according to one of the reports on the french N30 actions, "the Mouvement des Citoyens (MDC) militants were kicked out of the demonstration by the french antifascist action (SCALP). Chevènement, nationalist MDC's leader and present french home secretary, lead the most repressive politics on illegal immigrants since two years. The same thing happened in Bordeaux." it seems that elsewhere it isn't the presence of anarchists that is causing as much consternation as it is in the US.
from this distance, it seems to me that much of the problem with how a coalition is being envisaged, imposed and played out in the US is tied much more to domestic electoral aspirations. moreover, many of the problems that are arising with respect to the anti-china sentiment are also a function of this sense of the (emergent or imagined) coalition/constituency stopping at the US border.
apologies for the xposting of a lengthy, but some reports from elsewhere below to suggest that there is a broader framework.
--- From: jeff <jeff at tao.ca>
UK:
LONDON WAKES UP TO GLOBAL ACTION
In an action designed to raise awareness of capitalism and the WTO, around fifty people gathered in and around Euston station at 9:30am to begin distributing leaflets and stickers to passers-by. Previous to their arrival the concorse had already been staked out by dozens of police teams and even more media. The assembled crowd was later joined by small autonomous groups from other areas of London, and continued to hand out large amounts of information.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS SAY NO2WTO
At 12pm the Construction Safety Campaign held a demonstration outside the Canadian Embassy (Canada House) on Trafalgar Square. The construction workers and their supporters were protesting at Canada's attmpt to use the WTO to reverse the decision by several EU countries to ban asbestos use. [...]
STUDENTS TARGET CITYBANK
The Lewisham branch of Citybank was picketed throughout the afternoon by a small group of students. The bank is one of the major holders of students loan debt. [..]
NIGERIANS PUT THEIR PRESIDENT AND SHELL ON TRIAL
President Obasanjo of Nigeria and Mark Moody-Stuart, of Royal-Dutch/Shell faced a people's court in London to answer a number of charges relating to human rights abuses and environmental devastation in the Niger Delta. [...]
RALLY AT EUSTON STATION
Nearly two thousand people gathered at Euston station at 5pm for a rally jointly organised by Reclaim the Streets and the London Strike Support Group designed to highlight the links between the free trade agenda of the WTO and the privatisation of public transport in UK. [...] ---- ITALY:
PADUA
A peaceful demo in front of the GMO Exhibition "Bionova" -- attended by the top managers of GMO companies -- was wildly attacked by the police, twice.
MILAN
A large number of people from the anarchist/ Social Centers area joins a grassroot trade union demonstration (not about n30) and gives it a strong anti-globalization character, sensibilizing the workers at the demo about the dangers of speculative "free" trade and about the "Valzer round" in Seattle. The idea is quite successful, and workers and squatters are -- for once -- again united against WTO.
Meanwhile, a group of "White Coveralls" (direct action group from the zapatist/ social centers area) occupied the first and foremost McDonald's in Milan [...] After that, the White Coveralls showed up in the city-wide meeting for the closure of the prison camps for migrants [...]
Students of the new University "La Bicocca" occupy the faculty of "Biological Sciences" to protest against WTO and biotech food.
Permanent info tend in Largo Cairoli, a very central square, to inform the citizens about WTO and the reasons of our protests against it -- but also about the Narmada and Iloitz dams, the prison camps for migrants, etc.
The day ended up with a debate at the Social Center Leoncavallo with the partecipation of Andres Barreda Marin, professor at the UNAM University in Mexico City, which spoke about the influences of USA economy on globalization and on the situation in Chiapas. The debate was attended by about 150 peoples.
ROME
A group of White Coveralls occupied the HQ of the "National Committee for Biosafety", hanging banners against GMOs and WTO. The action was promoted by Social Centers and grassroot unions. ----
GERMANY:
Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, 11/30/1999 -- The Parade only finished at 11.15 p.m.! The participants had a lot of fun, despite the cold weather. The Parade pointed out the consequences of neoliberal politics and globalisation at local level with mock slogans and fake banners crying for more order, more security, more police and demanding dry fruit ("Trockenobst"), "Wohlstand fuer Aale" (wealth for eels, a pun on wealth for all). The police were very confused, protecting luxurious restaurants and expensive shops, wondering why these weren't being attacked. Obviously they had not read the call to the demonstration carefully (see http://www.freespeech.org/inter/spack.htm in German) which focussed on the logic of this restructuring process. Slide shows projected on building walls ("Jam the WTO") and a show on Dr. Spack (Deep Space Nine) provided extra entertainment as well as the unusual music ("Schlager").
--- Turkey:
from The Working Group of Turkey Against the MAI and Globalization:
MAY OUR RESISTANCE BE AS TRANSNATIONAL AS CAPITAL!
Friends,
The Working Group of Turkey Against the MAI and Globalization held a nine days march from November 22nd to November 30th against the WTO and GLOBAL CAPITALISM.
Starting from the city of Corlu in Northwest Turkey, we traveled to our capital Ankara for about 3500 kilometers and visited 18 localities. We made press declarations and held meetings to explain the attack on humanity and our planet by the GLOBAL CAPITALISM, and together with the local participants, protested the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Seattle. [...]
In our march, we were accompanied by representatives from the Party of Labor, the Union of the Chambers of Engineering and Architecture of Turkey, Socialist Workers Party and several friends from the progressive press. We received support from many trade unions such as Energy and Construction Workers Union, Miners Union, Municipality Workers Union to name a few, from the members of the Freedom and Solidarity Party, and several NGOs such as Canakkale Environmentalist Volunteers Organization, Bergama Environmental Management Organization and the like.
We joined forces with peasants who supported us with a convoy on the Canakkale-Izmir Highway before we arrived in Bergama. In Bergama, we protested Eurogold Corporation, which plans to operate a gold mine there deploying cyanide-based extraction methods despite the resistance of the local people, and several thermal and nuclear power plants that are being planned, as well as the WTO and other exploitative institutions of the GLOBAL CAPITALISM, including the IMF.
On November 30th, we arrived in Ankara to show our solidarity with the protesters in Seattle and the rest of the world against the WTO and GLOBAL CAPITALISM. [...] -----
Amsterdam:
From: "infocentrum wageningen" [an occupation of the airport]
N30 Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport: Let's Fly at the WTO!
Every one has the right to protest where she or he wants. And because 3 Airlinecompanies, which are present on Schiphol, are sponsoring the WTO-summit, we asked them to provide us a charter to Seatlle to protest against the Milleniumround.
>From a letter, send on forehand to Lufthansa, Northwest Airways and United
Airlines (translation from dutch): "The decisions made in Seatlle are of
influence on our lifes and even partly of direct influence. We would like
to use the opportunity you give us by sponsoring the summit. Give us the
democratic right to express our opinion about the policies of the WTO. At
an estimate 300 persons will go with the free charter to Seattle. We will
be on as a group on the 30th of november at 12.30 at your incheckcounters
to collect our tickets and which way everything will be without hinderance
for other passagers." [...]
---
Angela _________