The power of the people By Sam Webb The hope of the ruling elite that the "Battle in Seattle" was a blip on the screen was unceremoniously crushed during the week of April 9-16 when tens of thousands of activists descended on our nation's capital to protest capitalist globalization. In the wake of these protest actions, the corporate ruling class is now forced to face what is its worst nightmare - the anti-World Trade Organization "Battle in Seattle" spawned a social movement ready to battle the transnational corporations at every turn. While gathered in Washington, this loosely constructed coalition demonstrated against everything from the suffocating debt on Third World countries to permanent trade status for China, to Star Wars and solidarity concerns to environmental degradation to AIDS to animal rights to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. While no immediate concessions were won, policy-makers in the capital and elsewhere were clearly alarmed by the militancy and mass character of the demonstrations. The venues in the course of the week were many, but the two outstanding events were the mass rallies - one at the beginning of the week and the other at the end. The Jubilee 2000 rally, inaugurating a week of people's activities, was notable in two important respects. For one thing, its main demand was the cancellation of the crushing debt developing countries owe to private and public institutions in the advanced capitalist countries. And rightfully so. Perhaps no other demand would bring such immediate relief to developing countries that are languishing in utter poverty due to the many-sided effects of globalization. Moreover, it enjoys extensive support in the developed and developing world alike. For another thing, faith-based organizations were heavily represented at Jubilee 2000. Their presence opens up new avenues to reach millions of faith-based people who normally might shy away from social struggle, but given the right circumstances could be activists for global economic justice. If the Jubilee 2000 rally got the week off to a good start then the rally a week later against the IMF and the World Bank was the people's equivalent to the Super Bowl. Seldom have I participated in a mass action so militant, so politically advanced, so able to creatively combine tactics and fun. According to the AFL-CIO, there were 30,000 participants, mainly young people. Thousands engaged in civil disobedience and more than 1,000 were arrested. The police had to allow a noisy and raucous march through capital streets. Even before the dust had settled on the streets of Washington. prominent policy makers in higher circles were re-examining the architecture, rules and policies governing the global economy. This reappraisal, to be sure, was prompted by earlier events, especially the economic crisis in Southeast Asia and the ensuing financial contagion that nearly engulfed the world. But it is also unmistakably a response to the pressure coming now from this growing mass movement against capitalist globalization. This is remarkable. Consider for a moment: in a short space of time this movement has not only challenged the very legitimacy of the global economic order, but has introduced the concerns and language of globalization into millions of American households. Among a growingsection of the American people, there is something rotten with the transnational corporations TNCs and the global institutions that do their bidding. The only sour note struck during the entire week was labor's rally. Held on the Capitol steps, its theme was "No Blank Check, No Permanent Trade Status for China." In other words, labor, contrary to its own best interests, is opposing normalizing relations with the most populous country in the world. That rally included speeches that were throwbacks to the Cold War period. To make matters worse, Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan spoke at the Teamsters rally earlier in the day. It would be premature, however, to say that the labor movement has crashed on the shoals of the Cold War, to say that the anti-China campaign is the death knell of labor's forward march. Why do I say this? First, the Cold War is over and, therefore, cold-war rhetoric and policies don't resonate among the American people like they once did. Is there any more compelling example than the refusal of the millions of people to be swallowed up in anti-communist hysteria in the Elian Gonzalez case? Secondly, the pressure coming from the ultraright and TNCs - not to mention the growing anti-corporate consciousness - make it difficult to turn China's labor record into the foremost concern of our nation's working people. Thirdly, the anti-China campaign is neither universally nor enthusiastically embraced by labor's leadership. The more clear-headed of labor's leaders realize that a cold-war campaign against China will divert attention from the 2000 elections, stall labor's struggle against our own TNCs and stain the public image of labor as a progressive force. Labor's image was badly tarnished during the Cold War and is only now changing for the better. Thus, labor activists should neither throw in the towel nor find a safe harbor until the storm blows over. Instead, they should aggressively make a case for the normalization of relations, including contacts with the official labor movement of China. Of course, being aggressive doesn't mean being confrontational. But it does mean trying to persuade the labor movement of the dead-end nature of this campaign. The emergence of this new social movement, first in Seattle and now in Washington, is of profound significance. Much like the civil rights movement of the 1960s, it has no single center, employs a range of tactics and operates on many levels and through many forms. What distinguishes it from other movements in recent decades is that organized labor, notwithstanding its anti-China campaign labor, is arguably its center of gravity. Its main task is to reach millions of American people from all walks of life who are experiencing in one form or another the negative effects of capitalist globalization, but are not yet an active part of the movement. Politics, someone once said, begins where there are millions. This will take practical initiatives, flexible tactics and a more coherent political and economic program. Challenging the legitimacy of the IMF, for instance, is undeniably just, but it also begs the question: how should global economic relations and institutions be constituted? What should be our attitude toward capital controls? Is rule-making in trade agreements enough? Are sustainable development and further industrialization compatible? What measures are needed to avoid eco-disaster? Presently, the answers to these questions are somewhat fuzzy, but that can't last forever. This movement, recent experience suggests, will not follow political patterns of yesteryear. Instead, political novelty in terms of demands, tactics, and forms of organization and struggle will figure prominently. Thus, an openness to new methods of struggle is necessary. No one should carry into this movement a presumption that they have all the answers especially from an earlier period of struggle. The logic of this global struggle moves millions of the exploited and oppressed relentlessly, if not inevitably, in the direction of a direct challenge to capitalism. This was evident in Washington. And it is particularly pronounced among young activists there. While they come to their anti-capitalism along different paths and struggles (environmental, child labor, anti-consumerist, etc.), each of them feels a keen sense of moral outrage over the devastation that global capitalism is imposing on humankind and our planet. To be sure, this isn't yet a majority sentiment, but political thinking is shifting rapidly in a left direction, especially among youth. This augurs well for the future, especially when the militancy of the younger generation is combined with labor, the racially oppressed, women, seniors, farmers, environmentalists, gays and lesbians, religious groups, immigrants and other sections of the people's movement. As demonstrators chanted in our nation's capital April 16, "There ain't no power like the power of the people, because the power of the people won't stop"
