below, forwarded from a colleague in melbourne, au. her commentary on
what she sees as an unusual focus on anarchists in the US when, elsewhere,
the concerns are focused on other things altogether. i forward because it
also provides info on demonstrations world wide. the next planned even is
may day, 2000, talk of philadelphia, and protests at the democratic
convention in LA.
------------fwd----------------
midst all the talk about the black bloc (and indeed whether tactical
differences can or
should be resolved by calling in the police a la medea benjamin), the whole
question of the presence of the anti-globalisation right has not really
provoked much discussion in the US post-seattle. why is that and what is
being served by such a focus? reports, like those from jeff crosby doug
just posted, suggest that on the ground, there is a rank and file move to
the left that exceeds anything the AFL-CIO might have expected or indeed
desired. that's great, though it's a shame the conclusions he draws in
the last para are so limited.
according to one of the reports on the french N30 actions, "the Mouvement
des Citoyens (MDC) militants were kicked out of the demonstration by the
french antifascist action (SCALP). Chev�nement, nationalist MDC's leader
and present french home secretary, lead the most repressive politics on
illegal immigrants since two years. The same thing happened in Bordeaux."
it seems that elsewhere it isn't the presence of anarchists that is causing
as much consternation as it is in the US.
from this distance, it seems to me that much of the problem with how a
coalition is being envisaged, imposed and played out in the US is tied much
more to domestic electoral aspirations. moreover, many of the problems
that are arising with respect to the anti-china sentiment are also a
function of this sense of the (emergent or imagined) coalition/constituency
stopping at the US border.
apologies for the xposting of a lengthy, but some reports from elsewhere
below to suggest that there is a broader framework.
---
From: jeff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
UK:
LONDON WAKES UP TO GLOBAL ACTION
In an action designed to raise awareness of capitalism and the WTO, around
fifty people gathered in and around Euston station at 9:30am to begin
distributing leaflets and stickers to passers-by. Previous to their arrival
the concorse had already been staked out by dozens of police teams and even
more media. The assembled crowd was later joined by small autonomous
groups from other areas of London, and continued to hand out large amounts
of information.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS SAY NO2WTO
At 12pm the Construction Safety Campaign held a demonstration outside the
Canadian Embassy (Canada House) on Trafalgar Square. The construction
workers and their supporters were protesting at Canada's attmpt to use the
WTO to reverse the decision by several EU countries to ban asbestos use.
[...]
STUDENTS TARGET CITYBANK
The Lewisham branch of Citybank was picketed throughout the afternoon by a
small group of students. The bank is one of the major holders of students
loan debt. [..]
NIGERIANS PUT THEIR PRESIDENT AND SHELL ON TRIAL
President Obasanjo of Nigeria and Mark Moody-Stuart, o f Royal-Dutch/Shell
faced a people's court in London to answer a number of charges relating to
human rights abuses and environmental devastation in the Niger Delta.
[...]
RALLY AT EUSTON STATION
Nearly two thousand people gathered at Euston station at 5pm for a rally
jointly organised by Reclaim the Streets and the London Strike Support
Group designed to highlight the links between the free trade agenda of the
WTO and the privatisation of public transport in UK. [...]
----
ITALY:
PADUA
A peaceful demo in front of the GMO Exhibition "Bionova" -- attended by
the top managers of GMO companies -- was wildly attacked by the police,
twice.
MILAN
A large number of people from the anarchist/ Social Centers area joins a
grassroot trade union demonstration (not about n30) and gives it a
strong anti-globalization character, sensibilizing the workers at the demo
about the dangers of speculative "free" trade and about the "Valzer round" in
Seattle. The idea is quite successful, and workers and squatters are --
for once -- again united against WTO.
Meanwhile, a group of "White Coveralls" (direct action group from the
zapatist/ social centers area) occupied the first and foremost
McDonald's in Milan [...] After that, the White Coveralls showed up in the
city-wide meeting for the closure of the prison camps for migrants [...]
Students of the new University "La Bicocca" occupy the faculty of
"Biological Sciences" to protest against WTO and biotech food.
Permanent info tend in Largo Cairoli, a very central square, to inform
the citizens about WTO and the reasons of our protests against it -- but
also about the Narmada and Iloitz dams, the prison camps for migrants, etc.
The day ended up with a debate at the Social Center Leoncavallo with the
partecipation of Andres Barreda Marin, professor at the UNAM University
in Mexico City, which spoke about the influences of USA economy on
globalization and on the situation in Chiapas. The debate was attended
by about 150 peoples.
ROME
A group of White Coveralls occupied the HQ of the "National Committee
for Biosafety", hanging banners against GMOs and WTO. The action was
promoted by Social Centers and grassroot unions.
----
GERMANY:
Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, 11/30/1999 -- The Parade only finished at
11.15 p.m.! The participants had a lot of fun, despite the cold weather. The
Parade pointed out the consequences of neoliberal politics
and globalisation at local level with mock slogans and fake banners
crying for more order, more security, more police and demanding dry fruit
("Trockenobst"), "Wohlstand fuer Aale" (wealth for eels, a pun on wealth
for all). The police were very confused, protecting luxurious
restaurants and expensive shops, wondering why these weren't being attacked.
Obviously they had not read the call to the demonstration carefully (see
http://www.freespeech.org/inter/spack.htm in German) which focussed on
the logic of this restructuring process. Slide shows projected on building
walls ("Jam the WTO") and a show on Dr. Spack (Deep Space Nine) provided
extra entertainment as well as the unusual music ("Schlager").
---
Turkey:
from The Working Group of Turkey Against the MAI and Globalization:
MAY OUR RESISTANCE BE AS TRANSNATIONAL AS CAPITAL!
Friends,
The Working Group of Turkey Against the MAI and Globalization held a
nine days march from November 22nd to November 30th against the WTO and
GLOBAL CAPITALISM.
Starting from the city of Corlu in Northwest Turkey, we traveled to our
capital Ankara for about 3500 kilometers and visited 18 localities. We
made press declarations and held meetings to explain the attack on humanity
and our planet by the GLOBAL CAPITALISM, and together with the local
participants, protested the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the WTO in
Seattle. [...]
In our march, we were accompanied by representatives from the Party of
Labor, the Union of the Chambers of Engineering and Architecture of
Turkey, Socialist Workers Party and several friends from the progressive
press.
We received support from many trade unions such as Energy and Construction
Workers Union, Miners Union, Municipality Workers Union to name a few,
from the members of the Freedom and Solidarity Party, and several NGOs such
as Canakkale Environmentalist Volunteers Organization, Bergama
Environmental Management Organization and the like.
We joined forces with peasants who supported us with a convoy on the
Canakkale-Izmir Highway before we arrived in Bergama. In Bergama, we
protested Eurogold Corporation, which plans to operate a gold mine there
deploying cyanide-based extraction methods despite the resistance of
the local people, and several thermal and nuclear power plants that are
being planned, as well as the WTO and other exploitative institutions of the
GLOBAL CAPITALISM, including the IMF.
On November 30th, we arrived in Ankara to show our solidarity with the
protesters in Seattle and the rest of the world against the WTO and
GLOBAL CAPITALISM. [...]
-----
Amsterdam:
From: "infocentrum wageningen" [an occupation of the airport]
N30 Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport: Let's Fly at the WTO!
Every one has the right to protest where she or he wants. And because 3
Airlinecompanies, which are present on Schiphol, are sponsoring the
WTO-summit, we asked them to provide us a charter to Seatlle
to protest against the Milleniumround.
>From a letter, send on forehand to Lufthansa, Northwest Airways and
United
Airlines (translation from dutch): "The decisions made in Seatlle are of
influence on our lifes and even partly of direct influence. We would
like
to use the opportunity you give us by sponsoring the summit. Give us the
democratic right to express our opinion about the policies of the WTO.
At
an estimate 300 persons will go with the free charter to Seattle. We
will
be on as a group on the 30th of november at 12.30 at your
incheckcounters
to collect our tickets and which way everything will be without
hinderance
for other passagers." [...]
---
Angela
_________
