The disruption of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Seattle for three days last November by thousands of people, and the follow-up protest actions in Washington in mid-April showed the increasing anger about the blatant inequality and corporate influence enforced by institutions such as the WTO, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
Large Western corporations move into the Third World to take advantage of cheap labour and fewer environmental controls, and the governments of the advanced capitalist countries use international bodies to get their way (see the article on page 2).
People inspired by the events in Seattle and Washington are planning further actions.
Seattle
The Seattle demonstrations were titled "Festival of Resistance: Carnival Against Capital" and were initiated by the Direct Action Network (DAN) via the internet. More than 50,000 people attended. Two marches converged on the WTO meeting and prevented it from meeting on November 30.
Around 60 groups helped organise the event, including political and church organisations, student groups and unions. DAN rented a warehouse as an activist base and formed an independent media centre which operated 24 hours per day. A "spokescouncil" coordinating meeting was held daily, which involved hundreds of representatives from different organisations.
DAN members took a pledge of non-violence and non-property destruction. Workshops were held to prepare activists for what to do in the case of arrest. When arrests took place, 24-hour vigils were held outside the jail until everyone was released.
The most media coverage was given to clashes between protesters and police. The police's use of batons, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and rubber bullets against unarmed people was generally reported as "justifiable" force. When protecting the IMF and World Bank it seems that anything goes.
April 16
Activists organising the Mobilization for Global Justice outside meetings of the IMF on April 16 and the World Bank on April 17 in Washington were harassed by police even before the protest began. Email was monitored and activists were told that they would be arrested if found putting up posters.
More than 450 organisations worldwide supported the mobilisations. On April 15, 1000 people marched to the White House. A massive police presence resulted in more than 600 arrests. While the IMF and World Bank meetings went ahead, the march of 10,000 people on April 16 was given worldwide publicity.
Other events in the days surrounding the meetings included a protest as part of the Jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel Third World debt, a teach-in organised by Campaign for Labor Rights and co-sponsored by United Students Against Sweatshops and Global Exchange, an international forum on globalisation and a Latin America solidarity conference. (For more information visit Protests are now being planned to coincide with the 55th annual summit of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Prague in September. The Initiative Against Economic Globalization has planned 10 days of activities, including non-violent demonstrations, information campaigns, and the Festival of Art and Resistance which includes a counter-summit. (For more information visit Organising is picking up pace in Australia too.
The newly formed Campaign Against Corporate Tyranny in Unity and Solidarity organised a Carnival of Protest outside the Australian Stock Exchange in Sydney on May Day (May 1). CACTUS brings together environmental groups, political organisations, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the National Union of Students. (CACTUS meets every Thursday, 6.30pm, University of Technology, Sydney, Level 2. Email A big focus for protest will be the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Melbourne on September 11-13. The conference is sponsored by the Business Council of Australia and the Australia Davos Connection (the Australian arm of the WEF).
Trade unionists, environmentalists, student groups, socialists, human rights activists and community campaigners have initiated the S11 Alliance to organise a protest with the slogan, "Stand up for global justice! Stop corporate greed!". There will also be a counter-conference and large music events. (Email The Seattle and Washington protests helped bring the issues of poverty and corporate power into the spotlight. Struggles against ravenous multinational companies and the policies of the IMF and World Bank continue in the Third World, and awareness and activity is growing in the First World.
Resistance seeks to involve the many young people concerned about these issues in political campaigning, and to work with the broadest range of other groups.
We will organise people from other cities to protest in Melbourne in September. We will be involved in protests during the Olympic Games in Sydney, raising the fact that the organising of the Olympics has put corporate profits before public housing, health-care and civil liberties for the majority of people (see article on page 3). And we are working with Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor to build solidarity with anti-IMF campaigns in Indonesia (see page 3).
We support Green Left Weekly, the best progressive newspaper in Australia, as a means of getting out a left-wing perspective on issues and events. Anti-corporate struggles will be a major theme at the Resistance national conference in Melbourne, June 29 to July 2. Resistance is also planning a national forum series in May titled "World Bank, IMF, multinationals: fighting corporate eco-terrorism".
[For more information, see page 4 for Resistance's contact details.]Resistance