On July 5 Bush arrived in Copenhagen and all of official Denmark was
filled with enthusiasm. However, not everyone shared this
enthusiasm.
As early as Tuesday evening there were protests in the form of concerts
in both Århus and Copenhagen. The concert in Copenhagen was part of the
Live8 “Make Poverty History” campaign and despite the rain the concert
attracted around 1000 people. All over the world hundreds of thousands
of people attended these concerts, showing that ordinary people are
concerned about poverty in Africa. But what political alternative are
these people given? They are only given the chance to appeal to the
leaders of the world, Bush included, to show consideration for the
poor. But if the leaders of the world’s richest countries really wanted
to do something about these problems, they would have done so long ago
– every little child in the western word knows about poverty in Africa
– it can not be because of ignorance that nothing has been done. It is
possible that public attention can make the leaders of the world react,
but a real solution will never be found as long as it is the interests
of big business that dominate the world economy.
Even though Bush’s birthday was to be celebrated in the company of the
Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh, they still had time to discuss some
politics. Fogh had decided that they should discuss Africa – very
conveniently avoiding unpopular subjects such as the war in Iraq, not
to mention Bush’s attitude towards abortion, homosexuals and the
environment. After the meeting Fogh announced that he and Bush were in
agreement on many of the issues concerning Africa – as if this was
something to be proud of. They agreed that the problems had to solved,
but that part of the problem was the Africans themselves; that
governments in many African countries had gone wrong. In Iraq an
occupation force was needed to bring a better government, with
innumerable civilian casualties as a result. If these are the means,
the future does not look bright for the African population. But the
essential problems facing the African population are poverty, wars and
diseases. However, there was no talk of the abolition of patents on
medicine and no talk of a real solution to the issue of poverty. The G8
may be able to agree to give more money in aid to Africa, but the
fundamental problem is the lack of economic development. And this
problem is very complex because capitalism does not give room to
underdeveloped countries to build industries in competition with the
advanced capitalist countries. The only thing that can bring a solution
to the problem is a socialist revolution – something which neither Bush
nor Fogh support.
Bush’s visit was met by massive protests. At 2 o’clock on Wednesday
July 6, in the middle of the holiday, a large demonstration of about 20,000
people gathered in front of the American embassy. Busses had come from
all over the country transporting people from the provinces to the
capital. The comrades from the Marxist paper Socialistisk Standpunkt sold over one hundred copies of the paper and distributed hundreds of leaflets and received good feedback.
All over the country “Stop Bush” groups had been formed, where young
people gathered to do their part to fight Bush. It was an impressive
demonstration of the energy, enthusiasm, and desire of the youth to
change society. This active layer of young people shows that the youth
are absolutely not passive and apathetic, as some bourgeois debaters
say. On the contrary, the political consciousness of the youth is
awakening, which was also shown at the “Stop Now” protests against cuts
in the education budget, in which tens of thousands of young people
took part.
If the great resistance against the Bush government’s
imperialist policy is to be made concrete, it has to find its way to
the labour movement. The young people in the “Stop Bush” groups must
carry their enthusiasm into the workers’ parties, the labour movement
and the mass organisations of the youth and fight for these
organisations to take up the program against imperialism and counter
reforms.
The banners at the demonstration carried slogans such as “Another world
is needed”, “Bush is a terrorist”, “Drop Bush, Not Bombs”, “No to US
state terrorism against Cuba” and “Stop Bush and Fogh”.
The mood on the demonstration was high and most people stayed until the
end. Among the speakers were the leader of Socialist Peoples Party
(SF), Willy Søvndal and an MP from the Unity List, Line Barfod.
Among other things Willy Søvndal said: “One has to pick one’s friends
carefully, and Anders Fogh has shown a fatal lack of judgement in his
choice of friends. That in itself should disqualify him as Prime
Minister”. He added: “Go home Bush – return home from Denmark and from
Iraq.”
It is absolutely correct to link the resistance against Bush’s policies
and the resistance against the bourgeois government to the formation of
a new government that will stop the imperialist wars, stop the cuts on
welfare, abolish unemployment and rebuild the damaged welfare state.
The SF must be firm and demand that a new government, consisting of the
workers’ parties, must no longer submit to the dominance of the
imperialists and conduct a foreign policy based on the interests of the
working class all over the world.
Line Barfod spoke against the Anti-Terror Act, which attacks ordinary
people’s rights. He also spoke on the American abuse of prisoners. In
the end she stated that “action makes changes and in these times all
forces are needed. This is not a fight we can win alone. Only by
standing side by side, both locally and with people from all over the
world, are we able to challenge the policy which Bush and Fogh are
representatives of”.
Line Barfod is absolutely right. A global alliance is needed if we are
to put an end to imperialism. But unfortunately she did not mention who
should be in this alliance. It is the ABC for Marxists that the working
class must take part in and be on the frontline in the struggle to
defeat the bourgeoisie. No matter how many young students take to the
streets, this in itself will not shake anything fundamentally, even
though it can affect the consciousness of the workers. Only the working
class has the power to stop the running of society and the power to
change society, because of their role in production. This fact must be
said loud and clear - imperialist wars are against the interests of the
working class. There is a direct line between the occupation of Iraq
and the attacks on unemployment benefits, education and early
retirement benefits. These attacks are not accidental, but are due to
the fact that capitalism can no longer play a progressive role. The
capitalists must be disarmed, and only the international working class
is able to do this.
What is needed is a clear political answer – not appeals to the leaders
of the world. We must change the world ourselves; we cannot count on
the leaders of the world to do it for us.
The report in the media was not very positive; the only protest that
received massive coverage was that of a couple of hundred so-called
autonomists who fought the police in a separate demonstration under the
slogan “reclaim the streets”. How the slogan of reclaiming the streets
can change the world is hard to say, but one thing is certain: it plays
right in the hands of the media and the bourgeoisie; “those who protest
against Bush and for another world are violent psychopaths” – the
result is that normal people who did not participate, are frightened
off from participating in future demonstrations – they do not wish to
fight the police. The only result of such small demonstrations is that
they split the demonstrations and the movement, and they frighten
people away. This is most likely the opposite of their intentions,
however it is what happens.
The only thing that can guarantee another world is the participation of
the working class. The demonstrators on Wednesday were mainly young
people, but there were also some unions present with banners. The youth
are an important factor, but they must appeal to the workers to join
them. Only in this way can Bush and Fogh be stopped and thrown away
together with the system they represent.