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Violence at the summit

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14:19 / 07.07.01

Many thanks

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:57 / 17.07.01

I take it everyone who took part in this thread, and particularly those who supported the police's actions, have read this first hand account of Gothenberg by a Barbelith poster?

Do people still feel the same way, or have your opinions changed?

Just interested...

[ 17-07-2001: Message edited by: The Flyboy ]

13:30 / 17.07.01

Has it changed my opinions? Um. Well, yes and no.
What BioDynamo says about Gothenberg reflects what I saw here in London - and that was through the mainstream media. Even just reading the Guardian site during the day you could see the police pushing things to boiling point - right from the minute they stopped and corralled the cyclists outside the station (Liverpool street? I can't remember)
Having said that, there were people here as well as there who wanted a fight - and earlier in this thread I was questioning whether that was a worthwhile way of protesting - and saying that there needed to be more focus for it to achieve anything. I still believe that. I never said that I'd supported the police actions, in either case, and I'm not getting back into that argument or some discussion over who's truly anti-global and who's 'reactionary', which is what the threat descended into before.
So yes, I recognised what BD was saying as being similar to what I saw here but I didn't suddenly slap my forehead and see the error of my opinions.

[ 17-07-2001: Message edited by: Ariadne ]

09:20 / 18.07.01

i strongly disagree that what so-called antiglobalisation protests need is 'focus'. what they have, and what they benefit so much from, is incredible diversity; and yes, that includes people who supposedly go there "just looking for a fight" (question that 'just', though - surely they could get 'just' a fight at the pub?). tactical diversity, baby. from the passive and focused to the raging disorganised. white overalls and trotskyites. it's all good. playing good protestor/bad protestor has always been the mass media game.

22:56 / 19.07.01

How do they benefit, other than an increase in size? It would seem that losing your signal amidst the noise of the violence is a hell of a price to pay.

How would you measure success from the protests? Non-goal-directed action is very zen and all, but doesn't seem to be producing noticeable, positive responses from the pro-world trade leadership. Mightn't there be a better form of political theatre than the one currently underway in Genoa?

23:36 / 19.07.01

Sure, there might be. But if we all sit around twiddling our thumbs until we figure out the exact perfect ideal sort of protest, we're never going to accomplish anything.

quote:It would seem that losing your signal amidst the noise of the violence is a hell of a price to pay.

That's the point; there is no single signal. Capital has a signal, a message, unity, direction; we've got diversity and the ability to attack from a bunch of different directions at once. That's our strength.

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