>
>But the capitalist government is not concerned right now
>with anything except trying to stop this movement before it
>really gets started, regardless of its ideological makeup.
>It's a movement of resistance to capitalism, and that's
>enough to make them want to stop it.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:39:50 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Mumia Salutes IMF Protesters
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 27, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>FROM DEATH ROW: MUMIA SALUTES IMF PROTESTERS
>
>Ona Move! Millions of people across the country and the
>world learned an important and powerful lesson from the
>battle in Seattle last year. We learned the value of
>solidarity across different movements and across elusive
>national boundaries.
>
>The battle of Seattle was a crucial one, but as I
>suggested earlier and in a recent column, it is merely a
>beginning, not an end. The battle in Seattle exposed the
>deadly link of world and western capital seeking to shackle
>and chain workers, trade unionists, activists and the poor
>into a prison of corporate power. But as we have learned,
>so too has capital learned important lessons from Seattle.
>
>Notice how in every newscast since then opponents of
>corporate power have been projected and demonized as
>"terrorists."
>
>Poor people, workers, activists and organizers were on the
>receiving end of terror in Seattle as they were beaten by
>police batons, gassed, shot with plastic bullets and thrown
>to the ground, shackled and arrested for practicing the
>alleged first amendment right of free assembly and protest.
>
>When a dozen youngsters broke windows of McDonalds or
>Starbucks the media heralds it as terrorism. When the cops
>beat people, assault them, gas them, shoot them and shatter
>bones, this is characterized as restraint.
>
>At the center of the World Trade Organization lies the
>International Monetary Foundation and other super-
>governmental multi-national structures that bleed the
>planet and her people for profit.
>
>I am in support of the IMF protest and I wish I could be
>there to join it.
>
>Ona Move! Let's learn from Seattle. Long live John
>Africa!
>
>Mumia Abu-Jamal
>
>April 15, 2000
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:41:56 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Workers World Candidates Arrested in DC Protest
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 27, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>WORKERS WORLD PARTY CANDIDATES: A STOP IN JAIL ON
>THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
>
>George W. Bush and Al Gore, representing the interests of
>the capitalist establishment, were speaking at $1,000 plate
>fundraisers. But Workers World Party national candidates
>Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva were being arrested on
>April 15 along with 676 other protestors in Washington who
>were demanding "Shut down the Prison-Industrial Complex."
>
>Moorehead and La Riva spent nearly 20 hours in Washington
>jails but still made it to the Ellipse on April 16 to
>participate in the mass actions against the International
>Monetary Fund and World Bank.
>
>Moorehead and La Riva were held along with 33 other women
>in a small room adjacent to the General Hospital. The room
>was splattered with dried blood and vomit. There was no
>clean water or food. Their personal bags were destroyed by
>the police, who cut them with knives. They were handcuffed
>throughout.
>
>The conditions were bad but the spirit of the women was
>strong. They took part in an impromptu and serious
>political discussion. Everyone participated.
>
>Workers World Party vice-presidential candidate Gloria La
>Riva described how Moorehead's political remarks were
>enthusiastically received by the women, most of whom were
>in their early twenties.
>
>"Monica praised the women for their contributions to these
>historic actions against the IMF and the Prison-Industrial
>Complex," LaRiva stated. "She pointed out that capitalism
>and U.S. imperialism are responsible for the suffering of
>working and poor people around the globe. She also
>emphasized that it was vital that the movement not fall
>into the anti-communist and chauvinist campaign directed
>against the admission of the People's Republic of China
>into the World Trade Organization."
>
>Moorehead's comments received a foot-stomping "applause"
>from the handcuffed women when she concluded that "The
>enemy of our movement is not China but U.S. imperialism and
>militarism which is the greatest violator of human rights
>in the world."
>
>--Brian Becker
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:43:29 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] DC Protest: Minors Majoring in Militant Struggle
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 27, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>APRIL 15: FROM A CELL BLOCK--MINORS MAJORING IN
>MILITANT STRUGGLE
>
>By Ben Becker
>Washington
>
>[Becker is a 16-year-old high school student from
>Baltimore. He was one of those arrested at the April 15
>Washington demonstration to "Shut Down the Prison-
>Industrial Complex."]
>
>
>
>Of the 678 people who were illegally arrested at the April
>15 "prison-industrial complex" protest in Washington, 20
>were under 18 years old. From the moment the hard plastic
>handcuffs were strapped on our wrists, we were separated
>from the 658 older prisoners, each facing the same
>fraudulent charges.
>
>As I approached the all-metal cab of the van, I heard a
>chorus of, "Hey man," "Whazzup," and "Join us"--as if I had
>a choice. These were the spirited people that I would be
>spending the next six hours with.
>
>The painful heat caused by the sweatshirts and jackets of
>the immobile and tightly confined prisoners was overwhelmed
>by loud, synchronous chants and stomping feet, along with
>bad attempts at singing "The Internationale" and "We Shall
>Overcome." The five militant females and five militant
>males in the back of the van, divided by a metal wall, sang
>together; it was only a physical barrier.
>
>For the next few hours, the disorganized pigs fumbled
>around with our information and their instructions about
>what to do with us. While going through the normal
>procedures for juvenile jail, which included removing our
>outer garments for searching, we encountered many cops,
>each differing only in their appearance.
>
>The condescending and utterly false words, "once you get
>over this protesting stage" and "so you were willing to
>give up your freedom?" were often heard during our many
>exchanges.
>
>Of course, there is no freedom to lose in this oppressive
>country--you can't sacrifice what you don't have. And if
>there were, protesting would be an assertion of this
>freedom. As for "the protesting stage," it will only end
>when the capitalist system ends.
>
>Shocking as it may be, one of the pigs was actually
>accurate in one assessment. He said, "I bet each one of
>your parents are in these same organizations that you are
>in." His newfound confidence, gained by the rippling of
>nodding heads throughout the room, was instantly smashed,
>when one young protestor calmly replied, "I bet yours
>aren't."
>
>The group became very relaxed as the night carried on and
>more and more youths were brought into our large cell. It
>may be a sign of immaturity or naivete, but there were
>times when parts of the group of young protesters ignored
>the pigs' threats of being placed in a solitary cell, and
>continued to talk loudly.
>
>The unified youths also were able to neglect the burly
>police who purposely ate their sweet-smelling hot plates of
>food a few feet beyond the bars of our cell. Upon the
>release of each of the upbeat prisoners, there was a warm
>handshake given to each person--despite the cops' attempt
>to rush them.
>
>Throughout the cell, we could hear a lot of "Nice meeting
>you" and "Hang in there," but there was one resounding
>statement: "See you tomorrow."
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:44:54 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable
>Subject: [WW] In the Streets Around the IMF
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 27, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>ANTI-IMF PROTEST: APRIL 16/ IN THE STREETS AROUND THE
>IMF
>
>By Deirdre Griswold
>
>SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 6 A.M.
>
>It's a gray dawn as our squad of demonstrators walks
>through a light drizzle into downtown Washington. Already,
>bicyclists are cruising the streets, checking things out.
>
>A woman zips by, calling, "Watch it," just as a convoy of
>police vehicles rounds the corner, lights flashing.
>Sandwiched between conventional police cars is a squared-
>off, dark-grey armored vehicle right out of some futuristic
>action movie.
>
>6:30 A.M. Protesters gather at every intersection for
>blocks around the meeting place of the International
>Monetary Fund and World Bank. They practice barricading the
>streets by linking arms, while drummers keep up a dramatic
>cadence on plastic buckets and big empty water bottles.
>
>Groups of police can be seen, but mostly at the far ends
>of the streets, nearer the IMF. Overhead, a helicopter's
>propellers loudly beat the air.
>
>The mood is tense but happy. Often, the people break into
>spontaneous dances to the beat of the drums. Groups with
>banners and big papier-mach=82 puppets march from one
>intersection to another, their arrival setting off cheers
>and whistles.
>
>On one corner, a young man wheels a large Trojan Horse
>labeled "IMF loans." The Trojan Horse--wasn't that the
>"gift" the Greeks used to get inside the walled city of
>Troy and conquer it? Good metaphor.
>
>A group of Kurds appears with signs calling for the
>release of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
>
>The drizzle stops and the light grows. Bicycles keep
>arriving with news about IMF delegates, whose meeting is
>scheduled to start soon.
>
>The crowds become more mobile, moving from intersection to
>intersection, hoping to block the delegates.
>
>A gray-haired man with a sardonic smile whose business
>suit marks him out is discovered on foot. Crowds follow and
>surround him, making sure he doesn't get through to the
>meeting, but touching him only with their passionate words.
>
>8 A.M. NEW YORK AVENUE AND 14TH STREET. Buses and vans
>of
>delegates are now somewhere in the area. The police start
>trying to punch through the blockaded intersections.
>
>A cop car heads right toward the crowd, probably expecting
>them to scatter. Instead, the bravest rush the front of the
>car and push it to a halt.
>
>Others run in and sit down right in front of the tires. As
>everywhere this day, young women are in the midst of the
>action along with the men.
>
>Photographers are everywhere. The police car is
>surrounded. Finally, it starts to back up. Others behind it
>also move back and turn around to look for another route.
>The crowd is jubilant.
>
>8:30 A.M. F STREET AND 14TH. A woman and two men dressed
>all in black have been caught by the cops a little distance
>from the rest of the crowd. A cop kneels on one guy's back,
>yanks his arms behind him and applies plastic handcuffs.
>All three are cuffed and shoved into squad cars as people
>yell, "Let them go."
>
>8:55 A.M. Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street This is the
>hot spot. You can see the IMF building from here.
>
>The Sharks have arrived. They wear exaggerated bankers'
>suits and cocktail dresses. Dorsal fins are somehow
>attached to their heads and toothy shark jaws protrude from
>their faces. Their signs proclaim: "IMF loan sharks" and
>"More world, less bank." Their comic appearance lightens
>the tension.
>
>The police have lined up movable fences across 15th Street
>and along a park on the side toward Pennsylvania Avenue.
>They open a section of fence and try to bring through
>police cars and vans for IMF delegates. But the
>demonstrators stop them. Again, their bodies become human
>barricades at great risk to their safety.
>
>Eventually the police cars and vans turn around and leave,
>to much joy. The demonstrators have surrounded a bus--of
>delegates or the press?--and won't let it move.
>
>9:02 A.M. A phalanx of mounted police appears. They
>approach the barricade behind which the protesters are
>massed. A cop pulls back a section of the fence and the
>horses try to rush through.
>
>It's amazing. The demonstrators hold their ground. The
>horses are snorting right above them, the police are
>screaming, but these courageous young people turn their
>backs and link arms. Others sit down, packed tight in front
>of them. If the horses are forced by their riders to move
>forward, many people will be trampled.
>
>The standoff lasts a few long minutes. The horses back
>off. A chant goes up: "Whose streets? Our streets!"
>
>What will come next?
>
>9:10 A.M. Suddenly, screeching down a drive through the
>little park, a van appears. Everyone watches as police open
>the fence on that side. The van doors open and, as though
>they expect a loud TA-DA, three robo-cops jump out.
>
>They appear to be seven feet tall. They pose a moment for
>effect, their chests thrust out, gripping long wooden clubs
>with black-gloved hands. Then, one by one, they charge the
>crowd, batons swinging.
>
>There's a confused scene of cops, photographers,
>demonstrators. Some protesters fall to the ground. The
>robo-cops grab a few and drag them off. But at the end of
>it all, the demonstrators still have the bus surrounded.
>
>Medical teams are attending to the wounded--a banged hand
>here, a sprain there. No one leaves.
>
>9:17 A.M. Someone gets on a bullhorn: "CNN just announced
>the meeting has been unable to start." Cheers. More people
>appear, drawn by rumors of the action on this corner. One
>carries a sign: "Third World women's bodies pay off your
>loan." Another reads "Why are you so rich?"
>
>9:20 A.M. A group referred to as the Vegetables passes out
>peanut butter sandwiches and baggies of trail mix to anyone
>who looks hungry. As they wolf down food, veterans of the
>recent combat excitedly retell the events of the last half-
>hour to the newcomers.
>
>A group carrying fluttering cranes on tall poles moves
>through the crowd. Under each bird is a circle with
>"Resist" on one side and "Rise up" on the other. The Sharks
>begin a snake dance as whistles blow and drums beat.
>
>9:51 a.m. 15th Street and New York Avenue. Demonstrators
>have been able to grab a section of police fencing and use
>it, along with garbage cans and other things, as a
>barricade. Police are lined up across the avenue, but
>nothing much is happening. Someone playing a piccolo
>wanders by. There are union hats and T-shirts in the crowd.
>
>10:20 A.M. H STREET AND 15TH. A group appears carrying a
>giant smiling sun-face attached to embracing arms. Under
>the sun is a large banner: "Globalize liberation." Someone
>else has a sign: "Jail IMF-World Bank dictators."
>
>10:50 A.M. I STREET AND 19TH. There's a standoff--a line of
>cops loaded down with riot gear and gas masks faces a line
>of demonstrators. More people are pouring in.
>
>Suddenly loud popping noises are followed by clouds of gas
>that make eyes burn and water. People pull bandanas over
>their faces but don't run very far. A light breeze blows
>the gas back toward the cops. The intersection fills up
>again.
>
>11:10 A.M. I STREET AND 17TH. The police chief is talking
>to reporters. He tells them how gentle the cops have been--
>"no tear gas and no arrests." As he speaks, a woman holds
>an International Action Center sign right behind his head.
>"Shut down capitalism," it says. She flips it around. "Free
>Mumia and all political prisoners."
>
>11:30 a.m. People are headed toward the large legal rally
>at the Ellipse. A group of Indians from Bhopal carries a
>sign demanding compensation from the Union Carbide Co. The
>Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association is telling
>people that the U.S. Department of Agriculture uses loans
>to farmers here the same way the IMF does abroad: to
>"divide and conquer."
>
>The sun breaks out. Time to recharge for another day.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:46:27 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Anti-IMF Protests: April 17
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 27, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>ANTI-IMF PROTESTS: APRIL 17--BACK TO THE SCENE OF THE
>CRIME
>
>By Nancy Mitchell and Sarah Sloan
>Washington
>
>After the April 16 mass direct action and demonstration of
>tens of thousands of people--the culmination of months of
>planning--the police and the city didn't know what to
>expect at the next morning's meeting of the World Bank. But
>by 6 a.m. in the pouring rain that Monday they were getting
>a pretty good idea.
>
>Thousands of protesters converged on downtown Washington,
>shutting down traffic, whipping up enthusiasm, and
>surrounding police barricades set up to protect the
>imperialist bankers. Groups formed and dispersed in several
>street battles with the cops.
>
>Police clubbed and pepper-sprayed protesters in the front
>lines, arresting 100 in the early morning street actions
>and about 500 more throughout the day. At one point police
>fired tear gas; they claimed afterward that it was a
>"mistake."
>
>Police announced they had confiscated "weapons"--gas
>masks, vinegar and bleach used to help counter pain and
>injury from tear gas. The young activists had learned in
>Seattle to use this and other defense equipment against
>police terror.
>
>After facing all this police repression, a group of
>several hundred led by an International Action Center
>banner maneuvered their way through the streets to join a
>group they had heard was massing near the Mall.
>Outmaneuvering cops' attempts to surround and arrest them,
>they achieved their goal of meeting up with the mass march
>that was forming.
>
>As the rain continued, this spontaneous feeder march
>spilled into a group of thousands who had just started
>walking. After a strategy of decentralized action carried
>out by affinity groups the day before, protesters decided
>to pool their strength by gathering together and marching
>through the streets without police permission.
>
>Police watched as the protesters flooded through entire
>streets and intersections, at times weaving among cars
>whose drivers honked in support even though their vehicles
>were paralyzed by the march. Workers learned out of office
>windows and from construction sites to show support.
>
>`SHUT IT DOWN'
>
>Many demonstrators were chanting: "World Bank--shut it
>down, IMF--shut it down, capitalism--shut it down,
>imperialism--shut it down, police brutality--shut it down."
>Many had been arrested at the Saturday prison-industrial
>complex demonstration and came to this day with a renewed
>vigor for fighting against police brutality and for Mumia
>Abu-Jamal.
>
>They shouted, "Free Mumia, jail the bankers."
>
>The march stopped at the northwest corner of the police
>barricades at 20th Street and Pennsylvania. Demonstrators
>braved arrest, massing in direct confrontation to troops
>from multiple police forces--including Police Chief Charles
>Ramsey--who stood armed to defend the banks.
>
>Police sprayed great volumes of pepper spray directly into
>the faces of protesters who stood just feet away.
>
>The standoff at the barricades lasted for hours.
>
>By the end of the day, police had arrested 600 people.
>That made a total of 1,300 arrests since April 15.
>
>The administration and media boasted that the protesters
>had failed to shut down the meeting. But demonstrators
>explained that their goal to draw mass attention to the
>destructive role of the IMF and World Bank--and that they
>had succeeded, on a worldwide scale. The actions energized
>people around the world, who now have their eyes on this
>new movement.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
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