siggi B. separation by education teacher and publisher, life convinced Marxist, "what would it mean to win? I think it would be the final seizure of power in the capitalist elite and the oligarchs. But I think that is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. "
Thinking demonstrator will go back home full of doubt and such open questions. How would an imperialist left, brutal and oppressive izpolzvacheska system be replaced with petitions and posters? How could anyone think utopian and realistic at the same time to act if the problem is that the named opponent (capitalist and political elites) set the framework for what is realistic? Should we develop some preliminary concepts or to trust the universal improvement of existing structures? Do we need a model or ready to trust the learning-by-doing (learning by doing)? Old question: Revolution or Reform?
Renowned sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein recently outlined in an article for the magazine "Nation" on the structural crisis of capitalism following alternatives: "If left rather not create a plan, capitalism as a world system will be replaced by something worse, perhaps much worse than the system we live five centuries. Reached a point where neither far-sighted capitalists nor their opponents want to preserve the system. This is a battle between the spirit of Davos (new system is not capitalist, but that is hierarchical, exploitative and polarized) and the spirit of Porto Alegre (a new system that is relatively democratic and aimed at social equality). There is no lesser evil. It's either one or the other. Our victory is not certain. But it is possible. "
Anyone who believes in the wisdom of these lines, you may want in Germany a clearer, bolder, more numerous opposition. The necessary strategic and program debates the future of our society and economy can be deployed only if both raise "global temperature in the street" (Mike Davis). Mass resistance can create free spaces in which the change first be considered and then implemented. Otherwise we will bequeath to future generations not only a ruined world, but a bunch of irredeemable debt.
Translation: Mariola Zyapkov