Battle of Washington

[Edward R Weick]

The following is from today's Globe and Mail. Ed Weick Global justice? Don't make me laugh ANDREW MILLS Tuesday, April 18, 2000 The movements of my parents' generation were straightforward: civil rights, Ban the Bomb, anti-Vietnam war. I am a 19-year-old history student; my generation's brand of activism is a complex mix of issues as diverse as free trade, sea turtles, poverty, sexual diversity, sweatshops, and undue corporate influence over the media. Many of these movements have gathered under an umbrella term known as "the Mobilization for Global Justice." Its organizers brought on December's megaprotest at the meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. They attempted to recreate that event last weekend and this week at the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington. The movement gains momentum with each protest, and the protesters refuse to be ignored. But we need to take a closer look at how much insight the people in the Washington streets are actually offering. Last Saturday, I took a seat on one of the four Canadian Auto Workers' subsidized buses full of communists and churchgoers, Luddites and lesbians bound for Washington to join the protests. Near me sat Ethan, a navy blue-haired student from Trent University, who explained his involvement: "All of these organizations [the WTO, IMF and World Bank] give power to those that have it and take power away from those who don't. I am one of those that don't [have power] and I feel that I should stand with my comrades. . . . Wait, no, don't write 'comrades,' write 'friends.' " Across the aisle his friend Anna took a break from studying for her Spanish exam to tell me that she was going to Washington to "keep up the momentum of Seattle" -- to what end was unclear. When we arrived Washington, it seemed like a war zone -- as people jogged and walked their dogs, helicopters hovered overhead and armoured cars parallel-parked behind Volvos. There were rumours of police in full riot gear lining up for lattes at Starbucks before going to guard the "no-protest" zones around the IMF and World Bank Buildings. I soon realized there were two main groups of protesters: the older, more laid-back group, equipped with legal permits to protest, who assembled behind the White House, and the unofficial "direct-action" groups, whose goal was to shut down the IMF and World Bank meetings even if it meant risking arrest. Many of these "direct-action" protesters were students -- people such as Sarah, a film-and-sociology major at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. On Sunday, she was sitting with her arms linked to other protesters in a circle to block off an intersection leading to the bank. She had swimming goggles on her head and a vinegar-soaked bandana around her neck, to protect herself in case of a tear gas attack. She told me, "Martin Luther King got arrested, Thoreau got arrested, Ghandi got arrested, I can handle it." There was an element of nostalgia at work, too. At one of the many human chains, Sue, a Washington suburbanite, was taking proud photographs of her daughter who was linked arm-in-arm as part of the chain. Between photographs Sue remarked, "I'm glad that she's out here protesting today. I think that we parents have done a good job." Nearby, protesters flooded the streets with papier-mâché puppets of President Bill Clinton and the leaders of the World Bank and IMF, chanting: "There ain't no power like the power of the people and the power of the people won't stop." The reason at least some of these protesters had come to Washington was not to to champion the causes of the Mobilization for Global Justice movement. Many simply wanted to bring a city to its knees, and they nearly succeeded. High school and college students, they'd never had power over others, and Washington was their chance. It was rare to find a protester who could directly connect the workings of the World Bank and IMF to the issues raised by the global justice movement. Their knowledge of the World Bank and IMF seemed vague and superficial. They'd been told that these bureaucracies caused global problems, and they accepted it: Okay, let's go protest. On Sunday morning, I watched a standoff between an army of riot police and a throng of people who had removed one of the fences erected to assist with crowd control. The protesters charged nearly 30 riot police with this fence and hurled stones and bottles. The police, on foot and motorcycle, used their batons to beat them back, but the provocation continued. Mistaking me and a companion for movement sympathizers, one officer chased us down the street with his baton raised. He retreated when he realized we were taking notes while running and were probably journalists. Then the police deployed tear gas (it made me nauseous) and the violence ended. Now, what does provoking the police and causing a riot have to do with global justice, or shutting down the World Bank and IMF? As far as I can see, nothing. It has to do with having power and reacting against authority. It's the old story of the rebel without a cause. But in this case, the lack of a cause is disguised as speaking out for the environment and the impoverished. Andrew Mills is a University of Toronto student who has written on globalization issues for The Varsity.