my report from DC

rc-am rcollins at netlink.com.au
Wed Apr 19 21:10:47 PDT 2000


David wrote:


> >Overall, my impression is that this movement is turning more
> >revolutionary, popular, and international, and less green-malthusian,
> >local-fetishistic, and reformist.

I get the impression that the nationalists in the AFL-CIO and the Buchananites had gone home and left the streets to DAN, RACB and, well, the cops -- which is why the message that came through, at least in this part of the world, was focussed on the most spectacular days after the Steelworkers' rally took place, and was uneqivocally internationalist.

Which is a great thing. But every moment is a crossroads, and aside from the statement from the RACB, none of the other sections have taken a position on this publicly -- other than those who've endorsed Buchanan such as Dolan that is.


> Hopefully it will put big labor in a
> crisis that culminates in the final purge of the evil spirit of Meanyism.
> Then all we have to do is bury the Dems and we're finally getting
> somewhere.

Heh. I hope there are sections of the AFL-CIO who are more concerned with organisational expansion than with the US Trade Deficit. (Are you serious, there is such a thing as 'Meanyism'? Am I missing something?)

Does anyone know offhand what the rate 0f AFL-CIO membership is and in what sectors?

Doug wrote:


> Yes, seems that way to me too, and it brings a tear to my eye. The
> green-malthsuian, local-fetishistic, and reformist folks in the
> International Forum on Globalization still run the teach-ins though.
> Kevin Danaher's list of the "leaders" of the movement basically
> sounded like a run-down of the IFG cast list.

There was also a 'Lobby Day', right? Does anyone know who went lobbying and what the line was?

I'm not tearing up just yet. The predilection for a mass arrest tactic by DAN, who require dollops of admiration, still leaves wide open the question of whether those sacrificing themselves are being represented in certain fora as the natural constituencies of the IFG, Buchanan, AFL-CIO, etc.

Also, does anyone have a sense of what effect the first lot of 600 or so arrests had on the rest of the actions? Were most/all of these people still in jail on subsequent days?

Angela _________



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list