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Indybay Feature
Ridiculous Resistance: Did G8 in Canada Work?
As neoliberalism killed two revolutionaries in Argentina, their northern counterparts danced, got naked and photo-opped a "protest," showing that Americans and Canadians are among the worst organized and least dedicated resistance fighters in the world.
As the anti-G8 protests in North America come to a close, the stunning difference between them and anti-G8 protests in Genoa last year are apparent. On one side, a level of violence unprecedented in recent 'Global North' anti-globalization protets, and on the other side a festival of passivity and photo-ops.
The protests in both Ottawa and Calgary were uneventful. While major media in Canada had built up a level of fear and an almost sexual strange obsession with the anti-globalization protesters, and the police spending ridiculous sums of cash for the latest in crowd control, it appeared as if at least *something* was going to happen.
What happened in Ottawa was far from the fiery tragedy of Genoa, but a juevenile farce that the global tyrants at Kannaskis no doubt chuckled at while sipping from their wine-glasses. With absolutely almost no police overseers, the demonstrators successfully marched the wrong way up a few one-way streets for a few hours, irritating motorists, watched and clapped as a few hardy souls opened a squat, and then converged on the 'Capital' for a giant session of taking clothes off and take photos to show their friends at home. The few acts of militancy, like paintballs and smashing of a police car window, were met with confused looks and even jeers from the demonstrators themselves. The 'Black Dot' was so small it barely escaped having the half-a-dozen police walk right behind them. Indeed, the sight of the capital was the most surreal - as over a thousand protesters climbed onto the lawn of the Capital to giggle and cheer as only forty cops looked on them with expressions of boredom. Despite the fact the crowd, had it been more militant, had the perfect opportunity to dispose of the fence and walk into the Capital themselves and even torch it had they wished, they did not. Instead, everyone waited to the film ran out and slowly rambled home.
Many protesters I believe were hoping for a repeat of the stunning anti-FTAA protests in Quebec City last spring. While these protests were well-organized by CLAC, people mistakenly took CLACs`s analytical 'diversity of tactics' approach to be some type of mantra that would guarantee success. While CLAC has been successful at many things on no small scale, such as spreading an awareness of anarchism among a general population (making anarchism in Canada at least resemble a popular movement, which is far different that the more ecological, subcultural and guerilla based anarchism of the U.S.A.) and engaging in great local actions, their diversity of tactics approach simply solves the problem of the ridiculous 'good protester/bad protester dynamic', a dynamic that in the States at protests such as N30 or A16 caused giant rifts and infighting among demontrators. However, CLAC is a small organizing team - and not street warriors. The 'punch' that led to the uprising in Quebec City was the potent mixture of CLAC's organizing, the Black Bloc (with a fair amount of imports from the States) and the French-Canadian Quebec locals wanting that damn fence and those Anglo cops of their town. So, with a local populace that had no reason to revolt and a lack of representation by militant anarchists, *ofcourse* nothing was going to happen. Successful mass-demos work like alchemy, because of a mixture of elements involved. Any protest like the G8 ones in Canada composed purely of self-professed activists are doomed to fail.
The movement in North America has stopped moving. It seems drawn towards the ineffective organizing of the peaceniks and commies like ANSWER that relies on getting hordes of people to a place to do absolutely nothing but peacefully chant and walk around aimlessly, and on the other side seems to be thinking that the 'real battle' has to happen elsewhere, mostly Palestine. All of these ignore the central tenet of the success of the anti-globalization movement: that direct action on the homefront of the 'Global North' can interfere with mechanisms of global capital. Direct action on Kannaskis would have been blockading the highways - not driving at the lowest legal speed limit, as was suggested by anti-G8 organizers. Direct action in Ottawa would have been seizing The Capital instead of merely posing for photos. Direct action is not unpermitted marching or 'snake marches', which are at annoying at best and ineffective at worst.
So as people in the movement begin to invest in infrastructure, we also now face the threat of everyone moving off to a neo-hippie commune and the resistance in the streets disappearing entirely.
The whole idea of 'solidarity actions' needs to be put to a badly needed rest - especially when the enemy is actually meeting in your country! Local organizing, such as the direct action anti-poverty groups OCAP and OCAT in Canada can and does work if a directly confrontational manner. Recently OCAP even got the Canadian government to stop deportations! Now people feel that 'summit-hopping' is just last-years's fashion, and a tasteless one at that. This ignores the fact that in North America we lack the cohesion and the militancy to put on decent solidarity actions. We only divide our numbers, militancy, and organizational abilities so that instead of one confrontational demonstration that strikes fear into the heart of capitalism, we only get laughable marches and chants that repeat the worst of the anti-globalization movement. Instead of inspiring new possibilities, these actions spread our forces so thin we lose all morale. With a continual loss of morale, such as the anti-WEF protests and now the anti-G8 protests cause, eventually the anti-globalization movement will burn out not with a bang but with a whimper. In the face of the fascist police state being established over the entire world in wake of the 'war on terrorism' and the increasingly desperate situation in the Global South, continuing down this road of ridiculous resistance makes passive anti-globalization demonstrators in the U.S. and Canada traitors to our planet and the rest of humanity. Only effective resistance in the Global North can possibly enable the global capitalist system to be overturned. While some resistance is better than none, those who are being murdered by the ongoing machinations of capitalism would find this a faint cause for hope.
The protests in both Ottawa and Calgary were uneventful. While major media in Canada had built up a level of fear and an almost sexual strange obsession with the anti-globalization protesters, and the police spending ridiculous sums of cash for the latest in crowd control, it appeared as if at least *something* was going to happen.
What happened in Ottawa was far from the fiery tragedy of Genoa, but a juevenile farce that the global tyrants at Kannaskis no doubt chuckled at while sipping from their wine-glasses. With absolutely almost no police overseers, the demonstrators successfully marched the wrong way up a few one-way streets for a few hours, irritating motorists, watched and clapped as a few hardy souls opened a squat, and then converged on the 'Capital' for a giant session of taking clothes off and take photos to show their friends at home. The few acts of militancy, like paintballs and smashing of a police car window, were met with confused looks and even jeers from the demonstrators themselves. The 'Black Dot' was so small it barely escaped having the half-a-dozen police walk right behind them. Indeed, the sight of the capital was the most surreal - as over a thousand protesters climbed onto the lawn of the Capital to giggle and cheer as only forty cops looked on them with expressions of boredom. Despite the fact the crowd, had it been more militant, had the perfect opportunity to dispose of the fence and walk into the Capital themselves and even torch it had they wished, they did not. Instead, everyone waited to the film ran out and slowly rambled home.
Many protesters I believe were hoping for a repeat of the stunning anti-FTAA protests in Quebec City last spring. While these protests were well-organized by CLAC, people mistakenly took CLACs`s analytical 'diversity of tactics' approach to be some type of mantra that would guarantee success. While CLAC has been successful at many things on no small scale, such as spreading an awareness of anarchism among a general population (making anarchism in Canada at least resemble a popular movement, which is far different that the more ecological, subcultural and guerilla based anarchism of the U.S.A.) and engaging in great local actions, their diversity of tactics approach simply solves the problem of the ridiculous 'good protester/bad protester dynamic', a dynamic that in the States at protests such as N30 or A16 caused giant rifts and infighting among demontrators. However, CLAC is a small organizing team - and not street warriors. The 'punch' that led to the uprising in Quebec City was the potent mixture of CLAC's organizing, the Black Bloc (with a fair amount of imports from the States) and the French-Canadian Quebec locals wanting that damn fence and those Anglo cops of their town. So, with a local populace that had no reason to revolt and a lack of representation by militant anarchists, *ofcourse* nothing was going to happen. Successful mass-demos work like alchemy, because of a mixture of elements involved. Any protest like the G8 ones in Canada composed purely of self-professed activists are doomed to fail.
The movement in North America has stopped moving. It seems drawn towards the ineffective organizing of the peaceniks and commies like ANSWER that relies on getting hordes of people to a place to do absolutely nothing but peacefully chant and walk around aimlessly, and on the other side seems to be thinking that the 'real battle' has to happen elsewhere, mostly Palestine. All of these ignore the central tenet of the success of the anti-globalization movement: that direct action on the homefront of the 'Global North' can interfere with mechanisms of global capital. Direct action on Kannaskis would have been blockading the highways - not driving at the lowest legal speed limit, as was suggested by anti-G8 organizers. Direct action in Ottawa would have been seizing The Capital instead of merely posing for photos. Direct action is not unpermitted marching or 'snake marches', which are at annoying at best and ineffective at worst.
So as people in the movement begin to invest in infrastructure, we also now face the threat of everyone moving off to a neo-hippie commune and the resistance in the streets disappearing entirely.
The whole idea of 'solidarity actions' needs to be put to a badly needed rest - especially when the enemy is actually meeting in your country! Local organizing, such as the direct action anti-poverty groups OCAP and OCAT in Canada can and does work if a directly confrontational manner. Recently OCAP even got the Canadian government to stop deportations! Now people feel that 'summit-hopping' is just last-years's fashion, and a tasteless one at that. This ignores the fact that in North America we lack the cohesion and the militancy to put on decent solidarity actions. We only divide our numbers, militancy, and organizational abilities so that instead of one confrontational demonstration that strikes fear into the heart of capitalism, we only get laughable marches and chants that repeat the worst of the anti-globalization movement. Instead of inspiring new possibilities, these actions spread our forces so thin we lose all morale. With a continual loss of morale, such as the anti-WEF protests and now the anti-G8 protests cause, eventually the anti-globalization movement will burn out not with a bang but with a whimper. In the face of the fascist police state being established over the entire world in wake of the 'war on terrorism' and the increasingly desperate situation in the Global South, continuing down this road of ridiculous resistance makes passive anti-globalization demonstrators in the U.S. and Canada traitors to our planet and the rest of humanity. Only effective resistance in the Global North can possibly enable the global capitalist system to be overturned. While some resistance is better than none, those who are being murdered by the ongoing machinations of capitalism would find this a faint cause for hope.
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You're right in a lot of what you say, but I agreed also with a lot of the reponses to this post that the ottawa.indymedia site generated - we can't just trash what people did in Ottawa, or attempted to do. A lot of people worked hard and for me, travelling across the border for it, I saw a lot of people get educated along the way.
The public, and the US particularly, is made up of consumer robots dressed as humans, so I'm equally appalled and frustrated by our activist situations. One can only nod sadly then when planes crash into buildings in the US, and hope that another corporation bites the dust, and then pray that religious fanatics (mostly US right-wing) blast and anthrax the US into the stone ages as soon as possible for the survival of the planet, given that no one can lift a finger for the rest of the world, much less our own homeless.
The public, and the US particularly, is made up of consumer robots dressed as humans, so I'm equally appalled and frustrated by our activist situations. One can only nod sadly then when planes crash into buildings in the US, and hope that another corporation bites the dust, and then pray that religious fanatics (mostly US right-wing) blast and anthrax the US into the stone ages as soon as possible for the survival of the planet, given that no one can lift a finger for the rest of the world, much less our own homeless.
How incredibly arrogant and elitist . . . "The public, and the US particularly, is made up of consumer robots dressed as humans" Huh . . . either we're humans because we agree with you or else we're mindless robots.
Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason that the protest movement has lost its power is because the public is smarter than you give them credit? That they recognize your pomposity and are turned-off by it. That they expect a lot more these days than silly sit-ins and juvenile confrontations -- like ideas that actually work!
Maybe if you came down off your cloud you'd see people as more than the tiny robotic ants crawling beneath you and as actual human beings..
Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason that the protest movement has lost its power is because the public is smarter than you give them credit? That they recognize your pomposity and are turned-off by it. That they expect a lot more these days than silly sit-ins and juvenile confrontations -- like ideas that actually work!
Maybe if you came down off your cloud you'd see people as more than the tiny robotic ants crawling beneath you and as actual human beings..
Don't listen to those two idiots, they must have berkeley rot eating away their brain.
I agree that most of the middle-class in this country are ignorant and blissful about it.
The "public" on the other hand are not so stupid and in fact probably a lot smarter than your average berkeley leftist. If you dont ride a bike and eat leaves, berkeley liberals think you are an idiot. Meanwhile the working people of this country laugh their asses off at them every chance they get.
Again, liberals are the problem in this country... whether they call themselves anarchists or not.
I agree that most of the middle-class in this country are ignorant and blissful about it.
The "public" on the other hand are not so stupid and in fact probably a lot smarter than your average berkeley leftist. If you dont ride a bike and eat leaves, berkeley liberals think you are an idiot. Meanwhile the working people of this country laugh their asses off at them every chance they get.
Again, liberals are the problem in this country... whether they call themselves anarchists or not.
Not only idiots, but damn near leaning towards genocidal fascist tendencies. Unfortunately these liberal elitists do represent a large part of the protest movement who do not see themselves as fighters in an international class struggle, but rather as the "educators" of the "ignorant masses" ... it makes me sick really. As anarchists, we should give these folks the boot.
>Again, liberals are the problem in this country... whether they call themselves anarchists or not.<
i'm just interested in why you think this?
are "conservatives", as a group of like-minded individuals, less of a problem?
i'm just interested in why you think this?
are "conservatives", as a group of like-minded individuals, less of a problem?
"are "conservatives", as a group of like-minded individuals, less of a problem?"
One is the left wing of capitalism, one is the right wing of capitalism. Each presents its own problems which are not more or less. Liberals are particularly problematic for anti-capitalists because they take legitimate outrage and dissent and channel it into ineffective (or worse, capitalist-strengthening) outlets.
One is the left wing of capitalism, one is the right wing of capitalism. Each presents its own problems which are not more or less. Liberals are particularly problematic for anti-capitalists because they take legitimate outrage and dissent and channel it into ineffective (or worse, capitalist-strengthening) outlets.
I am also of the opinion that Ottawa was a success, although it would have been nice to see some more militant direct actions.
The police were indeed pleasant to the point of imbecility.
I must say that the propaganda offensive from the government side was quite effective, and that most of the residents of Ottawa were not swayed by our arguments because they were simply not presented very well. We need a much better level of writing and more aggressive information distribution to counter the government spin army. Also, next time it would be good to be leafletting people on the streets, there was something of an invisible wall between the marchers and the people of Ottawa wherever I went and this must be overcome.
So, why do I say that the actions were a qualified success?
First, the fact that there is any oppositional political movement at all after the WTC attacks is a major victory. Usually when liberal governments go on internal-security rampages, they are more effective than they have recently been - think of the WWII period, the McCarthy era, etc.
The reason that there are fewer people at protests in 2002 as opposed to 2001 is that the liberal left - the NDP, the Greens, the myriad NGO organizations, the trade unions, to some extent even the Council of Canadians - has fled the scene. The interesting point to note is that the protests did in fact happen even in the absence of the major organizational heavy hitters. In fact, the Take the Capital organizers can be credited with a major organizational victory.
This has two ramifications, and they're related to each other. First, the anarchists are now in de facto control of any opposition movement in the country, because no one else is willing to risk taking any kind of responsibility for opposing the government's policies in the current security environment.
Second, none of the policies that are causing people on the left to go out and protest have changed - trade policy, foreign interventions, the war, homelessness, racist police, etc., etc., are all still merrily rolling along. And when the liberals sheepishly come back onto the streets, the anarchists are not going to simply hand back total control to the 'legitimate' organizers - anarchists _are_ the legitimate organizers of this protest, and this is something that could not have happened even a year ago, because we were not organizationally strong enough a year ago to be able to shut down an entire city and have the government tell the police to be nice to us.
The wonderful thing is that now we have the opportunity to do things like the 7 Year Squat at 246 Gilmour street, which puts to rest the myth that anarchists are just a species of violent freaks without the capacity for any constructive action. The squat, organized jointly by relatively educated housing activists and undereducated homeless youth - is the most hopeful thing I have ever seen in all of my years as an anarchist. I would hope that anyone would be able to see the excellence of the squat action, which is taking something which is of no use to anyone and turning it into a productive community resource.
So, I would argue that although there was little in the way of direct confrontation at the G8 in Ottawa, it was both an organizational victory and a glimpse of what future protests could look like.
Instead of having big marches where we break things, why not have big marches that take massive, well-researched and organized squats, improve them substantially through hard work, and then turn them over directly to the people that need them - the homeless. We could also take over spaces to run as communtiy centres, soup kitchens, bookstores, whatever. As a general strategy, this makes much more sense to me than breaking windows (although this may still have its place at times) and it also presents a much more radical challenge to capitalism - who can argue with the beauty of what is happening at 246 Gilmour Street tonight?
The police were indeed pleasant to the point of imbecility.
I must say that the propaganda offensive from the government side was quite effective, and that most of the residents of Ottawa were not swayed by our arguments because they were simply not presented very well. We need a much better level of writing and more aggressive information distribution to counter the government spin army. Also, next time it would be good to be leafletting people on the streets, there was something of an invisible wall between the marchers and the people of Ottawa wherever I went and this must be overcome.
So, why do I say that the actions were a qualified success?
First, the fact that there is any oppositional political movement at all after the WTC attacks is a major victory. Usually when liberal governments go on internal-security rampages, they are more effective than they have recently been - think of the WWII period, the McCarthy era, etc.
The reason that there are fewer people at protests in 2002 as opposed to 2001 is that the liberal left - the NDP, the Greens, the myriad NGO organizations, the trade unions, to some extent even the Council of Canadians - has fled the scene. The interesting point to note is that the protests did in fact happen even in the absence of the major organizational heavy hitters. In fact, the Take the Capital organizers can be credited with a major organizational victory.
This has two ramifications, and they're related to each other. First, the anarchists are now in de facto control of any opposition movement in the country, because no one else is willing to risk taking any kind of responsibility for opposing the government's policies in the current security environment.
Second, none of the policies that are causing people on the left to go out and protest have changed - trade policy, foreign interventions, the war, homelessness, racist police, etc., etc., are all still merrily rolling along. And when the liberals sheepishly come back onto the streets, the anarchists are not going to simply hand back total control to the 'legitimate' organizers - anarchists _are_ the legitimate organizers of this protest, and this is something that could not have happened even a year ago, because we were not organizationally strong enough a year ago to be able to shut down an entire city and have the government tell the police to be nice to us.
The wonderful thing is that now we have the opportunity to do things like the 7 Year Squat at 246 Gilmour street, which puts to rest the myth that anarchists are just a species of violent freaks without the capacity for any constructive action. The squat, organized jointly by relatively educated housing activists and undereducated homeless youth - is the most hopeful thing I have ever seen in all of my years as an anarchist. I would hope that anyone would be able to see the excellence of the squat action, which is taking something which is of no use to anyone and turning it into a productive community resource.
So, I would argue that although there was little in the way of direct confrontation at the G8 in Ottawa, it was both an organizational victory and a glimpse of what future protests could look like.
Instead of having big marches where we break things, why not have big marches that take massive, well-researched and organized squats, improve them substantially through hard work, and then turn them over directly to the people that need them - the homeless. We could also take over spaces to run as communtiy centres, soup kitchens, bookstores, whatever. As a general strategy, this makes much more sense to me than breaking windows (although this may still have its place at times) and it also presents a much more radical challenge to capitalism - who can argue with the beauty of what is happening at 246 Gilmour Street tonight?
This is a pretty thoughtful article, perhaps a bit too pointed, but one that brings up some interesting questions. I don't know much about what happened at the protests last week in Canada, but it sounds like that the activists there made the best of a tough situation. The world leaders moved their meeting to a hard-to-reach location, making it difficult for many working people to protest them.
I'd also admit that some of us in the states did a poor job of supporting these actions. We didn't make an effort locally to send anybody to Ottawa or Alberta. Yes, we are busy with many things and we all can't afford to travel, but we should have worked harder to send a few people.
I wouldn't draw the conclusion that the anti-capitalist/anti-globalization movements are dead here in North America. We're hosting a big summit protest this October in Washington, DC. There have been smaller events locally, like the recent protests in Madison, WI. The movements continue unabated around the world, with two people being killed last week in Argentina.
I think it is important to be openly critical of lame protest groups like the IAC. We should also be critical of those who do things to tame dissent. This includes liberals in thrall to NGOs and Big Labor, as well as socialist groups who manipulate coalitions so that protests are more suitable to their goals than to the goals of the people dissenting.
Of course, the best response to lame protests and manipulative organizations is to out-organize them. That's what more of us need to be doing. Diversity of tactics is one step towards working together.
I'd also admit that some of us in the states did a poor job of supporting these actions. We didn't make an effort locally to send anybody to Ottawa or Alberta. Yes, we are busy with many things and we all can't afford to travel, but we should have worked harder to send a few people.
I wouldn't draw the conclusion that the anti-capitalist/anti-globalization movements are dead here in North America. We're hosting a big summit protest this October in Washington, DC. There have been smaller events locally, like the recent protests in Madison, WI. The movements continue unabated around the world, with two people being killed last week in Argentina.
I think it is important to be openly critical of lame protest groups like the IAC. We should also be critical of those who do things to tame dissent. This includes liberals in thrall to NGOs and Big Labor, as well as socialist groups who manipulate coalitions so that protests are more suitable to their goals than to the goals of the people dissenting.
Of course, the best response to lame protests and manipulative organizations is to out-organize them. That's what more of us need to be doing. Diversity of tactics is one step towards working together.
actually, the week of actions against the G8 was a success in Calgary--a common opinion among the local organizers and people who actually have an understanding of what it means to organize in a local context. Calgary is not Argentina or Seattle or Quebec City. Calgary is a city of roughly 1 million people, in the bible belt of Canada, and is an oil town to boot. it's people do not have a history of national oppression, like Quebec City, nor does it have a history of neo-liberal attacks, police repression, and military brutality, like Argentina. in the months preceding the G8 summit, there was a major smear and fearmongering campaign in the media, with the mayor, Dave Bronconnier, taking the lead. it failed massively, largely because the people who took part in the actions were smart and savvy enough to know that giving the police and media ANY excuse to be violent would only alienate ordinary Calgarians from our movement. you might argue that witnessing the violence of the state first hand is radicalizing--and that is true. but people must witness it first hand or they get the spin from the mainstream media. in Quebec City, a majority of the people living in the outlying areas, away from the old city and downtown, did not witness what really happened and were fed only media spin. as a result, most of them believe that the police did a good job in containing the "riots"! only people who lived near the perimeter or had businesses there knew the truth; subsequently, only those people are supportive of protestors. in Calgary, because we were peaceful and creative, we achieved a massive opening in the minds of the local population to progressive politics and ideas. Calgarians are pissed that the city and province spent $300 million on excessive security measures. we made the mayor look like a fool, and Calgary is hopping with people who are ready to become active politically. how's that for a victory? revolutions are made locally, first and foremost. you can't import tactics and strategies from halfway around the world and expect them to work exactly the same--in fact, isn't that the mindset of neo-liberalism and imperialism? what we should do and are doing is sharing our knowledge and learning from each other. unless you want all protests to be violent, regardless of how it helps or hinder the movement, i think that everyone should be very pleased with how the protests went in Calgary. (i can't speak for Ottawa since i wasn't there or involved in the organizing. however, from what i've heard, it too was a success.)
as an aside, responding to the pointless insults and ranting that passes for "discussion" from the reactionaries that have made this site their "home" is mostly worthless. as is quite evident, they rarely engage directly when issues are discussed. if they do, they point to strawmen and beat them up mercilessly, but do nothing to add to anyone's understanding of the issues. on the other hand, most of the people that respond to the right-wingers fall into the same name-calling trap and do nothing to further any discussion either.
that said, i'll try to answer STL's verbal sewage. why weren't we in china? well, first of all, we live here in the us of a, and in the spirit of your "free speech"-loving self, we have the right to do so, eh? it's a "free" country, correct? so that should settle it, but really, the reason people protest the G8 here is *because they are in the belly of the beast.* if and when revolution comes to this country, the entire world will definitely gain hope that the neoliberal world order does have its weakness and rise up against their oppressors. they will occupy factories, stage rent and job strikes, and begin to do things as they see fit, instead of listening to the useless banter of their bosses, toiling away at their dead-end jobs, and listening to the drones of the cookie-cutter television pundits and shows.
so anyway, resistance to the lifestyle you represent and the world you want to create isn't going away, as you so enjoy stating. the xenophobic, puritanical society you'd apparently prefer to live in will not move forward unopposed. now, the radical right is a mighty force, backed by the wacko fundamentalists that you and your brethren deny are dangerous while pointing to the radical islam followers as the bane of all that is "good" (and i agree, they don't exactly represent the type of world i'd like to live in either).
anyway, have fun trying to use up bandwidth here. don't feel bad if your shit doesn't really stir up any trouble. or do anything for that matter. you have a knack for underestimating the folks that read this site.
that said, i'll try to answer STL's verbal sewage. why weren't we in china? well, first of all, we live here in the us of a, and in the spirit of your "free speech"-loving self, we have the right to do so, eh? it's a "free" country, correct? so that should settle it, but really, the reason people protest the G8 here is *because they are in the belly of the beast.* if and when revolution comes to this country, the entire world will definitely gain hope that the neoliberal world order does have its weakness and rise up against their oppressors. they will occupy factories, stage rent and job strikes, and begin to do things as they see fit, instead of listening to the useless banter of their bosses, toiling away at their dead-end jobs, and listening to the drones of the cookie-cutter television pundits and shows.
so anyway, resistance to the lifestyle you represent and the world you want to create isn't going away, as you so enjoy stating. the xenophobic, puritanical society you'd apparently prefer to live in will not move forward unopposed. now, the radical right is a mighty force, backed by the wacko fundamentalists that you and your brethren deny are dangerous while pointing to the radical islam followers as the bane of all that is "good" (and i agree, they don't exactly represent the type of world i'd like to live in either).
anyway, have fun trying to use up bandwidth here. don't feel bad if your shit doesn't really stir up any trouble. or do anything for that matter. you have a knack for underestimating the folks that read this site.
yup. thanks for convincing me. i guess that since i've never been to a demonstration in china, i have no clue as to what oppression is like. and i'm just a coward. and leftists are all wimpering pansies. none have a single, valuable thing to think or say or do. whatever.
/me sheds a single, pure tear for the damning arguments of smashtheleft
/me sheds a single, pure tear for the damning arguments of smashtheleft
Economic Tension in Spotlight as Chinese Farmers Storm Government Office
Continued anti-globalization protests in China
By John Leicester
Nando Media
January 20, 2000
Beijing- Dozens of angry Chinese farmers who lost money when their eel exports to Japan plummeted besieged a government office Thursday, in a dramatic illustration of tensions caused by China's moves into the global economy. The short but hot-tempered protest in Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, was one of many in recent months that have involved often poorly managed investment funds set up without government permission in China's vast countryside.
The protest highlighted the pains experienced by some Chinese as China's once closed economy becomes more tightly linked to the world. China's entry to the World Trade Organization, which officials hope will take place this year, will put further pressure on Chinese farmers.
WTO membership is expected to bring a surge in agricultural imports, exposing small, inefficient family farms to greater competition and possibly forcing millions off the land and into cities in search of work. Bao said he didn't know why the Fuqing farmers' eel exports fell. Japan, however, has been struggling to pull out of its deepest economic slump since the end of World War II.
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try to pull off a protest like that anywhere in the united states, and you would be shot dead.
smashtheleft, you have a long way to go before you understand how the world works.
Continued anti-globalization protests in China
By John Leicester
Nando Media
January 20, 2000
Beijing- Dozens of angry Chinese farmers who lost money when their eel exports to Japan plummeted besieged a government office Thursday, in a dramatic illustration of tensions caused by China's moves into the global economy. The short but hot-tempered protest in Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, was one of many in recent months that have involved often poorly managed investment funds set up without government permission in China's vast countryside.
The protest highlighted the pains experienced by some Chinese as China's once closed economy becomes more tightly linked to the world. China's entry to the World Trade Organization, which officials hope will take place this year, will put further pressure on Chinese farmers.
WTO membership is expected to bring a surge in agricultural imports, exposing small, inefficient family farms to greater competition and possibly forcing millions off the land and into cities in search of work. Bao said he didn't know why the Fuqing farmers' eel exports fell. Japan, however, has been struggling to pull out of its deepest economic slump since the end of World War II.
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try to pull off a protest like that anywhere in the united states, and you would be shot dead.
smashtheleft, you have a long way to go before you understand how the world works.
Yeah, Right Nessie.
Your post was pathetic, the rebuttal was poignant, and your response was totally worthless. It appears your full of hot air Nessie.
"If you know American history.."...whatever.
Perhaps a tree will fall on you, or a lightning strike, or perhaps some angered Unionist who can't find work because you're protesting has destroyed his profession, will a clock you in the back of the head and it will paralyze you.
Your living in fear arent you Nessie?
Your post was pathetic, the rebuttal was poignant, and your response was totally worthless. It appears your full of hot air Nessie.
"If you know American history.."...whatever.
Perhaps a tree will fall on you, or a lightning strike, or perhaps some angered Unionist who can't find work because you're protesting has destroyed his profession, will a clock you in the back of the head and it will paralyze you.
Your living in fear arent you Nessie?
Perhaps it's overkill to restate this, but...:
We cannot expect a generic protest everywhere we go. Quebec City was potent because it was not simply a replay of Seattle and DC. We could not possibly expect Calgary to be a replay of Quebec City.
We have to take into account local differences between the places we organise protests. Calgary is an isolated city, 1000 kilometers away from any population centre of a larger size than itself, without the easy access to the huge numbers that made it to Quebec City and Genoa. Calgary is a much less radical city - it is the sort of place where illegally taking the streets is rarely heard of.
Yes, Calgary was a setback for the movement in general, and it was not a tenth as potent or as powerful as Quebec or Genoa, but the protests built the city's own movement...and if experience teaches us anything, our community activism will still be there long after the crowds are gone.
We cannot expect a generic protest everywhere we go. Quebec City was potent because it was not simply a replay of Seattle and DC. We could not possibly expect Calgary to be a replay of Quebec City.
We have to take into account local differences between the places we organise protests. Calgary is an isolated city, 1000 kilometers away from any population centre of a larger size than itself, without the easy access to the huge numbers that made it to Quebec City and Genoa. Calgary is a much less radical city - it is the sort of place where illegally taking the streets is rarely heard of.
Yes, Calgary was a setback for the movement in general, and it was not a tenth as potent or as powerful as Quebec or Genoa, but the protests built the city's own movement...and if experience teaches us anything, our community activism will still be there long after the crowds are gone.
The Calgary protest was fucking impossible to get to. We did manage to get there after seeing a shit load of people turned away. I'm into smashing the state through constructive means. Let's all squat and drop out of capitalist society. let's become as self sufficient as possible. I love mass actions but I also love the hard core campaigns that are happening in the U.S.. The anti-nuke people do amazing lock downs and actions with native american tribes. Go to the Nevada test site in October and see. Go to Northern California, Oregon and Washington to join a forest campaign and learn how to disconnect from the bullshit. Let's converge with the pissed off working class on the capitol and take it over. Let's go to the poor neighborhoods and talk with people of color to find out what they want to do. The masses include some very beautiful and intelligent people who need our help as much as we need theirs. People who are comfortable have a hard time rising up. I urge you to live as humbly as you can. Go hungry, you'll really get motivated then!
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