Sleepwalking Again

Again and again we mistake the real threats and waste our limited ammo shooting at the wrong targets while behind us laughs the executioner, whetting the knife.    

At the suggestion that the EDL will attack the unions on the general strike later this month, “Trade unionists stand against everything the EDL stands for,” says Len McCluskey at Unite.

“We work with the police to assess risks, and our many stewards work hard to keep people safe,” says Dave Prentis at Unison.

Who is standing where? Why so oppositional? I thought the unions represented the true interests of the working class. Isn’t solidarity and collective action the only way of achieving better pay, housing and pensions? Deny that the EDL might be attractive to the marginalised, the frustrated, the disillusioned and they widen further the divide. Call in the police to protect their march and they admit their own weakness.

“All necessary measures to ensure the security and safety of the London Olympic Games will be taken, including, if the advice of the military is that it is required, appropriate ground-to-air defences.” said Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, in pompous House of Commons speak.

Terrorist Act to clear away protesters. Water cannons and the army for the looters. Private security to fight wars, run prisons, patrol streets. Those that like a strengthening of authoritarian rule must be rubbing their hands delighted.