"what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that the architect builds the cell in his mind before he constructs it in wax." - Marx, Capital I, p284
I couldn't help but notice this creature at Climate Camp during the G20 protest this week. It is unlikely that this architect of change was much bothered about Marx's interest in the difference between the species-being and the bee but the idea of it amused me enough.
The protest did get me thinking though, and I wonder if that little bee symbolises the fact that even at that protest, the swarms of angry anarchists and drum-beating hippes were still yet reduced to the status of bee.
The plans were made for them, as every building was boarded up and the glass-walled RBS shimmering in the sunshine was beckoning for a hit. They were caught like sardines and thrown into the Bank of England keep-net. I can't help but sort of agree
conspiracy theorists on this one...a little bit.
It seems to me that although we have the ability to plan and mobilise, we're still beaten up for obstructing the streets. We can't be violent because we are disciplined and can't beat the law, and we can't be peaceful because the foundation of revolution is in violence. Ultimately, it appears as though we are to remain perpetually cordoned off in the bank of England, dressed like bees, constructing our cells in wax with neither a plan nor a purpose.
So, the question is, what can we plan and later build, and keep building upon, to shed ourselves of these bee skins? I can't help but think
one-off street parties aren't quite the answer; they make some noise, and that noise needs to be made but, what now?
