ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the main actions, alliances, political formations and ideological compositions of the twenty-first-century British anti-capitalist movement. The anarchist and anarchical mobilizations emerged in the 1990s and carried on well into 2005; the new socialist and socialism-influenced political mobilizations emerged in 2001 and were galvanized primarily by the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. Although anti-capitalism has existed as long as capitalism, as an oppositional phenomenon, social movements come in waves or cycles of contention, dependent on grievances, resources, political opportunities and the emergence and spread of political cultures, identity and ideas. The particular wave discussed charts the main groups from the 1990s through to 2005. The broadly speaking socialist anti-capitalist contingent, which included the SWP, GR, StWC and the various groups that were part of the mobilization in Gleneagles, the G8 Alternatives, filled a political gap in British left politics. It included those who were anti-war, pro-trade union, anti-New Labour and pro-environment.
