They, like the media, are masters at the tactics of divide and rule; of sowing the seeds of dissension; of ensuring that no positive decisions are made at a meeting and making sure, by being in front, that the general public believes that the SWP are the organizers of every political action in Britain that emanates from the Left.

They are so good at it that you have to wonder if they are professionals.

Well they are. These are not mere Stalinists or Trotskyists. These are people whose job is to destabilize political activity and to take the credit for being the caricatures of the "loony left".

And now they have, surprise, surprise, turned their attention to the opposition to globalization, and, as is their wont, it is their banners we see at the forefront of every demonstration and march. They are so good at it you'd think they were professionals - you know, paid state agitators. You know - you might be right.

Our concern is the naivete apparent in the fact that some in the English eco-social movement have just now suddenly noticed their existence, and wonder how they should respond to them - as if suddenly the SWP are taking all the glory in the media and among the popular perception of the public. It seems now that the eco-defense opposition to globalization emanates from the SWP. Well, same as it ever was.

The spirit of eco-social dissent has generally been inclusive. The SWP's presence at meetings sows seeds of conflict and paranoia, and the mentality of many of the good souls in the eco-social movement is such that - bless them - they cannot get their heads round excluding the SWP. That kind of censorship often sits heavy on them. Well, what a catch-22. The ends-and-means brigade have always had a point, but some dissent-destroying presences should not be tolerated. Even amongst the most woolly-headed and 'nice' there are few who would countenance the presence of the BNP, say. Sorry, but the SWP are often too similar for us to see a glimmer of light between them [and MI5] - and of course we understand that there are well-meaning people sucked into groups like the SWP, and that some of the old guard workers having membership of such groups are just the believers who do the dirty work without a contextual understanding of their actions. Not all effective conspiracies require mass conspirators, even though many in such cellular organisations may think that they are terribly important Stalinist conspirators. The high command probably have a different agenda.

SIMPLY DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THEM. We risk being accused of just that in running these pieces, but they are intended to alert an apparently dense generation to an age-old problem of co-option that can be found everywhere, in one form or another. The form here is relatively benign. Once addressed we have no intention of wasting our energy on a debate about the issue.

What worries us is the perception that the eco-social movement appears to have of the public.

Does it really believe that people who struggle to make a living, watch soaps and interactive TV and dream of making the million that will take them out of their mundane lives really give a shit who opposes globalization?

The people who earn £5.25 sorting mail on a night shift, or the minimum wage in Britain, £4.50, working on a production line, or who are in the large category of manual and retail workers who fall below minimum wage because of their age, know all about globalization. And they know all about exploitation as well. They also know if they don't work for these pitiful wages they won't be able to afford their rent or mortgage, buy clothes, food and pay for the basic necessities of their apparently mundane lives.

What the eco-social movement in Britain, in England, should worry about are the kind of people who exist in the good old US of A, where to be a campaigner against oppression, injustice and globalization can mean the difference between life and death, freedom and penal servitude - as Judi Bari, a member of Earth First! discovered when someone! planted a bomb in her car; as Carol van Strum, an anti-toxic campaigner discovered when she returned home one day to find her house with her children in it burned to the ground; as many people who are now languishing in American jails for simply wanting to defend the earth will testify.

In Britain this kind of reaction does not, yet, exist. In Britain, in England, the response from the state has been more Ambler or Deighton or Le Carre - Cold War subtlety - than the reaction you get in the world that has been created by globalization. In that world, into which Tony 'Napoleon' Blair seems hell-bent on dragging the Brits, if you protest, you die. And no one knows. No one knows about the vanquished in Chile, in Cambodia, in Tibet, in Nicaragua, in Afghanistan. Engaging with the civil liberties agenda at the expense of leftist infighting and putting, say, the earth first, is more important to our having a future.

The SWP do not matter. What they do does not matter. If you involve them or react to them you do what they want you to do. The opposition to globalization is global and it will not fail because of what the SWP does on a small island like Britain.

The movement that opposes globalization is a global movement that now has the support of each eco-socially attuned person no matter where they are in the world and that is its strength. The SWP or anyone like them cannot stop this tide because they, in their own arrogance, are being swept along with it. Unless, of course, the eco-social resistance lowers itself to engaging with the co-opting fifth columnists and agent provocateurs.

But if this is actually a debate about who takes the credit, forget it. There are no heroes anymore. We create our own realities and the most important reality now is that we challenge everything that is associated with capitalism, exploitation, domination, hierarchy and globalization. Of course we all need to be better organized; of course we need a more effective media (of our own); of course we need to inform the uninformed and educate the ignorant; of course we need to build better links with each other and celebrate rather than criticize our diversity; of course we must, while maintaining diversity, acknowledge the problem of ends-and-means, especially now that the USA is on the verge of a civil liberties coup that will possibly eradicate the very freedoms that the average American thinks that Bush is referring to when he launches his dogs of war in the defense of "America's" freedom to engage in unfettered free marketeering and the economic murder of much of USA's own populace in search of a bigger profit margin. Let us not lose sight of our agendas, and recognise the truth of the statement that the Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance.

Don't worry about the SWP, people. They don't matter. They want the glory. Given current events and the response of the rulers in America (Canada and the US) and Europe to what they perceive as terrorism any future political activity is going to be deemed illegal. The States are already locking eco-protesters up for extended stretches of a punitive nature. Property has always been worth more than life and liberty in the Land of the Free. The same holds true In Britain and Europe, especially with so few genuine political choices offered through the mainstream. People must make their own avenues of empowerment.

But watch out for new legislation in this New World Order. And given the kind of protests we have seen in Davos, Seattle, London, Gothenburg, the Hague, Nice and Genoa, you can sure the next protest, in Europe particularly, will be met by the full force of the military apparatus. Qatar should be fun, if protesters can afford the massive bribes and cruise ships to get close.

Let them have it - while the rest of us get on with the real business of opposition - and believe me we are good at it, because as John Lennon once sang, it's all about the power of the people.

Imagine!

- by the ATG Collective

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