Via David McReynolds, the notorious basher of the Palestinian Resistance!... 'Ya Right! Michael Pugliese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry Siitonen is an old comrade of mine, left the SP some years ago for the Wobblies. Reliable. Finnish, and clearly is there on a visit. I had to cut sharply for AOL to transmit (there is a limit on length). I suspect Harry can send the original much longer post with many links, other reports. His note about the Finnish people being "resuited" in black is fascinating. If it is from Harry, I believe it.
Fraternally, David McReynolds
<< Subj: Fwd: GENOA G8: What happened? (fwd)
Date: 7/26/01 5:42:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: h_siitonen at yahoo.com (harry siitonen)
To: DavidMcR at aol.com, gerry at kantele.com, jfcantwell at earthlink.net, ai2398 at wayne.edu, lindakerth at aol.com
Hi All: Am writing from Tampere, Finland from where
I'm transmiiting attachemnt. Lot of stuff in Finn
media on this, most of it establishment biased. There
was a Finnish group of about 20 at genoa, some part of
the white coverall non-violent direct action group. On
way home they were arrested at Genoa rr stn by Italian
cops who made them put on black garb with black masks
to make them look like black block, their names taken
and photographed for cop purposes., They were then
released. In Helsinki there was a street demo aganinst
the Geboa repression overall, and a leftie newspaper
interviewed on of the activistts, Reko Ravela, a
Finnish Wobbly who is part of the Finnish IWW
counterpart group, Solidaarisuus. Reko is a friend of
mine. Soli, Harry. Note: forwarded message attached.
This is the best Summary of events in Genoa that I have seen so far. Use
it; repost it. Let the whole world know.
By the way, one comment I would like to make:
The mainstream press has been at best mildly insulting and ignorant about
the anti-globalization protests and at worst, they have been telling
bald-faced lies. We need to inundate the mainstream editorial pages with
as many letters to the editor as possible and make it clear to them that
they are wrong.
For example, the San Francisco Chronicle ra an incredibly inaccurate and
insulting editorial cartoon, penned by the usually progressive Tom Meyer
dismissing the anti-globalization protestors as uninformed kids who have
no idea of what they're protesting against and literally dismissing Carlos
Guiliani as a martyr for rebels withot a cause! This is complete
horseshit and Meyer and the Chronicle needs to know that.
On Sunday or Monday (I cannot quite remember which day), Carolyn Locheed
who publishes the "Washington Insider" column basically said the same
thing.
These pro-capitalist pundits need to know that:
(1) It was the Fascist Italian Cops who caused the violence and not the
protestors. The photos clearly show me that Carlos Guiliani was raising a
fire extinguisher in *response* to the cop pointing his gun at Guiliani.
(2) That the police later raided the IMC center in an effort to destroy
evidence of their wrong doing is absolutely indisputable and the evidence
and countless testimony from witnesses bear this out.
(3) The anti-globalization protesters know EXACTLY what they're fighting
against and that is control of the world's resources and information by a
powerful, unelected, brutal, authoritarian, rich few and this is an
absolutely anathema to freedom and democracy, despite what apologists for
free trade, including George W Bush, an unelected, unaccountable, brutal
and authoritarian elitist himself.
Not one day goes by without some armchair fascist writing in a letter
complaining about immigration, "racial quotas" (Affirmative action), or
dirty homless bums dirtying up the streets of San Francisco. Comrades,
Fellow Workers, Friends, we need to be more vgocal than these assholes.
There are more of us than there are of them. Sure, the Chronicle will
reject most of our letters, but if enough of us complain, they will sit up
and take notice. FIght back, before it is too late. The whole world is
watching.
--
In Solidarity,
-Steve Ongerth, IWW
Join the One Big Union! -- http://www.iww.org/
East Bay IWW -- http://bari.iww.org/eastbay/
ORGANIZE YOUR WORKPLACE:
http://bari.iww.org/homesites/organize.html
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:51:15 -0700
From: radtimes <resist at best.com>
Subject: GENOA G8: What happened?
IMC NEWS BLAST | Tuesday, July 24, 2001
GENOA G8: What happened?
A compilation of breaking stories, photos, video, and sound from the
Independent Media Center network, http://www.indymedia.org. (Links to
various sources of IMC coverage of Genoa G8 are at end of this blast.)
by Indymedia News Blast Team
CONTENTS
-----------------
A. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
B. ACCOUNTS AND REPORTS
C. BACKGROUND AND COMMENTARIES
D. PHOTOS AND VIDEO
E. AUDIO
F. PRINT
G. THE GENOA SOCIAL FORUM (GSF)
H. SELECTED ALTERNATIVE PRESS LINKS
I. CONTINUING IMC COVERAGE
A. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
Over 200,000 people converged on Genoa, Italy this past weekend to express
dissent against the closed meetings of the Group of 8 and the policies they
espouse and to discuss alternatives to the current undemocratic nature of
global social and economic planning. The 'G8' - leaders of the world's
most economically powerful countries - meet yearly to discuss general
international policy directions.
Solidarity demonstrations against the G8 summit and the police violence
that has characterized it, have been organized worldwide in Amsterdam,
Athens, Barcelona, Bologna, Boston, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Finland,
Greece, Helsinki, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Madison, WI, Manchester,
Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Montreal, Naperville, IL, New York, Oslo, Paris,
Peru, Philadelphia, Portland, Rome, Salzburg, São Paulo, San
Francisco/Berkeley, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Turkey, Urbana, IL,
Vancouver, Vienna, and Washington DC and in many other cities in Austria,
Canada, Germany, Italy, UK, USA, and elsewhere. A call for further
solidarity protests is here:
http://www.geocities.com/protest666/protest.htm and listing of some of the
protests here: http://www.geocities.com/protest666/planned_actions.htm
Please see IMC NEWS BLAST on Genoa from Saturday, July 21, for earlier,
additional coverage focusing on events from July 19 and 20, Thursday and
Friday last week: http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4526.
Another IMC NEWS BLAST will be prepared later this week to summarize news
on emerging stories, including details of the Sunday morning raid, jail
situation, and solidarity protests.
B. ACCOUNTS AND REPORTS
Violence against protesters in Genoa continued to escalate on Sunday, July
22. Numerous personal accounts of demonstrators being gassed, chased
through the streets and beaten by police, despite participating only in
non-violent marches, fill the newswires. Seemingly no one was immune;
reports came of beatings of women and men, young and old alike. An IMC
newswire story Monday noted that a confirmed 500 protesters remained missing.
Reports are coming in of very bad treatment of protesters in jails. Sunday,
in the early morning hours, police carried out a vicious raid against the
GSF offices (Genoa Social Forum, www.genoa-g8.org), the Italy IMC and the
protest legal offices, with extremely brutal actions directed at sleeping
protesters in the GSF. Reports have come in of over 70 injuries in this
assault alone and of as many as 26 of these people taken to the hospital
after being severely beaten. Amnesty International is investigating human
rights violations.
1. FROM JUNE IN GENOA (English)
by June Terpstra
Eyewitness accounts from Italian-American June C. Terpstra. This series of
stories from streets of Genoa are full of color, front line reporting,
critical insight, and revolutionary passion.
7/24: Visions of Liberation and Love: Real Revolutionaries:
http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3708
7/23: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3662
7/21: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3567
7/20, late: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3563
7/20: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3554
7/19: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3514
7/18: http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3500
2. REPORT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE JAILS AND POLICE STATIONS IN GENOVA
(English)
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=54924
by Pet Kuna 2:06am Tue Jul 24 '01
From article: "On Monday, July 23rd, a group of media activists were
allowed to visit some of the Imprisoned in the jails and prisons in Genova.
Report from the jail "Vercelli": The media activists could speak to three
women, five minutes each. The women declared that they all have been
beaten, when they were arrested and/or in jail/at the police station. The
wounds at their heads and in the faces emphasized the reports. The
situation of the men seems to be much more serious. The three women told
that they could hear the men being tortured and "punished" throughout the
whole night."
3. RESPONSE TO POLICE RAID ON GENOA SOCIAL FORUM AND IMC ITALIA OFFICES
(English)
by by IMC Ad Hoc Genoa Solidarity Committee
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=7092
This offers a summary of the brutal raid of GSF offices and the destruction
confiscation of property at the IMC press offices. Mission and nature of
IMC are discussed. History of state attempts to suppress IMC and some of
IMC successes are summarized.
4. GSF PRESS CONFERENCE, GSF, 22 JULY 2001 (English)
by IMC reporter 11:03pm Sun Jul 22 '01
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=6282
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=54549
Notes from press conference by the Genoa Social Forum, Sunday, July 22,
2001. The conference was broadcast live by RadioGap and simultaneously
translated by several people from Italian to English in an irc chat room.
5. HORRIFIC RAID ON GSF AND IMC GENOA: REPORT (English)
by IMC reporter on scene 6:29am Sun Jul 22 '01
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=5539
From this article about the GSF building raid, "Later after more arrests
in the street the police and fleet of ambulances departed, ... [we gained]
access to the building. Inside the sight was sickening. There was thick
dark blood all up the walls, over the floor and at the bottom of stairs. It
looked like several people had been beaten while on the ground from the
blood patters low down on the walls. The scene was horrible. Even the
ambulance staff were obviously shocked. ... The local media and other
reports have said police where there searching for weapons or drugs. No, it
is obvious why they were here. The testimonies of people in both buildings,
the blood on the street and inside the school and the number seriously
injured in this so called search tells the true story." (Followed by forty
comments after the article.)
Brian offers this report of raid on Monday:
http://italia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=6869
6. GENOA. MANY EYEWITNESS REPORTS FOR POLICE RAID OF IMC ITALIA GSF
by Independent Media SF. July 21 2001, Sat, 8:39pm
http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php?id=102064
This article offers list of eyewitness reports of July 22, 2001 police raid
(around midnight) on Italy Indymedia Center and also other Genoa Social
Forum buildings nearby and across the street in Genoa, Italy.
7. STARHAWK'S REPORTS (English)
by Starhawk
second report. http://vancouver.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2587
first report. http://vancouver.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2576
Starhawk is a noted author and organizer who was in IMC offices near the
time of the raid.
8. FATHER OF DEAD PROTESTER 'SORRY' FOR POLICEMAN (English)
by by Matthew Campbell and John Follain, London 1:40pm Sun Jul 22 '01
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=54540
This article shares the reaction of parent's of Carlo Giuliani to death of
their son, reactions of protesters, and summarizes some of events of Saturday.
9. REPORT FROM BLACK ACTION 7/20 (English)
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4636
by alien8 2:19pm Sat Jul 21 '01
During the past two days, the expression "Black Block" has been linked to
mindless destruction, splits in the movement, and even "agents
provocateurs". This is a report of a Black Block demo early on Friday, July
20th, which was part of the numerous attempts to breach the red zone.
(Followed by 29 comments after story.)
C. BACKGROUND AND COMMENTARIES
Some writers in the movement see Genoa as a crossroads for the alternative
globalization movement, facing fragmentation from internal differences or
increasing influence in challenging global forces of domination. Although
most reports from the corporate media focus on the violence, some have
begun to consider the movement's positions and question the legitimacy of
the extensive, repressive police build-ups in response to popular protest.
1. DON'T LET THEM REVERSE OUR MOMENTUM
Posted by Aggie, Written by Michael Albert
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=6967
"We must attract and sustain ever wider and more lasting support. Our
demonstrations must include so many people, with so many backgrounds, from
so many parts of society and so many societies, that the effect of elites
utilizing wild and intimidating repression will not be to diminish our size
and capacity, but to enlarge both. We must make Bush and Berlusconi's
favored tactics benefit us, not them. That is the road to victory."
4. DECLARATION OF WAR IN GENOA
by Josef 3:03pm Sun Jul 22 '01 (Modified on 8:51pm Sun Jul 22 '01)
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=5897
Josef starts, "G 8 has declared war on us the people. If it was still
necessary to clarify, after similar facts in Seattle and Montreal [sic,
Quebec City], now there is no doubt: The G 8 leaders have declared war on
the people in the streets..."
5. ANARCHIST/BLACK BLOC MOTIVATION EXPLAINED
by James Anon 11:54am Sun Jul 22 '01 (Modified on 7:01pm Sun Jul 22 '01)
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=5726
By explaining the motivation behind using these street fighting tactics,
especially from the Black Bloc perspective, this article hopes to sooth
some of that anger and suggests some ways we as a movement can move forward
concerning the disagreement over forceful or non-violent direct action.
(Over ten comments follow article.)
6. GOTHENBURG TACTICS USED IN GENOA (English)
by Tord Björk 6:35am Sun Jul 22 '01
http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=5543
New methods of repression against Summit protesters used at the EU-US
Summit in Gothenburg 14-16.6. They include shooting at activists, container
walls and storming of schools, etc.
7. COMMUNIQUE FROM NYC-YA BASTA! & NYC-DAN IN GENOA
by NYC-Ya Basta! & NYC-DAN 10:30am Mon Jul 23 '01
http://la.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=8871
Concerning the attack on the Independent Media Center and Fascist/police
coordination during the G8 Summit.
9. WHAT THE PROTESTERS IN GENOA WANT (English)
by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, 6:42pm Fri Jul 20 '01
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=53964
By best selling authors of recently released _Empire_, a call for global
democracy. They write: "We see seeds of that future already in the sea of
faces that stretches from the streets of Seattle to those of Genoa. One of
the most remarkable characteristics of these movements is their diversity:
trade unionists together with ecologists together with priests and
communists. We are beginning to see emerge a multitude that is not defined
by any single identity, but can discover commonality in its multiplicity."
D. PHOTOS AND VIDEO
On Friday, July 20, Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old activist, was shot and
killed by police and then run over by a police vehicle. Outrage over
Carlo's death and the reported injuries to over 500 people from police
wielding batons and ramming by police vehicles has generated severe
criticism of the Italian government and G8. While Government officials
point the finger at protesters linked to the black block, whose tactics
include property destruction of selected targets, such as bank windows,
numerous accounts of police in disguise committing the most violent acts
continue to come into the newswire and have even filtered into the
corporate news. Photo, video, and audio reporting from the protests tell a
different story from that in most of the mainstream press.
2. SEQUENCE OF PHOTOS OF THE SHOOTING OF CARLO GIULIANI, WITH NARRATION
by R. Alford 12:52am Mon Jul 23 '01
Summary article: http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=6359
Powerpoint file:
http://italy.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/giuliani_sequence.ppt
A sequence of the photographs from multiple sources in a Microsoft
Powerpoint presentation with narrated observations about the images. Alford
suggests that the photos support the position that the shooting clearly
does not qualify as justifiable homicide under the Italian legal codes.
Size: 0.5MB.
Note: See alternative press section below, link 5., for website with photo
gallery of the shooting of Carlo.
3. BBC REPORT OF IMC/GSF RAID BY EYEWITNESS (English)
Realaudio file:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1450000/audio/_1450876_raid_hayton0200.ram
Link at article: http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=102117
Sympathetic report by Bill Hayton of the BBC, who was in the IMC-Italy
building as it was raided, and saw the aftermath of the GSF beatings. (mp3
audio)
4. REPORT ON THE RAID, G8 MEETING, AND ALTERNATIVE GLOBALIZATION MOVEMENT
(English)
http://buffalo.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/metafiles/patrickbeckettj 22
.mp3
Account of raid by Patrick Beckett, and American reporter with Free Speech
Radio News who was in the IMC-Genoa as it was raided on Sunday morning. He
shares some general thoughts on the movement, state response, and G8
meeting. Runs 16:51 min.
For more information, see: http://radio.indymedia.org/ and www.radiogap.net
F. PRINT
See Indymedia print summaries (in distributable newsletter/flier format)
The following issues are available at: http://print.indymedia.org
special edition: 22 July 2001
· Violent raids on journalists, sleeping protestors in Genoa
· G8 leaders fail to solve climate negotiations
special edition: 20 July 2001
· Italian police shooting to kill
· 100,000 take to streets to protest G8 summit in Genoa, Italy
Flier promoting Indymedia coverage:
http://struggle.ws/pdf/genoa_poster.html
G. THE GENOA SOCIAL FORUM (GSF)
In addition to the marches and rallies, the GSF hosted a week-long counter
summit that brought together organizations and groups from around the world
who are seeking alternatives to the current destructive policies pursued by
Western governments. They hold that "The international importance of this
summit represents a challenge to [work] with different methods and
priorities - principles of social justice, solidarity, and just and
sustainable development."
Like other recently created forums, the GSF was inspired by the World
Social Forum (http://www.worldsocialforum.org/) which was held earlier this
year in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Similar people's forums have occurred at all
major global justice/alternative globalization mobilizations since Seattle.
Topics last week included discussions on fighting global poverty and
inequality, globalization and work, and mechanisms for global democracy.
The GSF website (http://www.genoa-g8.org) offers important articles,
logistic advices, legal information and news updates. (Main website is in
Italian with links to pages in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German)
Program of Demonstrations for July 19-21
http://www.italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3154
This post includes 1. Complete program of the demonstrations on 20th July;
2. Proposal of the development of the Manifestations of Public Square of
the GSF in Genoa, 19-20-21 July 2001; 3. Complete program of Genoa Social Forum
H. SELECTED ALTERNATIVE PRESS LINKS
1: PROTEST.NET
Lists upcoming protests including:
World Bank / IMF - 9-28 to 10-4, "The IMF and World Bank are principle
agents of corporate globalization. Their large fall meeting in Washington
DC will be met with a convergence September 28th - October 4th."
2. THE BATTLE OF GENOA (English)
by Walden Bello, Friday July 20, 2001
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=bello20010721
Walden Bello attended the GSF educational activities early last week in
Genoa and the later protests. This is his account. He is professor of
sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines
and executive director of Focus on the Global South, a research and
advocacy institute based at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
3. IT'S A WAR (English)
by Geov Parrish, July 21, 2001
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=11596
With brutal killing of protester, depths of division are clarified. Parrish
writes, "Genoa is reminiscent of nothing so much as Kent State, where,
after hundreds of thousands (at least) of deaths in Southeast Asia, it took
the deaths of four young students on a Midwest campus to galvanize
opposition..."
4. INTERVIEW OF A SYNDICALIST WITH IG METAL (English)
http://clients.loudeye.com/imc/belgium/igmetal.ram
About general experience and reasons for G8 protest by German worker. Runs
3:12 min.
5. PHOTO GALLERY OF THE MURDER OF CARLO GUILIANI (English)
by Storm Bear Williams 8:19pm Sat Jul 21 '01 storm at nauseamanifesto.com
http://www.nauseamanifesto.com/genoa/index.html
A 21 image photo gallery, with commentary, of the murder of Carlo Giuliani
during the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy.
6. INFOSHOP NEWS AND PHOTOWIRE (English)
http://infoshop.org/news6/genoa.html
This infoshop page has over a dozen Genoa demonstration photo thumbnails
with descriptions, linking to full photos. This page also has links to
articles on solidarity demonstrations from around the world and a variety
of articles on the Genoa protests.
7. PEACEFUL PROTEST IN GENOA, 21-07-2001
http://ghanima.org/resist/genoa21072001.htm
Pictures captured from the Journal de 20h on France2, on 21/7/2001. Various
crowd shots.
--------------------
INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER
The IMC is a decentralized network of independent media makers, organizers,
and activists working to increase democracy and social justice by reporting
events and producing information as acts of autonomy, resistance, and
liberation from corporate control.
The IMC was established to cover the WTO protests in Seattle in November
1999. Hundreds of media activists have since setup over fifty independent
media centers in London, Canada, Chiapas, Prague, Belgium, France, and
Italy, with more to come.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The preceding is a personal opinion. Try not to post more than daily.
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