Trevor Edmond wrote:"These incidents point to larger truths about the >upsurge of pro-democracy and anti-capitalist protest taking place in >the United >States and around the globe. Those in power are truly >alarmed by these movements' >rising strength - > but the key challenge now is for radicals and reformers to find ways >to work >together." > The issue of violent and non-violent demonstrations has divided the > prodemocracy movement. This article gives hope for a way of working > together. > The article is long but worth reading. It also makes me wonder whether > the major economic powers are the keeper of democracy and freedom or is > it going to be the people in the street who are willing to take a stand? > > Cheers > Trevor > > FREE RADICAL: chronicle of the new unrest > by L.A. KAUFFMAN > www.free-radical.org > (This issue is archived at www.free-radical.org/issue15.shtml) > ======================================== > > MILITANTS & MODERATES . . . . . . . . . . . . Issue #15 > > Two images from the Washington, D.C. counter-inauguration protests > capture, > for me, the promise of this moment in time. > > The first is the TV footage of George W. Bush's motorcade accelerating, > with > Secret Service agents jogging to keep up, as it approached the largest > concentration of protesters along Pennsylvania Avenue. No matter how > much the > corporate media underestimated our numbers or marginalized our message, > the > inaugural demonstrations achieved a major goal: They marred Bush's > coronation > and unnerved those who made it happen. The commander-in-thief sped past > the > angry crowd at Freedom Plaza out of fear, no small thing for a protest > to > accomplish. > > The second image was nowhere to be found on television or in corporate > news > accounts; you had to be there or read about it on Indymedia. Right about > the > time when Bush was taking the oath of office, the police had boxed in > hundreds of protesters on 14th Street between K and L Streets - most, > though > not all, members of the anarchist Black Bloc. Some people managed to > push > their way out, but mass arrests were looking likely. > > Then, as if in a dream, thousands of demonstrators from the > reform-oriented > Voter March and the National Organization for Women came down 14th > Street, > smack into the police line. Initially, the police surrounded some of > them as > well, but they were feistier than the cops anticipated. Ultimately the > police > bowed to the force of numbers and backed off, letting the trapped > protesters > go free. There's a street-action technique used by some radicals called > "unarrest," where folks acting in concert literally snatch their > comrades > from the arms of the police. In this powerful and unlikely inauguration > drama, the most moderate participants in the day's demonstrations ended > up > mass-unarresting the most militant. > > These incidents point to larger truths about the upsurge of > pro-democracy and > anti-capitalist protest taking place in the United States and around the > globe. Those in power are truly alarmed by these movements' rising > strength - > but the key challenge now is for radicals and reformers to find ways to > work > together. > > What better sign of the jittery state of the global ruling class than > the > recent decision to hold this year's World Trade Organization meeting in > the > Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar, an absolute monarchy where protests are > illegal? (Even the U.S. State Department notes, with bland > understatement, > that "restrictions on the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, > association, > religion" are "problems.") No other country was willing to host the WTO, > because protesters have successfully made it a global pariah: The > security > risks for the sponsoring nation are too great, the publicity too bad, > the > expense too high. > > Time and again over the fourteen months since the WTO was shut down in > Seattle, the authorities have taken extreme measures to prevent or limit > protest, only to see demonstrators prevail through a mix of > stubbornness, > fearlessness, and anger. > > It happened in Prague last September, during the meetings of the > International Monetary Fund and World Bank. There, despite heavy > fortifications, demonstrators not only besieged the conference center > but > actually managed to break into it, leading > officials to suspend the talks a day early. > > It happened this past weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos, > Switzerland, where demonstrators defied a total ban on protests and > faced off > against police armed with tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons. > > And it happened at the Bush inauguration, where - in another almost > totally > unreported episode - the Black Bloc, using a cart pilfered from a > construction site, flattened one of the government's vaunted security > checkpoints, allowing hundreds of protesters to breeze through. > Meanwhile, a > few blocks away in Freedom Plaza, other demonstrators matter-of-factly > took > over bleachers that had been reserved for GOP-friendly > ticket holders. > > The angriest people at the inauguration protests, though, were the > moderates, > not the militants. The experience of seeing the Bush family and its > cronies > disenfranchise black voters and steal the presidency most infuriated > people > who have some degree of faith in electoral politics, not the jaded > cynics who > are quick to say that "voting doesn't change anything," or, more > anarchistically, "no matter who you vote for, > government wins." > > A substantial number of these Democrats and independents were > demonstrating > for the first time - but odds are quite good it won't be their last. The > checkpoint system and aggressive policing opened many eyes and clearly > radicalized some participants. > > One woman from the Voter March posted a powerful account of coming up > against > the police line at 14th and L and briefly being trapped inside. "I was > so > scared I didn't know what to do. I was looking at the various police, > trying > to find a face that might be approachable - there were none!" she wrote. > But > then a man next to her convinced a cop to let a few people out, and she > quickly slipped through the hole in the line. > > "This has shaken me like nothing else," she confessed. "I'm a middle > class, > getting to be middle-aged female American - first time ever > demonstrating - > there to participate with my legal, constitutionally guaranteed right to > free > speech (so I thought until that day). In the face of a threat to this > right, > what did I do - I walked away. I'm so sorry and so ashamed. I'll NEVER > walk a > way again." > > There is extraordinary political promise in the broad-based outrage at > the > theft of this election, anger that is not going away despite the > corporate > media's rush to make nicey-nice and treat the Bush regime as a > legitimate > presidency. The utter spinelessness of the Democratic Party - from its > decis > ion not to mobilize large-scale protests in Florida to demand a full > vote > count to its acquiescence in Bush's far-right cabinet choices - further > ensures that at least some of this anger will fuel sweeping critiques of > the > sorry state of American democracy. > > The great irony of the 14th Street showdown is that just the night > before, > some members of the Black Bloc had been dismissing as wimpy reformists > the > very folks who ended up saving them from mass arrest on J20. In a dark > basement well away from other activist gathering spots, about a hundred > anarchists held a surreptitious meeting to coordinate their inaugural > activities. The discussion turned to a common critique of previous > blocs, the > sense that the fuck-shit-up crowd tends to use other protesters for > cover, > including protesters that passionately disagree with their tactics - > meaning, > for example, that folks committed to nonviolent action get exposed to > greater > police violence as a result of Black Bloc opportunism. Some folks agreed > that > was a mistake and a problem; others brushed off the criticism, saying it > was > perfectly legitimate to "hide among a bunch of reformists." > > When the Black Bloc got surrounded on 14th Street, probably the last > place > they thought they'd get help from was such a bunch. (Exclaimed one > anarchist, > "I never thought I'd be happy to see people with Gore-Lieberman > signs!") It > would be going too far to say the Black Bloc was humbled by the > experience, > but in the wake of J20, you could clearly discern a new respect for > these > unexpected allies. > > "This is a big thank you to whoever came to support the Revolutionary > Anti-Authoritarian Bloc," wrote one anarchist on Indymedia. "After being > trapped at one point by cops and having to push our way out, only to > have > people trapped again, I'm glad there was some soli-fucking-darity. > That's > what it's all about. > We will stand by you when you need us, and I'm glad to see it's vice > versa." > > **** > Some folks from Reclaim the Streets in New York came to the inaugural > protests dressed in tinpot-dictator attire. Sporting gold epaulettes and > mirrored aviator glasses, they dubbed themselves Students for an > Undemocratic > Society (www.freespeech.org/suds_unite). > > "We are the children of the political, military, and business elites of > America," read their manifesto. "We have worked for years to undermine > democracy worldwide, and seek to celebrate the fact that - with the > installation of Cheney and Bush - even the pretense of American > democracy has > at last been cast aside. We march in support of the property-owning, > white > heterosexual male who rules by violence." > > SUDS started the day early at the U.S. Supreme Court, where GOP boosters > had > been promising to stage a fierce "Patriots' March." Only about fifty > patriots > bothered to show up, however. SUDS, wearing their silly costumes and > carrying > signs that said "OBEY," outnumbered them by a factor of two-to-one. > > The right-wingers launched into a chant: "Get a job! Get a job!" > > SUDS joined in: "Get a job! Get a job!" > > The right-wingers tried something new: "Welcome President Bush! Welcome > President Bush!" > > SUDS echoed them: "Welcome President Bush! Welcome President Bush!" > > The right-wingers tried again, this time with a mouthful of a chant: > "Meanspirited, condescending, arrogant liberals!" > > SUDS, of course, was quick to mimic. > > This went on for a while, through chants of "USA!" and that "Hey hey, > goodbye" song. But SUDS must have spoiled the conservatives' fun, > because > before long, they slunk away. > > Throughout inauguration day, there were many occasions like this, where > demonstrators outnumbered Republicans and made them noticeably > uncomfortable. > It was all quite satisfying, until you remembered that, while we made > Bush & > Co. nervous, they got state power. It's going to be a long four years. > > ======================================== > > FREE RADICAL: CHRONICLE OF THE NEW UNREST > is a column on the current upsurge in activism, > written by L.A. Kauffman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). > It appears on average every few weeks. > Back issues can be found at www.free-radical.org > > **** > ABOUT THE AUTHOR > L.A. Kauffman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is perhaps the first person in U.S. > history to be arrested for allegedly committing a crime by fax machine. > (The > Manhattan D.A. declined to prosecute.) She is currently writing DIRECT > ACTION: RADICALISM IN OUR TIME, a history of U.S. activism since 1970. A > longtime radical journalist and organizer, she is active in a number of > New > York City direct action campaigns. Her work has appeared in the Village > Voice, The Nation, The Progressive, Spin, Mother Jones, Salon.com, and > numerous other publications. > ************* > TO SUBSCRIBE, write [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the word subscribe in the subject or body of the email > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE, go to the page: > http://lists.riseup.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freeradical > > All contents Copyright 2001 by L.A. 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