-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Ferguson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 50 Years National List Serv <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 4:15 PM Subject: (50 Years) The New Unrest > The New Unrest > Radicals are finally finding their voices again > > For the longest time, being on the left has meant being marginal, > powerless and embattled. Since at least the Reagan years, we've been > history's losers, the dorks and freaks of the political realm. Often, we > adapted poorly to our general irrelevance, turning inward to fight over > inanities or purveying stale messages- "Bad slogans repeated, ensure > we'll be defeated"-at predictable demonstrations. > > There were issue-oriented movements that bucked this trend-big, important > causes that won sizable victories, such as the anti-apartheid movement > and the AIDS direct-action group ACT UP. But viable on-the-ground > activism with a sweeping economic and political agenda? That kind of > radicalism was almost nowhere to be found. > > History has turned a corner. Suddenly, as this new century begins, a new > radicalism has emerged: broad, confident and compelling. The World Trade > Organization protests in Seattle marked this movement's first major > victory and mass media debut, but the new unrest is not limited to the > loud and varied activism around issues of corporate globalization. > > Everywhere, dissent is growing more vocal and spirited. Groups that once > worked at arm's length from one another are newly discovering common > ground-from the increasingly multi-generational and multi-ethnic > campaigns against police brutality and the "prison-industrial complex" to > the new collaborations between organized labor and immigrant rights > groups. > > Han Shan, program director for the Ruckus Society, a five-year-old > organization that trains activists the techniques and strategies of > direct action, echoes the analysis other young radicals profess: "I think > that people have finally begun to dig deeper and understand that there > are vast economic paradigms that underlie a lot of the environmental > problems that we have, a lot of the human rights issues that they face." > > With this new sense of momentum and common ground, level-headed > organizers are beginning to talk in terms that would have seemed > delusional just a short time ago. > > "This is the biggest opening for building a mass movement in my > lifetime," says David Solnit, a veteran of 1980s and 1990s activism and > one of the key organizers of the Seattle WTO blockade. "Most of the past > mass movements in this country have been around single issues like > disarmament or Central America or forests. This is bringing people > together from all the different fights." > > Personally, I'm dubious about anything being actually overthrown-the > snarky cynicism of the 1990s is beginning to seem dated, but healthy > skepticism never goes out of style. > > That said, a whiff of insurrection is unquestionably in the air. > Everywhere you turn, it seems, people are vowing to shut down one or > another elite institution. > > The biggest such event in the near-term future is a major protest in > Washington, D.C., on April 16, designed to disrupt an annual meeting of > the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Radical activists > around the world have declared May 1, 2000 to be a "Global Day of Action, > Resistance, and Carnival Against Capitalism," with talk of blockading > stock exchanges and other institutions of the global economy. > > And plans are afoot in Los Angeles and Philadelphia to mess with this > summer's Democratic and Republican Party conventions, on the reasoned > grounds that both parties have become nothing more than shills for > moneyed interests. > > Meanwhile, local fights are escalating. In New York City, for example, > there has been a long-standing battle against private luxury development > on publicly owned community gardens. The other night, several hundred > people calling themselves the Subway Liberation Front staged a raucous > outlaw party, taking over first an L and then an A train. A large part of > the crowd, juiced by its own defiance, proceeded to the recently > bulldozed Esperanza Garden on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where they > tore down the developer's fence and began replanting the land. This > impromptu action came at a high price: With no news cameras or legal > observers to provide cover for the radical gardeners, the NYPD swooped > in, badly beating a number of the participants. > > In Milwaukee, opponents of a Jewel-Osco in the Riverwest area continue to > protest its presence after the store was built with some political > sleight-of-hand on what protesters viewed as future green space. > > There is much about the new unrest that bears closer examination. Will > gestures of revolt overwhelm strategic considerations, as they did that > night in Esperanza Garden? How deep are the new alliances, particularly > those that seek to bridge racial and class divides? What role does the > identity politics of recent decades play in activism today? How far in > the direction of direct action is organized labor willing to go? > > For the moment, anything seems possible. "People are very conscious of > the passing of time and the fact that history is being written," observes > Nadine Bloch, one of the organizers of the upcoming IMF/World Bank > protests, "and young people especially are jumping in and taking > responsibility for what their future will look like." > > For more information, here are some selected links. April 16 IMF/World > Bank protests: www.a16.org; news of radical activism: > www.infoshop.org/news.html; criminal justice activism: > www.schoolsnotjails.com; Ruckus Society: www.ruckus.org; and the > Esperanza Garden campaign: www.moregardens.org. > > Commentary - by L.A. Kauffman > > L.A. Kauffman is a longtime radical writer and activist whose work has > appeared in the Village Voice, The Nation, The Progressive, Mother Jones, > and numerous other publications. She is writing a history of American > radicalism from 1970. > > www.newcitynet.com > From Shepherd Express Metro, Milwaukee, March 23, 2000 > http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/21/13/columnists/commentary.html > > Bill Ferguson > www.a16.org > > "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for > what you don't want and get it." - Eugene Debs > > > =========================================================== > 50 Years Is Enough Network http://www.50years.org > To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > unsubscribe > in the body of the message. Questions? email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! 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