Anti-WEF protests in Switzerland
27 Jan 2005 09:08 GMT
WEF - World Egoistic Forum
political and economical heavyweights will from on January 26 come together behind closed doors in the Swissish Davos for the World Economic Forum(WEF), to give a "social label" to the capitalistic globalization.
Like usual there are actions held against this summit, [Fr|De]held by a anti-WEF-coalition
This year the actions started already on Friday 21th January and more actions are planned till the end of the WEF on Saturday 29 January.
Also, like in good habit, there are many restrictions opposed on the actions, a playfull streetparty was forbidden in Bern. The police was very repressive, so repressive that there was some protest in parliament. 250 Activists are forbidden to enter the country and even the Army has 6500 soldiers on hold.
There were also actions in Basel, Lugano, Geneva, Davos self and in Burgdorf
In the next week more actions are planned, like an authorized manifestation in Davos on January 29, the distribution of the Public Eye Awards on January 26 and a stage-piece from Dadavos. More actions are in the pipeline, they will be announced on Indymedia Switserland (fr |de)
[Video Dadavos] [Pictures Bern: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Davos: 1 | 2 | Burgdorf: 1 | Geneva: 1 | Lugano: 1 | 2 ]
[ autonome gipfelblokkade| Anti WEF Alliantie| Anti WTO Cordination| Revolutionnaire Opbouw| Chiapas| Dadavos| Perspektiven nach Davos| Public Eye| Wintimedia| No WEF]
A New World - If We Fight for SOmething Real-POWER
JAson Martin 29.Jan.2005 00:56
Handout on MER Activities
A New World - If We Fight for SOmething Real-POWER
jasonmartin7@lycos.com
http://mer130.tripod.com
Social movements need to embrace a practical and focused goal of accumulating power in order to takeover governments.
Conventional politics and left-thinking in the USA are dead.
There is a Global War going on and the only subjects worth studying; organizing and meeting about; or doing actions against are those that can change the whole system in a short time. The target is always and primarily to stop the USA - to get USA military-espionage programs and USA-backed death squads out of all countries and to create an appealing and diverse counter-power to USA hegemony.
We can all have our personalized utopian goals - and they are pretty much all the same - but goals are not tactics or strategy and personal desires have to be delayed in the struggle for a general solution to the crises of the planet and of the human spirit. A strategy of resistance and effective tactics for the coming brutal struggles against Killer-Capitalism are what we need - not blabbering circular reasoning from shallow anarchists or the non-violence gurus with their Means-Are-the-Ends Tele-Tubbie hype.
A future of Anarchist principles?
Yes, a world of decentralized power and local autonomy is possibly 25-50 years away if people start thinking and create viable strategies now. But what we face for the next 15 to 20 years is a bloody and probably futile struggle against the most vicious and well-armed (weapons and propaganda) fascist regime in history: the USA Empire.
The USA movements for change, for Fair Trade and against Killer-Capitalism's wars and ecological destruction have to come together now to oppose the USA Empire. In order to understand why this needs to happen – and how it can be accomplished -- one must better understand the world.
It is limiting to think about the USA or national politics. It is better to not believe that the USA exists anymore. The USA is an empire of corporate, trade and, military alliances. This is what we fight and what should be addressed. We are engaged in a world war – what Chavez and many anti-globalization / Zapatista activists call the Fourth World War – 4WW. Six hundred million capitalists against the rest of the world's 6000 million (6 billion). (Note 1)
Cheer up, it is our great fortune that what we face is a global war – a war with and without borders, fronts or rears ... a war of everything against everything. Because in such a battle it is possible to mobilize within and to win. Whereas, politics and activism are completely dead in the USA and this is a permanent condition – a truth... The USA has been moving to the right for almost 30 years -- surely since Reagan's victory in 1980 politics has been dead in the USA – and all education has failed since then. The popularity and re-election/coronation of GW Bush should be enough evidence, but the power of the ultra-right and the rightwing in the USA Congress and most states makes the debate moot and tired. Many authors (Petras, Cockburn, St.Clair, Rosenbraugh, Jensen...) have witnessed this death of compassion, virtue and political being in the USA (Note 2) – more sign on each week: Mark Hertsgaard, Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger and Tarij Ali (Note 3)
Only through extending our conceptions of politics – which is another word for Power – extending it beyond the imaginary borders of nations can we create a better world. (Note 6)
The efforts of the thousands of foundations and NGOs in the USA and most countries have been extreme failures. If they do not wake up to their impotence and the raging power of GW Bush and the hungry USA consumers, then they are to blame for the genocide and ecocide that will soon follow. (Note 7)
If USA activist groups are honest, then they will quickly admit that they have no meaningful goals and that their strategies of education or mobilization cannot overcome the strong right wing drift of US political culture. To apply outdated techniques of organizing or resisting against such a force is to make yourself and your power meaningless and impotent. To continue these strategies that knowingly waste money (power) and offer false hope, borders on the criminal. There is nothing people in the USA can do to stop USA imperialism and the destruction of the global environment from within the USA – unless you are considering armed struggle or being able to mobilize millions of protesters who want to be beaten and imprisoned.
Or so logic and frankness would suggest. But we have a new idea that could re-invigorate and make powerful the movement for change in North America. We posit that everyone should cease working politically at any level in the USA – that they should refrain from all currently known forms of activism ( ecological, social or cultural) and instead put all of their energy, skills and finances into groups in South America – specifically groups in the Andes and in Venezuela.
Yes, the only activity of any real value to changing the world – to defeating capitalism and militarism – is to form a fundraising group. (Note 8)
If people get together in cities across the USA and focus on something that produces effects and real signs of progress – like raising millions for important groups in the Andes - then they will both create a positive and growing movement in the USA and build up the Andean groups too.
This success would encourage more people to get involved and in the process they would learn about struggle, about the real issues facing those who want change and about the struggle in Latin America. The movement in both regions will grow and people will see what money and cooperation can do.
Videos, articles for publication and visits back and forth can build stronger ties and spread the word and inspire even more organizing, more donations and more tangible results.
Instead of growing frustrated with the defeats that are inevitable in the USA (failure to change anything) and the reality that protests and lobbying can actually backfire and encourage the right wing or the ignorant voters to fight change more, activists can feel good and earn strategic victories. These People to People – or Pueblo a People campaigns can be proud, positive and real.
Move beyond political stalemate and make a real difference – Forget politics as you knew it – Do the politics of building resistance. Forget politics, lobbying – forget all environmental, social justice and organizing in the USA – it will never work – never change anything soon – and it causes more problems than it solves. The Andes have a lot to teach us and a world to win - a dollar a year from every person in the USA could make the difference.
Take the power where you can find it!
Conclusion –
To build a counter-power to the imperialist USA, activist groups need to reach beyond national boundaries to build strong alliances in Latin America with indigenous people (40 to 80 million people), workers in the Andes (30 to 40 million people), African descendants (100,000,000 to 120,000,000 people), and to finance aid programs with Venezuelan and Andean revolutionary groups. Solidarity with these groups and the 200 million Latin American people trapped in neoliberal (USA-imposed) poverty can yield huge dividends abroad and within the USA.
Barricades en todos partes - Por Favor
buip
robert 31.Jan.2005 22:08
WEF - World Egoistic Forum
Een grote politiemacht was op de been gebracht om de binnenstad van Bern hermetisch voor demonstranten af te sluiten. Een kleie honderd deelnemers werden gearresteerd vanwege het actieve fouilleringsbeleid van de politie die scherp toezicht hield. De demonstranten lieten zich daar echter niet door ontmoedigen.Kleurrijk en vrolijk gaven zij blijk van hun protes tegen de heersende economische verhoudingen. Van schermutselingen was geen sprake. Aangezien het WEF jaarlijks een bijeenkomst in Davos houdt, waren ook hier protestacties georganiseerd waaraan zo'n 80 mensen deelnamen. Vanaf woensdag 26 januari gaat het WEF daar van start. Radio Zwart en Rood zal op deze dag hier uitzendingen verzorgen die afkomstig zijn van een lokale vrije radio in Zwitserland.
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Prepare for a Post-Gobal Warming World
Fight the USA 01.Feb.2005 19:35
"There is an ecological time bomb ticking away," said Stephen Byers, former British transport minister and a close Blair ally, who co-chaired the task force that produced the report with US Republican Senator Olympia Snowe --
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F21054AA-58DB-462B-8428-D554A9B66EB9.htm