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April 2000
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Should have included the World Bank, but written before the Seattle protests, this article proved prophetic as to where the focus of civil disobediance was heading.
A conversation with anarchist philosopher John Zerzan.
THE NEW BARBARIANS AT THE GATE
THE WTO
First-Hand Report on Events in Seattle
WTO Protests: "Official" News Reports
Neurotoxic Symptoms In Chemical Warfare Casualties At Seattle WTO Meeting
It was supposed to be the sequel the 1999 'Battle In Seattle', but the mass demonstration against the World Bank's semi-annual meeting in Washington DC was not nearly as successful as last year's disruption of the World Trade Organization's Millennium Round.
The World Bank, which launders money for large corporations by offering loans to poor countries in exchange for reduced trade barriers, lower environmental standards, aggressive anti-labor laws and the elimination of subsidies, is a key player in economic globalization. Once all the barriers are down, the client states have no choice but to accept heavy investment from multinational corporations, which extract natural resources and labor power but offer little in exchange. Not one country has successfully developed thanks to the World Bank's system, and those few Third World countries that have become industrial or trade powers (South Korea, Taiwan, the OPEC states) have done so by doing the exact opposite of what the World Bank prescribes.
A16 had a massive list of sponsoring organizations which ran the gamut from revolutionary socialist groups to mainstream environmental and labor organizations. However, organized labor was not out in force the way it was in Seattle (the most heavily organized city in the United States, and home to one of the last remaining fighting unions in the country, the 'International Longshore & Warehouse Union'). A16 protestors tended to be younger, less physically intimidating, less experienced, and worst of all, so committed to non-violence that DC police, old hands at crowd control, were able to play them for chumps.
They began attacking the protestors early on, raiding the offices of a16.org, one of the facilitators of the protests. People were arrested on trumped-up charges: the police claimed that flammable paint and propane tanks were going to be used to make 'molotov cocktails'. Propane, incidentally, is entirely unsuited to make molotovs, an attempt to set a slow-burning flame on a propane tank would kill the protestor holding the bomb. The paint, of course, was for signs, and the PVC pipes and chickenwire were not bought to make 'lock boxes' (handcuffs designed to stall arrest) but to make giant puppets.
During the protests, the police freely attacked demonstrators, then claimed that the protestors would not obey orders to disperse. More often than not, no such orders were given, unless they happened to be written on the side of a billy club. Also, while much of the city's traffic was shut down, few workplaces were - again unlike Seattle - where the 'city of trade' all but stopped trading during last year's unrest. DC's massive black population wasn't networked with, community leaders and church groups weren't contacted and many of the protestors ignored the fact that DC itself is a colony of the United States, one viciously underfunded. Not surprisingly, possibly sympathetic people in the neighborhoods were turned off to the protests, and even called the cops on a group of protestors who holed up in an abandoned rowhouse to escape the massive public beatings on the streets. The police also had the media well in hand, claiming to be respectful of the First Amendment even while wiping their bloody boots with it. The press ate that up too, while press contacts for the demonstrators wondered allowed about the 'anti-tampon movement'.
Hundreds of protestors were kept in stir for days, and more than a few were beaten. But what can only be called a tactical defeat may still be part of a broader victory. Class struggle politics (though not socialist or revolutionary ones) are back. Even conservatives like George W. Bush can't gloat at the poor anymore, they have to pretend to care, to be "compassionate." And more and more people are beginning to really care, every day. And we're becoming less compassionate towards the police every every day as well.
What a Difference a Generation Makes
Don Hazen, AlterNet
Thirty years ago this spring, powerful demonstrations -- much like last weekend's A16 protests -- rocked the streets of Washington, leading to mass chaos and 13,000 arrests. Long-time activist Don Hazen was at both rallies -- arrested in 1971, reporting in 2000 -- and noticed that despite some significant organizational parallels, today's youth movement against the Powers That Be is better organized and better prepared than the activists of the early '70s.
Norman Solomon, AlterNet
During the recent protests in Washington against the World Bank and IMF, the leading cable news network became fascinated with independent media. Journalism free of huge economic interests -- what a concept!
Jason Vest, AlterNet
Jason Vest happened to be in all the right places at all the right times to witness the major clashes of the A16 protests -- and the subtle dynamics behind both the activist and police tactics.
Kenny Bruno, Corporate Watch
Were the IMF/World Bank protests successful? The official spin was that D.C. Cops provided business-as-usual conditions for the financial institutions, and therefore the protests were a non-event. Organizers disagreed.
Jason Vest, AlterNet
What happened at the A16 protests was, to some extent, what progressives have always wanted: the mainstream media took the issues seriously.
Marc Cooper, LA Weekly
After two days of hot protest and 1,300 arrests, activists have forced the officials of the IMF/World Bank into an unprecedented political retreat.
Mary Jo McConahay, Pacific News Service
Though the mainstream media didn't show them, a striking number of young people of color and immigrants joined the A16 protests.
Geov Parrish, AlterNet
Can thousands -- or even millions -- of outraged citizens deflect the juggernaut of transnational capital?
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
E-mail: fair@fair.org
New York Times Op-Ed Page Shuts Out IMF/World Bank Critics
IMF Bars Community Journalists from D.C. Meetings
Media Distortion of World Bank/IMF Protests Starts Early
Pepper Spray Gets in Their Eyes: Media missed militarization of police work in Seattle
Robert Naiman Responds to Paul Krugman on World Bank Policy
Media Beat
When Corporate Media Cover "Independent Media"
(4/20/00)
Protests in Washington Clash With Media Spin
(4/13/00)
(Coverage of D.C. protests)
(Background to D.C. meeting)
(U.S. accepts IMF nominee)
(New IMF chief proposed under U.S. pressure)
(U.S. rejects IMF nominee)
(IMF & Brazil)
(IMF criticisms)
(Global economy)
(IMF & East Asia bailout)
(IMF resignation)
(IMF and debt relief)
BREAKING THE BANK? A-16 Coverage
Regular updates from the protests at the Spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group in Washington DC.
Beyond Street Tactics: The Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement After Washington
April 15--CW reports on the spot from a Washington DC activist headquarters shut down by police on Saturday. The cops closed the "Convergence" center on a fire code violation. But activists who say it's a pretext to curb lawful protest remain undeterred. Get the view from the street.
April 14--Human Rights activist and physician Dr. Vineeta Gupta talks with Corporate Watch about World Bank efforts to privatize healthcare in Punjab, India. She says the result has been more death and disease for Punjab's poor.
As thousands converge on Washington DC to protest World Bank and IMF policies throughout the week, activists are taking aim from an unexpected quarter: financial markets.
80% of the World Bank funds comes from bonds sold to institutional and individual investors. Activists fighting against World Bank policies today called for a boycott of World Bank bonds until the Bank cancels its debt claims against developing countries and ends destructive lending policies.
Groups in eleven countries, including South Africa, Ecuador and Pakistan, have joined the boycott. Because union pension funds, city governments, churches and universities own these bonds, organizers hope that ordinary citizens will pressure these groups to divest. They are also targeting Citigroup which buys World Bank bonds through its subsidiaries and also "underwrites," or sells Bank bonds.
ADD YOUR SUPPORT to the boycott by sending a FREE FAX to Robert Rubin, Chairman of the Executive Committee Citigroup Inc. and CEO John S. Reed.
List of IMF/World Bank Protesters
Direct Action Media Network: Economic Policy
Global Debt & Third World Development
National Radio Project's "Inside Capital"
Yahoo!'s Page on the IMF/World Bank Protests
Globalisation: What on Earth is it about?
Main points of Development Committee Statement
Online NewsHour: The World Bank/IMF Meetings
Policy.com/IntellectualCapital: IMF and World Bank
Will Poorest Countries Get a Break from Debt?
2000 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank
Photos
Video
Protesters at K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
(Apr 17, 2000)
(Apr 17, 2000)
IMF/World Bank Protest Organizer on Reasons for Opposition
(Apr 14, 2000)
Campaigners Against Global Capitalism Are United and Organized
(Apr 13, 2000)
World Bank, IMF Man the Barricades in D.C.
(Apr 13, 2000)
(Apr 10, 2000)
Articles
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
(Apr 6, 2000)
Evaluating Demonstration Coverage
(Apr 24, 2000)
They Say They Want a Revolution
(Apr 20, 2000)
(Apr 20, 2000)
Expanding Globalization's Agenda
(Apr 20, 2000)
Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much
(Apr 20, 2000)
Protesters 2, Multinational Monsters 0
(Apr 20, 2000)
What the Corporate Press Does Not Know
(Apr 20, 2000)
(Apr 20, 2000)
Toward Global Consensus: What's Needed Is Dialogue, Not Conflict
(Apr 20, 2000)
Police Prevent "A16" Protests from Shutting Down the IMF and World Bank
(Apr 20, 2000)
Hostility to Free Trade No Aid to World's Poor
(Apr 19, 2000)
Asiaweek
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
Searching for Answers about Globalism -- in the Streets of D.C.
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
The Real IMF Protest Might Come in the Suites
(Apr 19, 2000)
Hail to the Chief -- and His Cops
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 19, 2000)
In Defense of the Protesters--and the World Bank
(Apr 19, 2000)
(Apr 18, 2000)
(Apr 18, 2000)
Sensible Ones Are Protesting in the Streets
(Apr 18, 2000)
(Apr 18, 2000)
(Apr 18, 2000)
Trade Issues Need Informed Hearing
(Apr 18, 2000)
Lessons From Seattle Learned Well
(Apr 18, 2000)
(Apr 18, 2000)
What the No-Growth Protesters Are Missing
(Apr 17, 2000)
(Apr 17, 2000)
The Insider: What I Learned at the World Economic Crisis
(4/17/00)
(Apr 17, 2000)
World Bank Protests -- What, Exactly, Is the Point?
(Apr 17, 2000)
Globalization and Its Discontents
(Apr 16, 2000)
(Apr 16, 2000)
Free Trade's a Friend, Not Our Worst Enemy
(Apr 15, 2000)
Will the World Be Ruled By Money or Human Rights?
(Apr 15, 2000)
Globalphobia in the Streets -- Again
(Apr 15, 2000)
(Apr 15, 2000)
(Apr 15, 2000)
Protest Plans Against Free Trade Misguided
(Apr 14, 2000)
The Wrong Way to Exercise a Right
(Apr 14, 2000)
(Apr 14, 2000)
(Apr 14, 2000)
(Apr 14, 2000)
Valid Questions on the New Economy
(Apr 14, 2000)
Behind IMF Optimism on Growth Major Imbalances in World Economy
(Apr 14, 2000)
Don't Let the World Bank Off the Hook
(Apr 13, 2000)
World Bank and IMF Drain Indebted Countries, Protestors Say
(Apr 13, 2000)
(Apr 13, 2000)
(Apr 13, 2000)
Dangerous Liaisons: The Left Goes South On Trade
(Apr 13, 2000)
Fighting the Power: Should the Left Join the Right?
(Apr 13, 2000)
The Globalization of Everything
(Apr 13, 2000)
Seattle II? Anti-Globalization Forces Converge on Washington
(Apr 13, 2000)
Globalization Threatens Workers, Thrills Investors
(Apr 12, 2000)
(Apr 12, 2000)
(Apr 12, 2000)
Taking Offense at Defense Put Up by WTO Protesters
(Apr 12, 2000)
Police Discourage Activists From Assembling
(Apr 12, 2000)
Are IMF Bailouts Hazardous Waste?
(Apr 11, 2000)
(Apr 11, 2000)
What the World Bank Ought to Be Doing
(Apr 11, 2000)
(Apr 10, 2000)
(Mar 30, 2000)
(Mar 21, 2000)
Does the IMF Need More Than a New Boss?
(Mar 10, 2000)
(Mar 2, 2000)
Time for the IMF to Go Private
(Feb 22, 2000)
(Feb 2, 2000)
World Government Is Coming. Deal With It
(Jan 27, 2000)
Can Bono Save the Third World?
(Jan 21, 2000)
Britain's "Debt Relief" and What It Means for the World's Poor
(Jan 5, 2000)
