Chuck Munson Co-editor, Alternative Press Review
Christine Peterson wrote:
>
> This is from Geov Parrish, of Seattle Weekly, Eat the STate, Nonviolent
> Action Community of Cascadia, War Resister's league etc.
> Gives a more pacifist viewpoint.
>
> >
> > Here is a pre-copy-edited version of the Seattle Weekly
> > "Impolitics" column for Dec. 9, 1999. This may be used as a
> > regular story rather than a column due to our section of WTO
> > post-mortems, and there was no column last week, also
> > because of special WTO coverage. If anyone is interested in
> > seeing WTO stories that I have written outside of the
> > Impolitics columns, contact me at
> > gparrish at seattleweekly.com.
> >
> > If you know of others who might be interested in receiving
> > these columns, pass it on!
> >
> > Peace, love, & sabotage,
> >
> > Geov Parrish
> >
> >
> >
> > Possible pull quote:
> >
> > The Eugene anarchists' actions were a calculated attack not
> > on the corporate state, but on the resistance to it.
> >
> > On "Violence" and "Anarchists"
> >
> > I know the folks who transformed a remarkable, peaceful show
> > of power against the WTO into a media-characterized "riot."
> > At least some of the vandals and looters who took advantage
> > of the cover of the most significant mass direct action in
> > Seattle history were from the group of Eugene anarchists I
> > went down and interviewed for the Weekly last summer. Their
> > spokesperson, anarchist author and theoretician John Zerzan,
> > and I have kept in touch since then. We published two of
> > their essays in our WTO issue, and we were to meet during
> > the WTO. We didn't. If we had, I would have spit in his
> > face. Consider this the written equivalent, and I hope he
> > reads it.
> >
> > There was an agreement in place between the loosely-knit
> > group of West Coast anarchists that organized for the WTO,
> > and the Direct Action Network, to respect the nonviolence
> > code downtown during the day of November 30. I don't
> > consider property destruction violent in and of itself--I
> > consider property violent, actually--but most of America
> > does, and the nonviolence code agreed to by participants in
> > the November 30 direct action reflected that. It was a
> > protest that, with exposure to the totalitarian nature of
> > the WTO and transnational corporate rule, a broad cross-
> > section of our society could support.
> >
> > Obviously, our Eugene friends intentionally disrespected
> > their agreement. That makes them liars, and it makes their
> > word for any future political alliance less than
> > meaningless. All sides calculated, correctly, that even the
> > breaking of a few windows would overpower months' worth of
> > organizing work and the concerted efforts of thousands of
> > people in the media, and public, eye.
> >
> > The anarchists' enemy here was not the state, nor corporate
> > America. Those windows cost a few bucks; the expenses will
> > be picked up by insurance companies. The real damage was
> > done to the integrity of an action that was successful
> > enough to shut down the most powerful organization on Earth.
> > That reality was lost in the overreaction to property
> > damage. However unfairly, and to whatever degree it exposes
> > an ugly truth--to most people, it doesn't--America cares
> > more about property than it does about democracy in action.
> > The Eugene anarchists' actions were a calculated attack not
> > on the corporate state, but on the resistance to it.
> >
> > For 25 years, I have considered myself an anarchist. I
> > believe in the power of self-government because it speaks to
> > the best in people, because it is the only practical path to
> > a non-exploitative world, and because mutual aid kicks ass.
> > The direct action that shut down the WTO was the genuine
> > anarchism in action last Tuesday. The glass-breaking and
> > graffiti was, however unwittingly, abetting the state.
> >
> > In the face of this attack, there were some heroes. One
> > story I heard was of Peace Action's Fred Miller, who, along
> > with his daughter, held up a banner to protect the windows
> > of NikeTown against the predations of the anarchists'
> > hammers. Fred wasn't protecting NikeTown--or more
> > accurately, their insurance company--he was protecting the
> > integrity of thousands of dissidents' hard work. Despite the
> > efforts of Fred, and the overwhelming majority of protesters
> > who deplored the vandalism, a few thugs carried the day.
> >
> > In the future, in our trainings and preparations for such
> > actions, we will unfortunately have to learn to do more of
> > that. We will have to learn to protect ourselves and our
> > actions from being hijacked by small gangs of cowards who
> > won't take risks, who can't organize their own revolution,
> > and so find themselves--much like the sectarian left they
> > despise--using other peoples' work for their purposes.
> >
> > It's bad enough having to confront the awesome power of the
> > police state. That was brought down in nearly full ugly
> > force for the rest of the week not because of the vandalism,
> > which largely hadn't happened when the first tear gas flew
> > at 6th and Union at 10:05 AM, but because thousands were
> > nonviolently effective. But the public approved of police
> > tactics--pepper-spraying people on the ground, shooting
> > fleeing protesters in the back with rubber bullets, and
> > denying constitutinal rights to freedoms of speech and
> > assembly--thanks to our "anarchist" enemies. That was the
> > true violence of the week, not the shattered glass.
> >
> > Let's be clear. These aren't anarchists, and they are
> > certainly not interested in building their movement. A true
> > anarchist--as with the Seattle General Strike of 1919--works
> > through mutual aid, not through taking their most likely
> > compatriots, some of whom also self-identify as anarchists,
> > and kicking them in the teeth. That's the state's job, and
> > the Eugene clique helped out admirably. A few minutes of
> > glass-breaking was far more effective than months of police
> > infiltration would have been. Sad, but true. Now, the
> > question: how do we deal with it in the future?
> >
> > Possibly the most significant mass action I'll ever see was
> > a lot less effective in its global message than it could
> > have been thanks to a few dozen people who hate global
> > capitalism. Well, here's a big news flash: a lot of us do.
> > But the revolution, the movement to reclaim our humanity
> > that for at least a day kept the leadership of the global
> > corporate state cowering in their hotel rooms, didn't and
> > doesn't need these vitality-sucking Oregon parasites. It's
> > not the property destruction we resent--it's the deliberate
> > sabotaging of our work. To John Zerzan, Brenton Gicker, and
> > all you other little punks in the Eugene clique, and their
> > cohorts, fuck you. Fuck everything you stand for. And stay
> > the fuck away from our revolution.