ELECTRIC OCTOPUS
ARE YOU A MUGWUMP???
Definition: [n] a neutral or uncommitted person (especially in politics)
[n] someone who bolted from the Republican Party during the U.S. presidential election of 1884
Synonyms: independent
compiled by Dee Finney
We need to first identify the enemy correctly.
The enemy is hydra-headed, an octopus.
The primary focus of human well-being is clearly superior to this octopus called globalization.
A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have
for dinner.
Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting the
vote.
There is enough reaction, social chaos, breakdown of human values,
"terrorism",
and poverty to demonstrate that globalization is not a sustainable
venture
Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating
within our government and political system,
another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic
elite."
(Senator William Jenner, 1954)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing"
(Edmund
Burke)
| 10-18-03 - DREAM - I was living in a house with some young girls.
On the floor was a wire that was cut, so I spliced it together and told one
of the girls who picked it up - not to put it in her mouth and get it wet,
but to wrap the splice with electrical tape. There were 3 gold wires on each
side, which I spliced together.
On top of the splice, after a few moments, was an Octopus wrapping its' tentacles around the wire. (8 tentacles) In a book, in the index, towards the back were the names of the 3 wires, but when I wanted to show this to a couple of men who came to the house with some empty wooden boxes, I couldn't find it again. I told them it was near the back near a picture of a nasty old man. There was a man there serving breakfast. He had a bowl of cornflakes but we were served some kind of shell with a mixture of apples and peaches with brown sugar and cinnamon. I had 3 of them. After that though, I saw the wires splice again and where the electrical tape was supposed to be, there were now 3 black octopi wrapped around the wires. (Total of 24 tentacles) There was a retarded girl there. She was carrying around a huge black Catholic Bible, which I wanted to take to my room. She also had a ball and baseball glove and I waned to take the glove and have her throw the ball to me, but it seemed that she lost it so we couldn't play ball. |
| Joe Mason had this dream in July of 1990.
A message of crop circles and dreams may be about world unity. I had a dream of an electrical splice box with the wires disconnected (J). I felt that it meant that people were not connected. Later I saw Navaho sand paintings that looked similar (K) .
Note that there are 24 wires inside the splice box - that are separated. |
| Description of Globalization:
"Globalization" describes the ongoing global trend toward the freer flow of trade and investment across borders and the resulting integration of the international economy. Because it expands economic freedom and spurs competition, globalization raises the productivity and living standards of people in countries that open themselves to the global marketplace. For less developed countries, globalization offers access to foreign capital, global export markets, and advanced technology while breaking the monopoly of inefficient and protected domestic producers. Faster growth, in turn, promotes poverty reduction, democratization, and higher labor and environmental standards. While globalization may confront government officials with more difficult choices, the result for their citizens is greater individual freedom. In this sense, globalization acts as a check on governmental power that makes it more difficult for governments to abuse the freedom and property of their citizens. Below, you'll find work Cato's scholars have done on globalization. For more work Cato scholars have done on trade issues, visit the Center for Trade Policy Studies Web site at: www.freetrade.org
Question: Is this good for Americans? Or did your job go
along the free flow of trade? |
| DID THEY SAY THIS IN 1990???
On Saturday, August 25, 1990, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to allow a joint military force to use whatever means necessary to enforce a UN blockade against the country of Iraq. That afternoon, Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, a CFR member and former aide to Henry Kissinger, who was the National Security Advisor to Bush, was interviewed by Charles Bierbauer of the Cable News Network (CNN) and used the term "a New World Order." During a September, 1990 speech at the United Nations, he announced that "we are moving to a New World Order." In the fall of 1990, on the way to Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State James Baker said: "If we really believe that there's an opportunity here for a New World Order, and many of us believe that, we can't start out by appeasing aggression." FROM: http://user.pa.net/~drivera/fwintro.htm
|
| Have you ever seen news reports on TV that cover remote wars in
Afghanistan or Sudan or Bumfuck Egypt, and the scenery is desolate - either
sparsely-vegetative mountains or barren deserts? Then you see the residents
who live in these areas, and they're gaunt, barely clothed, and look on the
brink of starvation because the only thing they have to eat are rats or cactus
or dogs or sand. But then the war footage begins, and these people who can
barely clothe and feed themselves are sporting bazookas, anti-aircraft missiles,
tanks, and hand-grenades. It makes ya wonder - where does the money come
from?
FROM: http://www.babelmagazine.com/issue15/wallstreethitler.html |
| Posted on 07/25/2002
by Stand Watch Listen On March 14, 2002, a program to capture the Capitalist system and control it for the purpose of advancing the twisted values of environmentalism was spelled out in a presentation titled "Restructuring the Global Economy." This was a rare occasion when deliberate deception was not used to mask the Green's true intentions. According to the Greens behind this plan, "Economic globalization is the greatest single contributor to the massive ecological crisis of our time, yet this is an aspect that is often ignored by the media, NGOs, policymakers, and citizens. Its inherent emphasis on increased trade requires corresponding expansion of transportation of infrastructures, airports, seaports, roads, rail-lines, pipelines, dams, electric grids, many of these are constructed in pristine landscapes, often on indigenous people's lands. "Increased transport also uses drastically increased fossil fuels, adding to the problems of climate change, ozone depletion, and ocean, air, and soil pollution." There is a very big problem with the assertion quoted above. None of it is true. If the U.S., let alone the rest of the world, did not have airports, seaports, roads, rail-lines, pipelines, dams and electric grids, you would not be reading this, nor would there be too many goods in your local supermarket or mall. Nor is the world running out of so-called "fossil fuels." Moreover, world trade is generally seen as the best way to lift Third World nations out of their grinding poverty while increasing peaceful and fruitful relations between industrialized nations. More goods mean more money and more jobs everywhere in a world that has six billion mouths to feed every day. At the heart of the environmental (Green) movement have been people who are hardcore Marxists, haters of Capitalism and the corporations and countless small businesses that sustain it. Their problem, however, is that Communism doesn't work. It has a record of having enslaved and killed millions of people who fell under its control. To Randall Hayes, the man who presented his paper at the 2002 Johns Hopkins Symposium on Foreign Affairs, Capitalism "is an absurd economic system rapidly destroying nature, cultural diversity, and decent local life." Admitting that there were no "attractive alternatives" to Capitalism, he proposed that it "be radically improved, humanized, and ecologized." The key word here is "radically." Humanity is not high on the list of priorities for the Greens who thrive on programs that kill large numbers of people deprived of pesticides to protect them against Nature's greatest vectors of disease, insect and rodent pests; deprive farmers of the pesticides and herbicides needed to protect their crops against these predators; deprive people of electrical power from non-polluting hydroelectric dams or nuclear utilities and they remain impoverished; and most importantly, deprive people of a voice in their affairs through democratic elections by destroying the sovereignty of nations. The other key word is "ecologized." That, presumably, means substituting the lies and other control mechanisms that would render what's left of Capitalism the tool of a single group of un-elected Green elites operating under the aegis of the United Nations. Who is Randall Hayes? He is the president of the radical Rainforest Action Network. He has created the International Forum on Globalization (IFOG), described by Ron Arnold, the author of "Undue Influence,, "Trashing the Economy" and several other books on the Greens, as "assortment of some 60 anti-capitalist organizations and intellectuals from 25 nations." These groups and others have been patiently and malevolently putting together a plan for global domination for decades. The operating element of the plan is the United Nations, which, itself, has made it clear it intends to be the sole global government for the entire planet. Up to now, however, no Green has so boldly stated the true intention of the movement. The plan would dismantle the institutions that monitor global trade and substitute UN agencies in their place. They claim to be driven by the desire to save the Earth and the basis for their claims are the totally bogus "global warming" hoax and others that assert that the air, the water, the soil, and all life on Earth is either polluted or endangered. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. It does not need saving, particularly if that means the enslavement of the human race. What Hayes and his fellow Greens claim is hogwash! Every advance in science and technology has come from learning how to secure the maximum benefit of Earth's natural resources. Do not take it for granted that you can place a call to a friend in Europe or Australia and hear them as clearly as if they lived next door. Do not take for granted that the water from your faucet is potable. Do not take for granted your supermarket will be filled with a huge variety of foods - products to keep your home clean, and other items, all of which arrived by truck. Do not take for granted that public health mosquito control programs protect you against the West Nile virus or malaria. Do not take for granted that you will be permitted to get in your car or get on a plane to go anywhere you want. Nothing in modern life exists without the research and development that has extended your life. It has been entrepreneurs and corporations who have risked huge sums to bring about progress. The Greens hate progress. In this, they are financially supported by foundations whose goal it is to control the world's money supply and, thereby, its future. They include the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, HKH Foundation and the Turner Foundation, among just a few of those funding IFOG. All fund anti-globalization groups. As Ron Arnold points out, Randall Hayes' Rainforest Action Network is "a shakedown operation, as RAN's arrest record indicates. He doesn't mention that his organization used unlawful activities such as trespass, intimidation and vandalism against his targets." Indeed, the Internal Revenue Service "has been asked to revoke RAN's tax exempt status for those very offenses." The IFOG plan that Hayes unveiled is a plan to rule the world. All despotisms proudly announce their plans. Had the world read and acted upon the rantings of Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in the 1930s, we would have been spared World War II. Had the world acted to thwart the aims of the Communist Manifesto, Russia would have been spared seventy years of horror and Red China would not now be threatening the United States with ICBMs. Hayes' plan would give non-profit groups access to the most radical economic decision-making power within the United Nations. It would remove corporations and nations from that process. It would impose restrictions on the use of all natural resources and it would do so in the name of saving the Earth. From whom? From YOU! (Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs", posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.) Alan Caruba
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| Monday September 8, 2003
Anti-globalization protests loom at Cancun talks By Alistair Bell CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - U.S. environmentalists, militant Mexican peasants and European backpackers descended on the sweltering Caribbean resort of Cancun on Monday for anti-globalization protests at world trade talks. Truckloads of Mexican police in gray uniforms patrolled the streets around where the World Trade Organization is to open a five-day meeting on Wednesday to nudge its 146 members toward a comprehensive world trade pact by the end of next year. Local authorities, keen to avoid a repeat of the riots that marred a WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999, are putting on free concerts and open-air plays to allow protesters to let off steam. Tattooed activists, some playing bongo drums, mingled with promenading Mexican families at a concert in a square in central Cancun on Sunday night as Brazilian rap music boomed from speakers through the balmy night air. Campaigners say they will get their message across peacefully. "I would hope that we can demonstrate again that the WTO is an organization that should not exist. It is creating more harm economically, socially and environmentally than good," said Antonia Juhasz, a veteran protester based in San Francisco. Economists say agreement at the talks, in a convention center 500 yards from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, would increase hopes of world economic recovery. But the meeting is shaping up as a battle between the rich countries and mostly poor nations over agricultural subsidies. African nations, and members of the Cairns Group like Brazil and Argentina complain their farmers suffer unfair competition because the developed world, particularly the United States and the European Union, supports its farmers to the tune of some $300 billion a year. The WTO members will also try to agree on goals for reducing industrial tariffs and whether to negotiate new international rules covering investment. CAUTIOUS German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul cautioned against excessive optimism at the crucial talks, part of an effort to liberalize world trade that began in the Qatari capital Doha two years ago. "The negotiations run continuously, we shouldn't expect spectacular results from Cancun," she told Reuters in Germany. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick met on Monday morning with South African Trade Minister Alec Irwin and was due to hold talks later with trade ministers from India and Australia. Activists say the chance of violence at mass protests planned for later this week was slim because many foreign campaigners were staying away from Cancun due to the cost of traveling and the reputation of the Mexican police as being tough on dissent. "You can either come here and get your ass kicked by the police or stay at home and take action at a local level," said Juhasz. Up to 15,000 Mexican peasants wielding machetes are expected to hit the streets at a demonstration on the meeting's opening day on Wednesday. Mexican farmers say they have suffered from subsidized cheap imports since the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, between Mexico, Canada and the United States came into effect in 1994. The United States is negotiating a similar deal with Central American nations and hopes to open up the whole Western hemisphere to free trade by 2005. "Although Mexico has had more exports through NAFTA, poverty has increased in the countryside. We do not want this experience to be repeated in Central America and the rest of the world," said peasant leader Rafael Alegria. The WTO reached a deal last month that gives poor countries greater access to medicine in what was seen as one of a few good omens for the Cancun talks.
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| Protests at EU summit turn violent
04 October 2003 Protests against a European Union summit turned violent Saturday, leaving at least one person injured and 24 arrested as demonstrators smashed shop windows, witnesses and police said. Some 10,000 riot-ready police officers were on the streets of Rome enforcing a no-go zone around the venue where European leaders were gathered for the opening of negotiations on a first ever constitution. Fighter jets providing extra security from the air roared overhead, accompanied by AWACS surveillance aircraft and helicopters. At one point group of about 50 anti-globalization protesters attacked the offices of a temporary work agency before being chased away by police, and an ambulance was seen moving in to take away an injured demonstrator. Smoke could be seen billowing from the agency, in an area between the city center and the summit venue. Young activists threw toilet paper rolls at the officers in anti-riot gear -- one day after demonstrators dumped manure outside Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's official residence in Rome. They also blocked traffic on a road leading to the summit venue. Police said 24 people were taken into custody at police headquarters for questioning. European trade unions and the anti-globalization movement had called a joint demonstration Saturday demanding "another Europe". They want the EU to do more to address average citizens' concerns as the bloc expands to include 10 new mainly ex-communist countries in May 2004. The first protesters, most of them Italians, arrived on specially-booked trains in the morning and had an initial non-violent standoff with authorities guarding the seat of the Italian government, the Palazzo Chigi. Organizers said some 80,000 people had joined the protests. Up to 100,000 anti-globalization activists had been expected to try to march on the summit venue on the outskirts of Rome under the banner condemning a "Liberal Europe too concerned about businessmen". Italian and European trade unions made the Piazza della Repubblica near Rome's main Termini train station their rallying point, bringing banners and setting up information stands. "We will never build a stronger Europe on a weaker social pillar. It must attract popular enthusiasm and be firmly rooted in popular politics," the secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation, John Monks said. "We want to send a message to Europe's political leaders that they will weaken the social dimension of Europe at their and Europe's peril," he added. Labor leaders are concerned that components of the draft constitution protecting social welfare rights will fall through the cracks when the final version is passed. Authorities were bracing for the type of violent demonstrations that rocked a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in July 2000 in the northern Italian city of Genoa in which one young protester was shot to death by police. The clashes and vandalism came two days after a letter bomb ripped through the Italian labor ministry in central Rome. The explosive caused no injuries but rattled nerves on the eve of a meeting of EU defense ministers and the ensuing summit. No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, but Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu accused far-left militants from the Red Brigades group of being behind it. Two labour ministry officials, Massimo D'Antona and Marco Biagi, were gunned down in 1999 and 2002 by the Red Brigades.
Text and Picture Copyright © 2003 AFP. All other copyright ©
2003 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. |
| Teargas fired as EU summit protests turn violent
04 October 2003 Italian riot police fired tear gas and wielded batons Saturday to break up a protest by anti-globalization demonstrators outside a summit in Rome where European leaders were mulling a new EU constitution. As helicopters buzzed overhead, hundreds of officers fought a running battle with protesters along a broad avenue within 300 metres (yards) of the summit venue on the outskirts of Rome, an AFP correspondent on the scene said. At least one person was injured and 24 arrested as demonstrators smashed shop windows, even before the main rally began outside the high-security venue in Rome's fascist-era EUR district Organizers claimed over 300,000 demonstrators participated in two separate rallies, including 250,000 in Rome and at least 70,000 near the summit venue, but police said the Rome march only attracted 15,000 people. As darkness approached some protesters, wearing hoods and masks and armed with sticks, forced a line of police to crouch under a hail of stones and missiles. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Some 10,000 riot-ready police officers were on the streets of Rome enforcing a no-go zone around the venue. Fighter jets roared overhead, accompanied by AWACS surveillance aircraft and helicopters. European trade unions, using slogans including "Liberal Europe too concerned about businessmen," and the anti-globalization movement had called a joint demonstration demanding "another Europe". They want the EU to do more to address average citizens' concerns as the 15-member bloc expands to include 10 new mainly ex-communist countries in May "We will never build a stronger Europe on a weaker social pillar. It must attract popular enthusiasm and be firmly rooted in popular politics," the secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation, John Monks said. "We want to send a message to Europe's political leaders that they will weaken the social dimension of Europe at their and Europe's peril," he added. At one point group of about 50 anti-globalization protesters attacked the offices of a temporary work agency before being chased away by police, and an ambulance was seen moving in to take away an injured demonstrator. In one clash with police three demonstrators were injured. A group of hooded demonstrators also attacked a bank near the summit conference centre, damaging the building's reinforced glass windows. Protesters, most of them Italians, arrived on specially-booked trains in the morning and had an initial non-violent standoff with authorities guarding the seat of the Italian government, the Palazzo Chigi. Authorities were bracing for the type of violent demonstrations that rocked a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in July 2001 in the northern Italian city of Genoa in which one young protester was shot to death by police. The clashes and vandalism came two days after a letter bomb ripped through the Italian labor ministry in central Rome. The explosive caused no injuries but rattled nerves on the eve of a meeting of EU defense ministers and the ensuing summit. No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, but Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu accused far-left militants from the Red Brigades group of being behind it. Two labour ministry officials, Massimo D'Antona and Marco Biagi, were gunned down in 1999 and 2002 by the Red Brigades.
Text and Picture Copyright © 2003 AFP. All other copyright ©
2003 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. |
| GROUP PLANS ANTI-GLOBALIZATION CONFERENCE
10-08-03 Students organize weekend workshops Brian Phillips News Editor The News Record A group of local activists faced a dilemma in organizing their upcoming conference: Where should the groceries be bought? "Does anyone have a Sam's Club card?" asked one group member. "No. Sam's is the beast of the beast. Wal-mart? No way," answered his comrade. The conference, occurring this weekend, isn't a stereotypical academic or business meeting. It's called Global, a collection of workshops about globalization and the effects of the global economy. The weekend begins Friday Oct. 10 with a benefit concert at Big Pappy's Pizza on McMillan Avenue. The primary room for the Saturday and Sunday workshops, which run all day, is 525 Old Chemistry. Organizers of the conference have arranged lecturers to explain what they see as the negative effects of globalization. "So many problems - war, poverty and others - are associated with globalization," said Ryan Donohue, a second-year political science student. Donohue and two friends, first-year international affairs and Arabic student Yasin Southall and non-student Mike Weigand, decided in July to host a conference. Since then, they've corresponded with people all over the Midwest and as far away as California who plan to come. Organizers are unsure how many people will attend, but expect anywhere from 50 to 300. In addition to out-of-towners, many Cincinnatians who are opposed to globalization are attending, according to Donohue. "There are a lot of groups of activists in Cincinnati. There's the International Socialist Organization, the UC Anti-War Committee, Food Not Bombs, the Students for Solidarity in El Salvador… We're bringing all those little groups together," said Donohue. Activists traveling to meet other factions is nothing new. The organizers of the conference have already journeyed to a variety of protests and conferences. "I've been to D.C., New York, Detroit, North Carolina and Berkeley," said Traven Le Botz, a sophomore at Walnut Hills High School. Le Botz met with Donohue, Southall, Weigand and other planners Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Big Pappy's Pizza to finalize details for the weekend. "We thought the conference was a good opportunity to teach people about the global economy and how it relates to the city," said Le Botz. Le Botz, who turned 16 on Monday, is the youngest of the Global organizers. Donohue estimates 80 percent of conference attendees will be college age. Anyone who wants to learn about globalization, however, is welcome to attend, according to organizers. "We want everyone to come. There's no snobbery for this," said Weigand. Similar to the broad swath of attendees expected to participate in the conference is the range of topics addressed in workshops. Workshop subjects include fair trade, the media, civil disobedience and the environmental effects of globalization. Educational films will also be shown nightly. While educating conference members, organizers hope to encourage communication between politically active individuals who share their beliefs. "We are going to build a stronger network of activists in Cincinnati, the Midwest and around the country," said Donohue. Although the Global organizers take their political issues seriously, they also plan to have fun. Fliers promise a party "like it's 1999" at the Friday night concert. Conference planners also attempt to inject humor into their meetings. When Southall announced all the workshop rooms have chalkboards, as opposed to dry erase displays, the group groaned. "That's a conspiracy right there," said Donohue. "The revolution will not be dry erase," said Weigand. There is no Web site or phone number for the conference, but more information can be obtained by e-mailing cincyglobal@yahoo.com. All content is © 1995-2002
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| Protests await Powell
USA will not confirm visit, but Greece indicates it’s Wednesday AP Posters featuring ‘murderer’ US Secretary of State Colin Powell adorn a central Athens wall yesterday. Left-wing and peace groups have called for demonstrations to mark Powell’s putative visit to Athens next week. Greece has said he will come on Wednesday, but Washington has yet to confirm this. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is due in Athens on Tuesday. Details about a likely visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell were still fuzzy yesterday, but vocal anti-American left-wing groups, apparently convinced that initial information placing Powell’s visit next Wednesday, October 22, is correct, have already called for a demonstration that afternoon. Both Foreign Minister George Papandreou and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher avoided confirming the date of Powell’s visit. The latter has refused to confirm the visit altogether. “I have repeatedly invited the US Secretary of State to visit our country. He wants to respond to the invitation. I think that, as long as his schedule allows him to, he will come. He has initially said ‘yes’,” Papandreou said yesterday. Powell apparently has expressed his willingness for a “working” — that is, unofficial — visit between trips to Singapore and Madrid next week. The visit will coincide with one by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who will arrive in Athens on Tuesday. NATO’s outgoing secretary-general, Lord Robertson, will also be in Athens next Wednesday and Thursday. The confusion over Powell’s visit apparently arose after a premature announcement on the part of the Greek government, something which the State Department did not wish to happen as it prefers, for procedural and security reasons, to announce the secretary’s travel schedule itself. Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis yesterday said that “we continue our preparations for Mr Powell’s visit” and estimated that it will take place next Wednesday. Government spokesman Christos Protopappas said that Powell will meet President Costis Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Papandreou. The simultaneous presence of Powell, Robertson and Gul has raised speculation about the content of the visits. Left Coalition Synaspismos leader Nikos Constantopoulos yesterday wrote Papandreou asking him to brief political party leaders and the Parliament about the content of the talks. “Recent statements (about Greek-Turkish relations) give the impression of contradictory policies within the government,” he said in his letter. The Stop the War Coalition, the Genoa 2001 anti-globalization group and unionists have called for a demonstration at Klafthmonos Square in central Athens at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. “I believe this visit is provocative... We are literally talking about a murderer whose hands are dripping with blood,” said Genoa 2001 spokesman Yiannis Sifakakis.
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| Violent protests erupting over biotechnology
posted by Nightwalker on Friday October 17 2003 PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer (10-15) 00:20 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A growing militant movement opposed to genetic engineering in agriculture and medicine is turning to violent and criminal sabotage -- from the bombing of a Bay Area biotech company to the destruction of genetically modified crops. As a result, targeted companies aren't just taking extra security precautions but also often altering business strategies. The violence, which the FBI says suddenly became more serious this year, stems in part from frustration that peaceful protests have failed to slow the pace of biotech's progress. "The companies say they care when they're faced with nonviolent protesters and then do nothing," said Danielle Matthews, a spokeswoman for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, an animal rights group that supports property destruction but not human injury. "Maybe the companies will start caring when they have to pay to replace a few windows." A range of militant environmental, economic and animal-rights activist groups have used the Internet to organize around biotechnology, first in Europe and now in the United States. Many fear the technology will forever harm nature while others object to how animals are treated in drug experiments. A 25-year-old Californian, Daniel Andreas San Diego, is wanted by the FBI in connection with some of the most recent attacks: the bombings in August of the biotech company Chiron Corp. of Emeryville and last month of a nearby cosmetics manufacturer. Aside from a few shattered windows, little damage was done to either company. The group that claimed responsibility for the blasts, the previously unheard of Revolutionary Cells, vowed more bombings were to come. Authorities consider the bombings to mark a new chapter in anti-biotech militance that has included the vandalism of a Chiron executive's car and the trashing of a biology lab at Louisiana State University last month. "We've seen a drastic escalation in the use of violent tactics in the past year," said Phil Celestini, head of the FBI's domestic terrorism unit in Washington. In France, an estimated half of the 100 plots of experimental biotech crops were destroyed this year, prompting some 1,500 scientists, including two Nobel laureates, to demand an end to the vandalism. Genetically modified crop experimentation in Britain is also in danger due to sabotage and political opposition. Almost since James Watson and Francis Crick discovered DNA 50 years ago, scientists have been exploring ways to manipulate and exploit those building blocks of life for everything from boosting crop yields to germ warfare. But questions didn't arise about biotechnology's safety and impact on nature until San Francisco area scientists Herb Boyer and Stanley Cohen succeeded 30 years ago in splicing genes from one species into another. Since then, opposition to biotechnology research, first in agriculture and later in medicine, has grown, especially in Europe. There is evidence that these "direct action" campaigns are having an effect on companies. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty has waged a four-year harassment campaign to shut down the Lawrenceville, N.J., laboratory of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that tests drugs and chemicals on animals for companies including biotech firms. The accounting firm Deloitte & Touche severed its ties with Huntingdon earlier this year because of harassment of its employees. Huntingdon itself moved its headquarters from the United Kingdom to Baltimore last year because of increasing violence against it. In Britain, Bayer CropSciences said it no longer will plant experimental plots of genetically engineered crops because the government has declined to keep the locations confidential. The unrest is also extending to the developing world, where biotech is heralded by proponents as a panacea for famine and pestilence but where anti-globalization activists fear corporate control of their livelihoods. Last month, police in Bangalore, India arrested 29 people on riot charges after protesters injured two workers and destroyed a greenhouse at a research facility belonging to Monsanto Co., which sells genetically modified seeds. That attack came a month after another mob in Bangalore attacked a warehouse once owned by Monsanto. Ranjana Smetacek of Monsanto Bombay's office said the violence in India is the result of a single group's campaign against multinationals. "I do not agree that protest against biotechnology is becoming violent in India," Smetacek said. "Most people who oppose biotechnology and Monsanto have expressed themselves in a peaceful way." Link: http://www.earthliberationfront.com
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| APEC Leaders Seek Restart of Trade Talks
Sunday October 19, 2003 6:16 AM By DIRK BEVERIDGE Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Linking the threat of terror to their economic futures, Pacific Rim leaders heeded U.S. warnings on Saturday and agreed to tough controls, but no ban, on portable missiles that can shoot down civilian aircraft. They also resolved better coordination on bioterrorism, called for the restart of collapsed talks toward a new global trade pact, and promised to block ``cross-border movement of equipment, funds and people involved in international terrorist activities.'' The officials from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members wrapped up two days of talks that laid out an agenda for next week's annual summit of world leaders. This year's forum is leaning heavily toward the fight against terrorism even though the group's stated goal is to boost trade and investment. They warned that prosperity is threatened by violent extremism as well as disease outbreaks like SARS. On another issue expected to come up at the summit, President Bush was to argue that Beijing is keeping its currency artificially low to boost exports, hurting American sales overseas. Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday defended his country's policy of keeping its currency low against the U.S. dollar. He told a gathering of international business executives that China's policy on the yuan ``serves Chinese economic performance and conforms to the requirements of economic development in the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world.'' Secretary of State Colin Powell said a meeting of world leaders on Monday will focus on security issues more than ever. ``Business leaders will invest where they believe not only their investment is safe, but their property and their employees are safe,'' he said. Senior U.S. officials said there was agreement Saturday on setting up a new $5.4 million effort to help build regional terrorism-fighting capacity. Two U.S. officials would work in Manila, Philippines, with the Asian Development Bank on funding technical assistance for airport and port security, the officials said on condition of anonymity. APEC's host, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said leaders are ``painfully aware that security and prosperity are inseparable'' - and have been made even more so by the SARS outbreak, which devastated the travel industry in the hardest-hit parts of Asia. However, Malaysia's Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz suggested APEC's agenda might ``be growing too wide'' for the group to be effective, the country's Bernama news agency reported. Security worries were more than theoretical, as officials flew to Bangkok amid news reports that several lightweight anti-aircraft missiles had been smuggled into Thailand. But Thai officials have clamped down with tight security, providing fighter jet escorts for leaders - including Bush, who arrived Saturday night after a hurried state visit to the Philippines. Immigration authorities also blacklisted hundreds of known anti-globalization activists and have warned local groups not to cause trouble, leaving little chance that protests which have marred other international trade conferences will erupt in Bangkok. The joint statement issued Saturday by the trade and foreign ministers agreed to strengthen controls on the ``production, stockpiles, transfer and brokering'' of the portable anti-aircraft weapons. In an address to the ministers, Powell said ``no threat is more serious to aviation'' as the handheld weapons, known as ManPADS, according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Soviet-style SA-7s are believed to be available on the international arms market and concerns about their use by terrorists have been on the rise. The ministers rejected calls for a total ban, apparently out of concern for their own arms industries, but welcomed the new restrictions. ``These are missiles that could be used at any airport in any country of the world to bring down a passenger liner and create literally hundreds of lives lost,'' said New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff. The forum also features collective concern about North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions. On Saturday, North Korea said it is not interested in talks on its nuclear weapons program unless the United States will discuss a nonaggression treaty. Bush, gathering with Asian leaders, said Sunday that the United States has no intention of invading North Korea, but he ruled out signing a non-aggression treaty. He said there might be other ways to convince North Korea that the United States would not attack. ``We think there's an opportunity to move the process forward and we're going to discuss it with our partners,'' Bush said. ``We will not have a treaty, if that's what you're asking. That's off the table.'' APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
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| China Stands Ground in Currency Dispute
Sunday October 19, 2003 By DIRK BEVERIDGE Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - China stood its ground Sunday in a currency dispute with America, brushing off U.S. criticism that it is unfairly keeping the value of its yuan pegged low against the U.S. dollar. Chinese President Hu Jintao said ``frictions'' are to be expected as his economy grows rapidly into a powerhouse. Beijing, he boasted, is promoting economic stability not only in Asia, but around the world. President Bush and Hu were meeting privately Sunday before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here. They are among 21 leaders gathered for the annual summit. Bush has pushed anti-terrorism efforts toward the top of the agenda, irritating some APEC members who want to stick to the forum's stated mission of improving economies. Among other things, they seek the establishment of a free trade and investment zone, by 2010 for developed members and by 2020 for developing members. The summit was held under unprecedented security that shut down much of the normally frenetic Thai capital. VIP planes arrived with fighter jet escorts at the airport guarded by armored cars. Motorcades zipped through unusually deserted streets, shadowed by low-flying helicopters. Authorities have taken tough action to prevent the kind of violent demonstrations that have marred other international trade conferences. About 22,000 police and troops have been deployed, and known anti-globalization and anti-Iraq war protesters were blacklisted from entering the country. The measures appeared to dampen protests here. Yet some 1,000 demonstrators rallied on a Bangkok university campus calling Bush ``the world's real terrorist'' as a small police contingent looked on. One man was arrested. Beijing's currency policy looms as the major economic issue for the forum. Worried about China's huge trade surplus with the United States, Bush wants China to let its yuan appreciate against the dollar. The issue could have re-election ramifications for Bush, who believes China's policy is hurting America's shrinking manufacturing base. But his criticism is unlikely to draw sympathy from other Pacific Rim leaders here. Finance ministers of the 21 APEC economies took China's side last month during a pre-summit meeting, suggesting in a statement that no country should dictate others' currency policies. ``There is no single exchange rate regime that suits all economies at all times,'' the ministers said. While Beijing has promised eventually to become more flexible after keeping the yuan fixed at about 8.28 to the U.S. dollar since 1994, it has made no commitments. On a stopover in Tokyo last week Bush also failed to convince Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to raise the value of the yen. The Americans have also been angered by Japan's repeated intervention in foreign exchange markets to keep down the value of its yen - a strategy that helps Japanese exporters and harms American companies. Washington has pushed the fight on terror into a more prominent place in the talks. When they meet Monday and Tuesday, APEC leaders will pledge to dismantle cross-border terror groups, according to a draft communique obtained by The Associated Press. APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
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| Miami Officials Change Proposed Ordinance To Limit Protests
Protesters May Carry Gas Masks, Baseball Bats POSTED: EDT October 20, 2003 MIAMI -- A proposed ordinance designed to limit violent protests at next month's Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting has been changed to let people carry gas masks, baseball bats, ball bearings and other items. The changes come despite intense lobbying by Miami Police Chief John Timoney, who had urged the strict rules which he said would protect police officers. The original version of the rule would have prevented demonstrators from using gas masks, bulletproof vests and items like sticks and poles, which have been seen at previous anti-globalization protests in Seattle and Cancun, Mexico. Civil rights groups had fought the original rules, but on Monday said the revised rules still restrict too much and likely will be challenged in court. The Miami City Commission was expected to vote on the amended ordinance Thursday. But the proposal still includes bans on lumber more than a quarter-inch thick, glass bottles and water guns. Those proposed bans rankled groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the up to 50,000 protesters estimated to attend the meetings Nov. 17-21. The new proposal still goes too far and will infringe on First Amendment rights, so city officials can expect a court challenge if it passes, said Randall Marshall, legal director of the ACLU of Florida. The amended ordinance removes language banning many "hard substances," including golf and rubber balls, marbles and batteries. Officials also proposed making the rule permanent, instead of having it expire days after the meeting ends. Trade ministers from 34 countries will attend the meeting to discuss creating a free-trade region covering the Western Hemisphere, except Cuba. City leaders have been lobbying for the headquarters of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas to be located in Miami. Copyright 2003 by NBC6.net The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
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| Bangkok Locked Down for APEC Summit
By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief October 20, 2003 Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - With Southeast Asia's emergence as a cradle of terrorism, the Thai government has taken extraordinary security measures to protect leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. About 22,000 police and troops have been deployed, to provide security against terrorism threats as well as to discourage anti-globalization or other mass protests targeting the U.S. or some of the other 20 countries taking part. One of the key concerns in recent months has been that terrorists armed with shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) may try to shoot down aircraft landing or taking off from Bangkok's international airport. In recent months, counter-terrorism researchers have labeled the airport as one of the most vulnerable in the region. Two weeks ago, deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh confirmed aspects of a media report, which said security agencies were hunting for half a dozen portable SAMs, smuggled into the country from Cambodia. Another worry, cited by Air Force chief Konsak Wantana, was that planes could be hijacked and flown into APEC leaders' aircraft in midair. Planes have been escorted by fighter jets, anti-aircraft missiles stationed around the airport, and other precautions taken. When President Bush arrived Saturday, his cavalcade was accompanied from the capital's military airport by a helicopter escort. Hotels where the U.S. and other APEC delegations are staying have been tightly secured. Police have closed off roads and advised Thai drivers to keep out of downtown Bangkok unless absolutely necessary. The government also declared that the summit period would be a public and school holiday, a move designed to reduce traffic on the usually congested streets in a city of 10 million. Although Thailand has not suffered a major terrorist attack yet, security experts worry that it may only be a matter of time. Southern Thai provinces are a pocket of Islam in a predominantly Buddhist nation, and there are fears that militants from Indonesia, Malaysia or the southern Philippines may be present there. Members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist group have been arrested in Thailand, including JI operations chief Hambali, an Indonesian believed to have masterminded last year's Bali bombing, which killed 202 people. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said at the time Hambali had been planning attacks to coincide with the APEC summit. The authorities also are guarding against less conventional attacks on the foreign dignitaries, who include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Thai media report that mobile food-testing units will ensure that all food and drink is tested before being served to VIPs. Some reports say that laboratory mice will be used as "testers." Protests focusing on political or economic issues are being discouraged. Known protest leaders are being barred from the country and Thaksin has warned local non-governmental organizations that they could be blacklisted or otherwise punished if they organize street protests. At least one demonstration has, nonetheless, taken place, with about 1,000 people moving from a university campus onto city streets, protesting against the U.S., the Iraq war, and trade-related issues. Thaksin is keen to showcase the country to the visiting leaders, and the preparations have also included a major clean up, with some of the steps taken described by critics as excessive. Streets have been cleared of beggars, prostitutes and stray dogs. Some opponents have raised concerns that Thaksin's determination to be seen as an important ally in the U.S.-led war on terror may result in a clampdown on civil liberties. The prime minister earlier this year announced his country's first anti-terror law, drawing anger from political opponents because he did so by executive decree rather than consult parliament. Bush at the weekend praised Thaksin for supporting the war on terror and named Thailand a "major non-NATO" ally, putting it into the same category as such countries as Japan, Australia, Israel and South Korea.
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| The
Empire Strikes Out
Today a globalized corporate empire is menacing the future of the entire biosphere. We all know that empires are castles made of sand that always crumble and fade away, but by the time this empire strikes out, the biological game could be all but over. Corporate globalization is killing off its host – and ours – mother Earth. IMF Confidential: The Secret Documents The Masters Of The Universe Would Rather You Not See This document, nominally produced by the World Bank, represents the interlocking directives of both the Bank and the IMF, as well as, indirectly, the wishes of both institutions' largest patron, the United States Treasury Department. Marked "Confidential" or "Official Use Only," these reports are seldom publicized to the citizenry bound up in their stipulations. And yet for the 100-plus that rely on IMF and World Bank loans-countries such as Argentina, Tanzania, Ecuador, Sierra Leone-such agreements serve as de facto legislation, meticulous in detail and ideological in thrust. Although couched as loan conditions or as helpful development advice, these reports more closely resemble the minutes of a financial coup d'etat.... The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a trade agreement currently under negotiation that would expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to include 31 additional nations in the Western Hemisphere. This massive expansion is currently being negotiated without meaningful public or Congressional input. The FTAA would not only extend the failed policies of the NAFTA which have eroded living standards, undermined workers rights, devastated family farms, and empowered corporations to challenge domestic public interest laws, but could also include new provisions to severely restrict the ability of federal, state, and local governments throughout the hemisphere to regulate both public and private services, or to provide essential public services. Cancun WTO flubs - Third World Countries Pull Out - they don't trust the EU or US |
| Selected by active meeting participants of San Francisco RTS, to protest
on June 18. Selected on the basis of having either their global headquarters
based in San Francisco, or on the basis of having the campaign against them
based in San Francisco.
This list was hard to boil down. We intend to make a flyer to distribute on J18, illustrating not only who these top ten are and what they do, but also what types of destructive actions they perpetrate -- with a general list of similar multinational multideath corporations, many of which have offices in San Francisco as well. PG&E Bechtel - THE FIRST COMPANY CONTACTED BY GWB AFTER THE IRAQ WAR: San Francisco-based Bechtel Group is one of the world's largest construction companies and first truly multinational corporations. Over the past century Bechtel has built 19,000 mega-projects in 140 countries for mining, oil, and nuclear industries, leaving behind a legacy of environmental desecration and human rights abuses. At the same time the privately-owned company has built a virtual empire for the Bechtel family, earning $11.3 billion of operating revenues in 1997 alone. Bechtel's Bay Area construction projects include the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, which produced an unparalleled 944 million pounds of toxic wastes in 1996, the Bay Bridge, and the BART light rail system. Bechtel has built the infrastructure for much of the global petroleum industry, constructing the trans-Arabian pipeline as well as pipelines in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, and Occidental Petroleum in Colombia. Two of Bechtel's most recent projects -- British Petroleum's pipelines in Algeria and Enron's natural gas power plant in India -- have faced stiff opposition from rural communities displaced by the projects. In February the government of Turkmenistan named Bechtel and General Electric to head an international consortium that will construct a $2 billion to $3 billion gas pipeline from Turkmenistan under the Caspian Sea. Bechtel's name also has become synonymous with the nuclear power industry. The San Francisco-based corporation manages the Nevada nuclear test site for the Dept. of Energy and has constructed most of the nuclear power plants in this country. Altogether, Bechtel has built 45 nuclear power plants in the U.S. and overseas, including the Tarapur nuclear power plant in India from which the Indian government acquired the nuclear material for its first nuclear bomb test last year. Chevron Well's Fargo The GAP Monsanto Bank of America Caltrans Hyundai Retail outlets using Prison Labor including Victoria's Secret, JC Penney, Nike, ... See below for more information about these criminal corporations. Types of destructive involvement: Overseas Sweatshops. Prison Labor. Deforestation. Nuclear involvement. Automobile dependence. Media monopoly. Genetic engineering. Weapons manufacturing. Financial fraud. Oil. Chemical addiction peddling (tobacco, alcohol, psychiatric drugs, etc.). and more.
FROM:
http://guest.xinet.com/rts/past_actions/j18/topten1999.html |
| How much did a worker making Nike shoes in China earn an hour in 1998?
US $0.16 This was the hourly wage of workers working 77-84 hours a week at the Wellco Factory, which manufactured shoes for Nike. Source: report by Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee. 2) What did the BBC find in a Cambodian factory making Gap clothes in 2000? Underage labour. The parents of one of the workers interviewed confirmed that she was only 14. 3) How much did McDonalds CEO Jack M Greenberg earn in 1999? $22,596,814. That was his total compensation for the year. Source: AFL-CIO 4) How much did Disney spend on advertising in 1997? $1.25 billion According to figures published in Advertising Age. Incidentally, it was slightly more than the GDP of Lesotho in 1999. $500 million . That's how much Nike spent in the same year. Source: Advertising Age 18 million Is how much Absolut Vodka spent in the same year. Source: Food & Beverage Marketing. .
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| What is Anarchism?
Anarchism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Anarchism is a generic name given to theories and movements which call for the abolition of government and other forms of authority - the simplest possible civics. In the view of anarchists, the complexity of civics is inversely related to its potential for fairness - thus simpler is better. Anarchists also argue that ethical relationships can be based only upon voluntary association. Issues involving whether or not violence is acceptable are controversial within the anarchist community Anarchism: the basics In contrast to common misconceptions, the anarchy sought by most anarchists is not chaos or anomie -- that is, anarchists do not desire an absence of order, rules, and organized structure. Anarchists oppose hierarchy, power and authority; which they argue to be immoral, oppressive, and detrimental to society. They philosophize on the distinction between order and hierarchy, rules and authority, organised structure and power. To what end is not apparent to many non-anarchists. Some critics of anarchism suggest that it is a rhetorical form, whereby individuals can cloak the pursuit of their own interests behind an interlocking web of abstract concepts. Freedom is speculated as unconstrained desire which Marx suggested was the material basis of the Anarchy of the market. Marxism in contrast uses the fluid manipulation of concepts through dialectical materialism, and hence marxists often dismiss anarchism as the politics of those who do not know what they want. This may explain the development of anarchism into identity politics, albeit with a dissident White identity. |
| What is Anti-Globalization?
Anti-globalization movement From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The anti-globalization movement is an effort to counter aspects of the current process of globalization (recent changes in the world economy involving an increase and intensification in the scale and density of global networks and circulations). Although adherents of the movement often work in concert, the movement itself is heterogeneous and includes diverse, sometimes opposing, understandings of this process, alternative visions, strategies and tactics. Thus, more nuanced terms include anti-capitalist/anti-corporate alternative globalization. Participants may use the positive terms global justice or fair trade movement; or Movement of Movements; or simply The Movement. Some factions of the movement reject globalization as such, but the overwhelming majority of its participants are aligned with movements of indigenous people, anarchism, green movements, and to a minor extent communism. Some activists in the movement have objected not to capitalism or international markets as such but rather to what they claim is the non-transparent and undemocratic mechanisms, and consequences, of globalization. They are especially opposed to neoliberalism, and international institutions that promote neoliberalism such as the:
World Bank (WB), Many in France, claiming that their position is not so much an opposition to mondialization than an opposition to the particular way it is taking place (neo-liberal etc..), prefer their movement to be called altermondialism. It is also worth noting that many nationalist, far-right movements, such as the French National Front are also against mondialization. They are still usually not considered part of the anti-globalization movement, which tends to adopt left-wing approaches. Ideology and causes within the movement There are many different causes championed by movement members, including:
labor rights, Many of the protesters are veterans of single-issue campaigns, including:
forest/anti-logging activism, Some protesters identify themselves as revolutionary anarchists, socialists, Gaians, or communists; others agree ideologically but don't immediately identify themselves as such and still others want to reform capitalism, e.g. democratic Greens, some pagans. Movement members see most or all of these goals as complementary to one another, together forming a comprehensive agenda touching on nearly all aspects of life. One common thread among the disparate causes is that the World Bank and IMF are seen as undermining local decision-making methods. Local or national sovereignty is seen as key to protecting cultures and ecologies. Governments and free trade institutions, on the other hand, are seen as acting solely for the good of trans-national (or multi-national) corporations (e.g. Microsoft, Monsanto, etc.). These corporations -- rhetorically likened to locusts or rapists -- are seen as having rights that human persons do not have -
to move freely across borders, Therefore, some of the movements' common goals are:
an end to corporate personhood As protest slogans summarize: "People and planet before profits", "The Earth is not for sale!", or "Teamsters and Turtles, Together At Last!" Some of the movement's agenda is shared by major pro-capitalist economic theorists who argue for much less centralized systems of money supply, debt control, and trade law. These include George Soros, Joseph E. Stiglitz (formerly of the World Bank), and David Korten. These three in particular have made strong arguments for drastically improving transparency, for debt relief, land reform, and restructuring corporate accountability systems. Organization Although over the past years more emphasis has been given to the construction of grassroots alternatives to (capitalist) globalization, the movement's largest and most visible mode of organizing remains mass decentralized campaigns of direct action and civil disobedience. These often coincide with meetings of organizations they object to. This mode of organizing, primarily under the banner of the Peoples' Global Action network, serves to tie the many disparate causes together into one global struggle. Exposure to the other causes helps create solidarity and slowly lays the groundwork for a consensus process and basis of unity for the movement itself, which may eventually include any, all, or none of the doctrines listed above. In the process, it also helps to focus global attention both on the institutions of global capitalism (whose policies most movement members feel people would object to if they knew about them) as well as bring attention to the movement itself. In many ways the process of organizing matters more than the avowed goals or achievements of any given action in the movement. As Ralph Nader has put it: "You may support some of the goals. You may even like some of the decisions. But you can't reasonably support the way these decisions are being made." The stated goal of most demonstrations is to shut down the summit it is protesting. Some demonstration slogans to this effect include:
"WEF? SHUT IT DOWN!", Although the demonstrations rarely succeed in more than delaying or inconveniencing the actual summits, this energizes the mobilizations and gives them a purpose. The movement's organizational model is notable - despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of formal coordinating bodies, the movement manages to successfully organise large protests on a global basis, using information technology to spread information and organise. Protesters organize themselves into "affinity groups," typically a non-hierarchical group of people who live close together and share a common goal or political message. Affinity groups will then send representatives to planning meetings. However, because these groups are easily and frequently penetrated by law enforcement intelligence, important plans of the protests are often not made until the last minute. One common tactic of the protests is to split up based on willingness to break the law. This is designed, with varying success, to protect the risk-averse from the physical and legal dangers posed by confrontations with law enforcement. For example, in Prague, the protest split into three distinct groups, approaching the conference center from three directions: one engaging in various forms of civil disobedience (the Yellow march), one (the Pink/Silver march) advancing through "tactical frivolity" (costume, dance, theatre, music, and artwork), and one (the Blue march) engaging in violent conflicts with the police, the police armed with water cannons and batons, the protesters with cobblestones lifted from the street [Guardian report]. These demonstrations come to resemble small societies in themselves. Many protesters take training in first aid and act as medics to other injured protesters. Some organizations like the National Lawyer's Guild and, to a lesser extent, the ACLU provide legal witnesses in case of law enforcement confrontation. Protesters often claim that major media outlets do not properly report on them; in response, some of them created the Independent Media Center, a collective of protesters reporting on the actions as they happen.
FROM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-globalization_movement |
| Best Antiglobalist Slogan
The New Federalist Lyndon, We Hardly Knew Ye. The best antiglobalist slogan we’ve seen recently wasn’t on a protester’s banner in Seattle or L.A., but was in fact a headline of The New Federalist, the Larouchite newspaper. The Larouchites, as Alan Cabal has pointed out, have been preaching antiglobalism since the WTO protesters were in diapers. The headline of the July 31 edition of the "National Newspaper of the American System" said: "Rich Nations to Poor: Let Them Eat Laptops!" Below that was a bizarre illustration of Alan Greenspan as Belshazzar, unable to read the writing on the wall.
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FINAL WARNING - A HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER
GLOBAL ACTION AGAINST CAPITALISM If you've been following the news about recent anti-capitalist protests, you probably have heard about the "anarchists." At the anti-World Bank/IMF protests last Spring--dubbed "A16" by the activists--thousands of anarchists joined other activists in protesting the World Bank and IMF. Anarchists have been involved in actions concerning the World Bank and IMF going back through the 1990s. While most activists seek to reform the World Bank and IMF, anarchists have the ultimate goal of dismantling these two institutions of global capitalism. Anarchists will work with other reformists because even the tiniest reforms will stop the suffering of millions around the planet. But anarchists believe that tinkering with these institutions in the short term is not enough. We seek the abolition of the World Bank and IMF and we're confident that all of us will succeed
AN ANARCHISTS GUIDE TO CRITICAL THINKING
WILL WE BE FREE OR CORPORATE SERFS
UTILITY MERGERS FOR BIGGER, BETTER MONOPOLIES
Enron's Rise and Fall Mirrors Collapse Of Middle West Utilities 70 Years Ago
U.K. THE STRUGGLE OF THE WORKING CLASS
Insurgent Desire - Hit Where It Hurts
The Japanese and Agriculture in California after WWII
Political Intrigue from Jeff Rense
How Rio Tinto Runs Australia for the Queen
Political Trials and Prisoners in the United States: A Case for Political Defense
Paul Dereinzo Articles on the NWO
Clinton and the Mena, Arkansas airport
The Next Train -Anarchists on the Move
NEW WORLD ORDER - THE BAD SIDE
NEW WORLD ORDER - THE GOOD SIDE
