WTO Alliances

From: Bruce Podobnik <podobnik@lclark.edu>

Chris Chase-Dunn asked for additional comments on the
presence or lack of alliances between activists from the
labor, environmentalist, students, third world, and human
rights groups. As someone who was at the protest on
Tuesday and part of Wednesday, I would like to present
my observations. I am also including at the bottom of this
post a report from a Portland university student who
was at the protest, who claims that he witnessed someone
who seemed to be affiliated with the police provoking
people to engage in property damage.  I don't know
whether his analysis is correct, but thought it relevant
to recent WSN postings.

Alliances at the WTO Protests

I personally spent all my time at the protests in the downtown
area that had been taken over by university students,
environmentalists, etc.  Throughout the day we attempted
to find out what was happening with the labor march.
Occasionally, small groups of working class people would
march into the area and demonstrate for awhile.  I saw,
for instance, a large group from the organization Jobs
With Justice march through -- and later saw the Long-
Shore workers as well.  It is important to note that this
zone was largely impassable until after 5pm on Tuesday,
so the larger AFL-CIO march might have been smart
to stay away.  Whenever working people came by,
us environmentalists/students etc got very excited and
there seemed to be a strong sense of solidarity.
     I should also make an observation about groups
from developing nations.  The media has tended to
emphasize speeches by WTO delegates from LDCs
who argue against labor and env standards.  However,
there was a caravan of about 30 activists from numerous
countries throughout the world who travelled across the
US in order to attend the WTO protests (see last week's
The Nation for a brief description of this).  In Seattle,
these people (including well-known activists such as
Vandana Shiva) participated in forums designed to show
that many peoples from LDCs support the protests.  So,
again, there seemed to be relatively strong solidarity
between US protestors and working-class peoples
from less-developed countries.
    Hope this is useful.  --Bruce

Police Provocateurs

Friends,
Let me point out that the "Eugene Anarchists" as the corporate
press has branded them, were not the sole source of property
damage (let's stop calling it violence, shall we? Only the police
were violent against people).  Much of the video coverage I have
seen since Tuesday shows people OTHER than the small
black-clad group conducting the bulk of property damage.
I personally was approached by a police provocateur, who
asked "wanna help me start a riot?" I responded "Are you
working for the cops?? That's exactly what the cops and press
want to see!"  At that point, this person became extremely
nervous and literally ran off.  Because of that encounter, I am
strongly suspicious that most people damaging property were
employed by the police. The history of the FBI and police
departments clearly show that this is a normal tactic on their part.

Andrew Bacelis
Reed College