Dan and David and others,
in some ways the forwarded message below echoes (and speaks
to)
Dan's concerns over 'upsetting' people such as his
neighbours and his Mum.
In addition to this there is an interesting piece by Mark
Lynas reflecting on June 18th in Corporate Watch (issue 9)
that al;so tries to address such concerns
here is a chopped version of it(apologies to anyone who has
already read these pieces) :
"Let's face it - the campaign against capitalism is not
popular. There is some case for the saying that in
targetting financial institutions we are acting on behalf
of the billions of people in the Third World who are denied
their basic reights. But who asked them ? There is perhaps
some small mechanism of accountability to the South
through the Peoples Global Action network - but it's very
tenuous. The basic issue is one of who makes the decisions
- and the targets in the city on June 18 were decided in
London, not in Lusaka. The reality is that the movement is
accountable to no-one.
We are drunk with our own power, titillated and ego-tripped
by all the notoriety and media attention. Many want a
repeat of June 18, where we can cost the capitalists
millions and all feel empowered at the same time.
But what about everyone else ? What about all those who
either out of dignity or necessity feel they must wrk for a
living, and that they have some stake in the system that
we're seeking out to destroy ? Surely this is the crux of
theissue. Take the perennial media deabte. Fro anarchistic
ideological reasons alomst everyone involved refused to
participate in any attempt to project a positive image of
June 18th through the mainstream media.
Ultimately this kind of purism is surely
counter-productive. Like a cult, it alienates all but the
strongest of believers, and undermines diversity in its
push for total obedience. it condemns us the margins of
political influence when we should be pushing at the
mainstream.
Our heroes the zapatistas are way ahead of us. They have
faced up to the responsibilites that their success has
forced upon them. They have called meetings and
referendums. They have spent days and weeks consulting with
the widest possible sections of the mainstream Mexican
society,. There is a legitimacy in their calim to be
fioghting alongside all those who are marginalised by the
naked violence of semi-feudal landlordism and free trade.
Of thei legitmacy we have none.
This, then is surely the most crtical meaning of June 18.
And the key message is not to the capitalists, it is to us.
It says this; 'If you aim to be a truly revolutionary
movement, you must work with the people. You must listen,
and not assume that you know best. Then, and only then,
must you act.'
--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:50:10 -0800
From: "Global @ction" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fwd: On the potential for violence in Seattle]
Sender: "Global @ction" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: November 30 International Day of Action
<[log in to unmask]>
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
November 30 International Day of Action - http://www.n30.org
sorry to draw more focus on seattle but i thought people might be inetrested to see this as an example of tensions present in the seattle mobilization. i know some people on this list probably agree with this letter, but for those out there who view this perspective as indicative of a sign of the stunted growth of radicalism in the industrialized world, i'd appreciate your thoughts, esp in the light of the J18 london backlash.
for an end to movement managers...
shut down capitalism!
--------- Forwarded Message ---------
DATE: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 09:44:43
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>> Many of you may be aware that in recent weeks concern has been
>> mounting about possible violence and disruption at the upcoming WTO summit
>> in Seattle. Protest organizers have successfully generated intense public
>> and media interest in the event and have persuaded large numbers of people
>> to converge on the city at the end of this month. At the same time, for
>> reasons that are not entirely clear, an aura of menace has been building
>> around the event that threatens to do great damage to the many movements we
>> have all been quietly and laboriously building for the past few decades.
>>
>> This is a moment of immense opportunity for socially
>> transformative ideas, initiatives, and organizations to gain the attention
>> of a broader public. But it is also a moment of grave risk. For a public
>> that knows little about the solid and responsible work that has been done
>> for the past few decades, a first exposure to these movements that is
>> marked by violence and mayhem could leave them with the lasting impression
>> that such people are just too reckless and irresponsible to be entrusted
>> with the reins of power.
>>
>> In recent days, according to Mike Dolan of the Citizen's Trade
>> Campaign, several Molotov cocktails were thrown into a Gap clothing outlet
>> in Seattle and an anarchist symbol left on the building. Talk of shutting
>> down the city's traffic has local police and city leaders taking extreme
>> measures while an immense security force is being assembled to guard some
>> 5,000 delegates and dignitaries from more than 150 nations. Sen. Patty
>> Murray (WA), a liberal Democrat, has written to President Clinton warning
>> that Seattle could be a disaster for the cause of free trade if stronger
>> measures aren't taken to suppress protests.
>>
>> Some of this is a predictable response to the growing influence
>> of the NGO community and alternative social movements. Perhaps we should be
>> heartened by the statement of Jeffrey Garten of the Yale School of
>> Management that "If Washington and Corporate America don't move decisively,
>> NGOs could dominate public opinion on global trade and finance." But this
>> influence could soon wane if the Seattle summit descends into a
>> free-for-all with aimless violence against people and property. Even if the
>> great majority of protesters are responsible and self-disciplined, the
>> media will be drawn to those few malcontents who may know nothing about the
>> issues but are attracted to the spotlight to express their inchoate anger
>> at the world. Not least of all, both government and corporate image-makers
>> (and-breakers) may be seeding chaos with their own agents provocateurs, a
>> time-honored tactic to discredit rising political opposition.
>>
>> Whatever the sources of this growing alarm, it is emphatically
>> not in the interest of anyone but the corporate globalization lobby that
>> the Seattle summit be allowed to disintegrate into either chaos or a police
>> crackdown. At the moment there is widespread if not yet deeply committed
>> sympathy among the general public for democratizing global trade and
>> finance, reducing economic inequality, enforcing labor rights and
>> strengthening environmental protections. But shutting down Seattle and
>> impeding the functioning of ordinary life for local people while leaving
>> trade ministers free to deal secretly inside their conference halls could
>> quickly turn that latent sympathy into active resentment. Those of us who
>> participated in the antiwar protests of the Sixties watched with increasing
>> dismay as the tone of the demonstrations turned from hope to rage and the
>> public's response turned from sympathy to anger and contempt. In many ways,
>> the reactionary politics of succeeding decades were fueled by fears
>> skillfully stoked by politicians and the media in response to increasingly
>> aimless, angry, and nihilistic protests.
>>
>> We mustn't let that happen again. We have all done far too much
>> of the hard work of envisioning and building practical alternatives to
>> current policies to allow these fragile experiments to be discredited in a
>> flash by a spasm of futile if temporarily cathartic fury. To the extent
>> that our movements have been successful in shifting both policies and
>> public opinion over the past three decades, it has been thanks to the
>> diligence and discipline with which activists have assumed the gritty tasks
>> of studying the challenges and thinking anew, placing themselves in the
>> position of policymakers and designing pragmatic solutions to longstanding
>> problems. They have testified in legislative committee hearings, pored over
>> voluminous reports (and produced not a few of their own), spoken and
>> written in media large and small, listened, organized, and networked with
>> like-minded souls across the country and around the world. This is quiet,
>> unspectacular work, like tilling a field and planting seeds by hand, with
>> progress measured in seasons that sometimes seem to move at a glacial pace.
>> It lacks the surge of solidarity that courses through a protesting crowd
>> when it senses its collective strength.
>>
>> But like a drug-induced high, that momentary exhilaration can
>> sometimes exact a frightfully high price. For those on the outside of the
>> bubble of like-mindedness, there is a sense of exclusion and, worse yet, of
>> exclusivity, as if those who are marching claim to have hold of a truth
>> that outsiders are too dense to grasp. And for those whose interests are
>> more directly threatened, this concentration of the opposition in one place
>> and time is an alarm bell, a signal that decisive action must be taken to
>> derail the momentum of a popular movement. To judge by Jeffrey Garten's
>> Nov. 8 Business Week column, that alarm has already been sounded. In
>> response, as Garten himself advises, corporate and governmental advocates
>> free-trade advocates are likely to mount a highly skillful and sustained
>> campaign to sell their argument, in part by seeking to discredit all those
>> who question their aims and motivations. Garten directly targets the NGO
>> community that has grown up in this country and around the world in recent
>> years to challenge unchecked corporate power: "Governments and business
>> associations should demand that NG0s part the curtain on their own
>> activities -- including disclosing exactly who their members are and how
>> they are financed."
>>
>> NGOs are indeed becoming a powerful force in global politics, not
>> just because they have attracted bright, talented, highly motivated
>> individuals but because their sentiments are shared by a much larger if
>> less active public. But they are also quite fragile institutions dependent
>> for their survival on the beneficence of foundations that are themselves
>> ultimately dependent on corporate wealth. Foundations are notoriously timid
>> institutions. If pressured by Congressional and corporate critics of the
>> nonprofit sector, many could quickly retreat from their recent support for
>> movements that challenge the dominance of multinational corporations.
>>
>> What does all this mean for Seattle? In my view, it means that we
>> must act both with great boldness and great care, making sure that our
>> actions there -- and those of others around us -- reflect well on the
>> movements we represent. It means that we must try to shift the expectations
>> of the media, the public, the police, the politicians and the demonstrators
>> from violence and mayhem to thoughtful and open debate. I suggest that we
>> do so by emphasizing several key points:
>>
>> * We come to Seattle with peaceful intent and urge all others who
>> plan to be there -- including demonstrators, delegates, and police officers
>> -- to refrain from violence -- in speech or action against people or
>> property. We will do all we can to defuse tensions and ensure a free and
>> open exchange of views.
>>
>> * While we are critical of economic globalization as it is
>> currently being implemented, we have also done the hard work of developing
>> practical alternatives. We have developed sound policy options across a
>> broad range of globalization issues and are prepared to describe them in
>> detail to the media, delegates, and the public.
>>
>> * We both challenge globalization's advocates to debate the issues
>> openly and at length. We also challenge them to open their deliberations to
>> the broader public whose lives and livelihoods will be profoundly affected
>> by the decisions of the WTO and other global financial institutions.
>>
>> Through your communications with your organizations and networks
>> and your media appearances (including those arranged by the Mainstream
>> Media Project), you will have many opportunities to discuss the events in
>> Seattle before, during, and after the summit. Expectations have a powerful
>> influence on outcomes.If you are concerned about the expectations of
>> violence and mayhem being voiced in the media and elsewhere in advance of
>> the event, you may wish to use these venues to help shift perceptions.This
>> is a moment of exceptional opportunity. If we use it well, Seattle will
>> represent a quantum leap in our ability to cooperate and communicate as a
>> unified movement. If we do not, our ability to influence the debate and the
>> reshaping of global institutions will be greatly diminished.
>>
>> With best wishes,
>>
>> Mark Sommer
>> Director, The Mainstream Media Project
>>
>> Joshua Karliner
>> TRAC--Transnational Resource & Action Center/Corporate Watch
>> PO Box 29344
>> San Francisco CA 94129
>>
>> tel: 415-561-6567
>> fax: 415-561-6493
>> email: [log in to unmask]
>> web: http://www.corpwatch.org
>
>
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Kelly Quirke
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Rainforest Action Network
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
-Mary Oliver, A Summer Day
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