``i could use some detail. how did "seattle" boost the morale of millions of people around the world? where do you see the effect of this? and in concrete terms, what are the goals that were achieved? i presume you are in the business of morale boosting in order to achieve more than just morale boosting....'' ravi
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Seattle put the entire US political establishment on notice that there was a significant political block of US public who understood completely that `US global economic development' was nothing more than a new imperialism to rip off and extort foreign labor, enrich the already filthy rich capitalist pig assholes at home, and continue to partition this country into a two class society---haves (everything), have nots (nothing).
I have to assume that there are millions of people abroad who look at the US as a monster of rapacious greed, power and carelessness---and that they were cheered by some sign that the US was not entirely composed of selfish, narrow minded, greedy, xenophobic assholes----that were some significant minority who understood what the US corporate elite was doing to people at home and in the rest of the world.
I won't claim Seattle achieved too much more than put the global elite on notice that so-called neoliberal economic development was understood by a significant US minority to be nothing more than old fashioned imperialism in new clothes.
While I can't say Seattle boosted the morale of millions around the world, because I don't know that---I can assert that Seattle certainly put the US elites on notice that their global neoliberal economic development plans had been stripped of its liberal facade to reveal the same old extortion, oppression, and rip-off of a global scaled working class in developing countries. Pig Capital rit large---just as nasty, cruel, and crushing as any 19thC robber baron or railroad king ever imagined---but on a far larger scale.
I think I can say that OBL did the global elite a very big favor by providing the perfect excuse to ignore what was developing into a multi-national coalition of mass progressive and liberal movements against the US-Euro and Asian elite economic extortion of their own working masses.
I also think that the neocons literally creamed in their jeans over the 9/11 attack---because it provided the perfect excuse to start a diversionary war. Remember that the first nine months of GWB's administration before 9/11 were packed with one economic scandal after another. All the while GWB and neocons were working hard to distract public and media attention from those snowballing domestic scandals with fabricated bullshit about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, blah, blah, blah. 9/11 was literally a gift from Allah.
My hope is that as the US Iraq war continues to deteriorate, the US power elite will have set themselves up for an extremely threatening double-whammy: a failed foreign war and a deteriorating domestic economy. I see it as the first shadows of afternoon fallen on the new American paradigm...of necons wedded to neoliberals.
``...among the folks i saw and talked with, katrina and its aftermath laid bare the motivations and allegiances of bush and his corporate kin. when grandmothers from montana start connecting the dots and see the raw economic reality behind national and international policy - and when they meet like minded folks at rallies like this to gain a level of comfort and confidence to discuss these issues - then there is truly something for the corporate elite and the ruling classes to be concerned with...'' Michael Catolico
And then there is this from Yoshie:
``...A hot shower, a king-size bed, a margarita, and a view of the Washington Monument from your room have a way of improving your protest experience greatly!..''
Holy mother of... When I remember my terrified late night vigils in Sproul getting ready to face a multi-force army of cops at the Oakland Induction Center at day break... (army jacket padded with newspaper, plastic water canteen, baggies with rags soaked in vinegar, legal aid numbers written on my arm, betadine, 4x4's, and adhesive tape in another pocket, going over assembly points, exit routes, battle tactics) ... man I'll take the hotel with a view and a margarita any day.
Where exactly does it say, you have to suffer to overthrow the state?
It's afternoon again in America...
CG