> Which, as far as I can see, and assuming that "the crazies" refers to Chuck
> and his gang, is a pretty dreadful calumny of the record of the Black Bloc.
> I don't think anyone can seriously disagree with the followin facts:
>
> 1. The TRIPS (trade in intellectual property and services) agreement on
> the table for discussion in Seattle was an incredibly damaging document
> which would have caused huge hardship, particularly in countries which
> needed access to patented drugs.
>
> 2. The TRIPS agreement which was later signed, while by no means perfect,
> was a substantial and real improvement on the Seattle draft.
>
> 3. The reason that the Seattle TRIPS was not signed, was that Seattle had
> been consumed by riots.
>
> The obvious conclusion to me is that the riots gained time for the Third
> World negotiators, and gaining time and an opportunity to redraft turned
> out to be very valuable. Furthermore, it also seems clear that this time
> was only bought because there wa a riot; they would never have abandoned
> the Seattle round in response to a peaceful protest.
>
> So I don't think we can escape the conclusion that there are thousands of
> people in Brazil and South Africa who may have a chance of life because
> someone threw a brick through a window, and that the Black Block are owed
> an apology by all the people who told them ad nauseam that their tactics
> were "counter-productive".
Thank you. I think history will be kind to the Seattle black bloc, at least the one written by the Zinn's of the world.
It's also important to recognize that the people who sat in the streets and got pepper-sprayed played an important role in the success of those days of protest.
What lessons can the left learn from this? The first thing is that militancy gets the goods. That includes militant nonviolent civil disobedience, such as the blockades in the streets of Seattle. Social change requires some risk, which has been explained in all those quotes you see from MLK and other beloved troublemakers of the past. While protest marches and rallies have their place, if that is the only thing you do, you aren't taking any risks. What's worse is when activists attempt to get police approval for their actions. All the rights that we have won over the years have come from people exercising their rights, not asking for them from the authorities.
It's also worth noting which kinds of organizations organize the boring, peaceful protests. For the most part, they are sectarian left organizations that are more interested in recruiting members and building their organizations, over doing effective social change.
Mumia will not be freed because your group sold 35 copies of the Militant.
<< Chuck0 >>
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INTERNATIONALISM IN PRACTICE
An American soldier in a hospital explained how he was wounded: He said, "I was told that the way to tell a hostile Vietnamese from a friendly Vietnamese was to shout ‘To hell with Ho Chi Minh!’ If he shoots, he’s unfriendly. So I saw this dude and yelled ‘To hell with Ho Chi Minh!’ and he yelled back, ‘To hell with President Johnson!’ We were shaking hands when a truck hit us."
(from 1,001 Ways to Beat the Draft, by Tuli Kupferburg).