G8 2005 - WOMBLES Collective statement

Are we what we want to be or are we all we can be?

Struggle is a process. Our intentions remain the same but what changes is ourselves in the transformation of being involved. From action to re-action to the creation of our own subjectivities. This is what can be said of the WOMBLES. What will happen at the G8, the interactions with people, the way we all relate to each other will condition ourselves for future struggles.

Whether the G8 summit is shut down or disrupted is almost irrespective of what we can achieve by being there, by organising, by participating and experiencing our collective social power, an experimentation in taking back our lives.

This is what will continue, long after the G8 circus has moved off for another year. This is what will give us the passion to go further next time. G8 is only one institution of a whole totality we live under, 365 days a year, it is here in the everyday that we fight and struggle against the impositions of capitalist societies. Before-during-after the G8, our lives, as well as our individual and collective struggles continue.

WOMBLES June 2005
(Collective statement)

We believe in non-hierarchical decision making within our collective and in broader society as a way to empower individuals in participating in their lives to the fullest. We promote self-organisation as the alternative to handing power over our lives to the state or political parties or other hierarchical institutions.

Our struggle for self-organisation and social autonomy brings us into inevitable confrontation with the existing social and political system. Any action we're involved in, whether on a mass demonstration or by occupying empty buildings to create social centres reflect the social struggle to take control over our lives.

Capitalism has restructured and escaped the boundaries of the factory walls, encroaching into every part of our lives. In the places we live, socialise, interact and even learn we are mediated by money and increasing social control. Our most basic needs - food, shelter, water, health care are mediated by profit and market rule. The fight against capitalism, therefore, is now being fought on every terrain. A multi-leveled social struggle is our response.

In a society based on alienation and individualism we respond by building social solidarity, and autonomous communities of resistance. We try to build concrete, real-life examples of our politics now, therefore we place a central focus on sharing of skills and mutual support and creating free spaces where people can come together outside the domination of capitalist life.

By being openly antagonistic towards this system, we become visible to all those who struggle against the criminality of power and what it has to offer. We always seek to expand the social impact of our actions and form new alliances and relationships with people in struggle. We reject the idea of activism because we regard ourselves as part of the struggle and not acting from outside it. We are not fighting for our right to protest anymore but fighting for our lives.

WOMBLES June 2004
(Collective statement)

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