On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Chuck0 wrote:
> ... Did anybody else notice Chomsky's silence after the Seattle
> protests? I don't know what he was up to, but I didn't see any
> articles from him in several months. I started visualizing him in his
> office, with his feet up on the desk, and broad smile on his face. He
> was probably thinking. "Ahhh, they finally get it." ******** I called Chomsky's office in the early summer of last year to try to get him to come and talk during the ministerial. I was told he was over in Europe working on [what are now] his two most recent books, as well as speaking in various venues. Other people I know called his office as well. I think that while he may have surmised that something was gonna go down out here, he, like many others, were happily [or angrily] surprised by the organizing efforts.
>>In December the following comment from Chomsky was posted in the Z
Magazine conferences:
"What happened in Seattle seems to me to be a testimonial to what can be
achieved by years of patient, dedicated efforts of education,
organization, and activism. There was a solid background that brought
people there. Contrary to press reports, most knew why they were there,
and had good reasons to be there. Naturally, ideologues prefer to see it
as irrational fear of the future, childish play, etc. It's far from that.
How important is it? That depends what is done to build on the base of
domestic and international solidarity that was exhibited at Seattle. Could
turn out to be extremely important."
--C. G. Estabrook
*********
Seattle was a near perfect ending of the century, a big burp of anger that had been building since "The Earth Summit" in Rio, and if we follow the Noamster, a great renewal of what will be a VERY intense and difficult struggle for one hell of a lot of issues that seem to strain our capacity to dance and think into some form[s] of coherence.
The feeling here in Seattle amongst activists is that the work will be much harder now that Capital has it's hair up. Let's not flinch; most of the people on those streets will still be alive in 2050-2060 and if we don't get our shit together [to be anthropomorphic for a moment] the planet will just get weirder in it's attempts to co-evolve with our behaviors.
Ian