A-Infos (en) Britain, MEDIA, The Financial Times - You say you want a revolution?

"Blimey . . . you spend 15 years struggling against global capitalism and then 
the bloody thing collapses of its own accord . . . nobody's had to lift a finger 
- let alone throw a Molotov." So says Schnews, the news-sheet from the "direct 
action frontlines". ---- Anarchists and radicals are stirring. The annual 
anarchist book fair in London attracted a record number of visitors last 
weekend. So too has Housmans, the radical bookshop in King's Cross. Mo Mosley, 
the bespectacled co-manager, reports recent market turmoil has aroused interest 
in critiques of capitalism. ---- Marxists too are having their moment in the 
sun. The banking crisis has been seen by some as proof that Karl Marx was right 
- capitalism would collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions. 
Sales of Das Kapital are soaring.


The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm is back on the airwaves; the
91-year-old clearly felt vindicated when he told the Today programme this week:
"Globalisation . . . is incredibly unstable, it operates through a series of
crises and I think this has been recognised to be the end of this particular
era."

But is it all talk and no action? As the recent edition of The Socialist, the
Socialist party's newspaper, pointed out: "the Grim Reaper may well have
capitalism in his sights but it is going to take organised action to bring
about any real change."

So where is everybody?

There was a flurry of excitement over the memorial outside the City of London's
Royal Exchange to the "Boom Economy", a mock-up of a roadside shrine, complete
with farewell notes to company cars and bonuses; some believed it to be an
anti-capitalist protest. But it turned out to be urban street art by K-Guy,
also known as Kevin. He told me: "I don't see myself as a far lefty protester
or an anti-capitalist." He's a pragmatist: "Money isn't a bad thing."

My heart quickened when I found a flier to "Dance on the Grave of Capitalism"
outside Lehman Brothers. But it's at night and participants are asked to bring
a magic wand. There's only so much damage a sprinkling of fairy dust out of
office hours can do.

True, there have been protests on Wall Street and outside the Bank of England
over the banking bail-out. But this was nothing on the scale of, say, the
anti-globalisation protests or the riots of 1968. Iraq and climate change have
diverted many in the anti-globalisation movement.

Steve Kretzmann, executive director of environmental group, Oil Change believes
schadenfreude would be inappropriate: "Hundreds of thousands on the streets
marching under banners saying 'we told you so' would undoubtedly be satisfying,
but perhaps not effective."

Perhaps no one is actually reading Das Kapital . After all, J.M. Keynes once
expressed bafflement over "how a doctrine so illogical and so dull can have
exercised so powerful and enduring an influence".

Or maybe protests are countercyclical as people become too worried about
keeping their jobs to take to the streets?

Schnews hopes when the recession bites "the shock might finally persuade
[people into] . . . something more radical than David Cameron". But they are
not confident; they sign off: "See you in 50 issues when we're eating our words
(or each other)."

emma.jacobs@ft.com

The Financial Times
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