posted on September 27, 2002 08:34:19 PM new
Twenty thousand protesters are expected in DC tomorrow to demonstrate against the World Bank, IMF and the war in Iraq.
"As the first day of protests in Washington D.C. winds down after mass arrests and corporate media misrepresentation, activists across the world are preparing to protest against war in Iraq on Saturday. The largest expected peace demonstration in decades will gather in London, while hundreds are expected to gather in St. Louis, and the quarantine of the World Bank and IMF begins in D.C."
The People's Strike
Exerpt...
In the city where George Bush rules from the lap of luxury...where over 12,000 people sleep on the streets just outside the White House doors while 29,000 units of housing remain abandoned yet are still private property...where 40% of children live in poverty while a dinner with the elite can cost over a thousand dollars a head...where immigrants have few rights and resources ... where the powerful launch wars, bombings and sanctions ...where more people per capita have HIV than any other US city... where the World Bank and IMF dictate policies to developing countries forcing millions to live and die in poverty…in the city where citizens do not have voting rights and live under taxation without representation…in the city hailed as the capital of the free world we call for a People's Strike to shut down this machine and take back our freedom on September 27, 2002!
In direct opposition to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and all they represent we will shut down Washington DC on the first day of their Fall Meetings. These institutions exemplify how global capitalism promotes poverty, racism, sexism, environmental destruction, and the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few. We are calling for creative, confrontational opposition to capitalism and the crippling effects it has here in DC and around the world. This time around we are not just shutting down the meetings but extending our protests to disrupt all of the institutions headquartered in DC that play a part in this system.
The US Treasury with the backing of the White House, Congress and other bodies of government are the primary decision-makers in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. In turn, the government is influenced by multinational corporations with powerful lobbies, many headquartered on K St in downtown DC. To exploited people around the world the capital of the US is a symbol of global domination, and all that is wrong in the world. Taking back this city for one day in a spirit of resistance, defiance and love will be an act of self-determination to bring hope to ourselves and express solidarity to those struggling for freedom across the world - from Afghanistan to Argentina, South Africa to Iraq, Palestine to the Philippines.
We are calling for NON-COMPLIANCE with the system in the tradition of strikes -a stoppage of normal activity to protest objectionable conditions, a halting of our participation in the system. We are calling for RESISTANCE to force the system to shut down. Refuse to go to work or school on September 27, or stay on the job and give everything out for free, slow down production, stick a wrench in the gears! Be in the streets, reclaim public space, discuss your ideas! Businesses, governmental institutions, schools and streets, will be shut down, and in many senses reopened to new uses. Through these actions we will take back and express our freedom, creativity and autonomy! The ideas and possibilities are virtually endless if we refuse to live in fear. What does Shut Down mean to you? What will you take back?
We demand a change in the miserable conditions and exploitation enforced by these institutions and demand a world based on freedom and compassion. We demand.........
posted on September 27, 2002 09:14:11 PM new
All right, 'fess up Helen! Were you out there rioting today? You were conspicously absent from the RT this afternoon. Don't think we don't notice these things!
posted on September 27, 2002 09:39:07 PM new
Darn it, Katy, ya beat me in here! I was gonna ask if she was going tomorrow.
Tell me something as an aside, Helen, if you will: were you a marching protester in the 60's? Do the protesters you saw today scare you now that you're older and not one of them?
I wonder how many of the violent ones are really working for "Them". Remember Operation CHAOS?
The CIA had been illegally spying onAmerican citizens since 1959, but withOperation CHAOS, President Johnsondramatically boosted the effort. CIA agentswent undercover as student radicals tospy on and disrupt campus organizationsprotesting the Vietnam War. They werelooking for Russian instigators,which they never found. CHAOS eventuallyspied on 7,000 individuals and 1,000organizations.
posted on September 27, 2002 10:58:27 PM new
Pat, I don't know about anyone else, but I protested then, and I am now! Just won't be able to travel as far this time around.
Yesterday, the protest in San Mateo at the local office of U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo CA was small (around 100 people). But, people driving by honked their horns, waved, and yelled support. This protest was organized by Peace Action.
On Oct. 6 protests will be held around the nation by the Not In Our Name coalition. On Oct. 26 International A.N.S.W.E.R will hold mass protests in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and around the world.
Tomorrow, Stop the War march, will be held in Central London. They are predicing 100,000 protesters.
If you intend on attending any protests be prepared to be arrested. Even at the small one in San Mateo 1/3 were arrested. So just be careful out there.
Edited to add: just found out only 10 were arrested the others kinda disappeared for a while and were "detained".
[ edited by chococake on Sep 27, 2002 11:21 PM ]
posted on September 28, 2002 01:05:34 AM new
Wow, good for you, Choco, I'm impressed!
Given that I live in a dreary east bay town (where people are more likely to protest the 2 a.m. closing time for bars than oppose a war) I'd have to BART it to the nearest march. I wonder if I could stand to get arrested? My last run-in with police was a frivolous act of civil disobedience in Berkeley when, on a hot day, I decided I ought to be able to run around topless just as the men were doing. hahaha, I made a cop chase me through the park -- tits and Frisbies flying -- before I put my blouse back on. He was a Berkeley cop, though, and probably enjoyed the chase. At any rate, he didn't arrest me.
Have you been arrested for your activities lately? I don't think I'd mind if I could avoid the billyclub-over-the-head part. Tell me more...
posted on September 28, 2002 08:33:10 AM new
[from a different prospective]
I've always found it interesting that protestors claim they want peace, [say] not war, but they get arrested for acting is a disorderly or violent manner. Violence doesn't seem to peaceful to me. Truly peaceful demonstrations are a whole other issue.
posted on September 28, 2002 08:50:54 AM new
Hi, Linda_K. You can't always rule out that some of the violent demonstrators are CIA or FBI plants there to discredit the more peaceful group.
posted on September 28, 2002 08:55:58 AM new
Morning saabsister - No, one can't. Doesn't seem to be much, these days, anyone can be really be sure of. But because you start throwing objects at the police, doesn't automatically mean that I have to react in the same manner. And if I truly believed in peace I wouldn't be following your lead.
posted on September 28, 2002 09:04:14 AM new
I think groups have a tendency to become swept up in the spirit of the event - whether rock throwing by protesters, rioting by soccer fans, bottle throwing at rock concerts, or feeling the spirit at revival meetings.
posted on September 28, 2002 09:46:50 AM new"I made a cop chase me through the park -- tits and Frisbies flying -- before I put my blouse back on. He was a Berkeley cop, though, and probably enjoyed the chase. At any rate, he didn't arrest me."
But Pat didn't surprise me! ...I just knew that she would be the type to usher in the "Gaptivist" movement. LOL! "We'd rather wear nothing than wear "Gap"! HaHaha!
posted on September 28, 2002 10:05:23 AM new
Looks to me like we need fewer revivals and more protesting here though.
Someone on NPR, and I think it was a commentator/reporter from overseas, said the other day "We are more afraid of what the U.S. will do, than what Iraq will do."
JMHO. I think it is time for “THE FLOCK” to start questioning the “SHEEP HERDERS” a little more, be it the church or state.
Did any one notice how the press follows any protestors around like vultures hoping for any stray violence to report? I am not sure
where I heard/saw it, but twice I heard talk of violence, and following that “Other protests were peaceful.” You didn’t hear any more about the “other” groups. Doesn’t make a good story to hear or see a lot about peaceful demonstrations.
posted on September 28, 2002 10:19:34 AM new
aposter, I agree with that!
As I mentioned in another thread, Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law school said , "The president is right about one thing, however. Today the world faces a single man armed with weapons of mass destruction, manifesting an aggressive, bullying attitude, who may well plunge the world into chaos and bloodshed if he miscalculates. This person, belligerent, arrogant and sure of himself, truly is the most dangerous person on Earth. The problem is that his name is George W. Bush, and he is our president."
So far, this protest has not been violent. The arrests were made because the protesters were blocking traffic. That's all. Even reporters and camera men were arrested, simply because they were members of the group in the street.
posted on September 28, 2002 10:27:43 AM new
Well, I have to get back to work. Remember guys! We can all participate - at many risk and experience levels!
posted on September 28, 2002 10:51:58 AM new
Just as long as it was nonviolent and they get arrested like everyone else for treaspassing. And, I won't take your bait to turn this into an abortion issue, thank you very much.
posted on September 28, 2002 11:14:10 AM new
I wasn't trying to bait you, chococake. Nor turn it into an abortion issue. Honestly. And, why would I do that when I'm pro-choice? [I do need to say though, that I think the system is being abused]
What I was trying to do was to show how when one looks 'at the other sides position' on different subjects things look different.
Abortion is an area of serious division so I used that in my example. The reason I did so was to me, it's the same way this protesting of the war is doing. Is it any more excusable to break a law when protesting the war than it is to do so when protesting abortion? To me it's not. It's the same.
Laws are there for a reason. To protect and promote peace.
If protestors didn't break any laws, then there would be no reason for the police to act.
posted on September 28, 2002 11:43:20 AM new
Alright, I accept that.
Yes, the law is the law. If Bush and gang go ahead with their plans they will be breaking international laws.
We're taking big risks with this administration in protesting. We know they have plants at demonstrations, we know they will use every means to make us look like the evil doers.
The sad fact is we are being pushed into this situation. Some of us knew when Bush was selected it would come to this. I said then, and times after that, that eventually our voices would be heard. So, now it has come! Not only our voices, but voices from all over the world.
posted on September 28, 2002 11:43:42 AM new
Way to go Choco! I haven't protested since Veitnam but I guess I'm going to have to get out my signs and beads and head out there. I'm proud of you!
Pat,tits flying ~ I would expect nothing less of you.
Linda, The difference between protesting a persons personal legal choice [that no one should even be aware of except them and their doctor] and protesting a war that involves all of us against our will or with it should be obvious.
Most arrests are made of people who are doing no more than walking or sitting quietly on the sidewalk. I've seen plenty of that here with the WTO protests. The rabble rousers do get arrested but so do the ones that are doing it the right way.
posted on September 28, 2002 11:58:04 AM new
Hi Bunz, you slipped in while I was posting.
You are absolutly right about the differences in the abortion and war demonstrations. I didn't want to get into it. Thanks!
I was able to go to that protest because it was close to home. I want to go to the big one's but I'm never sure about my health.
Helen is right, we can all take part in one way or another.
posted on September 28, 2002 12:07:06 PM new
chococake - Well...sometimes if I were a little clearer misunderstandings might not occur.
But on the international law...you're forgetting that any leader of any country either does have the right, or will take the right to defend against any foreign threat. There's a clause in there that say's that somewhere...I've read it.
Rawbunzel - Protesting of any kind is not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to breaking of any laws while doing so.
The 649 who were arrested in DC were not acting peacefully. They were disrupting the city and breaking the law.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey said 649 people were taken into custody, out of between 1,500 and 2,000 protesters who had advertised plans to shut down main roads and harass major companies in the downtown core.
posted on September 28, 2002 12:24:01 PM new
I wish all demonstrations could be peaceful. The organizers always stress non violence, and really do try to keep things under control. We agree it's not beneficial to protest against violence by using violence.
I gotta get things done around here. Why, the heck am I here? BBL
posted on September 28, 2002 01:04:33 PM newCHOCOCAKE
I for one appreciate your efforts in following through with your convictions to draw attention to how this administration is attempting to misuse the evil of terrorism to subvert the nation into a tool in pursuing its unprecedented quest for personal power and wealth. Of course you won't be paid as were the protesters that elements within the Republican party sent to Florida in its sham protests aimed at circumventing an honest election. But there are still millions of us who believe in free speech and preserving the democratic traditions that are currently being challenged and we know who the true patriots are.
APOSTER
The corporate-owned media is salivating at the prospects of war. Big bucks. They have to maintain, barely, a pretense of interest in objectivity, especially the print media. And they have to play the information cards carefully to avoid alienating their sources or powerful interest groups (unless their orientation is to serve a group) and to present two or more viewpoints to the extent that conflict and suspense compel their audience's comsumption as long as possible.
Milking events for their entertainment value was perfected during the Simpson trial. Twice during the trail I was limited in mobility from injuries and surgeries and got hooked into watching the proceedings themselves, then watching and reading the daily mainstream coverage and then following through with the evening talk shows. The selection and presentation of information for maximum entertainment value was masterful. Incidentally, one could learn a good deal about the criminal justice system and trial by jury, but the chief focus was upon raw emotion and entertainment value. The consumption of media.
So while I believe that corporate-owned media places entertainment, which sells well, above the duller, more factual and objective coverage of news, the necessity for conflict and suspense in maximizing profitability requires the inclusion of enough information about other sides to issues that the minority who wish to go beyond the sensational or examine issues in more complexity than the government or special interests would like, have a basis from which to do so. How much longer that possibility will exist or enough people will have the time and inclination to make the effort I don't know. What happens during the next few years will give us the answer.
"Nice little wars against rogues bring us together (around our TV sets, as in watching the Super Bowl), demonstrate our high moral virtue in willingness to prevent “ethnic cleansing” with “humanitarian bombing,” and demonstrate to the rest of the world that we are the fit policepeople of the globalization process from which almost everybody benefits. Of course, when it gets to the condition of the Kurds in Turkey and the East Timorese under Indonesian assault, we must recognize that we “can’t do everything,” and that there are cases where “constructive engagement” is more helpful than threats and the use of force.
But otherwise, this is clearly the best of all possible worlds"
