The vilification of these activists must end

By Wes Streeting / @wesstreeting

As I rested my weary feet on Saturday afternoon, my pride at being part of a mass movement of half a million people marching for an alternative to the rapid and savage Tory cuts turned to anger. Like Paul Richards, I was furious at those who hijacked the peaceful and successful march of the trades union movement – the democratic representatives of millions of ordinary working people – for their own ends. But in light of events on the day, and Police actions since, I think he is wrong to focus his ire on UKUncut.

Before anyone accuses me of a spectacular volte face, victims followers of my Twitter feed may recall my own criticism of the activists in Fortnum and Masons as young, posh, white pillocks who might be found shopping there on any other day. My glib – and in some individual cases unfair – attack was borne out of frustration at what I still believe was a self-indulgent insult to Britain’s organised trades union movement against an unlikely, or at least questionable, target. Mehdi Hasan has written a more measured, yet also more devastating, critique over on his New Statesman blog.

When I learned they were from UKuncut I was, frankly, surprised and disappointed. Since its inception, UKuncut has been one of the most successful vanguard actions against corporate greed we’ve seen for years. At a time when public services for the poorest are being hit hard, they have been incredibly effective at exposing the hypocrisy of a system that sees the richest shirk their social responsibility through tax avoidance, while the poorest have no option but to fulfil their civic duty because they can’t afford a fancy accountant. Through peaceful, non-violent direct action they have raised public awareness, increased pressure on corporations to pay fair taxes and have inspired similar movements elsewhere, notably in the United States of America.

Paul Richards’ article, like so much of the mainstream media coverage, smears UKUncut by failing to distinguish between the well meaning, if sometimes misguided, non-violent direct action of their activists, with the senseless vandalism of the black bloc and their trouble seeking fellow travellers. I was horrified at the sight of paint, broken windows and burning piles on Oxford Street; but UKUncut activists were not responsible – or arrested – for these actions.

Given that a bunch of yobs were smashing up shops and setting fire to objects in the street, we should be asking the Metropolitan Police why the do-gooders sitting on the floor of a posh shop accounted for the majority of arrests.

In every democratic society, peaceful, non-violent direct action should have a place. I don’t agree with every UKUncut action, but they are serving the public interest more than their prosecutors. The vilification of these activists must end.