File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2001/anarchy-list.0106, message 116


Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:50:46 -0400
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: AP's guide to corporate globalization opponents


Subject: AP's guide to corporate globalization opponents
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 02:43:13 -0400


June 10, 2001
New Look at Anti - Globalization
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:57 p.m. ET

The images seem to depict a ragtag bunch of rabble-rousers: Masked
protesters toss rocks and bottles through clouds of tear gas, smash
store fronts and wrestle with riot police. Globalization is their enemy.

But peel away the street images, and a more textured view emerges. The
protesters are largely peaceful, organized and -- beneath all the noise
-- confident they are changing the way the global economy is run.

Anti-globalizers range from Drop the Debt, a London-based group that
pushes rich nations to forgive Third World debt, to mainstream
environmentalists like the Sierra Club. Some sound extremist but aren't:
Attac, in Europe, favors a tax on speculative cross-border investments
to help fight poverty.

They vie for attention at summits of the World Trade Organization,
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, institutions they claim
widen the gap between rich and poor. Yet much of the coverage is grabbed
by fringe groups, threatening to blur a central theme: reining in global
corporations from exploiting workers, the poor and the environment.

The disparity of messages and methods will be on vivid display during
President Bush's visit to Europe, starting Tuesday. Demonstrations are
planned in Madrid, Spain, and expected to grow to 25,000 activists by
Thursday in Gothenburg, Sweden, ahead of a European Union summit.

Critics claim the message is muddled, a cacophony of angry voices.

``It's easy to know what they're against, but it's hard to know what
they stand for,'' says Caroline Anstey, spokeswoman for the
Washington-based World Bank, which lends money to poor nations for
development projects.

The groups disagree -- and try to distance themselves from less orderly
players.

``Of course we want the violence to stop,'' says Maude Barlow of the
Council on Canadians, which protested talks in Quebec City in April to
establish a trade zone stretching across the Western Hemisphere.

``We tell people, 'It may be only two dozen of you out of thousands, but
that is what is shown over and over on TV.'''

After all, they feel they have an urgent message: Globalization is
moving in a troubling direction. Huge corporations, driven by greed,
have gained tremendous control over our lives. They need to be held
accountable.

Activists view the IMF, WTO and World Bank as enforcing this system
through their loans and trade rules, and argue they need to be
dramatically reformed -- or abolished altogether.

Anger over this reached a boiling point in December 1999 in Seattle,
where protesters swarmed into the streets and shut down a key WTO
meeting. ``Black Bloc'' anarchists broke store windows and sprayed
graffiti on buildings, actions condemned by most other activists.

``We want to get rid of capitalism, and we're showing that,'' says Chuck
Munson, with Anti-Capitalists Convergence, a Washington-based anarchist
group that plans to protest IMF and World Bank meetings this fall.

But nonviolent methods are more common.

Members of Direct Action Network, a loose network of smaller groups
across North America, use chains to lock themselves to each other or
link arms to block access to meetings. Others roam the streets hoisting
15-foot puppets, like a WTO ``octopus'' with tentacles holding signs
that read ``deforestation'' or ``farmers' rights.''

The Ruckus Society of Oakland, Calif., runs camps to train young
protesters in body blockades and ``urban climbing'' -- scaling buildings
and bridges to hang banners or block ports.

More moderate is Attac, which pushes for a 0.05 percent tax on financial
speculation to slow the boom-and-bust monetary flows that can hurt small
economies and to raise $100 billion to redistribute to impoverished
nations. Attac members in Sweden were meeting daily with police in
Goteborg to try to keep Bush's visit peaceful.

Mainstream organizations often work behind the scenes, and claim the
biggest successes.

Through lobbying and petitions, Drop the Debt's predecessor, Jubilee
2000, secured a promise from major nations to cancel $100 billion in
debt to developing countries. So far, $40 billion has been forgiven, and
Drop the Debt is making sure the rest is delivered.

A top Sierra Club goal is to defeat legislation that would cede trade
authority to the White House, a move that could overrule existing
environmental laws. Congress has killed the bill twice.

Oxfam, an international relief and development group, and others
pressured pharmaceutical companies to cut AIDS drugs prices in Africa.

Then there are the think tanks, including the International Forum on
Globalization in San Francisco and Focus on the Global South in Bangkok,
Thailand, which provide economic research and the intellectual backbone
of the movement.

Despite differences, groups on both sides of the Atlantic are remarkably
coordinated -- almost entirely through the Internet. E-mail and Web
postings are vital to networking and sharing information. Most groups
operate on shoestrings, so can't ``summit-hop'' outside their region.

Skeptics say the movement will peter out, overwhelmed by the power of
global capitalism. ``It's like trying to stop a steamroller with a
pebble,'' says Peter Waddington, a professor at Britain's Reading
University who specializes in protest politics.

At the very least, activists have created public debate, and world
bodies are taking notice. The World Bank canceled its meeting later this
month in Barcelona, Spain, for fear of protests, and the WTO meets next
November in remote Qatar.

What is more important, they're talking about reform. The IMF, for one,
created an office last year to assess the impact of its loan programs on
local communities.

But whether change comes from within or from outside pressure depends on
who's talking.

``We have to make sure globalization works for the poor,'' says Anstey
of the World Bank, which meets regularly with the more mainstream
protest groups. ``Our intention is to have dialogue, but it's impossible
to do that with those who want to abolish you.'' ------- On the Web:
Ruckus Society: http://www.ruckus.org Attac: http://www.attac.org Focus
on the Global South: http://focusweb.org World Trade Organization:
http://www.wto.org World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org International
Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org

^------ EDITOR'S NOTE: AP correspondent Burt Herman in Berlin
contributed to this report.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
=====================================
June 10, 2001 Some Key Anti - Globalization Players A.P. INDEXES: TOP
STORIES | NEWS | SPORTS | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY | ENTERTAINMENT By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:58 p.m. ET

Some groups in anti-globalization movement: ------

DROP THE DEBT: Focuses on persuading rich nations to cancel Third World
debt. London-based successor to Jubilee 2000, which pressured Group of 8
nations to forgive $40 billion in loans; G-8 has pledged to cancel $60
billion more. ------

WOMBLES: White Overall Movement Building Liberation through Effective
Struggle. Anti-capitalist; members in white overalls and hoods block
streets and use fake money in stores to create scenes. British-based;
claims members throughout Europe. ------

DIRECT ACTION NETWORK: Loose network of groups across North America.
Members chain themselves to each other, link arms to form human walls,
perform street theater, hoist huge puppets to mock world trade bodies.
Major player in Seattle protests. Many members have anarchistic
leanings. ------

FOCUS ON THE GLOBAL SOUTH: Think tank based in Thailand provides
research on global issues, with emphasis on Asia and disparity of wealth
between industrial nations and developing world. ------

ATTAC: Association for Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of
Citizens. Paris-based group campaigns for 0.05 percent tax on
speculative investment to slow rush of money in and out of developing
economies and to raise billions for poor countries. Stresses
nonviolence. ------ GLOBAL TRADE WATCH: Ralph Nader group promotes
accountability in trade agreements and examines how globalization
affects jobs, health, environment, democracy.

------

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL: Dutch-based federation of
environmental groups in 68 countries. Lobbies International Monetary
Fund, World Bank and trade officials to pay more attention to local
needs and assess how their programs affect environment.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

   

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