with any luck, Woodchuck is disingenuously twitching his whiskers right now: ky2 problem: we're outta lube, and you're outta time burning your fookin' banks for the new millenium <forwarded> This is the final RACB statement. I've made a few grammatical changes and added two new endorsers. This will be the statement that will be distributed to the mini anarchist gathering today, as well as media throughout the weekend. Groups and individuals are still welcome to endorse this statement. Anarchists who are in Washington for A16 will be meeting this afternoon from Noon to 4 pm at the Wilson Center (15th and Irving). ======= REVOLUTIONARY ANTI-CAPITALIST BLOC Washington DC, April 9-17 Final Version - April14, 2000 We are all active organizers and participants in the upcoming protests surrounding the IMF and World Bank on April 9 through 17. These institutions are undemocratic and part of a larger expletive system of elite economic and political power. That is why we are working with all our energy to create the most effective protest possible against them. We are calling for an organized bloc of all stripes of anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist revolutionaries for the upcoming demonstrations against the IMF/World Bank. It is important that a revolutionary vision is presented which advocates the transformation of the existing institutions of capitalism and the state towards a society based on free cooperation and association. The power of each group to organize autonomously based on their own ideas shows the strength of our movement. We would like to emphasize this, which is why we want to open our call to all those who share our struggle for the same revolutionary anti-capitalist goals: the abolition of capitalism, the state, and all forms of hierarchy and oppression. We invite all autonomists, anarchists, anti-state libertarian Marxists, rank and file union members, wobblies, syndicalists, council communists, etc. to march along with us. We wish to support the larger anti-globalization movement by organizing our contingent. We do not intend to be divisive in any way but want to develop our actions and present our ideas. We would also like to address the concerns and criticisms that we have around the movement against globalization. The World Bank, IMF, and WTO need to be seen within the larger picture of global capitalism. While we struggle to change the most destructive policies of these institutions we realize that they are inherently expletive and imperialist towards workers and communities. That is why we need to connect our day to day organizing with the larger struggle against capitalism. Talk of 'fair trade,' 'pruning' and 'fixing', such as in Seattle, simply ignores the history of working peoples' struggle against wage-slavery and defeats any revolutionary goals or consciousness. Instead of a message of reforming these institutions, which would not solve the fundamental problems, we want a message of abolishing these institutions and creating revolutionary alternatives. Instead of a call for 'fair trade' or 'reform' of the global economy, we call for workers and communities to organize for revolutionary change of the global economy. The strength of labor lies not only in its community but most importantly in global solidarity with all workers around the globe. The movement against globalization is a fight in every country for dignity and justice and we are strongest in that fight working side by side. We feel that calls for national protectionism and national sovereignty pit the working class of each nation against each other. We feel that the stance taken by the major trade unions is not a stance of international solidarity and that it is not the most effective stance for advancing the cause of labor. The organizing being done by many rank and file union members is truly making these protests a struggle of all of labor. We believe in internationalism and globalizing this struggle, regardless of political borders, with all workers. We believe that the most effective protest is each group autonomously taking action and using the tactics that they feel works best for their situation. We do not advocate any one particular tactic, but believe that greater diversity is the most effective plan. We are critical of ideologically motivated arguments that oppose this. This is why we do not believe that it is organizationally principled for any one group to set the guidelines for the protests or claim ownership of the movement. We also realize that because our protests will be effective in shutting down the meetings of the IMF/World Bank the police may use repression and violence against demonstrators. We do not advocate violence or mindless destruction but simply ask that the movement be conscious of this and continue to be open to a diversity of tactics. We would also like to recognize the larger globalization movement for addressing some of our concerns around tactics and the role of 'peacekeepers.' This is a call for more active participation of anarchist and other like-minded revolutionaries in the entire anti-globalization movement to present our vision of an effective revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian alternative. Help bring our vision of a free and democratic society without wage-slavery and oppression to the forefront. At A16 we envision an active and creative contingent of revolutionaries marching under black, red & black, and green & black flags, anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian banners, and a hail of revolutionary drumbeats. We are mobilizing marching bands, radical cheerleaders, and planning a whole assortment of highly organized and creative actions! To all of our comrades who support this call, we encourage you to get in touch, endorse it, and take to the streets with your anti-capitalist imaginations and desires! Organize, Educate, Create Resistance! Do not let the blows against this capitalist system cease! From the streets of Seattle, to Washington, DC, may our resistance be as transnational as capital! ˇSOLIDARITY AND REVOLUTION! Signed, Nosotros Group (Baltimore, Maryland) Group Anarchiste Emile-Henry (Quebec) Active Transformation (Detroit-East Lansing, Michigan) Global Action (Eugene, Oregon) Monongahela Anarchist Group (Morgantown, West Virginia) We Dare Be Free (Boston, Massachusetts) Sabate Anarchist Group (Boston, Massachusetts) Lancaster Anarchist Black Cross (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) Flint Jones - Northeast Regional Delegate of the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA-IWA) Prole Revolt (Morgantown, West Virginia) Mid-Atlantic Infoshop / infoshop.org (Washington, District of Columbia) Arsenal (Chicago, Illinois) Anarchist Action Collective (Eugene, Oregon) Antioch Anarchist Group (Yellow Springs, Ohio) Autonomous Zone (Chicago, Illinois) DC Earth First! (Washington, District of Columbia) Chicago Anti-Racist Action (Chicago, Illinois) New Brunswick Food Not Bombs (New Brunswick, New Jersey) Brian MacKenzie Center (Washington, District of Columbia) Collective Action Notes (Baltimore, Maryland) Bad Days Will End (Somerville, Massachusetts) Red & Black Notes (Toronto) Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists / Fédération des Communistes Libertaires du Nord-est (Northeastern United States / Eastern Canada) Kent Anarchist Black Cross (Kent, Ohio) Organization of Revolutionary Anarchists - Solidarita (Brno, Czech Republic) Movement Against The Monarchy (London, England) Some Chicago Anarchists/Louis Lingg League (Chicago, Illinois) The Tenants' Voice (Lawrence, Kansas) For general information about the protest see http://www.A16.org For information about anarchist activities at A16, see http://www.infoshop.org/octo/a16_a.html 'A16 Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Bloc' point of mobilization: Sunday, April 16th, 2000 Washington, DC 6 am @ Rock Creek Park 26th street between M st. and Penn. Ave. For more information, contact: Nosotros Group PO Box 65341 Baltimore, MD 21209 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] </backwarded>
