A Marxist Critique of Anti-Globalization Activism

After at least twenty years of steady decline of the "radical movement", of "leftist activism", during which those people in society who were attempting to "change the world" -- in a "progressive" or "leftist" sense -- were reduced to a miniscule "fringe group", a complete marginalization within society, within even the "left", broadly speaking; Seattle N30 came along to change all that, to reverse the trend, to turn it all around. Now, in the wake of N30.99, people who are out there trying to "change the world" are no longer nearly so marginalized, their existence as a distinct force or tendency within society is known by (more or less) everyone. Their existence and activity is now appreciated and welcomed by a significant and growing part of this society -- those who have come to question the direction the dominant social forces in our society are pushing to take it, and us, in.

So if it is now "respectable" or even "fashionable" to work (voluntarily, without remuneration, on oneÕs own free time) to "change the world" -- if such people are no longer universally considered to be "kooks", "utopian dreamers", or "relics of the past" -- then why is it that so few of this new wave of radical social activists have made their way to a position of revolutionary anti-capitalist critique? Of course, at this still early stage in the development of this new movement of resistance to capitalist globalization, the movement itself is in no way "revolutionary". Revolutionary potential may exist within the movement, in the most radical current within it, but it is presently entirely a matter of potential; it is a tendency that might arise within the movement in the upcoming period.

Anonymous Comrade writes "from www.cryptome.org....


American Democracy: R.I.P

The Emergence of the Fascist American Theocratic State

By John Stanton and Wayne Madsen

John Stanton is a Virginia-based writer on national security affairs and Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist who writes and comments frequently on civil liberties and human rights issues.


Historians will record that between November 2000 and February 2002, democracy—as envisioned by the creators of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution—effectively came to an end. As democracy died, the Fascist American Theocratic State ["The State"] was born. This new fascist era was designed and implemented primarily by Republican organizations and individuals who funded, supported and ultimately inserted George Bush II in office. Equally complicit in this atrocity was the Democratic Party, itself having become corrupt and beholden to its own interests. But the greatest tragedy in this horrific turn of events was that the public and media embraced fascism’s coming. It should be noted that the Green Party’s valiant efforts were too little, too late.

Annia Ciezadlo writes "In the summer of 1996, the city forcibly evicted squatters from five
city-owned tenements on East 13th Street so they could be rehabilitated by a
responsible affordable housing developer.

But barely six years after the dramatic predawn eviction, featuring hundreds
of police officers in riot gear, ambulances, helicopters and an armored
vehicle, the five buildings are right back where they were when the
squatters first moved in: on the city's list of tax-delinquent properties.

Jak King writes: We recall that Bush used up most of his State of the Union speech to make specific threats about dealing with "terrorism", telling countries around the world that they'd better clean up their act or the States will do it for them. We also recall that Bush's new budget adds billions upon billions of dollars onto taxpayers burdens specifically to fight "terrorism". Finally, we also recall Mr Bush, from the earliest days after September 11th, explaining in his best school principal's manner that "terrorism" is "terrorism" is "terrorism" and must be stamped out wherever it is found.

But, of course, in reality "terrorism" is not always "terrorism". In terms of Bush's plans, "terrorism" only means anti-American "terrorism". If you are a "terrorist" opposed to a regime that the US is not keen on, then you are welcome in the States. There are, for example, Cambodian. Cuban and Vietnamese "terrorists" happily living in the USA or protected by the CIA or both.

When the news of the closure of www.raisethefist.comfirst surfaced on January 23rd ( the story was reported on /.autonomedia the following day thanks to comrades on the west coast who posted regular updates, see the original story and comments.), there was some scepticism as to the veracity of the story, as there had been no reportage in the mainstream media.

The documents acquired by Cryptome.org establish the facts. Now the question as to why the media have not reported on this can be approached from a different angle. Why was this incident ignored? And who believes that the timing -just before the demonstrations and actions against the WEF was coincidental. This thing stinks.

G. In searching for data capable of being read, stored or interpreted by a computer, law enforcement personnel executing this search warrant will employ the following procedure:

i. Upon securing the premises, law enforcement personnel trained in searching and seizing computer data (the "computer personnel") will make an initial review of any computer equipment and storage devices to determine whether these items can be searched on-site in a reasonable amount of time and without jeopardizing the ability to preserve the data.

ii. If the computer personnel determine it is not practical to perform an on-site search of the data within a reasonable amount of time, then the computer equipment and storage devices will be seized and transported to an appropriate law enforcement laboratory for review. The computer equipment and storage devices will be reviewed by appropriately trained personnel in order to extract and seize any data that falls within the list of items to be seized set forth herein.

iii. Any data that is encrypted and unreadable will not be returned unless law enforcement personnel have determined that the data is not (1) an instrumentality of the offense, (2) a fruit of the criminal activity, (3) contraband, (4) otherwise unlawfully possessed, or (5) evidence of the offense specified above.

-- FBI Special Agent John I. Pi, USA v. Raise the Fist - Search Warrant and Affidavit, January 16, 2002

Cryptome would appreciate information on the legal basis for retaining seized data merely because it is encrypted and there is no proof that it fits any of the five characteristics cited above. Send to jya@pipeline.com"

Open Letter to the Trade Unionists and Activists
Participating in
the
World Social Forum 2002 in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Is it possible to put a human face on globalization and war?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We, the undersigned Brazilian trade unionists, want to open a
dialogue
with you. We are living through a terrible situation the world over.
The
U.S. government, under the cover of the United Nations, is using
the
heinous terrorist attacks of September 11 to intensify a political
agenda
of "full-scale, protracted war" -- as Bush himself has stated. It is a
war
that started with the bombing of Afghanistan and is far from over.

In neighboring Argentina, the people -- after years of
governments that
had submitted to the dictates of the IMF and applied the politics of
privatization, destruction of workers' rights, and bleeding the
nation to
pay back the foreign debt -- took to the streets and threw out the
"center-left" government of Fernando De la Rua. They made it
clear they
wanted an end to policies that had plunged millions of
Argentineans into
misery and hunger -- all in the name of "modernization," the
"exigencies
of globalization," the "criteria" of the Mercosul regional "free
trade"
pact, and the preparation of the country for the FTAA!

Here's an Update: Anonymous Comrade writes:

After doing some trawling about I can't find any current confirmation of the story. People are talking about it on IRC, but there's no hard evidence. The founder of RaiseTheFist "anti" is reported as being in custody. Historical background certainly appears to be that there's a lot of _international_ government monitoring of the site. In May last year at Long Beach (LA, CA) Rob "Ruckus" Middaugh was fitted up by the LBPD for "assault" on the police during a May Day demonstration. He was associated with the site. Unfortunately he had a parole violation and is now doing 2-3 years. This was one of the most savage attacks by the police that I've seen. The guy that is reportedly arrested "anti" had film of some of the attacks and there has been a lot of organizing of monitoring of the police by a "Copwatch" group.

Info that is missing due to the site being down includes the Ride Board" for activists travelling from CA to NY. Interestingly I cannot find a cached copy of the logs of site monitoring. Anyone else have them? One poster on indymedia speculates that the database of undercover fed pictures is one of the reasons that "anti" had his equipment snatched.

Again, I have no good current confirmation of what is happening, just rumours

Anonymous Comrade writes: "USA: Los Angeles, the anarchist project Raisethefist.com raided
From sf imcista

Date Fri, 25 Jan 2002 17:21:24 -0500 (EST)

This was posted this morning on San Francisco Indymedia. It is being
forwarded here unmodified It was forwarded from Aron Kay's
email and sent along by a credible local source. The original
URL is here: http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/01/114428.php

The nameserver for raisethefist.com is not responding
to pings.

From: "ARON KAY" Fri, 25 Jan 2002 15:34:35 -0500

LOS ANGELES, JAN 23 2002 - Heavily armed with high-powered machine
guns, shotguns, and hand guns, the FBI, Secret Service, and Los
Angeles Police Department surrounded the founder of raisethefist.com
in his house. The founder was currently asleep, woken up by a relative
who said fbi, police and undercover's were currently up and down all
of the streets, with they're eyes focused on the premises.

oingoz writes: "The institution of domestic police is a distraction meant to keep us further stuck than we already are, in my view.

Below are two proposals for dealing with the situation I will discuss, the second one quite long (originally published in "Anarchy, A Journal of Desire Armed" #43 in the letters section.



This rant/article is anti-copyright. Feel free to pass it around and publish it freely.



Cops are fooled pawns in a larger meta-game of virtual chess played by policymakers who aren't in their positions for no reason. Like almost everyone else, cops are often originally "sold" on the idea of "doing a service" to society. Basically, they are similar to military soldiers, in this regard: Going into the job with ideals in mind, shortly to learn, like in probably every other sector of government (or work in general for that matter), that ideals are mostly thrown out the window.

Cops are a kind of soldier. And they are often uncritical, authority-trusting *tools* used as a type of live bait for people who never get it that they should be engaging the REAL *enemy*--our collective bigoted and individual-reducing MINDSET which allows for such alienated institutions as cops in the first place.

At worst, we should seek to entirely AVOID interacting with professional domestic soldiers called cops. At best, we should be actively messing with the formal divisions which keep them and us alienated from them as individuals!

Me, I'd rather have no more to do with cops than I'm now forced. Still, I see the value of promoting interaction and community where informed interaction is the method of choice, instead of these big wastes of time in actually throwing our energy into engaging them in any formalized way (including at demos which turn ugly).

Two proposals:

A) A "food not bombs"-type freefoodforall, yet called "DOUGHNUTS FOR COPS". Give store-bought doughnuts to cops and freefoodforall to houseless/homeless, etc.

B) GOOD PEASANT, BAD PEASANT

Good Peasant, Bad Peasant: Some considerations about "traditional" anarchist tactics and some possible alternatives.

I'd like to respond to the view that seems to be quite uncritically prevalent in left and Anarchist circles these days: The idea that there can only be a limited view of what "militancy" means in order to be "successfully" "revolutionary". And, along with that, the idea of what kind of thinking and action constitutes "realistic" responses to official injustice.

YellowTimes.ORG writes: "
By Matt Osborne

YellowTimes.ORG Columnist

(YellowTimes.ORG) -- Are you having trouble figuring out which is the real America?

On the one hand, we’re the most moral and kind-hearted nation on Earth. We give more to private charity than any other people anywhere. On the other hand, we’re responsible for all sorts of wickedness in all sorts of places.

Well, here’s a tip: watch The Wizard of Oz!

For all the sweetness and silliness, L. Frank Baum actually wrote the book as a satirical examination of the American character.

We Are All Suspects, If Ashcroft Has His Way

by Molly Ivins

Thursday, December 6, 2001

Chicago Tribune

AUSTIN, Texas -- With all due respect, of course, and
God Bless America too, has anyone considered the
possibility that the U.S. attorney general is becoming
unhinged?

Poor John Ashcroft is under a lot of strain here. Is
it possible his mind has started to give under the
weight of responsibility, what with having to stop
terrorism between innings against doctors trying to
help the dying in Oregon and California? Why not take
a Valium, sir, and go track down some nice domestic
nut with access to anthrax, OK?