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Today's
Stories
November
30, 2004
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
November
19, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Mementos You Won't Find in the Clinton
Library: Back in the 90s When We Were Happy
Kevin
Alexander Gray
Soul Brother: the Exhibit You Won't
See at the Clinton Library
Paul
Craig Roberts
There's No One to Stop Them Now
Jack
Z. Bratich
Digging Out Kerry and Burying the Bones(men)
Greg
Bates
The Implosion of the Dems and the Death of Pragmatism (Hurray!)
Christopher
Brauchli
Terror by Night: Waking Up to Darfur?
Forrest
Hylton
At a Loss: for Margaret Hassan
James
Petras
The Crushing of Fallujah
November
18, 2004
Brian
Cloughley
Iraq War as Video Game: "I
Got My Kills...I Just Love My Job"
Hugh
Urban
America, "Left Behind": Bush,
the Neo-Cons and Evangelical Christian Fiction
Luis
A. Gómez
The Bolivian Crisis Deepens
Robert
Fisk
The Murder of Margaret Hassan
Suzan
Mazur
The New York Times Fesses Up to a Rip Off
Prof.
Francis Boyle
Dems Cave on Gonzales: War Criminal as Attorney General?
Mike
Ferner
Sign Here, Kid
November
17, 2004
Christian
Harleman / Jan Oberg
Who and What Killed Our Friend Margaret
Hassan?
Dave
Lindorff
Bring Them Home Before They Kill
Again
Larry
Birns
Condi Rice and Latin America: She Sees
Enemies Everywhere
Toni
Solo
Rumsfeld in Nicaragua
Omar
Barghouti
Snuff Films and War Crimes in Iraq
Clancy
Sigal
"How to Take a Beating": Gen. Stilwell's Lessons for
Iraq
Brita
May Rose
America's Radioactive War: DU in Iraq
Ben
Terrall
"We Must Kill the Bandits!": Lula's Troops in Haiti
Sam
Hamod
The New Mongols
David
Krieger
An Open Letter to the Regents of
the University of California on Nuclear Weapons Research
Pierre
Tristam
It Has Happened Here
John
Marciano
Oppose the War and the Warriors:
"Iraqis are a Cancer. An We're the Chemotherapy"
Website
of the Day
Fallujah: the Real Story
November
16, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Declining Superpower Act: the Coming
Currency Shock
Mike
Whitney
The Goss Purge: Night of the Long Knives at CIA
Uri
Avnery
Rejoice Not: Arafat's Funeral
Andrew
Buncombe
Murder in a Fallujah Mosque
Dr.
Teresa Whitehurst
On Refusing to be Silenced: Sen. Bill Frist v. John Quincy Adams
Rudy
Rimando
Cousins of Color: Black Soldiers in the Philippines, 1899
Jordan
Green
Fighting Jim Crow in Cincy: The Old South Lives ... Across the
River
Hugh
Urban
The Ohio "Vote": Ken Blackwell Has Some Explaining
to Do
Steve
Breyman
Challenges for the Peace Movement
John
Ross
Bush in Rapture
Website
of the Day
We
Doomed?
November 15, 2004
Larry
Birns
A Resignation Without Meaning: Powell
and Latin America
Walt
Brasch
On the (Far) Right Hand of God
John
Pilger
The Greatest Political Scandal of
Our Time
John
Chuckman
Welcome to Ripley's Believe It or Not of Christianity
Francis
A. Boyle
Obliterating Fallujah: War Crime in Real Time
Georgy
/ Sengupta
Fallujah in Ruins: The Air is Polluted with the Stench of Death
Ralph
Nader
Voters v. Sports Fans
Neve
Gordon
The "No Partner" Myth
Donna
J. Volatile
So What Are You Going to Do About It?
Werther
On Reading the Duelfer Report
November
13 / 14, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
"Let Them Drink Sand!"
David
Domke
Bush, God and the Election: a Theology
of War?
James
Petras
The Politics of Imperialism: Neoliberalism and Latin America
Carl
G. Estabrook
How to Stop the GWOT: "Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil!"
Stan
Goff
Torture and the Cinema
Dave
Lindorff
The Ruins of Fallujah
Mike
Whitney
Fallujah and the Erosion of American Power
Ron
Jacobs
Waiting for the Last War to End
Alan
Maass
The Rise and Fall of Gingrich: a Parable for Our Times
Lenni
Brenner
"Next"...a Prison Tale
Gary
Leupp
France's Little Vietnam: Imperialist France Destroys an African
Air Force
Jessica
Leight / Larry Birns
Haiti: the New Regime Shows Its Colors
Heather
Gray
Whistling Dixie: Bush's Reelection, a Perspective from the South
Jordan
Green
Ohio's Provisional Ballots: the State of Play
Robert
Fisk
Arafat Ruled by Emotion and Cronyism
Omar
Barghouti
The Death of Arafat and the Two-State SOlution
Fred
Gardner
Marijuana: an Election Scorecard
Christopher
Brauchli
When a POW Isn't a POW: the Other Torture Memo
Joanne
Mariner
A Preview of the Scalia Court
Dr.
Susan Block
Blue Values
Patrick
Timmons
Violence at the Ballot Box: the War on Gay Rights
Mickey
Z.
Rumor Club
Poets
Basement
Hasan, Albert, Kent, St. Clair
Website
of the Weekend
The Hand of God?
November
12, 2004
Forrest
Hylton / Sinclair Thomson
Insurgent Bolivia: the Roots of Rebellion
November
11, 2004
Peggy
Thomson
Encounters with Arafat
Joe
Bageant
Hung Over in the End Times: Heaven's
Foot Soldiers Escape the Dog Patch
Ben
Tripp
The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grief
Edwin
Krales
Cuba's Response to AIDS: a Model for
the Developing World
Jordan
Green
How They Tried to Suppress the Black
Vote in South Carolina
Gary
Leupp
Guzman's Fist
Mike
Whitney
Meet Your New AG: Alberto Torquemada
Sam
Bahour
Palestine is Bigger Than Arafat
Sylvia
Shihadeh and Robert Jensen
The Irony of Arafat
Russ
Wellen
Why Do They Laugh at Us?
Mark
Scaramella
Kerry's Enablers: the Clinton
Cult Factor
November
10, 2004
Joshua
Frank
The Bright Side of Bush's Reelection
Mickey
Z.
The Worst President Ever?: Bush +
Clinton = Bubya
Stan
Goff
Debating a Neo-Con
Mike
Whitney
Exit Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Taking a Leak on the Bush Bulge
Ghada
Karmi
After Arafat
Fr.
Gerard Jean-Juste
Letter from a Haitian Jail
Rev.
Bob Jones, III
A Letter to President Bush: "God Has Granted America a Reprieve"
Bernestine
Singley
Tampa Vote: Dispatches from the Ground
Website
of the Day
Free Camilo Mejia
November
9, 2004
Meredeth
Kolodner
Rebuilding the Anti-War Movement
Saul
Landau
The Appeal of George W. Bush: a Mystery for the World to Solve
Brian
Cloughley
Diego Garcia and Freedom, Bush-Style
Charles
Glass
US is Failing the Test of History in
Iraq
Robert
Fisk
Arafat Died Years Ago
Paul
Craig Roberts
The American Century is Over
Adam
Federman
Witch Hunt at Columbia: Middle East Profs Smeared as Anti-Semites
M.
Junaid Alam
The Discredited Logic of ABB
Tony
Kevin
Fallujah and the Making of a War Crime
Pierre
Tristam
Zealots on the Mount: Get Voltaire on Speed Dial!
Patrick
Cockburn
Crushing Fallujah Will Not End the
Iraq War
Website
of the Day
Don't Blame the Voters!
November
8, 2004
Roger
Burbach
Out of the Ashes: Bush Win is a Defeat
for Democrats, Not the Left
Dave
Lindorff
Lessons from a Quagmire: Fallujah, the Hue of Iraq
Greg
Moses
After the Morning After: On the Homefront of the Civil War
Greg
Bates
Nader's Election Legacy: Something to Stand On
Michael
Donnelly
The Hit-and-Run Left: From ABB to CYA
Nick
Schwellenbach
Gutting FOIA: the Harm of Too Much Secrecy
Adam
Jones
Men vs. Civilians in Fallujah
Amelia
Peltz
Note from Palestine: This Is Not the Time for Despair
David
Swanson
The Media Black Out on Vote Fraud
Brian
Rainey
The Devil Made Them Do It? Elections, Religion and the American
People
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Landau, Hamod
Website
of the Day
A Report on the US Supply of Toxic Weapons to Iraq
November
6 / 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Don't
Say We Didn't Warn You
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Green Out
Carl
G. Estabrook
Who Killed Cock Robin?
Saul
Landau
Che: the Man and the Movie
Gary
Leupp
Let There Be Conflict!
Ben
Tripp
You Call This a Party?
Paul
Craig Roberts
The October Numbers: Continuing Stress on the Jobs Front
Jordan
Green
Heroin, Cocaine and Espanola, NM
Fred
Gardner
Haul of Justice
J.A.
Miller
Cults of the Jealous God: the Balfour Decision Reconsidered
Ramzy
Baroud
Life Without Arafat
Dave
Zirin
Out at the Ballgame: Pro Sports and the Gay Athelete
Ron
Jacobs
The Arrow on the Doorpost
Robert
Oscar Lopez
How White Liberals Became a New Racial Minority
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The November Surprise
Dave
Lindorff
Silver Linings
Richard
Oxman
Invitation to the Bodily Snatched
John
Whitlow
Value Wars: the View from Lexington, Kentucky
Rahul
Mahajan
Fallujah and the Reality of War
Leila
Matsui
Political "Ju-On": Carrying a Grudge
November
5, 2004
David
Vest
The Not-Bush Brothers: a Fond Farewell
Elizabeth
Boylan
The Dems and Faith-Based Politics
Conn
Hallinan
War Crimes and Iraq
David
Zonsheine
Poetry and the Courage to Refuse
Cynthia
McKinney
It's a New Day!
Elaine
Cassel
Running from the Religious Right
Chris
Geovanis
First Protect Your Vote: Lessons for Democrats on Fixing Elections
from Chicago
Rob
Ritchie
Election 2004 by the Numbers
Jo
Guldi
The Beast of History is In
November
4, 2004
Sharon
Smith
The Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Lesser-Evilism
CounterPunch
Wire
Bush Voters: 2000 v. 2004
Ben
Tripp
My Fellow Americans...Get Stuffed!
Michael
Donnelly
Why Not Blame Rosie?
Vijay
Prashad
An Election of Homophobia and Misogyny
Jules
Rabin
De Profundis: the Morning After
Robert
Jensen
Politics and Professions of Faith:
"Your Rich Men are Full of Violence"
Zoltan
Grossman
Blue State Secession: the Only Solution?
Jonah
Birch
1968 and Today
Dave
Lindorff
What Went Wrong?
Jack
McCarthy
I Knew It Was Over When Michael Moore Showed Up: He Was For Nader...Before
He Was Against Him
Donna
J. Volatile
Ahoy Kerrycrats! Welcome to Our Nightmare
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bright Side of Black Tuesday
November
3, 2004
James
Hodge / Linda Cooper
The CIA and Abu Ghraib: 50 Years of
Training Torturers
Ann
Harrison
The Ghost Votes in the Machine: Voting Snafus Across the Nation
Greg
Moses
Blues for Fallujah
Anis
Memon
The Moral (Values) of This Election
Mickey
Z.
Post Mortem
Josh
Frank
The Dems Should be Ashamed
Chris
Floyd
No Ways Tired: Defeat, Dissent and the Bush Machine
spArk
Smoke Signals from Portland: Karmic Blowback and the Democrats
Friedrich
von Schiller
Folly, Thou Conquerest
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Democrats in End Time: Who to Blame
Now?
November
2, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Democratic Elections in Historical
Perspective: The Wrong Side Wins
Lance
Selfa
Selling the War on Terror
Laura
Carlsen
The US Elections and Latin America: Can the US Ever be a Good
Neighbor?
James
Davis
To Control the Event: Attention Bicyclists
Richard
Oxman
Getting Up with Osama
Dr.
Ira Kay
A Mental Map of the Bush Presidency
Jesse
Walker
Frankenstein v. Chucky: the Halloween Election
Thomas
C. Mountain
Election '24, Deja Vu?: LaFollette, Nader, & the "Most
Important Election of Our Lifetimes"
November
1, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
How Bush Was Offered Bin Laden and
Blew It
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate Confirmed; Press Yawns
Greg
Bates
Nader Voter Survey Results
Roger
Morris
Novel Politics: Only Fiction Can Do
This Election Justice
Diane
Christian
Death Tolls
Lenni
Brenner
Secularists Be Warned: Christlike Kerry Roams Spiritual Universe
Christopher
C. Conway
Can the Left Sink Any Lower?
Francis
Boyle
Legal Elites and the Iraq War: the Nazis Had Their Law Professors,
Too
Jason
Leopold
Rummy's Failed War Plan
Website
of the Day
Dylan Resurrects "Masters of War"
October
30 / 31, 2004
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The Long March and the Million Worker
March
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Spartacus Tells All
Bruce
Anderson
Notes from the Big Empty: When the Hippies Invaded NoCal
Vicente
Navarro
They Worked for Franco: How Sec. of State Cordell Hull and Nobel
Laureate Camilo Jose Cela Collaborated with the Fascist Regime
Robin
Blackburn
How Monica Lewinsky Saved Social Security
Greg
Bates
A Question of Character: What Makes Nader Tick?
Nancy
Welch
The American Health Care Crisis: an Interview with Dr. David
Himmelstein
William
Lind
Election Day: Which Menendez Brother Will You Vote For?
Brian
Cloughley
Uzbekistan and Bush Hypocrisies
Suzan
Mazur
Oops They Did It Again: the NYTs the Paper of Record and Rip-Offs
Greg
Moses
Standing at the Graves of Iraq
John
Chuckman
Osama's Endorsement
Richard
Oxman
Why Not Accept Osama's Offer?
Ken
Avidor
Landscape of Fear: When Ugly is Suspicious
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Bush, Ba'ath and Beyond
Hope
Bastian
Strangling Cuba's Economy
P.
Sainath
Tower of Gabble: Toward a Sustainable Rhetoric
Dave
Zirin
Bush League: Why MLB Owners Support the Prez
Jon
Swift
The Dry Drunk Thang: Put a Cork in It
Ron
Jacobs
The Joke's on Me: a Review of Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1
Alexander
Billet
Taking Theatre Back: Are the States Ready for "Stuff Happens"?
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Laymon, Norris, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Weekend
The Origins of Halloween
October
29, 2004
Harry
Browne
No Justice for Peace Activist in County
Clare
October
28, 2004
Forrest Hylton
"The Gas is Ours:" Bolivia's
Ghosts of October
Col. Dan Smith
Rebellion
in the Ranks
Alan Maass
Jon Stewart v. the Pundits
Ron Jacobs
Ecstasy
in Red Sox Nation
Alexander
Cockburn
Kerrycrats and the War
October
27, 2004
Jules
Rabin
Crammed with Distressful Politics
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate: the Lies Continue
Katherine
Van Tassel
On the Home Front: Both Parties
Ignore Working Parents
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bi-Partisan Politics of Oil
October 26,
2004
Brian Cloughley
Three
Weddings and Lots of Funerals: Atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan
William Blum
Fear
Factors
Lenni Brenner
The
1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Lessons for 2004
Ben Tripp
The
Chicken Salad Election
Fidel Castro
After the Fall
Greg Bates
The Nation's Flawed Calculus
Walter Brasch
Gag the Public: the War on Dissent
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
An Open Letter to Pat Buchanan
Mickey Z.
Rumble in the Jungle at 30: Ali, Foreman and the Congo
Amir Taheri
The Boom in Conspiracy Theories
Alexander Billet
Say It Ain't So, Bruce!: the Boss Endorses Kerry
Doug Giebel
The Religion of G.W. Bush
Kathleen Christison
Why
I Liked Thomas Friedman's Latest Column Before I Didn't
October 25,
2004
Ralph Nader
Letter
from a Minnesota Highway
Werther
West
Texas Wahabbism
Dave Zirin
Boston's Killer Cops: Death of a Fan
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Oregon Revokes Dr. Leveque's License
Omar Barghouti
Executing Another Child in Rafah
William J. Nottingham
Lori Berenson's Story
John Chuckman
A Foolish Consistency
Uri Avnery
On
the Road to Civil War
October 22
/ 24, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
You
Can't Blame Nader for This
Rev. William Alberts
On Bended Knee: Faith-Based Deceptions
Willliam A.
Cook
Killing for Christ
Saul Landau
George W. Bush: a Man of His Words?
Bill Quigley
I Held the Bullet in My Palm: Masked Haitian Police Shoot Children
While Arresting Priest
Christopher Brauchli
Seal It With a Frown: What Compassionate Conservativism Really
Means
William S.
Lind
Fallujah and the Moral Level of War
Sharon Smith
Guilt Trippers for Kerry
Greg Bates
Kerrynomics: "Hurt the Ones Who Vote for Us"
Justin E.H. Smith
Is Lesser Evilism a Compromise with Evil?
Rebecca Evans
Tarnished Legacy: Pinochet and the Chilean Military
Mike Whitney
Al Hurra TV: the Second Invasion
M. Junaid Alam
Purchasing Individuality in America
David Krieger
Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Examining the Policies of Bush and
Kerry
David J. Ledermann
The Emperor's New Crumbs
Lawrence Reichard
Same Old FBI Story
Website of
the Weekend
Lie Girls: the Real Coalition of the Willling
October 21,
2004
Ben Tripp
The
Undecided Voter Examined
Joshua Frank
Kerry
and the Environment:
It's Not Easy Pretending to be Green
Stan Cox
What
the Left Doesn't Get About Small Businesses
Bill Martinez
State
Depart and Cuban Visas: Only Anti-Castro Agitators Need Apply
Mark Engler
The War and Globalization
Lina Britto
and Lucia Suarez
Bolivia:
a Year After the October Insurrection
Website of the Day
Two Pampered Children of Wealth
October 20,
2004
Yitzhak Laor
"Did
You Two Squabble?": a Bullet Fired for Every Palestinian
Child
Jason Leopold
Sinclair
Broadcasting's Air War: a Long History of Journalistic Deception
Jesse Sharkey
A
Teacher's Account of How Military Recruiters Prey on High School
Students
Col. Dan Smith
Choking
Free Speech About the Draft
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Using My Religion
David Vest
If
Bush Wins, Blame Me
Jack Random
The Jackson 17: Reflections on a Mutiny
Ron Jacobs
Time
to Kick It Up a Notch
James Brittain
Plan Patriota and the FARC: a Change in the Countryside?
Christopher
Dols
Bombing Madison: Michael Moore's Fright Fest
Dave Lindorff
First They Came for the Nurses...
Website of
the Day
Banana Republican Catalogue
October 19,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Party
Favors: the Political Business of Terry McAuliffe
Jeff Taylor
Confessions
of a Swing State Voter
Matt Vidal
American
Myopia: "More Money in Your Pocket"
Victor Kattan
"It's Not Who You're Against; It's Who You're For":
Palestine Takes Center Stage At Euro Social Forum
William Loren
Katz
What Goes Around Comes Around
Sean Carter
O'Reilly Should Shut Up About Extortion Claiims
CounterPunch Wire
Who's Really in Bed with Republican Funders: Kerry or Nader?
October 18,
2004
Saul Landau
Facts
and Lies; Slogans and Truth
Dave Lindorff
Bulletin
on the Bush Bulge
Diane Christian
Sheep
and Goats: On the Language of Goodness
Greg Bates / Dave Lindorff
Betting on War: a Wager on the Fallout of a Kerry Presidency
Uri Avnery
Ariel
Sharon's Philosophy
Peter LaVenia
Leaving the Greens So Soon? a Response to Josh Frank
Mike Whitney
O'Reilly at the Whipping Post
Elaine Cassel
The Other War: Civil Liberties Three Years After 9/11
October 16
/ 17, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Free Speech Movement and Howard Stern
Leslie Brill
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/ Pat Youngblood
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The Phony Afghan Elections: Ballot of the Disappearing Ink
Ari Shavit
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Sharon's Lawyer
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
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Website of the Day
Dylan's Greatest Recording?
October 9 /
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"There
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Paul de Rooij
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M. Shahid Alam
Making Sense of Our Times
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Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: ASA Goes to Court
Col. Dan Smith
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Paul Craig
Roberts
Faith-Based Economics
Greg Bates
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Joshua Frank
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Felice Pace
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October 7,
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Out of Volunteers: A Draft is in the Air
Masha Hamilton
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|
November 30, 2004
Seattle Weekly
Trashes Anti-Globalization Movement
Five
Years After WTO Protests
By
CHUCK MUNSON
Kansas City.
The media spin cycle leading up to major
anti-globalization protests has become so predictable that activists
have been forced to come up with better media strategies to keep
up with the lies and disinformation. The mainstream media starts
the cycle several months in advance with articles and coverage
about the upcoming summit and accompanying protests. This coverage
always includes an obligatory interview with the local authorities
who claim that they will be "ready" for the protests.
These early articles will include space devoted to the issues
on the table, but as the event nears, the coverage focuses more
and more on the expected clash between protesters and police.
Activists have tried many different ways to change this narrative,
to force the media coverage back to the issues and reasons for
protest, without much success. Since these summit meetings never
allow dissenters inside, people are forced to take to the streets
in protest, thus reinforcing the spin that these events are mostly
about protesters confronting the police. At some point in the
media spin cycle, the media repeat some new police propaganda
about anarchists and "outside agitators." The police
plant fabulous stories in the media, ranging from alarmist stories
about activist scavenger hunts to claims that protesters will
throw "urine-filled bottles" at the police. When the
police claim that activists are using plastic bottles to make
Molotov cocktails, the mainstream media dutifully publishes the
police disinformation with nary an attempt to investigate the
police claims, or point out the fact that Molotov cocktails are
made with GLASS bottles.
The cycle is the same every
time. It's no wonder that more and more activists have given
up talking to the media, if they aren't simply hostile to the
media and efforts by activists to work with them.
Sadly, the independent media
has reflected this framing of the protests-Indymedia websites
are dominated by pictures of conflicts with the police. More
troubling is an attack last week by the liberal, so-called "alternative"
newsweekly, the Seattle Weekly, on the anti-globalization movement
and its accomplishments since the 1999 anti-World Trade Organization
(WTO) protests in Seattle. In the leadoff article, prominent
Seattle activist, Geov Parrish, analyzes the accomplishments
and state of the post-Seattle movement. Philip Dawdy looks at
the police angle and argues that police departments transformed
into a more effective force against activists. Knute Berger pens
a rather shocking right-wing conflation of the anti-globalization
movement with the fundamentalist terror movement led by Osama
bin Laden. The language of these pieces is hostile towards activists
and the anti-globalization movement, while at the same time pointing
out the many successes and achievements of the 1999 Seattle protests
(N30) and the North American anti-globalization movement.
The media spin machine in recent
years has added a new component to coverage of the anti-globalization
movement-questions about the state of the movement and whether
or not the movement is "dead." This shallow and superficial
measure of dissent and movement strength relies on old myths
that dissent is best judged by how much coverage it gets on the
television news. In other words, if the movement isn't rioting,
then it is "declining" or "beginning to sputter,"
to use Geov Parrish's words. In reality, contemporary anti-systemic
movements can't be judged solely by the amount of press clippings
they get. There is more going on that doesn't lend itself to
the sensational gaze of the TV news camera. But there have also
been some historic reasons why the North American anti-globalization
movement disappeared from the public eye. One significant reason
was the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent wars launched by the
Bush administration.
What 9/11 Really
Did to the Post-Seattle Movement
In order to understand why
the North American anti-globalization movement disappeared from
the media spectacle in 2001 it is important to know that large
anti-globalization protests had been organized for the Fall meetings
of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which were
scheduled to meet in Washington, DC in late September 2001. There
was a six month gap between the March 2001 anti-G8 protests in
Quebec City and the scheduled protests in Washington, DC. After
9/11 happened, some protest groups cancelled their plans while
others simply changed theirs. The media characterization of the
movement as petering out was understandable given the lack of
another "Seattle" in late 2001, but it was unfair given
the circumstances that activists had to deal with after 9/11.
The 9/11 attacks would dramatically
interrupt not just the anti-globalization movement's plans for
the September protests, but they would throw a monkeywrench into
the plans by activists to add a new dimension to the American
anti-globalization movement. One group of anarchists had been
working for over a month on a secret plan with other activists
to stage an occupation of an abandoned building on the D.C. General
Hospital campus. While other activists were working on logistics
for the protests and plans to attack the fence that was going
to be erected around the World Bank and IMF meetings, this group
of activists was hoping to organize a direct action that would
tie together globalization and the local agents of neoliberalism
who were planning to shut down D.C.'s only public hospital.
Other international events
had prompted this group of anarchists to plan a direct action
that would spotlight local issues of globalization in Washington,
D.C. In July 2001, the protests against the G8 summit in Genoa,
Italy had ended violently, with one activist being brutally murdered
by the police. There was a feeling among American activists that
the Genoa protests would play a significant factor in how the
Washington protests would be framed. From past protests it was
known that the police would make up propaganda about "violent
anarchists" and "outside agitators." The action
planned for D.C. General was seen as a way out of the stereotypes
about anarchists promoted by media and police disinformation.
There were other ongoing efforts by activists to make connections
between the anti-globalization movement and local D.C. residents,
such as the organizing work that the Anti-Capitalist Convergence
was doing with the residents of the Arthur-Capper neighborhood
in southeast D.C.
The September protests in Washington
were shaping up to be pretty huge. The ACC, the Mobilization
for Global Justice, and other groups had been organizing for
six months for the protests. The activists planning street strategy
had to deal with the World Bank and IMF changing the venue for
the summit several times. The police were estimating that around
100,000 protesters would descend on Washington. The word on the
streets was that the September protests would be "Seattle
II." A perfect storm of dissent was brewing that involved
organized labor, the anti-globalization movement, religious activists,
anarchists, NGOs, anti-capitalists and the Latin America solidarity
movement.
The media wasn't doing stories
on the "decline" of the movement, in fact, they were
fighting over access to the protesters. In one comic example,
a group of anarchists involved with the black bloc were invited
to a meeting with the national editors of the Washington Times.
The Times wanted to embed reporters and a photographer in the
black bloc and other groups. The bemused anarchists agreed to
work with the Times and let them "embed" the photographer
in any "interesting" protests that were being planned.
The terrorist attacks on September
11, 2001 changed everything. While protesters always understood
that events had a way of eclipsing media coverage of protests,
the 9/11 attacks were something beyond anything that American
activists had ever experienced. Like everybody else, activists
were shocked by the attacks. The 9/11 attacks had an immediate
effect on plans for the protests. A meeting scheduled that afternoon
between the black bloc anarchists, the religious activists, and
the AFL-CIO was attended only by the organizer, Lisa Fithian.
Within days, the Mobilization for Global Justice-under pressure
from nervous NGOs and large unions-cancelled their protests over
the objections of the grassroots activists in the MGJ coalition.
Members of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence agreed to continue
the protests, but the public cancellation announcement by the
"Mobe" effectively disrupted the national mobilization
that was building. The ACC eventually decided to scale back their
protest to a national anti-war march. The anarchists involved
with the plan to take over the hospital had to change their plans.
The 9/11 events had an effect
in derailing one of the largest anti-globalization protests that
had been planned to that date in the United States. The cancelled
September 2001 protests disrupted the rhythm of the North American
anti-globalization movement. Not only did 9/11 take the anti-globalization
movement off the global stage, but also months of organizing
ended up with little to show for all of that work. Anti-globalization
protests were hastily organized for the rescheduled World Bank
meetings that were moved to Canada, but they weren't very large.
Three months later the movement started to pick up the pieces
with protests in New York City against the World Economic Forum,
but by that point the movement was under pressure from several
new factors.
Into the Breach
While most activists were distracted
by the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, one little authoritarian
sect was busy making plans. The International Action Center,
a New York-based front group for the Workers World Party--which
was widely known for its famous spokesperson, former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark--had been trying to become a player in the
planning of the September anti-globalization protests. After
being rebuffed by both the Anti-Capitalist Convergence and the
Mobilization for Global Justice, the IAC resorted to one of their
favorite tactics and in June 2001 announced that they were sponsoring
a generic anti-Bush mobilization for the same weekend in September.
Their plan was to compete with the coalitions organizing the
anti-globalization protests with their fake coalition, hoping
along the way that the police would deny them parade permits
so that a court battle would establish the IAC as the primary
coalition for the Fall protests.
Within hours of the 9/11 attacks,
the IAC and the WWP had plans in place to create a national anti-war
coalition that they would call Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
(International A.N.S.W.E.R.). They decided to morph their September
anti-Bush protest into one that would be against the war that
everybody expected the Bush administration to implement. The
leaders of the IAC and WWP also understood an important thing
about the American left, which would play an important factor
in the eclipse of the anti-globalization movement: American leftists
have short attention spans. The IAC/WWP gambled that the American
Left would follow form and abandon the anti-globalization movement
for anti-war activism.
The jump by many activists
from anti-globalization activism to anti-war activism was one
of several factors that led to changes in the American anti-globalization
movement. The cancellation of the September 2001 protests after
the 9/11 attacks made it look like the movement had lost gas,
despite the feisty March 2001 protests in Quebec City. In the
progression of large anti-globalization protests in North America,
there is a big hole where "Seattle II" should have
occurred in September 2001. The 9/11 attacks and the rise in
patriotism and jingoism afterwards scared some activists into
withdrawing from visible activism. Many core movement organizers
were burned out from two and three years of organizing summit
protests. There was vocal interest among many movement participants
that organizing locally was something that needed more attention.
The 2004 U.S. presidential
campaign has also proven to be a huge distraction for many activists.
Not only were resources and money from progressives poured into
the election, but some activists found themselves working on
campaigns instead of grassroots activism. Much of the alternative
media was effectively detoured to provide mountains of shallow
coverage of the elections. Many activists involved with the anti-globalization
movements focused this year on the Republican National Convention,
instead of anti-globalization protests such as the poorly attended
one against the G8 Summit held on Sea Island, Georgia.
While there are several reasons
why the anti-globalization movement "started to sputter"
after 9/11, the reality and scope of the September 2001 mobilization
belies Geov Parrish's argument that "the flame of Seattle-inspired
protest was already beginning to sputter." Parrish also
repeats the canard that the movement was alienating "the
sort of middle-class, family-oriented attendees who made more
recent antiwar protests larger and, in the public's eye, more
credible." On the contrary, up until 9/11 the movement had
been growing rapidly and had been drawing more interest, support,
and participation from mainstream people. Even one of the undercover
police officers who had infiltrated the ACC and MGJ admitted
to activists after she was outed that she had come to agree with
the activists' arguments about globalization.
Accomplishments
In Geov Parrish's look at the
legacy of the Seattle protests, "Is This What Failure Looks
Like?", it's unclear if he wants to bury the movement or
give it credit for its many accomplishments. The subtitle is
negative enough with its use of the word "failure."
Parrish admits that the 1999 protests were a "critical event"
and that they "inspired hundreds of millions around the
globe." On the standard activist scorecard, any protest
that "inspires millions" is not going to get a checkmark
in the "failure" column. Parrish attempts to boil down
the movement's "failure" to its inability to change
government policies. Perhaps Parrish really wants to argue here
that the movement hasn't stopped the WTO in its tracks, but he
settles for dissing the movement on its policy record. Later
in his piece, he does mention successes like the Indymedia network,
but tempers that with an aside about the Seattle IMC closing
its storefront space.
So what are the accomplishments
of the anti-globalization movement, especially the North American
wing? The accomplishments are many and include:
* The international Indymedia
network was hatched in the heat of the Seattle protests and the
international "N30" day of actions against capitalism.
The network grew from one Independent Media Center (IMC) in November
1999 to 153 IMCs around the world today. The Indymedia network
runs on anarchist principles, software, and servers. The success
and growth of Indymedia is such that a capitalist media corporation
with millions of dollars would have a tough time of replicating
Indymedia. There are dozens of physical Independent Media Centers.
Many IMCs print their own newspapers, including a biweekly full
color newspaper published currently by the New York City IMC.
When the Indymedia network is attacked by some government, such
as the recent shutdown of servers by the FBI and European authorities,
it makes international news.
* The direct action, confrontational
style of the anti-globalization and anti-capitalist movements
made the police, governments, and the rich respect the power
of grassroots activism again. As Noam Chomsky would describe
it, the global elites once again feared the "crisis of democracy."
The global elites were forced to hold summit meetings in obscure
places like Cancun, Mexico, Sea Island, Georgia, Alberta, Canada
and other venues that could easily be defended by a small army.
Miles of fencing and legions of robocops surrounded summits in
Washington, Miami, and Quebec City. It's hard to argue that a
movement is a "failure" when the police still spend
millions to keep working people from attending global economic
summits.
* The World Bank, IMF, other
neoliberal institutions, and national governments have been forced
to play a defensive public relations game. After Seattle, the
World Bank morphed into an institution that claimed its biggest
priority was fighting global poverty. More importantly, the street
protests focused public attention on these institutions and global
trade policy. Quasi-secret trade negotiations such as the WTO
and the FTAA now have to be conducted fully in the public gaze.
* As Parrish points out in
his article, the Seattle protests inspired millions around the
world. After years of asking North American activists to get
involved in the fight, we finally took the fight against globalization
and neoliberalism to the back yards of the institutions responsible
for global misery. Millions of Americans learned about the WTO,
the FTAA, CAFTA, and institutions such as the World Bank. More
importantly, they saw that Americans opposed these things, often
in large numbers.
* The movements provided an
opportunity for activists to explore, discuss, and challenge
each other on issues of anti-oppression, racism, sexism, homophobia
and other alienating and oppressive behaviors within the movements
themselves.
* The Post-Seattle movements
provided practical experience and knowledge to every generation
of activists. After years of being marginalized, to the point
where the cops wouldn't even take the Seattle mobilization seriously,
the movements scored some huge mobilizations. They reaped media
attention that still benefit the movements today. Tens of thousands
of activists learned new things, built relationships with each
other, and gained wisdom about what works and what doesn't work.
* The Seattle protests, as
well as "N30," "J18" and subsequent anti-globalization
protests, vindicated anarchist methods of organizing and dissent.
Activism went from pointless permitted marches around the White
House that everybody ignored, to a movement that was democratic,
transparent, empowering, inspiring, and attention getting. Hierarchical
organizing was finally consigned to the dustbin of history and
a more beautiful flower of dissent unfolded. The strength of
the flat, networked model of organizing was again demonstrated
on February 15, 2003, when the huge global protests against the
U.S. invasion of Iraq were organized using the methods of the
anti-globalization movement.
* The North American anti-globalization
movement threw up numerous hurdles into the process of globalization.
Our protests threw sand into the gears of free trade and opened
up more space for dissent against globalization around the world.
Several prominent people associated with neoliberalism started
expressing their reservations more publicly, including prominent
economists such as Joseph Stiglitz.
* New organizations and movements
within the movements were started, such as the street medic and
medicine movement, which has grown in numbers and organizations
(BALM, Black Cross, DC Action Medical Network, etc.).
* The movement continues activism
on other issues such as biotechnology, human rights and media
reform, often demonstrating its wide-reaching influence on policy
issues..
* The Internet has become an
important tool for the organization of activism and dissent.
There are now thousands of activist websites, email lists, and
discussion boards, many of them connected to the anti-globalization
movement. Activists continue to expand the use of new technology,
such as the use of text messaging at the recent RNC protests
in New York City.
* A network of radical internet
service providers (ISPs) has sprung up, including Riseup, Mutualaid,
resist.ca, Interactivist, OAT, and others. Radical geeks brought
together by anti-globalization protests and the Indymedia network
have developed their own international network of mutual aid,
support, skills-sharing, free software and solidarity.
* Nonsense about the "end
of history" and the triumph of capitalism were debunked.
Decades of work by the ruling class and American conservatives
to marginalize protesters and activists were undone in the short
space of one week. Americans rediscovered dissent and the right
wing started obsessing again about the "Vietnam Syndrome."
It also became clear to the global elites that a new bogeyman
was needed to marginalize dissenters now that the Soviet Union
had disappeared into history.
The More Cops
Change, the More They Remain the Same
Parts of Geov Parrish's article
and all of Philip Dawdy's article are devoted to an analysis
of what the police learned after Seattle. Parrish continues his
past liberal condemnation of radical protestors:
"More forceful police
(and army) tactics led to escalating, ever-more-ugly confrontations
that encouraged street-battling young radicals but which discouraged
the sort of middle-class, family-oriented attendees who made
more recent antiwar protests larger and, in the public's eye,
more credible."
Parrish provides no concrete
evidence that militant street protestsdiscouraged middle-class
attendees. In fact, the numbers attending anti-globalizations
protests after Seattle continued to increase and included more
and more middle and working class people. Trade unionists complained
that the union march in Quebec City didn't hook up with the militants
who were fighting the police. The September 2001 protests in
Washington had scheduled numerous permitted events for families.
Parrish blames the radicals for an imagined image problem, echoing
liberal attacks on radicals that have become common.
Parrish continues:
"The window breaking perpetrated
by a few dozen anarchists in Seattle became justification in
the American public's mind for violent law-enforcement measures
that in turn further limited the public's sympathy for future
demonstrations."
This is one of the uglier accusations
that liberals have lobbed at anarchists and other radicals, that
we are responsible for our own victimization and the increase
of police repression against other activists. Instead of attacking
the police who come to demonstrations with all kinds of weaponry,
the fury of the liberal activist is turned on radicals who are
somehow responsible for the police repression.
Philp Dawdy's article, "What
the Cops Learned," purports to explain how American authorities
changed their policing tactics after the police fiasco during
the 1999 Seattle protests. While this article has some interesting
information about policing of activism, it gives the police far
too much credit in "learning" how to deal with protesters.
If the police have learned anything since Seattle, it's that
they can't take activists and protesters for granted. The police
actions during the Seattle protests stemmed from a general attitude
among American authorities that activists weren't to be taken
seriously. The police had been lulled into complacency towards
activists after decades of predictable protests. In Washington,
for example, there was an unofficial protocol between police
and protesters about how one went about getting arrested in front
of the White House. The police were responsible for this status
quo of predictable protests, having turned to a new concept called
"community policing" that was developed in the wake
of bad publicity generated in the late 60s and early 70s from
pictures of police beating protesters.
The Seattle protests were a
wake-up call for the American authorities. The Battle of Seattle
had caught them with their pants down. Their disrespect for protesters
had created a "perfect storm" of events that played
right into the hands of the Seattle protesters. The police "learned"
that they had to go back to the traditional techniques of crowd
control, political propaganda, and the tested tactic of brute
force. The American police were also in a good position to police
dissent thanks to the militarization of police departments during
the Clinton administration. One of the shocking things about
the Seattle protests was the sight of Robocops wandering around
pepper-spraying activists while wearing the new military gear.
Dawdy's piece includes several
errors. He writes that there was "no precedent in recent
American history for creating a fortress around conference sites."
Perhaps not fences around trade summits, but the police in Washington,
DC had erected a fortress around the NATO summit held there in
1999. Dawdy writes that,
"The other fatal error
in Seattle was to make mass arrests. Pugel advises against that.
'It requires an incredible amount of police resources to do that,
and it put a huge burden on prosecutors and the criminal-justice
system,' he says. 'Go after the instigators instead.'"
In fact, the Seattle police
attempted to make mass arrests on November 30th, but gave up
because they were overwhelmed by activists. The Direct Action
Network had hoped for mass arrests on N30, but the police opted
to start attacking nonviolent protesters. (Contrary to the myth
promoted by liberal activists, the black bloc march happened
hours after the police started attacking protesters with pepper
spray). Thousands of protesters were attacked with poison gas
and weapons. Most protesters were never warned, they were simply
attacked brutally. By the end of the day the Seattle police had
pissed off thousands with their use of violence, setting the
stage for riots that continued into the night.
The most effective thing that
the police learned to do after Seattle was to sharpen their propaganda
skills. The police understand that the media will uncritically
report anything said by the police about protesters. Thus, cooking
supplies for the April 2000 protests in Washington became "bomb
making materials." The police learned to provide the divide
and conquer game, telling the media that the "good protesters"
were going to be disrupted by "anarchists" and "outside
agitators." The mainstream media doesn't challenge these
lies and doesn't point out, for example, that anarchists are
deeply involved in the planning of summit protests. The police
learned that propaganda was useful not just in demonizing protesters,
but in scaring away protesters. Propaganda also covered up the
fact that the police were still pretty incompetent when it came
to dealing with protesters.
Dawdy's article gives the impression
that despite a few mistakes in Seattle, the police are now prepared
to deal with protesters effectively. Dawdy points out that the
use of "non-lethal weapons" sometimes goes wrong, such
as the recent case of the white woman killed in Boston during
a Red Sox victory celebration. In fact, the police use these
weapons daily against poor working people and arbitrarily against
protesters. Policing of summit protests after Seattle showed
that the cops were willing to use violence against any kind of
protester. The police not only saw any protester dressed in black
as an "instigator," they acted like every protester
was target for police violence. Police motorcycles attacked protesters
at peace marches. The police arrested everybody in a park in
Washington, DC, leading to a huge embarrassment for that police
department. And contrary to police department PR, rank-and-file
police are poorly trained in crowd control tactics and lack experience
in handling militant protests.
Since Seattle, the police have
relied on propaganda to demonize protesters, scare tactics and
sheer numbers to keep more people from joining protests, and
violence to bully and terrorize protesters. The police haven't
really "learned" anything in so much as they have fallen
back on traditional violent tactics to stop dissent. Some of
this has kept people away from protests. Many rank-and-file radicals
take the police seriously, but don't let the hype deter them
from planning radical actions. Much was made about the "Miami
Model" of policing during the FTAA protests last year. This
new model was actually more of the same thing: lots of cops,
threats of violence, and a geographical location that was difficult
to reach for working class activists.
Increasingly these days, more
protesters are deciding to take their ball and play elsewhere.
Instead of facing off against the police at summit protests,
more folks are organizing local protests and direct actions.
There has been an increase in illegal actions, such as last week's
stunt in Lafayette, Louisiana, where unknown people glued locks
on the doors of dozens of businesses. The police may succeed
in preventing the rabble from bringing democracy to trade summits,
but more people are deciding to take their dissent directly to
the physical manifestations of capitalism. This is a growing
trend, but mass protests at trade summits will still happen for
the foreseeable future.
Terrorism-baiting
the Anti-Globalization Movement
The Seattle Weekly's retrospective
continues with a right wing attack on the movement in an essay
by Knute Berger titled "How 9/11 Trumped N30." Berger's
piece addresses a legitimate point about how the 9/11 attacks
and George W. Bush have affected both the anti-globalization
movement and globalization. The 9/11 attacks gave George Bush
and his supporters an opportunity to pursue unilateralist foreign
and economic policies. Berger writes:
"Their interests have
been dramatically, if dangerously, advanced by wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and by the open embrace of unilateral and pre-emptive
international actions-on behalf of not just "democracy,"
but free markets and lower marginal tax rates. By cloaking itself
in an endless War on Terrorism, by asserting the American way
at gunpoint, by allowing George W. Bush to increase the size,
scope, and power of government in favor of the big guys and at
the expense of the little guys, the imperium has released its
inner beast. The so-called neoconservatives have tapped into
a strain of American arrogance that is feeding the angels of
our worst nature, but in the guise of advancing our better ones.
We are now beginning to see what an enormous, global government
based on greed looks like."
While Berger is correct in
pointing out how the current world situation benefits some capitalists,
the new American imperialism flies in the face of the hyper-libertarian
ideas of free market capitalism. The Bush administration's response
to 9/11 has thrown a wrench into globalization and derailed free
market ideologues, but globalization proceeds today. Just look
at all of the outsourcing that is going on, or last week's WTO
decision that went against the United States.
Berger's article is more troubling
because it repeats insane right wing arguments that Osama bin
Laden is part of the anti-globalization movement, or allied with
it in some way:
"The dark side of the
anti-globalization movement is outright terrorism. The Al Qaeda
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were monstrous
atrocities."
Osama bin Laden has never been
part of the anti-globalization movement, which is an international
movement of concerned and committed grassroots activists. Osama
bin Laden is a fundamentalist religious fanatic who is waging
jihad against the U.S. and other governments. Arguing that the
9/11 attacks were in synch with the anti-globalization movement
is like the illogical argument that vegetarians are closet fascists
because Adolf Hitler happened to be a vegetarian. The 9/11 attacks
may have been effective attacks on the symbols of American capitalism
and militarism, but the anti-globalization movement has nothing
in common with the religious jihadists led by Osama bin Laden.
Lastly, Berger repeats another
liberal myth about Seattle, that most protesters denounced the
anarchists: "many in the anti-globalization movement criticized
the anarchists for giving the Seattle protests a bad name, for
tainting a global message that would have been more powerful
without all the broken windows." In fact, a few people denounced
the anarchists, most famously Medea "peace activists should
vote for war criminals" Benjamin, but many in the movement
understood the importance of the actions undertaken by the Seattle
black bloc. After all, what's a revolution without its tea party?
Has It Really
Been Five Years?
The Seattle Weekly retrospective
on the 1999 anti-WTO protests recognizes the historical importance
of that explosive week in Seattle. At the same time, it repeats
myths about the protests and the movements while giving the authorities
a virtual free pass for continued violence and terrorism against
dissenters. The anti-globalization and anti-capitalist movements
have seen many successes and a few defeats, but it may be too
soon to judge the long-term influence of the movements. Globalization
continues, but with more widespread resistance around the globe.
The North American anti-globalization movement may not dominate
the front page, but it continues to mobilize people for protests.
The most important lesson learned from the Battle for Seattle
is that average working people can come together to dramatically
challenge the rich and powerful and make history in the process.
Chuck Munson writes for the Infoshop,
where this essay originally appeared. He can be reached at: chuck@mutualaid.org
Sources
This Is What Failure Looks Like By Geov Parrish
What Cops Learned By Philip Dawdy
Mossback - How 9/11 trumped N30 By Knute Berger
FURTHER READING
Five Days That Shook the World: Seattle
and Beyond by Alexander
Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair
Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches
from a Global Movement by
Eddie Yuen, Daniel Burton-Rose, George Katsiaficas. (Soft Skull
Press, 2004)
Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot
the System and Build a Better World by David Solnit. (City Lights Publishers, 2004)
Infoshop.org's Coverage of
the 1999 Seattle Protests http://www.infoshop.org/no2wto.html
No Logo http://www.nologo.org
Reader's Guide to Anti-Capitalism
http://www.infoshop.org/octo/anticap_biblio.html
We are everywhere: the Irresistible
Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism by Notes from Nowhere. (Verso,
2003)
GROUPS
Anarchist People of Color http://www.illegalvoices.org/
Anti-Capitalist Convergence
http://www.abolishthebank.org
Indymedia http://www.indymedia.org/
Mobilization for Global Justice
http://www.globalizethis.org/
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
http://www.ocap..ca
Seattle Indymedia http://seattle.indymedia.org/
Props to Kirsten Anderberg
for providing some of the information that went into this article.
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