GENOA SPECIAL

Genoa frontpage

In Italy that other world became closer 1

In Italy that other world became closer 2

In Italy that other world became closer 3

The long road to Genoa

Reaction after witnessing the attack on the Diaz school

A broad statement from People Not Profit

After Genoa: why we need to stay in the streets

Piece by John Pilger

Meanwhile in the rest of the world…

When workers and peasants in Bolivia took action against the economic policies of the International Monetary Fund and resulting hardships, the government responded with a series of police raids around the country. 35 people were shot and 5 killed.
In Papua New Guinea, in July, 4 were killed in anti-globalisation protests and more have died in Argentinian as people march against IMF ‘structural adjustment programs’. Meanwhile Coca-Cola have been implicated in the murder of Trade Union officials at Colombian bottling plants.
The Bolivian activists may just be aware of a large demonstration which occurred in far off Italy in late July. Between 200,000 – 300,000 people took action against the G8 conference in Genoa. One man died on the day and another protester has since been found dead.
In the world context, the anti-globalisation / capitalist demo in Genoa was not entirely new and the level of state violence is not really all that shocking at all. However, for the small band of people who travelled there from Liverpool it was definitely an eye opener and we are all frankly glad and slightly lucky to still be in one piece.
The first impressive thing on arriving in the city, was the scale of the organisation. The Genoa Social Forum had prepared stadiums for sleeping, a well equipped media centre, a huge convergence/refreshment area on the sea front, first aid, legal aid and about 200,000 free bottles of mineral water. The other striking thing was the extent of the security measures surrounding the G8 conference where Blair, Bush, Berlusconi and co were soon to arrive. Most of the City centre was made an exclusion zone with 15 foot high fences and walls made of shipping containers. There were so many police, rumours came round that fascist civilians were being handed uniforms and riot sticks so they could join the fun. It was fairly clear the cops wanted a fight and also quite clear that the politicians would be able to plot their evil deeds with no more than noise disturbance.
People did there best anyway. The most prepared direct action groups were probably the Italian Tute Biance activists. They confronted the police with riot shields and body armour and in turn took the worst beating of the day. One man, Carlo Giuliani was shot dead after picking up a fire extinguisher. It only takes a couple of trashed banks to please most journalists so there was little mention of the non-violent actions, of the stunning unity among so many different groups and nationalities or of the sheer creativity and sense of fun of much of the week.
It wasn’t much fun for some of the Liverpool crew who got CS gassed and chased upon arrival and before they’d even worked out where the demo was supposed to be. It was worse for those sleeping in a school building on the Saturday night. A police unit from Rome stormed through the gates and beat many people into unconsciousness. At a detention centre more beatings occurred and it now seems a woman demonstrator may have been strangled to death by police, her body dumped in a river.
The movement against free trade, corporate imperialism and all the environmental and social disasters which result, has been growing. We’ve had Seattle, Gothenburg and Prague and on Mayday this year at least fifty brave people got funny looks when they marched through Liverpool with drums and banners. In the third world people are desperate and risk their lives and freedom, frequently. The Argentinians are so desperate because in a couple of decades the country has gone from being relatively wealthy to one of the poorest in the world. All since it started doing business with the IMF. Almost all public services and industries have been sold off to Western corporations, yet it still has a crippling debt. IMFs solution? Borrow more money and cut spending still further so old debts can be serviced.
At the same time governments in the North are targeting anti-capitalist activists for special treatment. The Americans are leading the way with a fascinating new selection of ‘non-lethal’ weapons which make many people reluctant to take to the streets. The recent Anti-Terrorist act over here, could in theory have me locked up just for writing about these things, maybe even thinking about it in a public place.
I grew up hearing horror stories about the dreaded eighties, though I wasn’t really there myself. Unions were crushed, Thatcher and Reagan won all those elections and much of Latin America was trashed by western imperialism. Will the 00s be another dark decade? If I’m brave enough to have kids I’m afraid they’ll ask difficult questions like; ‘so who did vote for Tony Blair all those times?’ ‘why is the weather acting so strange?’ and ‘why didn’t anybody shoot George Bush while he was still in the oil business?’
The stakes have been raised and many good people are in jail, but those of us who came back from Genoa are still optimistic. We’ve had a taste of just how many people are on our side.