-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 14 September 2000 13:56 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Protestors May Use Nerve Gas!: a jaundiced view of s11. Hi, This is a personal and opinionated collection of observations on the s11/WEF events. If you don't like a section read another - they are all self contained and in random order. In each snippet I do try to make points worth further consideration and debate. Jon (Thursday 14-09-00 Latest News: Apparently the Trades Hall Council has said that their information is that the increase in police aggression was the result of a threat from the WEF that they would cancel the last two days of the Forum unless security and access was beefed up - we came so close! ) ______________________________________________ Protestors May Use Nerve Gas!: a jaundiced view of s11. Jon Sumby The Unions: ************* They came, they posed, they clocked off in time to get home and watch Neighbours. The right-wing newspaper, the Herald-Sun was delighted. In the two page spread called 'A Salute to Our Brave [police] Force', the union demo was praised: 'They marched peacefully under their union banners, made speeches from the platform, marched past the casino - and then disappeared having made their point.' Their leader, Leigh Hubbard from Trades Hall, then appeared on the news making self-serving comments showing the global industrialists and the Government that, really, the unions are on their side and will roll over. About the only direct thing the union demonstrators did was to help the police break the protest picket line to let casino employees in to serve the WEF delegates. 'We seized the entrance and we sent the s11 people away and got the workers in', said union organiser Brian Boyd. About the only result of their effort was a few more cigarette butts on the street - I doubt the WEF delegates were even aware they were there. Security ********* I went every day and checked out the Crown compound perimeter. Psychologically the compound was designed to look imposing being built from waist high, car length long, concrete blocks linked and topped by a seven foot high outward bending steel mesh fence. Closer examination revealed multiple weak points not requiring mechanical assistance to breach. To the protestors credit, or ignorance, these were not targeted. The police aren't very good planners. Bob Brown ************* Bob Brown was great! I saw him speak and he was a voice of clarity, ideals, and humanity. He refused to accept any of the globalists agenda and pointed out the reality behind the rhetoric. The whispers are that his very idealism and vision is becoming an irritant to some of the more 'pragmatic' members of the Australian Greens, but if he is ever eased out of the Greens then they will lose their integrity and become nothing more than another power hungry political machine. Vandana Shiva ****************** Vandana Shiva addressed the forum directly and was the only person of integrity there. She read out a statement from the protest. The WEF has always had token environmentalists and human rights workers attending but she was a true voice of dissent. The public speech she gave to a capacity audience on the Sunday prior was regularly interrupted by applause. During a WEF discussion group Sharon Burrow, the president of the peak Australian union group, the ACTU, apparently advocated increased debt relief, increased aid, taxation on the movement of capital and a code of conduct for multinationals, but none of her proposals were formally discussed by the WEF. The Media ************* The media played their role superbly. They supported the WEF agenda very ably. There was a sustained build up of scaremongering about s11 - culminating in warnings for people to avoid coming into town if at all possible. There was very shallow analysis of the issues surrounding the WEF/ WTO / IMF axis and implications. The right wing rag the Herald-Sun excelled itself, running a quarter page story that beat up the story that the protestors may be planning to use sarin nerve gas. The scare campaign was totally beating up the danger the protestors faced to the good citizens of Victoria and I think the s11 Alliance found it hard to break away from this focus. During the campaign the slant continued with words like 'delegates escape route', 'violent protestors', 'valiant police'. Headlines like 'City Under Siege', 'Police Tough on Protest Thugs', were the regular. The newspaper pictures were chosen to play up the mob and show calm police at the ready, the few shots I saw of the police in action showed no baton beatings, only hand to hand grappling and shoving. Riot Police ************* Several times during the s11 blockade up to 300 vicious thugs using clubs rampaged into the peaceful demonstration. No one can be sure who they are but the Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner, Neil O'Loughlin, asserts they were police. When asked why these supposedly highly trained, disciplined, and professional officers were not wearing badges he replied, 'I've spoken to people about putting their nametags on and I'm aware that they were... were... stolen.' What a lie! Not wearing nametags is a deliberate psychological tactic to increase fear and unease in the targets. In the UK, anti-road campaigners were confronted by ranks of uniformed police without identification badges and who were also wearing black full face balaclavas. O'Loughlin knew exactly what was going on or he is incompetent. His brief was to apply pain, fear, and physical violence to any degree required to clear a path for the delegates. He has also said he has seen the footage of the police beatings and says that it was all appropriate behaviour. The Police Commissioner backs him up by saying he has no regrets about the decisions made. The Victorian Premier says the police, 'acted appropriately right through' the forum. Appropriate action obviously means not observing and respecting the law but doing anything to clear a path through the peasant rabble to allow the rich and influential to go to dinner. Any inquiry of any merit, if one occurs, will undoubtedly by stymied by being unable to bring specific police before them - though a sacrificial offer to appease the inquiry may be made. Its a familiar pattern, as typified by the Richmond High School protests. The police claim they will act appropriately, use any and all means necessary, their objective set is met. Outrage and inquiries and lawsuits follow, the police thugs melt back into the ranks, the issue sinks into public obscurity. The Outcome *************** Despite the passion and effort of all who organised and attended, the protest did not achieve its aim. Klaus Schwab, founder and president of the WEF, said he favours a return to Melbourne. The organiser, Mr Smadja, said the forum had raised the 'esprit de corp' of delegates and WEF members. The WEF is more tightly bonded and ready to continue its agenda with vigour. The protest was appropriately managed and Seattle probably now seems like a half remembered bad dream. The right wing national lobby group, the National Farmer's Federation, has already called on the Government to invite the WTO to hold its next meeting in Melbourne. The Government has hosed this down, saying it is hosting other international conventions at that time. A lot of the people I met after the protest were ebullient, saying, 'We won!, We won!', but I thought I saw a hint in their eyes that said, 'We didn't but its uncool to admit it.' I didn't go to any of the post-s11 celebrations. The Prime Minister, John Howard *************************************** The Australian Prime Minister is an economic rationalist cut from the cloth of Thatcher. He eagerly pursues privatisation, outsourcing, deregulation, and cuts to welfare programs (except for private, full fee paying schools, that have had Government funding greatly increased.) He is aware that Australia is a small country, with a small economy, in an economically unstable area. Australia has a real chance of being put into the 'have-not' basket and cut out of the new global economy. So he was desperate to pump up Australia's willingness to play along with the WEF and so pilloried the protestors as 'un-Australian'. Given that Australia's economy has been very healthy just recently while, mysteriously, the dollar has devalued to record lows means he may have something to fear. The Age newspaper told it all in the headline, 'Battered dollar defies good economic trends.' The Left Wing **************** The s11 protest was hampered by the presence of the left wing. The protest failed to bring in the presence of mainstream groups like the ACF or Amnesty. At Seattle and Davos, there was a large community presence from a broad spectrum of groups, human rights groups, environmental groups had stalls and a visible presence. At s11 the overwhelming postering was from groups like the International Socialist Organisation and Resistance. They set the agenda and the tone. I think they put off involvement by more mainstream groups, who should have been directly involved to show middle Australia that this is an issue critical to everyone, not just the radical left. I am increasingly coming across greenies who dislike the presence of these groups. It seems that whenever a positive energy develops around an issue the various socialist-communist groups race in to seize this and turn it towards the creating the 'revolution'. The Jabiluka campaign is a case in point. The gossip is that at the s11 alliance meets, Resistance stacked the meetings and voted up resolutions as a block. At the protest I looked around for basic WEF/WTO information sheets to hand to the delegates sneaking out into Spencer Street. All I could find were reams of material like 'Yankee Go Home!' produced by the Communist party of Australia (Marxist - Leninist) and 'Target Global Capital' produced by Worker's Liberty (Marxist). This may be fine but its not me. As Vandana Shiva pointed out, Capitalism and democracy are empty fictions. So too is the doctrinaire left. Both are empty, anthropocentric, economic ideologies that hold no promise for the future. This grab for political power by Marxist - Leninist - Stalinist - Trotskyist - Communist - Socialist groups using the passion and energy generated by environmental campaigns is something that must be addressed by the environmental movement. If it continues support for environmental issues will rapidly drop off, be marginalised and greenies will become even more legitimate targets. If environmental issues become linked with communism etc. then failure is the future. The environment transcends politics. Capitalism is fucked but so is Marxism. The Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks ****************************************** What a complete sell-out! He sided with the Liberals and other social regressives in calling the protestors un-Australian and applauding the police for their work. He has rewarded the police who worked the s11 protest with a day off and a reception for police and their families. He was positively salivating at the prospect of stitching up business deals at the conference - possibly forgetting that he was dealing with business leaders who specialise in parasitic, abusive, business arrangements and that they will operate to damage Victoria, socially and economically. He used the word 'un-Australian', to dehumanise the protestors and to reassure the WEF industrialists that, really, he is co-operative to their agenda and will roll over. Unfortunately, it is a buyers market in Australia and States will bid for transnational industries - the state that offers the best package of tax breaks, exemption from planning and environmental laws, and the most broken and compliant workforce is graced with the presence of these industries... as long as it suits them. With lap dogs like Steve Bracks they will fare well in Victoria. The Police ************* The police performed as I expected. They did their job and are being rewarded by the appropriate people. The Public ************ On the whole middle Australia did not identify with the protest, the expressed concerns centred about the possible threat to shopping, transport disruption, and the inability to gamble at the casino complex. A very common comment was that they respected the right of the protestors to demonstrate but they opposed any action that obstructed business or their lifestyle. This attitude has become increasingly prevalent and is repeated by politicians. It presents a difficulty for protest actions that should be examined and addressed as, to me it indicates 'cause fatigue', similar to compassion fatigue. The purpose of protest is to break people out of complacency, to disrupt and force the attention of the powers to the needs of the protestors. That acceptance has been replaced with a rejection of any personal inconvenience. This diminishes the power and relevance of demonstration, which is why it encouraged by the people in power. Overcoming this attitude is problematical. At s11 I saw physical struggles between protestors picketing and punters demanding their 'right' to enter the casinos and gamble. They expected the police to help them but the cops wouldn't let them in either Naomi Robson ****************** Just after the protest ended the current affairs show 'Today Tonight', which actually steers clear of any real news was advertising with the hook along the lines of, 'You thought our police were being to tough?, we'll show you the terror tools of the protestors!!" The anchor, Naomi Robson, a puff TV expert looked serious and displayed a self tapping wood screw of about an inch and what looked like five wheelnuts. These, she alleged, had been thrown at the police. Dropping her voice even lower and looking shocked and conspiratorial she held out her hand to display a palm full of marbles, which she said had been 'confiscated' from a protestor that Wednesday afternoon. This was the best hack job she could do - three days of protests involving thousands of people and there are some marbles taken from a protestor on the last afternoon! Other acts of violence that justified the police putting 13 people in hospital included an alleged cup of urine being poured on two officers and people spitting at the police. The Chief of Police called these acts 'disgusting'. Hmmm, maybe I should mention the cops who hoiked spit at me from the Kings Way overpass as I walked under them? What does that make the police? Filth? The Protestors ***************** What can I say - a great bunch of people. It was hard and difficult work, but the protestors triumphed over great odds and kept their spirit and commitment. The WEF may have had a successful meeting but a spirit was kindled at the protest. As the Resistance slogan goes; When injustice is law, resistance is duty.' The Aftermath **************** The WEF and the WTO are likely to try and slither back into the shadows. They may replace the grandiose international gatherings with low key tiers of regional summits that may send delegates to a small round table forum. The more light is cast on their agenda the less it is accepted so the more backroom they get the better - I just guess after 31 or so years of organising the new world order in unknown backroom dealings they thought they could come out and roar in triumph. The WEF and corporate morality. ************************************** It was business as usual for the global free trade idealogues. Gates said that the only way to raise the entire population of the world to Western standards was to liberalise trade. Nestle VP Michael Garret said the only way to feed the world was by rushing GMO crops into use. Andy Stoler, deputy director general of the WTO said the WTO was not about free trade but about fair trade. In 31 years the WEF has thinktanked the global marketplace and has never managed to include the poor, the environment, and sustainable strategies in its recommendations. Oh, you'll find the rhetoric there but no substance. The WEF has worked to ensure that the people benefiting and enjoying power remain and in power and reap the benefits. There is no interest in anything else. The scale is being ramped up to the level of nations. Australia is jostling to be included as part of the 'rich'. But the final word went to an anonymous WEF delegate, who brought out the time honoured Nuremburg Defence. Reported in the Age newspaper, the delegate 'played down the capacity of corporations to make bold moves, saying they were ultimately beholden to their shareholders.' Same old tired excuse for why forests are butchered, mines ripped into pristine lands, people killed off and displaced, pollution unchecked. 'The shareholders expect us to maximise profit.' END _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
