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Mayday 2005 Precarity Action at Hackney Tesco's
This report is compiled from the work of mutiple indymedia authors
(Cheers guys ;-)) www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/309995.html
This year's Mayday action was widely advertised by the 'precarity' group in posters and leaflets, but through the use of last minute texting and tight security over the project, the authorities were caught on the hop when activists entered the large Tesco store on Morning Lane in Hackney this afternoon. Groups that met in different places managed to converge on the store, and occupied it for at least ten minutes before any police arrived.
Shoppers and staff reacted very well to the action, as a large banner was unfurled "YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINSTORES". A protester with megaphone urged shoppers to take back something from Tesco's (who announced £2 billion profits recently).
We chose Tesco supermarket as the location for our Mayday action because as the UK’s largest supermarket, Tesco is at the forefront of exploitative work practices on a global scale, paying new supermarket employees below minimum wage (rising to only just above minimum wage after several months), cutting Sunday pay (so Sunday becomes a normal working day), and stopping employees sick pay. Not only this, but those packing Tesco’s own brand salads in Sussex were recently revealed to be migrants working for a temping agency controlled by gangmasters, who are paid far below min. wage (sometimes not at all); and women casual workers on Tesco-accredited farms in South Africa work in appalling conditions with no protection from pesticides & are paid poverty wages to meet ‘flexible’ just-in-time production schedules, and keep profits at a maximum.
But Tescos is only one 'leading' example of the labour flexibilty or hyper-exploitation and unsustainable consumerism currently on offer across Europe - McJobs and McCulture are becoming the common experience for the majority of us in the overdeveloped world, and the supermarkets are the market leaders in this economy of insecurity-
For more info on what's wrong with supermarkets, see:
www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/whats_wrong_suprmkts.htm
Rhythms entered the store openly as a group, and we started playing before security even noticed us. The manager asked us to leave, without success, and a scarily large security guy tried to block the bands progress, but the vibe was so good, that even he gave up and even jiggled a little. Meanwhile other activists had arrived and tried to unfurl the banner at the checkouts. At first, the security tried to stop them and there was a bit of scuffling, but as two community support officers and two police arrived the focus was on the band and the banner got unfurled. Shoppers danced and checkout staff stood up & took photos with their mobile phones. The community cops stood around not knowing what to do. Several of the staff expressed support for the action, and were aware that the action was in solidarity with them, although the manager initially panicked and tried to close the store.
By this time though, the police had finally found out the exact location of the action, and several police vans rushed through Hackney Central towards Tesco's. It was only 15 minutes since the action had started, but they day had already been won. People's determination and wit had overrun the state's repressive machinery. These were fifteen minutes of peaceful party and protest, in which an sterile cathedral of consumerism was being transformed into a living and, more importantly, liveable space.
At the same time, another crowd was approaching Hackney Central from Highbury. These had another story to tell. They had had to travel all the way cramped onto a train's carriage, whilst constantly been harassed by (mainly) men in uniform. But the same as with the crowd in Tesco's, those in the train were determined not to be bullied, and by the time they arrived in Hackney, they had already resisted a couple of attempts of arrests.
On arrival at Tescos several vanloads of police stormed in and pushed the pink clad anti-capitalists out of the shop. There were a number of violent arrests, with one person being pushed face down onto the ground. The protesters maintained their calm and non-violent tactics, regrouped in the carpark, held up the long banner, and danced awhile handing out leaflets before taking to the streets.
As they danced along Morning Lane, even more police reinforcements arrived. There were by now at least twenty four vans, plus some ancillary vehicles including three top brass rangerovers. Two police photographers and the helicopter overhead witnessed the sight of all these cops pushing the (maximum 50) activists onto the pavement quite violently and corraling them in time-honoured fashion. Some people were pushed into the corral, and any remaining onlookers were kept away by further police lines. Shocked Hackneyites couldn't believe the over-reaction to what they saw as a harmless protest on a sunny afternoon.
As one small group was pushed away, there were further arrests.
The band were held in a small area on the pavement for a couple of hours. Fortunately, someone appeared on the roof of the 'SCOPE' shop and threw some bottles of water down to the band.
After some negotiation, it was agreed they would be escorted to London Fields, and a massive police operation ensued to keep the small number of protesters enclosed as they did this. The lines of vans and huge numbers of cops effectively brought all local roads to a standstill.
On the way to the park and at the park, minor scuffles broke out, and further arrests were made,
Around 9 people were arrested & several people intend to make complaints of assault against the police. If you witnessed any arrests, or police assaults on people, please contact Legal Defense & Monitoring Group: ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
Around Europe, sunday's EuroMayDay 05, saw thousands in many countries and cities: form Hackney to Barcelona, from Milano to Stockholm, and from Helsinky to Athens. All rebelling against the current precarious working and living conditions capitalism is trying to corner us into.
To find out what happened on EuroMayday in other cities, see: www.globalproject.info :: www.euromayday.org
For pic & report in Dutch of Amsterdam Rythms of Resistance Mayday action
See;http://indymedia.nl/nl/2005/05/27251.shtml
Keep posted for future flexmob actions: www.precarity.info
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