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WTO protest supplement |
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The great body of the labor and neighborhood communities will probably be marginalized. With
very few organizations working towards developing consciousness of struggles & political
awareness beyond their own immediate needs, expectations for mass mobilizations at this border
that would spark a decision by corporate structures to cease aggrandizing planetary dominion are
minimal.
We at the San Diego U.S./Mexico border are still, in a sense, like Los Angeles stepchildren. Expectations of
thousands of raging 'phobics from the north apparently made San Diego's finest toy with protest licenses. Let's not
forget the old chicken coop of the 1996 GOP convention protest pit, echoed at D2K & reinforced at Quebec.
What would it take to grow out this condition? It's not that we need new recipes for success; San Diego & Tijuana
have a long history of struggle. From the turn of the 20th century Magonistas & IWW to mass mobilizations
in the early 1980s organized by local Chicano activists against racist policy & politics, the area has
experienced a protracted battle against brutal injustice.
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Where have all the warriors gone? Incisions splintered their organizations, leaving them vulnerable to the system's
lures. Others simply surrendered to futility. Last out of Pandora's box, there is the IMC; there is growth such as http://www.sdactivist.org. The email / flyer did arrive. It might be early but all the more promise for it, even in the old buzzard's jaundiced eye. Per latest Quebec report datelined Wash.D.C. following first mention from neighboring Colombia, our street fighting comrades are once more bloodied but unbowed. Globalophobia is bitter tasting but nutritious by comparison to the conflicts funded in Congo, et al by U.S. govt vassal to munitions industry. |
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FBI inBlack Bloc drag? 2 of hundreds(?) of undercover agents lurking about Brunswick get confronted by the objects of their surveilance. 6.8.04 W. Goodwin IMC- Brunswick
Brunswick GA On Monday in Brunswick GA, 'the safest place in the country,' The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke held a protest outside of the local Coca-Cola office. Afterwards, a group of 5 activists walked to a city park to wait for the police force to cool down. While they sat under a tree, they watched as police, FBI, Secret Service, National Guard, and obvious undercovers circle the park, (conducting) surveillence. They spotted a red van that cirlced a few times and parked at a nearby church.
The activists confronted the undercovers, who were dressed like beefed up black blockers (photo above) and the Officer/blackblocker asked about "whether they have been to Seattle", and told them a cock & bull story about how he had lost his job at a plastics factory, and had "just got into this stuff", i.e. political activism. Since the Officer/blackblocker appeared very interested in the "stuff that was going to go down", the activists promptly reported their concerns to a nearby police officer. They feared that this fellow & his quieter companion might have indeed been some of the dread Anarchists, plotting mayhem. |
G-8 summit Sea Island GA 6.8-10.04 Meet the activists The anarchist: Jay Welin 'Nothing is safe' from this crowd; It's easy to lump these Georgians together, but they have different reasons for raising a dissenting voice in opposition of world leaders. 6.6.04 Paul Kaplan Atlanta Journal Constitution
"That's the place there," Jay Welin says, looking toward a mansion on a hill in Buckhead. It's an imposing structure, tall, wide and formal, with a gray stone turret. It's a few blocks from Welin's cramped basement apartment, which would fit inside the mansion's master bath. The moment Welin saw the estate being built, he knew he had to defile it. "For the good of the human race," he told the unfinished house one night, "I'm going to pee in your bathtub." And that is what he did.
Anarchists are considered the most dangerous of the protesters headed to coastal Georgia for this week's Group of Eight summit. They are more radical than most activists and are more willing to confront police, even when massively outnumbered. "Nothing is more romantic than to die for a lost cause," Welin says.
32-year-old Army brat, Army vet and Indiana Univ. dropout Welin predicts trouble at G-8 will come from young
anarchists who've never done jail time and have no fear. "Having your chops busted by the man changes you,"
Welin says. "That's why you don't see the old-timers on the front lines anymore. But we still have roles that are
important, to help the kids on the front lines." |
Anarchists want a society without institutions, hierarchy, management or govt. Their struggle is to liberate the
masses who labor on behalf of the corporate elite. There are a handful of large groups, incl internationals (Black
Cross), nationals (Federation of Revolutionary Anarchists Collective) and regionals (Southeast Anarchist network). There are a handful of large groups, but the most committed and effective, Welin says, are small groups he calls "gutter punks", young packs that move from city to city, plotting against symbols of authority and spreading the anarchist word.
Why is Welin an anarchist? "Schools that don't teach. War for corporate ambitions," he says. "All the countries that are getting screwed by our policies. People who mortgage their lives for money to buy things that end up owning them. Lifestyle obsessions in a society that can't even feed itself. The divide between the owners and the owned."
Making a dent in those problems doesn't necessarily require violence, Welin says. It can be done with implied
violence. He says his dream is to build a small remote-controlled airplane, put a camera in it, crash it into a tall
corporate headquarters in Atlanta, a la 9.11.01, and stream it live onto the Internet. "When you kill one person,
you're a murderer," he says. "When you kill a million people symbolically, you're a patriot."
Other activists are split in their attitudes toward anarchists. Many would not personally take exteme action, but they understand why others do. Others think anarchists are jerks who drown out the message of activists with
something worthwhile to say. Welin says he just wants to get the message to the streets and to let the state and the corporate elite know their symbols are fair game. "Nothing is safe," he says.
'G-24' finance ministers are meeting 9.27.02 Bob Franken, Shirley Hung & Mike Ahlers CNN
Wash.D.C. Police in the Dist. of Columbia drew a distinct & uncrossable line in the sand Friday for protesters targeting meetings of the International Monetary Fund & World Bank, taking 649 people into custody while avoiding the mass violence that has marred other such demonstrations in recent years. Law enforcement sources estimated there were around 2,000 protesters throughout the day at different locations. Some protesters threw rocks & smoke bombs in clashes with police on the rainy streets of the nation's capital, and others tried to block intersections & sidewalks. Those who caused a disturbance were taken away, while those who protested peacefully stayed, police said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey said that some people had been taken into custody without formal
arrest, including 40 picked up for blocking a sidewalk on Connecticut Ave. The protesters object to what they see as unfair IMF policies that benefit wealthier nations at the expense of developing nations. The IMF disagrees,
saying it is the poor of the world who are benefited by its policies. Dist. of Columbia police arrested 21 people when they tried to block the intersection of 14th St at Independence near the IMF meeting site. Another 40 people were arrested nearby in a skirmish with police that included rock throwing & smoke bombs. In the first incident, 25 people sat down in the middle of the intersection, 4 chained together. Police gave the protesters 2 minutes to move, and only four complied. Police sawed the chains of the four who were chained together. All 21 will be charged with failing to obey police order, said D.C. Metropolitan Police Capt. Ralph McLein.
In the second incident, police clashed with about 150 protesters at a Citibank branch at the intersection of Vermont & K Streets. In Georgetown, several dozen protesters chanted & partially disrobed outside two Gap stores, protesting the company's labor & environmental record. Environmental group Greenpeace USA exec. dir. John Passacantando, was among those arrested during the day, according to Greenpeace officials, who said Passacantando was not participating in the protests but had been swept up in the arrests while riding his bicycle to work.
Finance ministers of the Group of 24, or "G-24", 24 countries whose collective task is to coordinate the positions of developing nations on monetary & finance issues and to ensure that those positions are adequately
represented to the IMF & World Bank, were meeting at IMF headquarters on Friday, ahead of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings, which begin Sunday. The G-24 consists of 8 member-states each from Africa, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean.
Protesters partially strip to protest Gap policies
Wash.D.C. Several dozen protesters chanted and partially disrobed outside two Gap stores in
Georgetown, protesting the company's labor and environmental record. The demonstrators were in town as part of a larger 3 day protest against IMF & World Bank policies. Waving "Stop Gap Sweatshops" signs and dragging a wagon carrying a huge cross section of a redwood tree, protesters accused the store of being a "poster child for corporate rule & corporate greed." They handed out leaflets claiming The Gap uses sweatshops in developing countries to make its clothes.
Officials at The Gap wouldn't respond to phone calls, but leaflets being passed out inside the stores referred
concerned shoppers to their Web site for information on co. labor & environmental practices. The Web site
defends company policies on both the environment & worker protections, saying, "we've hosted management training seminars in some factories and, in others, sponsored sessions on how to hold free & fair union elections.
9.28.02 Laura MacInnis Reutuers
Demonstrators advocating causes as diverse as debt cancellation, peace and the fight against AIDS
remained peaceful & orderly throughout the brilliantly sunny day. They had waited for several hours
in the shadow of the Washington Monument with police keeping watch until the march began. A heavy
police presence has thus far thwarted efforts to disrupt the lenders' meetings and a gathering by G7
finance ministers Friday. Police on Friday arrested nearly 650 people, more than during the tumultuous
1999 demonstrations at Seattle WTO meetings.
Police blocked each intersection along the march route, keeping demonstrators from veering from their
course. Organizers said as many as 15,000 to 20,000 were involved in the march. Demonstrators had
planned to ring the IMF & World Bank buildings to block delegates attending the lenders' annual
meetings from leaving. "What today is all about is who decides, who pays, who writes the rules, who
builds the future," consumer advocate & former presidential candidate Ralph Nader told the crowd.
"We have to subordinate the power of corporations to the sovereign power of the people," he added.
An inflatable pig with "corporate glutton" written across its side was not far from a giant man with the E-
logo of disgraced energy trader Enron Inc. as symbols of disgust at the run of U.S. corporate scandals
that peaked this summer. Activists demanded poor country debt relief, the end of structural adjustment
programs and more transparent decision-making at the World Bank and the IMF. A separate Global AIDS
March converged with the group near the lenders' headquarters mid-afternoon.
Saturday saw large demonstrations in Rome & London against the possibility of a U.S. attack on Iraq. D.C.
police chief Charles Ramsey told CNN he hoped demonstrators would express their views without disturbances. "They've gone about it the right way," Ramsey said of the fact that organizers had permits for the marches. No major injuries were reported Friday, and property damage was limited to a smashed window front at one bank and graffiti. The demonstrators, many of whom waved black flags and wore bandannas to cover their faces, were far outnumbered by police on foot, motorcycles, bicycles and horseback.
4 IMF protesters accused of carrying explosives
Wash.D.C. 4 protesters arrested near IMF have been accused of carrying explosives that
could have caused serious injuries or death during annual meetings of the world's financial leaders, police
said today. Police officers had rounded up the protesters Saturday evening as they left an alley near the
IMF & World Bank HQ and said they found at least 4 coffee cans rigged with explosives in their
backpacks. Police spokesman Officer Tony O'Leary said the coffee cans contained nails & blasting
caps, and that police also found smoke bombs in the protesters' bags. He said reports the protesters
were only carrying fireworks had underestimated the threat. "If you put in some blasting caps with a stick
of fireworks you have some good damage potential," O'Leary told Reuters. "In large crowds that could
injure or kill someone." A heavy police presence has thus far thwarted efforts to disrupt the World Bank & IMF meetings this weekend and a gathering by G7 finance ministers Friday. An anti-war march planned for Sunday afternoon is expected to take place away from the heavily barricaded downtown core, with hundreds of people marching to vp Cheney's official residence in NW Wash.D.C. … Bono honored as 2003 MusiCares person of year 2.20.03 Edna Gundersen GRAMMY Magazine £8
U2 frontman Bono will be honored as the 2003 MusiCares Person Of The Year at a special tribute dinner,
concert & silent auction 2.21.03 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel NYC. As Person Of The Year, Bono is
being recognized for his accomplishments as a musician and a humanitarian.
… Q You've said that celebrity is currency in this mission. Yet you've gone beyond
simply raising awareness and reaching people of influence. How did your role evolve to include
negotiating?
… But some of their problems are structural, and we in the West are part of very corrupt relationships — debt-servicing and holding children to ransom for the deaths of their great-great-great-great-grandparents, trumpeting free trade while not letting them put their products on our shelves. You can't fix every problem, but the ones you can, you must.
Q You co-founded DATA to
address some of those issues. How much progress has been made? |
Anti-globalization activists change the debate 3.22.02 Dougherty Wash.Times
Here's a counter-thesis: The more the Washington establishment believes the crazy-quilt of groups that make up this amorphous movement are history, the greater chance these unions, environmentalists, consumer advocates, glassy-eyed tokers and, yes, black-clad anarchists, will matter. Zoellick had 2 key accomplishments behind him from 2001 and they are not trivial by any means. In November, U.S. led a successful effort to pick up the pieces in the WTO and kick off a new round of negotiations, an effort that had failed miserably 2 years earlier in Seattle, where protestors seized the agenda. Also, the U.S. House passed fast-track negotiating authority, which will allow Zoellick to negotiate a Free Trade Area of the Americas, essentially an expansion of NAFTA, once the Senate follows suit (which it expected to do soon).
I remember laughing inside during Zoellick's press conference because this was the same guy who, early in his
tenure, announced that he wanted to create a "toolbox" for promoting strong labor & environmental standards via trade policy. It was a longstanding demand of the anti-globalization crowd, backed up in more moderate form by congressional Democrats & some union-state Republicans. Zoellick also backed a fast-track bill that contains rules on incorporating labor & environmental rules into trade agreeements.
In short, times had changed; the Republican trade representative spent last year changing with the times in order to achieve his goals. Zoellick's code for this strategy in his speeches is "aligning trade policy with our values," a line that co-opts a cherished conservative theme ("values") for pragmatic ends. The point is not that Zoellick cut deals that pleased unions, environmentalists, consumer advocates and the like. But he was responding to pressure that this loose coalition of groups had been bringing to bear for the last 5 years. In this respect, Zoellick was not alone. By the end of 2000, before Zoellick had even taken office, the Washington trade establishment was starting to sound a little like its opponents.
This evolution of the debate in Washington, I believe, results from years of protest by the anti-globalization
movement. It's hard to draw bright lines, but a reasonable synoposis goes like this: Unorthodox methods that are not familiar to official Washington can & do work. "What we do well is creativity," Citizens Trade Campaign former dir. Scott Nova, microcosm of the Seattle Coalition that includes lots of groups, told me once. The activists have logged countless hours in meetings with local & national environmental groups, union locals, student activists and middle-class citizen-activists around the country. Sooner or later, this sort of work, flying way under the radar, will be felt in Washington. In a way it's a comforting sign that, for all the complaints, democracy still works in this country of limited govt more or less like its cool-headed founders hoped it would: slowly & with great effort.
Whether the anti-globalization movement matters in the future will depend more on external forces that the
movement itself. The movement saw success in helping to defeat fast-track in 1997 and a new trade round at
Seattle because it was able to feed the existing rifts among Republicans & Democrats, rich nations &
poor ones, until both projects imploded. While I'm skeptical that the anti-globalization movement can move
mountains, I always keep my ear to the ground. Democrats & Republicans will always bicker. A president with many things on his mind, not least a war, could easily lose interest in the heavy lifting required to make free-trade policies stick.
3.21.02 Sergey Borisov Pravda
The extremists like Al-Qaida members sensed danger in that, the vice admiral thinks. They connect globalization with the American values, that is why it is often equated with the process of "forceful americanization" of the whole world. There are all reasons to believe so: it is America that invents the globalization, runs it and gains profit from it. The terrorists, as the vice admiral claimed, accused the USA of everything bad in this world, looking for their allies in the countries, groups an people, who did not sympathize with the American supremacy. Wilson also said that the terrorists were successfully using the fruits of the globalization, against which that they were fighting. They use the flows of people, money, and technologies in order to attack "the open societies."
Wilson said globalization results were not supposed to be good for everyone all the time. Extremist groups used
that, recruiting their followers among those, who suffered from it. Wilson urged to promote the positive aspects of globalization, trying to reduce its negative impact. It is not known, if Americans are going to succeed in this respect, or if they want to deal with this at all. However, Wilson's speech showed that the USA had finally started realizing that America's enemies were not coming down from the Moon; America was making its enemies itself.
But as the 2 institutions wrapped up their annual meetings yesterday in Washington, people inside & outside the elite gathering attacked what some described as a major hypocrisy of the rich countries: their own continued barriers to imports, particularly of agricultural products and textiles. World Bank pres. James D. Wolfensohn accused wealthy countries of "squandering" $1 billion a day on farm subsidies that often have devastating effects on farmers in Latin America and Africa. Oxfam Intl, nonprofit group focused on world poverty problems, issued a scathing report in which it charged that subsidies to big U.S. cotton farming operations were wiping out African rivals.
The criticisms are not new. But they are more intense this year, and they carried a special sting for the U.S. Earlier this year, Congress passed and President Bush signed a bill that authorizes more than $100 billion in farm subsidies over the next 8 years. "It is hypocrisy to encourage poor countries to open their markets while imposing protectionist measures that cater to powerful special interests," said World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern. Stern estimated that the average cow in Europe received about $2.50 a day in subsidies, and the average cow in Japan received nearly $7 a day. By contrast, he said, 75% of the people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $2 a day.
Protectionism in wealthy countries has a disproportionately large effect on poor countries, because the biggest
barriers are on farm products and labor-intensive products such as textiles. The Bush administration agrees in
principle with the goal of reducing subsidies which encourage overproduction and tend to depress prices as well as tariffs and quotas that block imports. In July, not long after Congress passed the new farm bill, the U.S. trade rep Robt B. Zoellick proposed that countries around the world agree on a sharp reduction in both kinds of protection. Because the plan calls for even deeper cuts in Europe than in U.S., U.S. farm groups say they support it.
Oxfam, which analyzed the effect of U.S. cotton subsidies on African producers, estimated that U.S. cotton
subsidies eliminated 1% of the total economic output in 3 impoverished African nations, Burkina Faso, Mali and Benin. Overall, according to Oxfam, the U.S. govt spends 3x as much on cotton subsidies as it does on foreign aid for all of Africa. Other economists caution that farm subsidies are not the only reason for declining commodity prices. Prices for many other commodities have plunged in the last 2 years, partly because of the weak global economy and partly because of the rise of new producers.
Activists reassess as weekend protests don't hit expectations 9.30.02 Wash.Post pB1 Manny Fernandez, Monte Ree, P.Blustein, D.A.Fahrenthold, F.Kunkle & A.Raghunathan After 3 days of actions that failed to produce numbers & disruptions protesters had predicted, many in the anti-globalization movement were examining how to do things bigger, better and bolder. Activists offered a host of explanations for the size of the crowds and all the actions that had failed to transpire, including a shutdown of the city, a blockade of the meetings to prevent delegates from leaving Saturday evening and the arrival of the biggest anti-globalization crowds in Washington since the demonstrations of April 2000.
Some organizers said police critically misjudged the size of the crowd in a Saturday march from the
Washington Monument grounds to Farragut Square. Police said there were 3,000 to 5,000 people;
organizers said there were 15,000 to 20,000, although the crowd took up fewer blocks and was less
densely packed than in 2000. Others said an aggressive police response and hundreds of arrests kept
large numbers away. Still others said that the series of separately organized demonstrations was a
success on many fronts and that in post-9.11.01 age of homeland security, it was a victory for people to
assemble by the thousands to voice their dissent. "Getting together & talking freely is now
considered subversive," said Jason Ford, a Vermont activist who joined the demonstrations. "But that
could be one connecting issue; the democratic right to just assemble is being lost."
Yesterday afternoon, Ford was one of a couple of hundred protesters sitting in Farragut Square debating the future of such demonstrations. At the People's Assemblies, a kind of town-hall meeting, people sat in small circles and discussed the challenges of the movement, which first gained notoriety in 1999 in Seattle when protesters shut down WTO events. A short walk away in Foggy Bottom, World Bank & IMF delegates attended their annual meetings without incident at the institutions' headquarters. On nearby I Street NW, D.C. police officers watched football on televisions inside white vans, and at least one top financier in town for the sessions marveled at the lack of disruption. "The streets have been clear & empty," said German banker Klaus-Peter Mueller. "You never had as much convenience getting anywhere in Washington." |
"This movement has never been about tactics. It's never been about blocking a specific street corner,"
said Patrick Reinsborough, 30, who lives in San Francisco and arrived in the District in mid-Aug. to help
organize events Saturday and yesterday for the Mobilization for Global
Justice. "This movement is about a clash of ideas. It's about life versus greed."
Many activists said the large-scale arrests Friday had a chilling effect on demonstrators. D.C. police arrested 649 in downtown demonstrations, including dozens at Vermont Avenue and K Street NW, where two Citibank windows were broken, and dozens more at Pershing Park. Protesters were prevented from leaving the park for about 2 hours and then arrested, a move activists said violated their First Amendment rights but police said was justified because activists blocked streets earlier in the day.
"If the police are saying that they're no longer going to play by any set of rules, as far as when and where
you're going to be arrested … there's a lot of people who don't want to get anywhere near that," said
organizer Stephen Kretzmann, 38, of the District.
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said yesterday that he was happy with the way his department
handled the protests, adding that "a lot of the wind was taken out of their sails Friday," when police
made the mass arrests. When the 20,000 protesters expected Saturday failed to materialize, D.C.
authorities began sending home 650 of the 1,700 officers brought in from across the country. Ramsey
said he might not need out-of-town officers to handle future anti-globalization demonstrations. "There's
just no justification for it with the numbers these people have been getting," he said.
Only a handful of arrests took place Saturday. D.C. police said they arrested four people about 7 p.m.
after at least one explosive device, nails and smoke bombs were found in their possession near 20th and
K streets NW. Police said the explosive device was in a coffee can. Ramsey said it was similar to an M-80
firecracker. 2 two men &amnp; 2 women are scheduled to be arraigned today.
U.S. Park Police also arrested one man Saturday for vandalizing a statue. Another man appeared to be detained
after a scuffle between police & protesters, but D.C. police said there was no record of an additional arrest. No
arrests were reported yesterday, and police said all but the four charged in the explosives case had been
released.
The weekend's actions ended yesterday with about 1,000 rallying in Dupont Circle against war in Iraq and
marching a little after 3 p.m. up Massachusetts Avenue NW to the vice president's home behind a banner
reading: "Axis of Oil, Stop Beating Drums of War." Traffic on Massachusetts Avenue NW backed up
during the march, and cars from a nearby festival added to delays on Massachusetts and Wisconsin
avenues as protesters dispersed.
Demonstrators denounced the talk of war against Iraq as a power grab by the United States for oil. They
also expressed disappointment at the small numbers. They predicted much larger numbers for an antiwar
demonstration Oct. 26.
One suggested that the antiwar movement might play a role in energizing the anti-globalization movement. Joshua
Brown, 28, of Baltimore said dissenters must try to get their message across that the free-market forces of
globalization and the policies of the IMF and World Bank create conflicts that inevitably lead to war.
Aaron Green, 31, a University of Maryland medical student, said the movement against IMF and World
Bank policies may have lost steam but is not going away. Green said the economic inequities would
probably have to become worse and more obvious to the American mainstream before the movement
caught on.
He said, "I don't think the typical person who sees the world economy in terms of all the stuff they can buy
at Wal-Mart will realize how our current access to the flow of large numbers of cheap goods is coming at
the expense of suffering of real people."
Where was the color in Seattle?
Looking for reasons why the Great Battle was so white
Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez from ColorLines natl magazine on race, culture & organizing
510.653.3415
re NAS 8.20.07
4.18.01 John Turmel www.cyberclass.net/turmel
John C. "The Banking Systems Engineer" Turmel, auth. Recommendation
to Govts C6 in www.un.org/millennium/declaration.htm
Protest-Instruction VS Protest-Obstruction
The http://www.un.org/Millennium/Declaration.htm
C6 UNILETS resolution is the alternative to global debt-slavery that I have protested to instruct for over the past 22
years. 6 Argentinian provinces successfully tested the LETS alternative time-based currency system in the mid
1980s. With an an alternative, I have always protested to instruct and will continue to do so in Quebec City. I will be
counterprotesting around the site of the World Leaders' meeting in Quebec City on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
at hign noon to urge the obstructionists to join us instructionists in keeping our Quebec City protest peaceful
enough to instruct the assembled world leaders to our UNILETS alternative to globalisation's slavery.
As a Protest-Instructor, I represent no threat to those I am protest-instructing. I don't want to make them mad. I
want to convince them to switch the better alternative. In the early 1980s, security allowed me to join Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth's receiving line wearing my white "The Engineer" hard-hat and carrying a large protest-instruction
sign: "Abolish Interest Rates." Her Majesty was reported mouthing the two words. Not one of today's Protest-
Obstructors would be allowed within a thousand meters of Her Majesty with a big stick in hand and there is no way
in the world they would let me do that again today but I was trusted within bopping distance of the Queen. In 1967
at Canada's Centennial celebrations on Parliament Hill, she was right in front of me with my rifle in my hand. It was
unloaded of course. She was inspecting me as a member of her Cameron Highlander Honour Guard. Security also
trusted me within bopping distance of President Ronald Reagan, within bopping distance of General-Secretary
Michael Gorbachev too. I could have even have bopped the Popemobile as John Paul II blessed me going by. I've
been trusted within bopping distance of 4 Canadian Prime Ministers, Trudeau, Clark, Mulroney, Chretien, and
assorted ministers, MPs, MPPs, etc., even Prince Charles and Diana!
Get the picture. When you Protest-Instruct, your big smile lets everyone know you are no threat to the system
operators, only to the system's engineering. You can be civil as you suggest your alternative to the machinery
drivers. With no alternative to offer, Protest-Obsctuctors cannot act civil and end up getting punched out by the
cops for simply making trouble. So now the fences are up in Quebec the threatening nature of the Protest-
Obstructors who the media choose to focus on has prevented even the non-threatening Protest-Instructors like me
from any meaningful participation. So my Quebec counterprotest will be to instruct the Protest-Obstructors that there's an alternative that makes it worth giving up the violence, to invite them to Protest-Instruct the wonderful alternative to globalized debt-slavery that a United Nations interest-free UNILETS bank card, account, and check book could offer every citizen of Earth by the ratification of the http://www.un.org/Millennium/Declaration.htm Section C6 resolution to govts. And if anyone wants the Guinness record-breaking Great-Canadian-Character who authored the United Nations Millennium Declaration to "restructure the global financial architecture" as a guest speaker in English or in French, I'll be available for Sunday, Saturday & Friday evenings and maybe even Thursday if I'm contacted in time. And I'll have my accordion. After all, my message is LETS Party, not riot. |
In the vast acreage of published analysis about the splendid victory over the World Trade Organization last
November 29-December 3, it is almost impossible to find anyone wondering why the 40-50,000 demonstrators
were overwhelmingly Anglo. How can that be, when the WTO's main victims around the world are people of color?
Understanding the reasons for the low level of color, and what can be learned from it, is absolutely crucial if we are
to make Seattle's promise of a new, international movement against imperialist globalization come true.
Among those who did come for the WTO meeting were some highly informative third world panelists who spoke
Monday, November 29 about the effects of WTO on health care and on the environment. They included activist-
experts from Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ghana, and Pakistan. On Tuesday, at the huge rally on November
30 before the march, labor leaders from Mexico, the Caribbean, South Africa, Malaysia, India, and China spoke
along with every major U.S. union leader (all white).
Rank-and-file U.S. workers of color also attended, from certain unions and locals in certain geographic areas.
There were young African Americans in the building trades; blacks from Local 10 of the ILWU in San Francisco and
Latinos from its Los Angeles local; Asian Americans from SEIU; Teamsters of color from eastern Washington state;
members of the painters' union and the union of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees (H.E.R.E.).
Latino/a farmworkers from the UFW and PCUN (Pineros & Campesinos del Noroeste) of Oregon also
attended. At one point a miner from the South Africa Labor Network cried, "In the words of Karl Marx, `Workers of
the world, unite!'" The crowd of some 25,000 people cheered.
Seattle's 27-year old Centro de la Raza organized a Latino contingent in the labor march & local university
groups, including MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), hooked up with visiting activists of color.
Black activists fighting for Seattle African American Heritage Museum &and Cultural Ctr were there. Hop
Hopkins, an AIDS activist in Seattle, also black, made constant personal effortsto draw in people of color.
Yet several experienced activists of color in the Bay Area who had even been offered full scholarships chose not to
go. A major reason for not participating, and the reason given by many others, was lack of knowledge about the
WTO. As one Filipina said, "I didn't see the political significance of it how the protest would be anti-imperialist.
The problem of unfamiliarity with the WTO was aggravated by the fact that black & Latino communities across
the U.S. lack Internet access compared to many white communities. A July 1999 federal survey showed that
among Americans earning $15,000-$35,000 a year, more than 32% of white families owned computers but only
19 percent of black and Latino families. In that same income range, only 9 percent of African American and Latino
homes had Internet access compared to 27% of white families. So information about WTO and all the plans for
Seattle did not reach many people of color. Limited knowledge meant a failure to see how the WTO affected the daily lives of U.S. communities of color. "Activists of color felt they had more immediate issues," said Rashidi. |
4 protesters of color from different Bay Area organizations talked about the "culture shock" they experienced when
they first visited the "Convergence," the protest center set up by the Direct Action Network, a coalition of many
organizations. Said one, "When we walked in, the room was filled with young whites calling themselves anarchists.
There was a pungent smell, many had not showered. We just couldn't relate to the scene so our whole group left
right away." "Another told me, "They sounded dogmatic & paranoid." "I just freaked and left," said another. "It
wasn't just race, it was also culture, although race was key."
In retrospect, observed Van Jones of STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement) in the
Bay Area, "We should have stayed. We didn't see that we had a lot to learn from them. And they had a lot of
materials for making banners, signs, puppets." "Later I went back and talked to people," recalled Rashidi, "and they
were discussing tactics, very smart. Those folks were really ready for action. It was limiting for people of color to let
that one experience affect their whole picture of white activists." Jinee Kim, a Korean American with the Third Eye
Movement in the Bay Area, also thought it was a mistake. "We realized we didn't know how to do a blockade. We
had no gas masks. They made sure everybody had food and water, they took care of people. We could have
learned from them."
Reflecting the more positive evaluation of white protesters in general, SW Network for Environmental &
Economic Justice coordinator Richard Moore of the , told me "the white activists were very disciplined." "We sat
down with whites, we didn't take the attitude that `we can't work with white folks,'" concluded Rashidi. "It was a
liberating experience."
Few predominantly white groups in the Bay Area made a serious effort to get people of color to Seattle. Juliette
Beck of Global Exchange worked hard with others to help people from developing (third world) countries to come.
But for U.S. people of color, the main organizations that made a serious effort to do so were Just Act (Youth
ACTion for Global JUSTice), formerly the Overseas Development Network, and Art and Revolution, which mostly
helped artists. Many activists of color have mentioned Alli Chaggi-Starr of Art and Revolution, who not only helped
people come but for the big march in Seattle she obtained a van with a sound system that was used by musicians
& rappers.
In Just Act, Coumba Toure & 2 other members of color, Raj Jayadev & Malachi Larabee, pushed hard for
support from the group. As a result, about 40 people of color were enabled to go thanks to special fundraising and
whites staying at people's homes in Seattle so their hotel money could be used instead on plane tickets for people
of color.
Reflecting on the whole issue of working with whites, Coumba talked not only about pushing Just Act but also
pushing people of color to apply for the help that became available.
One of the problems Coumba said she encountered in doing this was "a legacy of distrust of middle-class white
activists that has emerged from experiences of `being used.' Or not having our issues taken seriously. Involving
people of color must be done in a way that gives them real space. Whites must understand a whole new approach
is needed that includes respect (if you go to people of color thinking you know more, it creates a barrier). Also, you
cannot approach people simply in terms of numbers, like `let's give 2 scholarships.' People of color must be central
to the project."
Jia Ching Chen recalled that once during the week of protest, in a jail holding cell, he was one of only two people of
color among many Anglos. He tried to discuss with some of them the need to involve more activists of color and the
importance of white support in this. "Some would say, `We want to diversify,' but didn't understand the dynamics of
this." In other words, they didn't understand the kinds of problems described by Coumba Toure. "Other personal
conversations were more productive," he said, "and some white people started to recognize why people of color
could view the process of developing working relations with whites as oppressive."
Unfortunately the heritage of distrust was intensified by some of the AFL-CIO leadership of labor on the Nov. 30
march. They chose to take a different route through downtown rather than marching with others to the Convention
Center and helping to block the WTO. Also, on the march to downtown they reportedly had a conflict with the Third
World People's Assembly contingent when they rudely told the people of color to move aside so they could be in
the lead.
Yet if only a small number of people of color went to Seattle, all those with whom I spoke found the experience
extraordinary. They spoke of being changed forever. "I saw the future." "I saw the possibility of people working
together." They called the giant mobilization "a shot in the arm," if you had been feeling stagnant. "Being there was
an incredible awakening." Naomi, a Filipina dancer & musician, recalled how "at first a lot of my group were
tired, grumpy, wanting to go home.
That really changed. One of the artists with us, who never considered herself a political activist, now wants to get
involved back in Oakland. Seattle created a lot of strong bonds in my small community of coworkers and friends."
They seem to feel they had seen why, as the chant popularized by the Chicano/a students of MEChA goes, "Ain't
no power like the power of the people, `Cause the power of the people don't stop!"
There must be effective follow-up and increased communication between people of color across the nation:
grassroots organizers, activists, cultural workers, and educators. We need to build on the contacts made (or that
need to be made) from Seattle. Even within the Bay Area, activists who could form working alliances still do not
know of each other's existence.
With mass protests planned for April 16-17 in Washington, D.C. at the meeting of the World Bank &IMF,
opportunity to build on the WTO victory shines brightly. More than ever, we need to work on our ignorance about
global issues with study groups, youth workshops, conferences. We need to draw specific links between WTO and
our close-to-home struggles in communities of color, as has been emphasized by Raj Jayadev and Lisa Juachon in
The Silicon Valley Reader: Localizing the Effects of the Global Economy, 1999, which they edited.
Many examples of how WTO has hurt poor people in third world countries were given during the protest. For
example, a Pakistani told one panel how, for years, South Africans grew medicinal herbs to treat AIDS at very little
cost. The WTO ruled that this was "unfair" competition with pharmaceutical companies seeking to sell their
expensive AIDS medications. "People are dying because they cannot afford those products," he said. A Filipino
reported on indigenous farmers being compelled to use fertilizers containing poisonous chemicals in order to
compete with cheap, imported potatoes. Ruined, they often left the land seeking survival elsewhere.
But there are many powerful examples right here in the U.S. For starters, consider:
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