(voices of resistance from occupied london)

By Ane Havskov Kirk, a.h.kirk[at]gmail.com

”They are evicting, now!” and suddenly a movement emerged that took Denmark by surprise. The media disqualified the activists as ‘youngsters without a cause’ – but what they failed to see was that the movement had not one but many causes.

The movement that occupied the streets of Copenhagen when Ungdomshuset (Ungeren) got evicted is many-sided and has neither epi-centre nor manuscript. The police did not find a central command station when they searched several addresses in Copenhagen during the riots in March – on the other hand the movement did not simply emerge over night: What we saw in its wild blossoming after the eviction, the desires, actions a reactions, are the same that was suddenly brought to the world’s attention in Seattle in 1998 – and now burst out in places all around the world in shorter and shorter intervals.

Specific situated manifestations

When the movement shows itself it often happens around a specific situation like the large summit meetings, evictions of social centres and occupied houses, migration struggles and many other social struggles. It looks like a specific situated manifestation, a singular cause, but it is to be understood as a node that gathers the broad networks of the radical left. I, as an individual, am not just part of one specific situation but in a node that is interconnected with a long line of other nodes. When the police evicted Ungeren thousands of people emerged in the streets and actions and happenings popped up around the city. Many of the actions and the people behind them had not been closely connected to the milieu around Ungdomshuset, but nevertheless most of them shed tears when the cranes tore down that building. Groups and networks that usually had no affiliation whatsoever cooperated, came up with new initiatives and showed how the movement really should be working. People from all the different fractions worked together opening spaces for the activists created peoples kitchens where actions were planned over a free cup of coffee. Information and call outs spread like wildfire via text messages, communicating actions and info through across networks regardless of what group or fraction instigated it. This showed that we were together, acting in one situated manifesto, connected in a huge network of nodes. As an activist I don’t participate in all those nodes or networks, in all the wide variety of causes, but I get inspired, support, inform and learn. And networks support each other. Also internationally where the protests against the eviction of Ungeren spread like rings in the water and manifested in actions in 53 countries. Activities one place inspires actions another place and together they make a unified strength.

Many a small riot makes a huge fire

The situations and the specific cases that involve several parts of what one can call the global movement against the Neo-liberal agenda are diverse. It is summit protests, feminism, the Zapatista movement, pirating, education politics, union work, and Ungeren. They are all situations and struggles that stand alone in the media, but in reality are inevitably interconnected. To mention one recent example, the G8 is founded on a basic understanding of the world in which the market is indisputable. Through its economic powers the G8 dictates the conditions and value of countless number of lives, always strengthening the power and economy of wealthy western countries. The power to determine which and who freedom that is important is taken from the people themselves shows in everything from the slave like working situations around the globe, the debt traps and trade barriers to the city planning of the western cities. The protests against those specific situations are then part of a larger fight for everybody’s right to form ones own life. A resistance that also includes an attack on gender stereotypes, heterosexism, racism, (post)colonialism and the capitalist destruction of the environment.

Not one political project – but many

To place one self in a node, to choose ones primary struggle immediately connects to a vast number of others. In this way there is never one political project that is the most important. –Which is exactly why it is ones primary struggle that is the most important for ones self. The movement is interconnected through specific struggles. It is praxis. To act together creates then an undefined idea- and resistance community with a global horizon. The activists of the movement are very different, attempts at unified political manifestoes will inevitably exclude somebody – but if you meet a Spanish activist in India you know that she is ‘with you’. This is how the local struggle for Ungeren gathered activists in non-homogeneous constellations – yes, almost unthinkable alliances: Musicians, artists, feminists, communists, anarchists, parents, lawyers, teachers, unions, journalists, writers, therapists, young teenagers and old mammas all participating in the actions/struggle/events/support around Ungeren. Everyone on the streets had the feeling of being part of something bigger and very important, each of us finding our own niche in the struggle. We were open, flexible and ready to give everything we had in us – because none of us had any alternative.

Communication and action

These alliances helped the post-Ungeren protests to explode, with the help of new communication medias. Mails, texts and web pages played an active part in spreading the word. Demonstrations and actions were announced few hours before and succeeded because they via these medias reached out in all the corners of the networks. Pictures, sound and eye-witness accounts reached, especially via the internet, across the borders of the local networks and included people that were not directly involved, inspiring actions in other places. The frame of the movement is expanding via these medias. They make sure that resistance is constantly present in people’s consciousness – via texts informing of new protests and constant uploads of pictures and words. There are always senders and receivers, and when the message has been sent it spreads uncontrollably for better or for worse.

The greenhouses of the movement

The manifestations of the movement often exist for short periods – both in census and audience. When the smoke has vanished we need a physical space that creates togetherness, networks, nurtures, gather and creates the frames for existing and coming nodes. Ungeren was one of those greenhouses. Now it has become a symbol for the struggle for more free spaces. If the movement is to continue its crazy growth it needs its greenhouses so that the stirs in the networks grow even stronger and information, inspiration, support and cooperation can be developed. If this does not happen there will be a lot of seeds lying dormant, waiting for the next time an explosion happens.

More info on the ongoing struggle

http://ungdomshuset.dk/en.php3?id_rubrique=4

http://www.indymedia.dk/newswire?author_name=Modkraft

http://www.myspace.com/copenhagensummerof69