Yup. The word you are looking for is, I believe, parody. A word that
defines much of what is going on these days. Question is what will
authentic reaction and rebellion look like?
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From: Edward R Weick
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Battle of Washington
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 7:37AM
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.
