------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 14, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
WEF CAN'T HIDE IN ERA OF ENRON: BILLIONAIRE FORUM FOCUS OF PROTESTS Thousands Decry War, Racism, Capitalist Globalizers By Deirdre Griswold New York The tens of thousands of protesters who rallied and marched in midtown Manhattan Feb. 2 against the billionaires at the World Economic Forum let the world know that, even in the repressive post-9/11 climate, the movement against war and racism is back and growing in the U.S. Anyone who still has doubts about the way the left defines the state--that in essence it's an armed force to protect the property and privileges of the rich ruling class-- couldn't have been in New York during the WEF's annual bash. The police were everywhere. Some 10,000 were mobilized over the several days of events. PROTECTING STARBUCKS AND GAP Three-person squads stood in front of every Starbucks, every Gap, every Old Navy, every United Colors of Benetton, every Banana Republic in mid and lower Manhattan. Police helicopters hovered overhead. Police motorcycles, vans, marked and unmarked cars, even buses careened through the streets. The area for blocks around the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was a blue "frozen zone." The police broke up a permitted demonstration area into little pens surrounded by metal barricades. Inside the hotel nearly 1,000 of the world's richest and most powerful people--plus a hefty dose of heads of state and a sprinkling of others thrown in to bask in their magnificence--were celebrating the capitalist system with forced exuberance. Occasionally a PR person would emerge to announce that they were attending workshops on such caring issues as poverty and the environment. Did they feel more secure in this huge metropolis than in Davos, Switzerland? That's where they had met for many years, squeezing a few apr�s-ski hot toddies into their agenda--before demonstrators began climbing the Alps to confront them. They had incurred the wrath of so many because their annual gatherings were the place of conception of many corporate schemes that have led to a world polarized between extreme poverty and obscene wealth. There were indications that the glitterati did not feel very secure in New York. On Feb. 2, the day of the main protests, a "war room" was established at NYPD Headquarters, where agents from 16 city, state and federal agencies monitored live cameras on street corners and in helicopters, looking for lurking protesters. BILLIONAIRES CAN'T ESCAPE CHANTS OF "WEF, SHUT IT DOWN" Even with this thick buffer, it was reported that the forum attendees could still hear the chants of the thousands lining Park Avenue to the north. "WEF, shut it down," "Money for jobs, not for war," and "People before profits" were especially popular. The super-rich must also have heard that thousands more were assembling at Central Park and then marching down to rally south of the hotel. It's not so much fun being filthy rich when you know that you're surrounded by tens of thousands of people who hate what you stand for. But they had more than that to be glum about. The sewage from the messy Enron collapse was lapping at their ankles. Who would be the next to slip into the cesspool? The smiles were even falser than usual as they slapped backs and wondered if their friends were planting financial bombs in their portfolios. They had hoped that the NYPD's massive display of force would scare demonstrators away. Hadn't they made their decision to come to New York after 9/11 because it was now such a traumatized place that the authorities could demonize whomever they wanted? Bush was telling the world that you were either with his policies or you were the enemy. Who would dare raise a voice of dissent at a time like this? When it became clear that the demonstrators would come anyway, the police devised tactics to try and kill the spirit of protest. They declared their total jurisdiction over the streets of New York--YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?--and threatened to arrest anyone who so much as put their foot over the curb into a restricted area. They set up barricades, checkpoints and sealed off large areas around the Waldorf-Astoria. The International Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition had applied four months earlier for permits for a "meet 'em and greet 'em" rally across Park Avenue from the Waldorf-Astoria. It had repeatedly had to answer violence- baiting in the media that was designed to scare people away. The police sat on the application until just 12 days before the opening of the forum. They finally granted a sound permit, but refused to allow the group to march after its rally under threat of mass arrests. People coming to the ANSWER demonstration had to navigate a gauntlet of police checkpoints that sent them many blocks out of their way. A report from the Mid-Hudson National People's Campaign said it took some of their people "an hour or more to be admitted to the area." Buses arriving from other cities were forced to drop their passengers off at 59th Street--nine blocks from the ANSWER rally site. MILITANT RALLY ON PARK AVENUE But by mid-morning, the protest stretched from 50th to 56th streets. Speakers from a broad variety of organizations opposed to corporate globalization and demanding justice and equality laid out the thousand and one reasons for being there. There were Florida farm workers seeking a living wage and better conditions, Muslims against racial profiling, African American ministers against the war, Palestinians struggling for their homeland, civil liberties lawyers, doctors who know personal health is a social issue, high school students combating militarism and police repression, activists from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, environmentalists, Koreans for peace and reunification, AIDS organizers fighting the greedy pharmaceuticals, and many more. Many speakers summed up the problem confronting all these diverse groups with one word: capitalism. That seemed to really annoy the police lining Park Avenue, indicating they know their job is to protect the super-rich. At the end of the rally, the ANSWER coalition announced it would try to lead a march to join up with another large protest led by Another World Is Possible (AWIP), which had assembled at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue and was marching through the east side to a rally site at 48th Street south of the hotel. Even though AWIP had a march permit, it also experienced a heavy police presence and harassment. There were dozens of arrests even before the march started. POLICE PREVENT MARCHERS FROM UNITING Since the police had blocked the way south on Park, the ANSWER group of several thousand people first walked west to Madison Avenue, then south to 48th St. Here there was a 15- minute standoff while the cops on the street, who had said earlier that the people would be allowed to join the other protest, got contrary instructions from their commanders. When police continued to block the east and south exits from the intersection, the group headed west, eventually reaching 42nd Street and a theater showing the racist film "Black Hawk Down," which is preparing public opinion for another U.S. invasion of Somalia. After a loud picket of the film, as police were closing in to make arrests, the marchers decided to disperse, many making their way in small groups to the AWIP protest, which by this time was rallying at 48th Street. While police prevented most of the people organized by the two groups from coming together and showing their combined strength, many estimated that at least 25,000 protesters marched in New York that day. The night before, International ANSWER had organized a packed rally at the main auditorium of the Fashion Institute of Technology that became a celebration of the diversity and militancy of this new coalition. (See coverage, page 5.) Earlier in the week, the UNITE union and the New York Labor Council had picketed the Gap as a symbol of the sweatshop- loving corporate globalization that is pulling down workers' wages and conditions everywhere. (See article, page 4.) The response of the state to all these activities-- surrounding the protesters with an army of blue--was supposed to be a show of strength. In fact, it showed that the billionaire class, despite their enormous control over the media and the political system, must resort to violence against the people because they are becoming more hated and isolated every day. ****** MERGING THE STRUGGLES VS. WAR, RACISM AND CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION The main auditorium at Fashion Institute of Technology was jammed the night of Feb. 1 as people of many nationalities and struggles came together for the International ANSWER coalition's program "Merge the Struggles Against War, Racism and Corporate Globalization." Earlier the same day, ANSWER had hosted a teach-in at the Community Church. The pictures on this page give highlights of these two events. Saikou Diallo, father of Amadou Diallo, shot 41 times by New York cops: "I invite you to commemorate the anniversary of my son's death. Continue to stand together for peace and justice--together we can make it work." Asha Samad-Matias, Muslims Against Racism & War: "The forces that try to divide us obviously have not succeeded. They try to keep our movements apart but we haven't fallen for it. We have to bring the message to our friends and co-workers that we have to talk to each other, not to the bosses. Once we are together, then we can talk to the bosses." Peta Lindsay, School Without Walls, D.C.: "Organizing young people to take action and make change is not an easy job. The youth recognize the issues but in order for them to even form their own opinion they have to break through a mountain of barriers systematically set up to stop them from thinking." Larry Adams, Labor Against the War: "We in this country have the responsibility of fighting our own ruling class that exploits the world. The war is just the policy of globalization in a violent form. If you hate globalization, you must oppose this war. It's an excuse to further the far- right agenda." Tom Hansen and Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network: (Cardenas) "Before 9/11 there was a great debate in this country about legalization for undocumented workers. It seemed that finally the politicians were recognizing their great importance. Instead, we've started to see immigrants as the prime suspects in acts of terrorism." Ron Daniels, Center for Constitutional Rights: "There are now more people who understand what the IMF, WTO and World Bank are because of this movement. One of the most important tasks we face is to broaden this movement to demand change." Gloria La Riva, Brother Joel Magellan and Judi Cheng. La Riva of the Free the Cuban Five Committee of the International Action Center: "George Bush Sr. gave a presidential pardon to Orlando Bosch, a CIA terrorist who bombed a Cuban airliner. I know many of you support Cuba. We want to free the five Cuban patriots held in U.S. jails and end U.S. terrorism against Cuba." Brother Joel Magellan of the Asociacion Tepeyac: "Census 2000 said there are more than 9 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Many are fighting for a general amnesty for all undocumented. They are fighting against their fear and for their rights. You are our voice. They are working very hard. They work 80 hours a week and make about $250." Monica Moorehead, Odessa Gatewood and Rev. Curtis Gatewood. Rev. Gatewood, president of the Durham, N.C., NAACP: "The wounds of slavery were never given the surgical stitches of reparations or the painkiller of justice. Uncle Sam used his brother, Willie Lynch, and his cousins Jim Crow and Cointelpro, in the unyielding terror of racism in America. So don't tell us that we must drop bombs on Afghanistan or Iran to stop terrorism. The first terror attack to reach this shore came around 1492." Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO/Pastors for Peace: "The people meeting at the World Economic Forum are the leaders of world capitalism. They're the new slavers, attempting to enslave the Third World. They have expanded and sophisticated the concept of slavery and have exported it around the world. It's our responsibility to haunt them and defeat everything they stand for." Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil Justice: "The USA Patriot Act is a vicious assault on civil rights and civil liberties. It's an attempt to shut down political dissent--and we're not going to let them do it. Racial profiling is nothing new. Demonstrate at the jails where the detained are being held. Tell them these rights are our rights and they can't take them away. People died for better working conditions, a better life. The Confederacy-loving Atty. Gen. Ashcroft thinks he can sweep away these decades of struggle." [--Quotes excerpted by Bryan Pfeiffer and Deirdre Griswold.] - END - (Copyright 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) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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