The following articles trace the history and diversity of BGAN’s various campaigns from December 1999 to the end of 2000. Although nowhere near exhaustive, the sampling does provide a glimpse of the manifold interests of BGAN’s members and member organizations.

CITY OF CAMBRIDGE TO BOYCOTT WORLD BANK BONDS
Unanimous Council Vote Sends Strong Message

April 30, 2002

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- In an historic decision, the Cambridge City Council voted unanimously not to invest in World Bank Bonds until the Bank changes its destructive policies. With this resolution, Cambridge becomes the seventh city in the US to join the boycott, and the first in the Northeast. The resolution also called on the State Legislature and the Governor to join the boycott on a state level, further underscoring the condemnation of World Bank practices which have created deep poverty for millions and caused serious environmental damage with irresponsible development projects.

"The World Bank receives 80% of its funding from the sale of bonds," said Catherine Benedict of Bankbusters, a local volunteer group spearheading the Cambridge campaign. "By refusing to invest in the World Bank, Cambridge and other cities and organizations are having a real material impact on the Bank."

A number of Cambridge residents testified in favor of the resolution, some representing such organizations as Cambridge's Area 4 Neighborhood Coalition, Carpenters Local 40, Centro Presente, and the National Lawyers Guild. Speakers discussed the World Bank's impact on workers who lose jobs, on immigrants forced to flee poverty in their homelands, on the environment, and more. Over 20 organizations in the city had endorsed the campaign, along with roughly 900 individuals who signed petitions.

The resolution specifically called on the bank to respect labor rights, stop promoting privatization, cancel 100% of debts owed to it by impoverished nations, and stop the imposition of destructive economic policies. It also instructed the City Manager to investigate and report on further steps the City could take to oppose the destructive policies of the World Bank.

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Unemployed, activists protest lack of aid in surviving recession
Gathering decries state, corporate economic policies

By Alice Gomstyn, Boston Globe Correspondent, 2/3/2002

In an expansive display of solidarity, flight attendants and factory workers, the unemployed and the underemployed, activists and active retirees gathered downtown yesterday afternoon to demand justice for those struggling to survive the economic downturn.

Hundreds of people filled Faneuil Hall to hear Massachusetts residents from all walks of life tell stories of how state budget cuts, corporate decisions, and the recession have adversely affected their lives.

''It's very appropriate in these sad economic times that we come together,'' said Elaine Bernard, one of the moderators of the event. Bernard, who directs the Harvard Trade Union Program, encouraged the crowd to ''ask not how we can serve the economy, but how the economy can serve us.''

Other speakers included Karl Farmer, chairman of the Polaroid Retiree Association, who expressed disgust at what he called the bankrupt company's failure to provide for its retired and laid-off workers. Corporate officers at Polaroid, he said, received hefty severance packages.

''It's time to put big holes in their golden parachutes,'' he said.

Ken Ramsey, president of the department of transitional assistance chapter of SEIU Local 509, spoke about what he characterized as the state's general failure to provide adequate aid to impoverished residents.

''I want to know why you're putting up condos on Tremont Street when there are people starving to death on the street,'' he said to sustained applause.

Jobs with Justice, a group that advocates for the rights of working-class people, sponsored the rally in an effort to forge unity among different sectors of the Bay State work force and civic leaders.

''We are giving voices to different people and letting them listen to each other,'' said Jobs with Justice director Russ Davis. ''We hope to somehow change the political climate here in Massachusetts.''

Among the government officials at the event was Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner. He denounced ''corporate fat cats,'' saying they are a ''danger to this country.''

The rally was timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in New York City. Jobs with Justice, in conjuction with the AFL-CIO, has organized demonstrations in New York to protest what they view as unjust labor practices on the part of many of the forum's corporate attendees.

Jobs for Justice is also helping distribute a documentary chronicling the three-week sit-in by Harvard students and university employees to gain better benefits for workers. The film was shown last night at the Harvard Film Archive.

This story ran on page B4 of the Boston Globe on 2/3/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

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Forum draws Hub activists: Free trade talks start, as do protests, in NYC

by Jennifer C. Berkshire (Boston Herald - Friday, February 1, 2002)

Boston University student Val Costa has a message for participants at the World Economic Forum, an exclusive gathering of global power brokers being held in New York this weekend: Wake up and listen to the voices of ordinary people around the world.

While 2,500 forum attendees gather inside the Waldorf Astoria, sipping bubbly and pressing the flesh, Costa and thousands of protesters planned to gather outside. The police prepped for violence. The demonstrators geared up for heavy rain. And New Yorkers began holding their collective breath.

Dozens of protesters from Boston, including students, activists, and union members, planned to participate in demonstrations.

``This is an issue that is really galvanizing young people,'' said Dan Malakoff, a journalism major at BU. ``Young people are starting to look at these protests and hoping that they can make an impact. There's a real sense that money plays too much of a role in politics, whether it's campaign finance or free trade.''

That's a message that has certainly resonated with Brad Hornbake, a recent graduate of Emerson College who now works as a labor organizer. He worries that such trade agreements as NAFTA could subvert the ability of state and local governments to make and enforce laws.

Other Bay State residents have come to New York for the forum, which began yesterday, to express concern about what globalization could mean for the local economy - namely jobs.

Massachusetts has lost tens of thousands of industry jobs to countries with lower wages and less labor regulation, said Jeff Crosby, president of IUE/CWA Local 201, the union that represents workers at General Electric's giant aircraft-engine plant in Lynn.

``GE is willing to move jobs to all corners of the Earth in search of lower wages and less labor regulation,'' said Crosby. ``We have to talk back to that.''

The protesters hoped to get these messages out through a weekend of marches and street theater. But they also feared that violence - like that erupting in Seattle in 1999 and in Genoa, Italy, last summer - could overshadow the meaning behind the demonstrations.

Others are concerned that huge street protests are the last thing a weary New York needs right now. ``Globalization is a divisive issue,'' said Costa. ``The reality is that these meetings attract large numbers of protesters wherever they're held.''

Despite the high state of alert, there were few arrests resulting from the first protests yesterday, and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani predicted police would maintain order.

``This is a peaceful city, this is a city that understands diversity, this is a city that understands how to deal with large meetings,'' said Giuliani, who was instrumental in bringing the forum to New York partly in solidarity following Sept. 11.

Forum organizers moved the event from Davos, Switzerland, to New York this year, promising to pump millions of dollars into the city's beleaguered economy, a number nearly equaled by the cost of the heavy police presence.

While the loudest, most colorful protests will take place in the streets outside, some forum participants plan to use their ``inside'' access to press for change. Barbara Fiorito, chairwoman of Boston-based Oxfam America, is urging Forum delegates to make sure that free trade is fair. ``We're looking for a level playing field,'' said Fiorito. ``The poor countries of the world are suffering under unequal trade agreements.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Attacks Change Dynamics as a New Round of Free Trade Talks Get Underway

State House News - 11/8/2001

It was the antithesis of the chaos that thousands of anti-globalization protesters caused at world trade talks in Seattle last year.

At a very tame ceremony Thursday at the foot of the State House's Grand Staircase, about 20 citizen advocates worried that expanded free trade forces human and labor rights to take a backseat to corporate and fiscal interests urged Congress to reject the granting of fast-track trade pact rights for President Bush.

An aide to Rep. Martin Meehan told the advocates that the 10 Democrats who represent Massachusetts in the US House will vote against the measure when it emerges in the next few weeks.

Acting Gov. Jane Swift is in favor of fast-track trade negotiating rights, which the Bush administration says will boost economies, and individuals worldwide.

Another round of world trade talks is due to get underway this weekend in Qatar, a peninsula located in the Arabian Gulf.

The Middle Eastern state was picked to host this year's talks and conference organizers have elected to forge ahead despite concerns over the developing war on terrorism.

Russ Davis, director of Mass. Jobs With Justice, said trade negotiators won't see many protesters and will probably be focused on their own security.

Davis said turmoil in the wake of the attacks on the United States underscores the need for globalization efforts that address the needs of all citizens, including those in developing countries.

Topics at the Qatar talks will include trade promises, intellectual property rights, agricultural subsidies, and privatization of public services.

The Boston Global Action Network organized Thursday's press conference.

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Students speak on Quebec protest
By Alissa Inman
News Staff

Northeastern University News Vol. LXXV, No. 27 (5/16/01)

A group of 17 Northeastern students braved clouds of tear gas and throngs of riot police in Quebec City last month where they joined thousands of other protesters at the Summit of the Americas.

They traveled in a caravan of two cars and a rental van, and marched through the streets chanting "This is what democracy looks like" and "Corporate greed has got to go," in protest of the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

National leaders and business representatives from across the Western Hemisphere met at the Summit with a main agenda of working out terms of the FTAA, a trade agreement would extend the terms of NAFTA throughout North and South America.

"We went because whenever they have a meeting like this, the people opposed to it should be there to show their opposition and to try and stop it," said Stanislav Vysotsky, a sociology graduate student. "We have to show that something like this isn't going to be run through without resistance."

The students are members of the NU Progressive Student Alliance and NU Students Against FTAA. They say the trade agreement would drive down wages for working-class Americans, increase environmental problems, and exploit workers and small businesses everywhere, all at the benefit of large corporations.

They marched and protested for two days and spent two nights sleeping on the tile floors of a classroom at Laval University, just outside Quebec City. An activist group, the Boston Global Action Network, had arranged their accommodations.

"If corporations are going to cross borders to fight people, then people are going to cross borders to fight corporations," said freshman Matt Boucher, a political science and philosophy major.

Boucher said the demonstration was worthwhile because it attracted attention, but that it probably had little effect on decisions made at the Summit.

"They're saying they want a democratic solution but at the same time they're shooting down peaceful protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets," he said.

Aside from a two-hour delay at the Canadian border because of heightened customs security, the trip went smoothly for the Northeastern group and none were injured or arrested, despite witnessing their share of violence.

At one point, protesters broke down a 12-foot chain link fence that surrounded the Summit building in downtown Quebec. Police responded in force.

"One girl took a tear gas canister in the ear and was bleeding," said protester Justin Ellsworth. "Another person took one in the throat. One guy had to get an emergency tracheotomy because he took a rubber bullet right in the throat."

A cloud of tear gas hung over downtown Quebec City, causing a burning sensation in the eyes of people as many as three blocks away.

"We all had bandannas and we all had vinegar with us," Ellsworth said. (Vinegar helps counteract the effects of tear gas.) "The people of Quebec City were really great about the whole thing and they were really hospitable."

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Dozens gather at Harvard to back sit-in for workers

By Jason Pring, Globe Correspondent, 4/22/2001

CAMBRIDGE - Dozens of demonstrators, clutching posters and chanting slogans, gathered in Harvard Yard yesterday to protest globalization and to show support for a sit-in demonstration aimed at getting the university to increase hourly wages for its lowest-paid workers.

As campus police watched nearby, many cheered for the 40 students who have occupied Massachusetts Hall, an administration building, since Wednesday.

A university spokesman, Joe Wrinn, said there are no plans to evict the students from the building, where the university president and provost work.

''A final decision hasn't been made, by any means,'' Wrinn said. ''It's day by day. We trust the students to keep their word that there will be no physical damage and no harassment of the workers.''

Frustrated with the university's refusal to increase its lowest pay scale from $6.50 to $10.25 an hour, students said they're not planning to leave.

The protest yesterday drew a number of supporters, including Robert Reich, a secretary of labor under President Clinton.

''It would be presumptuous of me to tell Harvard what to do, but I am strongly in support of a living wage for all people,'' Reich said.

The protesters, who shouted slogans also being chanted at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, were sponsored by the Boston Global Action Network. Organizers said the plight of low-income service workers at Harvard highlighted the squeeze being felt by low-income workers everywhere.

''In terms of wages, it's a race to the bottom,'' said Erica George, a volunteer with the Boston Global Action Network. ''Globalization pushes wages down.''

As he stood watching the rally gather steam, Wrinn, the Harvard spokesman, said the university had spent a year studying the wage issue but had decided to provide educational opportunities such as English as a second language and computer training rather than increase wages for the 400 Harvard employees who make less than $10 an hour.

Students who support the wage increase say the education benefits aren't enough. ''Those statements are a misrepresentation of the situation,'' said Paul Lekas, a Harvard law student. ''Many of those people work two or three shifts a day, and many of them aren't able to take advantage of those opportunities.''

The sit-in has been peaceful, Wrinn said. Administrators will show up for work tomorrow even if the students remain, he said.

This story ran on page 7 of the Boston Globe on 4/22/2001. Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.

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Invasion massive de 500 Bostoniens

1 avril 2001 Le Soleil de Québec
Moreault, Éric

http://www.lesoleil.com/documents2/fda/opposants/4-1.stm

Alain va revenir dans sa ville natale dans quelques semaines. Mais cette fois-ci, ce ne sera pas pour visiter sa famille. Qui ne pourrait accueillir, d'ailleurs, tous ceux qui l'accompagneront. Ils seront environ 500 de la région de Boston à traverser la frontière pour manifester au Sommet des Amériques. S'ils y parviennent...

Le principal obstacle que doivent surmonter les militants américains - outre le manque d'hébergement - prend la forme d'un douanier. Pour éviter que les fonctionnaires fédéraux exercent un pouvoir discrétionnaire et arbitraire, le Boston Global Action Network (BGAN) a élaboré diverses tactiques.

L'une d'entre elles consiste à embarquer une équipe de journalistes, si possible de la télévision, à bord de chaque autobus. En passant, les militants américains éprouvent aussi beaucoup de difficultés à en louer. Des vigiles seront également envoyés à la frontière afin de surveiller le travail des douaniers.

Les plus engagés, ou ceux qui prônent ouvertement la désobéissance civile, pourraient être tentés de traverser à Cornwall, même si les Mohawks ont indiqué qu'il n'était pas question de transformer leur territoire en passoire.

D'autres voudront profiter du passage des 1500 syndiqués du Western Massachusetts, qui ont obtenu l'assurance du gouvernement canadien d'un libre passage, explique Catherine Benedict, responsable médias du BGAN, tout en étant la plus discrète possible sur les stratégies adoptées, pour des raisons évidentes.

On recommande toutefois l'approche discrète, qui consiste à avoir l'air le plus "normal" possible et de traverser en automobile - éviter d'apposer un autocollant anti-ZLEA sur le pare-chocs aidera...- et d'essayer de ne pas tous entrer par le même endroit, de façon à maximiser les chances et le nombre de visiteurs.

Ce mot d'ordre circule au sein du New England Global Action Network, qui regroupe les organismes comme le BGAN de tout l'État, ainsi que dans les États limitrophes: Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts. Impossible d'évaluer le nombre de ceux qui voudront être à Québec entre le 19 et le 22 avril - les réseaux eux-mêmes ont bien de la difficulté à les recenser. Ou ne veulent pas le révéler.

Tous ceux qui seront refoulés pourront se rendre à Burlington où la Vermont Mobilization for Global Justice a annoncé il y a deux semaines la création d'un centre de convergence et d'un centre des médias indépendants (du réseau IMC). Un autre centre de convergence pourrait être établi à Jackman.

Les militants bloqués pourraient alors se regrouper et tenter une entrée massive. Ou organiser une manifestation. D'ailleurs, des démonstrations sont déjà prévues aux postes-frontières de Detroit, de Buffalo...

Évidemment, Alain traversera sans encombre puisqu'il est citoyen canadien. C'est plutôt le retour dans son pays d'adoption qui le tracasse. D'où l'utilisation du simple prénom dans cet article pour celui qui, ironiquement, travaille aux États-Unis grâce aux dispositions de l'Accord de libre-échange nord-américain...

Docteur en psychologie, Alain est allé compléter son postdoctorat au MIT et à Harvard. Il n'est jamais revenu. Choqué par les événements de Seattle, il a assisté à la réunion de formation du BGAN, coalition d'une trentaine de groupes - "certains plus radicaux que d'autres" - comme Africa AIDS, Alliance for Democracy, Bank Buster (l'équivalent de l'ATTAC), Bio Devastation 2000... Ce dernier, auquel appartient Alain, s'oppose, par exemple, à la prolifération des OGM.

Militant discret, son implication se limitait souvent à distribuer des dépliants, Alain s'est toutefois senti interpellé par l'érection du "mur de la honte". "Quand j'ai entendu parler des mesures de sécurité, je me suis dis que ça n'avait pas de bon sens. Étant natif de Québec, une ville où j'ai demeuré pendant 29 ans, je ne pouvais rester à rien faire. Alors je fais le lien entre les activistes de Québec (OQP 2001, le CASA) et de Boston", confie-t-il en entrevue téléphonique au SOLEIL.

Avec un tel profil, on conviendra qu'il n'a rien du parfait casseur, ni même du militant d'ailleurs. "Ma motivation première, même si c'est un peu idéaliste, c'est d'avoir un monde meilleur. La seule façon de lutter, c'est de se regrouper. On peut peut-être faire bouger les choses."

Par contre, même si "j'ai des idées radicales, je ne crois pas qu'on puisse changer les choses rapidement, mais plutôt graduellement. Encore faut-il qu'elles aillent dans la bonne direction, ce qui n'est pas le cas en ce moment".

Comme beaucoup d'autres, Alain estime que la mondialisation consacre à toutes fins utiles la mainmise des corporations sur la société civile et le pouvoir politique. La libéralisation des échanges telle qu'envisagée, "est antidémocratique, créer de l'exclusion et des iniquités. Il y a tellement de raisons d'être contre qu'on ne saurait les résumer dans un article".

Il propose toutefois une analogie avec l'Union européenne, créée sur la base de débats publics et de référendums et dont la gestion est assurée par un parlement supranational. Pour la ZLEA, "tout est négocié en secret, sans référendum". Quant à sa mise en application, il n'est guère optimiste, se fiant à l'ALENA où ce sont "des tribunaux secrets qui règlent les litiges de façon définitive".

"C'est pas fort comme processus démocratique. Ça ressemble plutôt à de la dictature."

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ROUGH JUSTICE:
As protesters at last summer's Republican National Convention come to trial, a nasty tale emerges

The Boston Phoenix January 18 - 25, 2001
by Kristen Lombardi

http://12.11.184.13/archive/features/01/01/18/philly1.html

Civil-liberties lawyers consider it one of the worst large-scale violations of First Amendment rights since the Vietnam War -- and as many as 25 New England activists were caught in the middle.

For nine months before the Republican National Convention, which took place in Philadelphia from July 31 to August 3, Philly police worked closely with the FBI and Secret Service, as well as with state troopers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, to ensure that the GOP confab would not be disrupted. The first part of their strategy was effective, if not particularly novel: arresting and jailing street protesters. It's not much different from what their brothers and sisters in blue did last April in Washington, DC, where protesters flocked to demonstrate against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

But the second part of the Philly strategy was much more malicious. When protesters are arrested for acts of civil disobedience, most police departments issue summary offenses, which are no more serious than traffic tickets. The Philadelphia police had done this for years. When police arrested more than 400 protesters last summer, however, they instead slapped them with misdemeanor and felony charges. Doing so allowed prosecutors to seek bail, which they did with zeal -- those arrested were held on bail ranging from $10,000 to $1 million. That allowed police to keep many activists off the streets for days after the GOP delegates had left town. And it also let prosecutors pursue cases against those protesters who've refused -- on principle -- to plead out their charges.

If the city succeeds in convicting people and sentencing them to jail time, it will surely have a tremendous chilling effect on the future of organized activism. As Chip Berlet of the Somerville-based Political Research Associates explains, "In Philadelphia, we saw the return of overt government repression of dissent. Which works fine for a police state, but not at all for the free-speech principles of democracy."

Philadelphia district attorney Lynne Abrahams has assigned attorneys from her office's elite homicide unit -- the city's A-list of lawyers -- to prosecute these outstanding cases. It's a move that Philadelphia defense attorney Lawrence Krasner finds ridiculous. "These are not killers," he says. "They're students from Brown."

To date, the DA's office has prosecuted 143 cases. Despite the high priority they've received from prosecutors, 90 percent of the misdemeanor court cases have been thrown out for lack of evidence, as have half the felony cases. (Of the cases not thrown out, six of 43 defendants have been convicted of misdemeanors in trials since last fall. Many of them were sentenced to six months' probation and community service to be performed in Philadelphia, although they are not city residents. All have appealed. One protester was sentenced to 90 days in prison -- but it was for violating probation for a previous arrest.) But the upcoming January 25 trial of 19 defendants charged with seven misdemeanors -- obstructing a highway, failure to disperse, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and three counts of conspiracy -- has observers worried.

Judge Seamus McCaffrey, a former police officer known for his pro-cop reputation, is assigned to the case. Defense attorney Shawn Nolan is representing most of the defendants, including two Boston-area activists: Alex Rae and "Chill Breeze" (who wishes to remain anonymous). He filed a motion asking McCaffrey to recuse himself from the trial. In the motion, Nolan describes how McCaffrey, at a health-care conference last July, told a 40-person audience that he planned to make sure streets were cleared of protesters during the GOP convention. "Our position is that he cannot be a fair trial judge," Nolan explains. But after being challenged in court January 16, McCaffrey has refused to recuse himself.

"I don't know what to expect," admits Rae, 25, a Harvard graduate involved with the Boston Global Action Network. "The defeat rate is huge.... It's as if police and [prosecutors] never thought it'd get this far."

Another case involving a local demonstrator is even more troubling. Providence-based housing activist Camilo Viveiros stands accused of throwing a bicycle at Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney during an August 1 march against the "criminal-injustice system." He originally faced charges of assault with intent to murder, conspiracy to attack police, riot, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and possession of an instrument of crime. They're charges that the 29-year-old Viveiros described as "trumped up." At an October 12 pretrial hearing, in fact, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe agreed by throwing out the conspiracy charge and reducing the assault-with-intent-to-murder charge to simple assault. Abrahams has appealed the reduction in charges. (Timoney testified at the hearing that he hadn't suffered any injuries in the alleged scuffle. And prosecutors failed to show that Viveiros had acted with two other protesters to commit the supposed crimes.) If convicted of the remaining charges, however, Viveiros could face up to 10 years in prison.

Rae, Breeze, and Viveiros were arrested August 1, the day protesters had scheduled a massive demonstration against the "criminal injustice" system. Ironically, Viveiros, who works for the Boston-based Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, didn't plan to attend the demonstration when he went to Philadelphia last summer. He went to advocate for housing issues and intended to return home July 31 to finish a grant application.

But after learning about the August 1 protest, Viveiros decided to stay. By doing so, he joined Rae, Breeze, and hundreds of other activists interested in calling attention to the nation's failed drug war, the death penalty, and the escalating prison population. Protesters also planned to press one particularly sensitive issue for Philadelphia's finest: the 1981 conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the murder of Philadelphia patrolman Daniel Faulkner. Numerous civil-disobedience actions were coordinated for that day, activists say. But the prospect of arrest didn't necessarily cross their minds. As Breeze puts it: "I didn't go down there planning on getting arrested."

The morning of the demonstration, police went on the offensive by searching a warehouse -- dubbed the Ministry of Puppetganda by protesters -- where about 75 activists were preparing the giant satirical puppets that have become a signature of last year's massive protests. Protesters refused to let police enter until they produced a search warrant, which they did hours after arriving at the warehouse. By then, attorney Bradley Bridge of the Defender Association of Philadelphia was on the scene to broker a deal. Protesters agreed to surrender -- but only on the condition that they'd be released if the police failed to find anything illegal. Protesters insisted that Bridge accompany police on an inspection tour to ensure that no illegal items would be planted. Police "found nothing in the warehouse," he recalls. Despite this, the city condemned the building and confiscated the puppets. The police also violated their agreement with Bridge by handcuffing protesters and driving them around the city for hours in sweltering buses without food, water, or bathroom facilities. At 1 a.m., protesters were charged with various misdemeanor crimes and jailed at police headquarters.

At court proceedings last month, the prosecution was forced to withdraw its thin cases against 65 of the protesters arrested at the warehouse. (Ten others had earlier opted for a plea bargain.) Pretrial hearings revealed that four undercover Pennsylvania state troopers, posing as union carpenters, had infiltrated the warehouse. Although troopers testified that demonstrators had planned to use the puppets as "sleeping dragons" to block streets, they failed to link even one protester to a crime.

Also at the hearings, the 28-page affidavit that police had used to obtain the search warrant was unsealed -- revealing a startling Cold War mentality. To justify the search, police had relied partly on a report from an obscure right-wing group called the Maldon Institute, which claims that anti-corporate-globalization activists are funded by "Communist and leftist parties" and "the former Soviet-allied World Federation of Trade Unions." In other words, explains Berlet of Political Research Associates, "police argued demonstrators were being manipulated by some international conspiracy, which is ludicrous."

Timoney, the police commissioner, is reluctant to discuss the state-police infiltration and his department's actions. "I'm sure we're going to get sued on that," he says. He acknowledges that 10 young officers who were dressed like protesters attended demonstrations, but insists that Philadelphia police did not infiltrate activist groups. Although his department worked closely with federal and state authorities in the months leading up to the GOP convention, Timoney maintains that he didn't know about the infiltration at the Haverford Avenue warehouse until August 1. In a Philadelphia Inquirer article, however, Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Jack Lewis said that local police were told in advance about the state's infiltration plans.

Philadelphia police continued their aggressive tactics throughout the day, arresting hundreds more activists -- including Rae, Breeze, and Viveiros -- who had filled the streets for the criminal-injustice demonstrations. Rae recalls that he'd made his way downtown that day to attend several "aggressive yet peaceful" marches. Around 4 p.m., thousands of protesters stationed themselves in the streets surrounding Philadelphia City Hall. Some sat in intersections. Others staged soccer games. Rae noticed a growing police presence. Bicycle patrols taunted crowds. "They would ride up into people," he explains. Police helicopters roared overhead. Eventually, officers picked up protesters and carted them away. "I thought, `Oh no,'" Rae recalls, "`here we go.'"

Because of his imminent trial, Rae declines to discuss his arrest except to say, "Police decided not to be open about beating up people in the streets, but they were just as aggressive behind the scenes." Rae did not suffer injuries during his arrest, but he says he knows protesters who did. Rae and Breeze, who was also arrested in the sweep, were charged with seven misdemeanors and held on $10,000 bail for what their attorney Nolan describes as "sitting in the middle of the street."

Compared to what happened to Viveiros, however, Rae and Breeze were lucky. Viveiros also attended protests near City Hall, but made a fateful decision to join a spontaneous march -- a decision that set him on a collision course with police.

According to police testimony at the October 12 pretrial hearing, Timoney and two patrolmen encountered that march -- and 10 people rocking a car -- at the corner of Latimer and 17th Streets. Patrolman Clyde Frasier said he grabbed two men by their shirt collars, but as he tried to cuff them, Eric Steinberg of Memphis, Tennessee, came at him with a police bike. Frasier said he punched Steinberg's chest, knocking him to the ground.

Timoney testified that he was struggling with another protester when Viveiros came from behind and threw a bike at him. In an interview, he told the Phoenix that he grabbed Viveiros by the heel, saying to himself, "This son of a bitch is going nowhere." After Viveiros's arrest, Timoney testified, he noticed another man, Darby Landy of Raleigh, North Carolina, trying to steal a bicycle. Timoney clutched the bike, he alleges, but Landy yanked it and tossed it at him. Another officer arrested Landy as he ran down the street.

After the clash with police, Viveiros was charged with committing felonies and held on $450,000 bail. Similar charges were filed against both Landy and Steinberg.

Viveiros, too, declines to discuss his arrest for fear of jeopardizing his court case. But he says, "Their claims that I attacked them [are] not accurate." His lawyer Robert Levant adds, "He's innocent, and that will be shown at trial. There's no question."

Those who know Viveiros can't believe that he'd throw a bike at anyone. His boss even calls him "the most Christ-like person I know." But for those who participated in the protests-- some of whom know Viveiros -- his arrest isn't unbelievable. It was simply part of a concerted police plan to quash dissent, starting with the infiltration of the protest groups and continuing with the trials.

Defense attorney Krasner says these cases lay bare "a deliberate attempt to stifle traditional dissent" -- and not just in Philadelphia. What happened last summer, he and others maintain, reflects a national effort, one that's become increasingly sophisticated since the November 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle.

Timoney says his department's extensive preparations that day went off without a hitch. "By and large," he told the Phoenix in December, "it went according to plan." He is especially proud that he kept his promise to ACLU leaders during pre-convention meetings not to use tear gas and rubber bullets. "The one thing I didn't want was Dan Rather or some other guy going on TV with scenes like Seattle," he explains. (Given that Seattle's police chief resigned because of the now-famous protests, what commissioner would?) Calling protesters "crybabies to the core," Timoney denies civil liberties were ever violated. The criminal cases have collapsed, but not because protesters are innocent, he contends. Rather, he says, "that's indicative of Philadelphia justice." The majority of criminal suspects, he explains, end up on the streets because of an overly permissive court system.

However, they may also be on the street because of sloppy police work. Police tactics were so aggressive that even Philadelphia residents who had nothing to do with the protests were targeted. Seven people working as medics, for instance, were stopped and detained for hours on August 2. Police forced them to dump or drink the "suspicious liquids" they were carrying -- which turned out to be water, milk, and mineral oil. The medics filed the first civil lawsuit related to the GOP convention protests back in September.

Police also stunned the public by arresting six prominent activists for being "ringleaders" during the convention demonstrations. All six were explicitly named in the 28-page police affidavit used for the warehouse raid; several of them maintain, through their lawyers, that police had kept them under surveillance for weeks. The most high-profile example is John Sellers, who heads the Ruckus Society, a Berkeley, California-based organization that trains activists in civil-disobedience techniques. Sellers was yanked off a downtown street August 2 and charged with 14 misdemeanors, from conspiracy to "possession of an instrument of crime" -- his cell phone.

Sellers was jailed for six days on an unprecedented bail of $1 million. That's $500,000 more than the bail recently set for Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a former Massachusetts resident who cannibalized a 10-year-old Montana boy. Yet at Sellers's November 14 trial, prosecutors dropped all counts, telling a judge that they didn't have enough evidence. "That they would lock him up on $1 million bail, and then come to court without any evidence, tells me that the police and DA have gone way overboard," says Krasner, who represents Sellers and several other alleged ringleaders. He asserts that the case against Sellers was so weak that police resorted to "making stuff up." Early records accuse Sellers of aggravated assault, he says, a charge that was later changed to blocking traffic.

A blatant double standard in the police arrests has also come to light. In October, for example, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon dismissed counts against seven people who had been arrested for lying in a street at a July 31 demonstration against the School of the Americas (SOA), the United States military academy that trains Latin American officers. DeLeon threw out the case on grounds of "selective prosecution" after he found that police had failed to arrest hundreds of people who blocked another street that same day while calling for Abu-Jamal's execution. The only difference between the two protests, the judge wrote, is that opinions of the SOA demonstrators "were not viewed as favorably by Philadelphia citizens."

The largest group trial thus far has proved to be something of an embarrassment for the prosecution. Boston resident Patrick Whittaker (who moved to San Francisco this month) became one of 43 defendants to appear in court November 27 after getting pinched at Broad and Spruce Streets. At his trial, Judge DeLeon acquitted all but five protesters of various misdemeanors because of a lack of evidence. Recalls Matt Borus, a Boston activist who attended Whittaker's trial, "The judge said they needed somebody to testify that somebody committed a crime."

Borus adds, "The DA's office knows perfectly well that protesters aren't a danger to the people of Philadelphia. In this case, they were forced to admit it."

Kristopher Hermes of the watchdog group R2K Legal Collective concedes that some demonstrators vandalized police cruisers by using spray paint and slashing tires. But that doesn't mean the August 1 protests were all about violence. "Thousands of people were there," he says. "If they wanted, they could have ripped apart the city." Of the 404 arrested, he notes, police failed to charge even one person for these vandalism crimes. Instead, they arrested peaceful protesters who had done little more than speak out against myriad criminal-justice issues.

Protesters who managed to escape arrest turned their attention away from the convention to their imprisoned colleagues. For days, one vigil after another was staged outside police headquarters. Inside, conditions remained poor. Whittaker was one of scores of people who refused to cooperate with police by giving their names. So, he says, police hog-tied him and dragged him to the fingerprinting area. Rae tells similar stories. Police, he says, fastened plastic handcuffs so tightly that protesters' hands went numb. Others suffered cuts and bruises.

Timoney insists that such stories are "completely made up." In Seattle and DC, protesters who refused to give their names -- a common act of civil disobedience -- were released. But Philadelphia police kept such protesters because, as Timoney explains, "we said, `We're not going to [play the] game.' They kept themselves in jail and now they're complaining." As for the abuse allegations, he praises his men for showing "remarkable restraint." Twenty-six officers suffered injuries; still, he says, "Not one protester [was] injured. Over 400 arrested. That must be a first." Referring to Viveiros, he adds, "Your boy from Massachusetts walked in to the station. Nothing happened to him."

Medical records, however, indicate that Viveiros received a mild concussion during his arrest. And these days he has a different headache, since he could face years of legal wrangling before going to trial. Abrahams's decision to appeal the reduction in charges against Viveiros will delay his trial date by at least a year.

"What's up with that?" asks Chill Breeze, a friend of Viveiros. "Police and prosecutors are scared shitless of continuing protests. That's why they're reacting so strongly."

Even if their cases are dismissed, their Philadelphia experiences have forever changed the lives of these defendants. They have focused on nothing else for months. They've wasted hundreds of hours worrying about their defense. They've spent thousands of dollars traveling to and from Philly to appear in court. Some felony defendants have also been forced to spend thousands more hiring private lawyers, rather than rely on the seven who are representing defendants for free.

Their crash-course introduction to the American criminal-justice system -- Philadelphia's version, anyway -- has left them determined to speak out. Explains Rae, "They've taken 400 people and put them through hell." Rae has had no regrets these past months because, he says, "It's been a real wake-up call."

Timoney has few regrets as well -- and why should he? Immediately after the convention arrests, as Krasner says, "Timoney was practically put on his own Mount Rushmore." Billboards were erected thanking him for a job well done. "He was God's gift to the humane treatment of stinky protesters," Krasner adds. But as the prosecution's cases unravel and the arrest details surface, public opinion has shifted. The St. Petersburg Times even ran a January 6 editorial criticizing police for using "disturbing, unconstitutional tactics deserving of a Justice Department investigation."

But Timoney stands by his contention that he and his men did a good job. He proudly points out that just days after the GOP convention, the Los Angeles Police Department resorted to shooting pepper spray and rubber pellets at protesters during the Democratic National Convention -- something his cops never did. But if the Philadelphia trials have shown anything, it's that avoiding excessive force is not enough. Perhaps the ACLU's Stefan Presser sums up the sentiment best: "Police [gave] the impression they were [complying] with the Constitution. They were massively violating civil liberties."

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at [email protected]

SPEAKERS FOCUS ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

The Heights (12/05/00)
Independent Student Weekly of Boston College
By Katie Horn

http://www.bcheights.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=1025

Representatives of the Boston Global Action Network discussed the issues of feminism and globalization with students in Higgins 310 last Wednesday.

A crowd gathered to hear Catherine Bell, Kiaran Honderich and Cassie Watters speak.

"We need to strive for the social, political and economic equality of all people," Bell said. This is the definition of feminism Bell, the first to speak, used throughout her presentation. Bell proceeded to ask the audience, "What would a US feminist society look like?" She encouraged students to respond.

The brainstorming, as Bell called it, led to a long list of answers to this question.

Students said equal pay for equal work, equal cost for equal products and equal representation in the media of both sexes would exist if the United States were a feminist society. One student suggested that in a US feminist society, a woman would be able to live without harassment no matter what she wore.

"We see things like veils in the Middle East as being oppressive, but those women choose to wear those veils. They might view our bathing suits as being oppressive," said another student.

Bell went on to say that no double standards would exist if the US were a feminist society.

The conversation moved toward a more global outlook, and the qualities of a worldwide feminist society were outlined.

Students said, in a worldwide feminist society, health and sexuality would be valued equally between the sexes.

Also, according to Bell, there would be equal access to adequate health care and insurance, and no one would be forced into sex or prostitution.

"But should women be able to have equality everywhere, even in the church?" asked Nicole Farina, A&S '03. Bell said she was unsure of the answer to this.

The second speaker, Kiaran Honderich, started by examining the assertions made during the brainstorming session.

"Let's look at how the current processes of globalization are interacting with the ideals we've just set up. Is globalization making the world more or less like these ideals?" said Honderich.

Honderich discussed the impact of drug companies and the market on people in Africa. According to Honderich, 24.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have AIDS.

Honderich stated that people are dying left and right in these countries.

By comparison, people in the US who are infected with HIV are living relatively normal lives, Honderich said.

"We have drugs readily available and cheaply manufactured. But are they available in South Africa and other African countries?" Honderich stated.

She continued, "No, because pharmaceuticals are demanding prices way above the cost of generation."

One audience member asked Honderich why she thinks they haven't found a cure to AIDS.

"There aren't good incentives by the market for pharmaceutical companies to produce vaccines. You only use it once, you're not dependent on it," Honderich said.

This lecture was the final one of a series of six on the subject of globalization. It was presented by the Women's Resource Center, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) Women's Issues Council, and the UGBC Social Action Council.

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PROTESTERS TAKE AIM AT PFIZER

The Tech (MIT) (Friday, September 29, 2000)
Volume 120, Number 46
By W. S. Wang

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V120/N46/46march.46n.html

A rally against Pfizer Tuesday began with speeches at the Stratton Student Center and culminated in a march to the company’s Discovery Technology Center at 620 Memorial Drive.

"Drop the Debts. Drop the Prices. Don’t Be a Part of the AIDS Crisis!" was the crowd’s battle cry. The protest date occurred on the international day of action against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Prague.

Many protesters carried signs, some with grim statistics about the AIDS crisis in Africa and others decrying Pfizer’s greed. One standout was a large propped up monster representing the evil of the IMF and the World Bank hovering over much of the world.

As the crowd marched to Pfizer under the watchful eyes of police officers, chants of "Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate greed has got to go" and "The AIDS crisis/ Who do we thank/ The IMF and the World Bank!" were mingled with the echoes of "Solidarity Forever" and the occasional honking of car horns from supporters.

The Boston-based Jobs for Justice, part of the Boston Global Action Network, together with BankBusters and other organizations decided to focus on Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. They have charged that Pfizer has used its patent on Fluconazole, a life-extending drug for AIDS patients, to monopolize the market and keep the prices up to $18 per pill.

The company reportedly has worked to block African countries’ efforts to get around high prices by developing generic versions of drugs. Although Pfizer justifies its actions by claiming that it has intellectual property rights upheld by the World Trade Organization, it was later found by the United Nations that the WTO’s rules are "contradictory to human rights."

Jonathan King, a biologist attending the protest, said that "Pfizer’s behavior today is no different than other major thefts of national resources in history." He pointed to Pfizer’s "theft of genes" as publicly funded research that has resulted in economic monopoly.

Ken Johnson, another protester who said he has witnessed first-hand the severe problem with AIDS in Africa, warns of "a ghost continent if drastic actions are not taken." He urged the activists to "overcome their cynicism with the American government and not overlook the ballot box."

Andrea Lee of the Greater Boston NOW called this entire movement against big business and the World Bank "a common struggle" because "these international economic conglomerates are great deterrents to the struggle to end women’s poverty and violence against women."

Another speaker representing the senior community painted a bleak picture of seniors in America, saying that "the elderly have to decide between food, rent, or medicine because of the greed of pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer." He said that seniors often have to make trips to Canada for much cheaper medicine because of the powerful monopolies within the states.

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PROTESTERS CALL FOR PHILADELPHIA ACTIVISTS' RELEASE

Boston Herald
Wednesday, August 9, 2000
by Jessica Heslam

www.bostonherald.com

Calling it a ``civil rights catastrophe,'' protesters yesterday demanded the release of activists who remain in a Philadelphia jail after they were arrested last week for causing havoc near the Republican National Convention.

``These are bails higher than those for murderers,'' said Michael Kane, a co-worker of Camille Vivieros, 29, of Fall River, who is being held on $450,000 bail and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.

Held on the steps of the State House, about 75 people attended the demonstration, including relatives of the six local protesters who remain behind bars out-of-state.

Police arrested 381 activists last week in Philadelphia's Center City - about 10 minutes from the convention - after protesters blocked streets and scuffled with police officers. Most were charged with misdemeanor offenses.

Local organizers yesterday complained of hefty bails set for some of the arrested activists.

But Jim McDevitt, vice president of the Philadelphia police union, said yesterday that a high bail was ordered for Vivieros because he was charged with a felony - assaulting a police officer with a bicycle. McDevitt said high bails were set for others also charged with felonies.

Organizers of yesterday's demonstration said many of the activists who showed up in Philadelphia were there to protest police brutality and the death penalty. The R2K Network was the organizing committee that pulled together several protest groups in Philadelphia.

McDevitt said 117 activists remained in jail as of late yesterday.

``They are finally cooperating,'' said McDevitt, adding that many activists first told police their names were Jane or John Doe.

Some activists still in jail are practicing ``jail solidarity'' and are not disclosing their names to police and are refusing release until all protesters are let go.

McDevitt disputed claims from local activists who said imprisoned protesters have been punched, kicked, and dragged on jail floors through urine and spit.

Erica Sagrans, 17, of Cambridge, was arrested in Philadephia last Tuesday and released the following day. Sagrans drove her mother's caravan to Philadelphia with some friends.

``It was a little scary, but I was comforted by the fact that there were other people there supporting me,'' Sagrans said.

Vivieros, whom one friend compared to 19th century philosopher Henry Thoreau, has not been able to call his family, said his sister, Theresa Almeida of Fall River.

``We have not spoken to him, which makes us wonder what is going on,'' Almeida said.

Boston attorney Daniel Beck, who was at the State House protest, called the arrests a ``direct assault on the United States Constitution.'' He spoke as protesters handed out fliers asking people to call Philadelphia police and city officials to demand their release.

Local activists plan to meet today to come up with a plan to get the remaining protesters out of jail.

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DON'T MOURN—REORGANIZE!

Birth of a Movement: Unlikely Alliances With Activists and Immigrants Help Unions Stage a Comeback

The Village Voice (Published July 19 - 25, 2000)
by Alisa Solomon

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0029/solomon.shtml

The contract deadline was nearing at the end of June when General Electric workers from Lynn, Massachusetts, decided to travel down to GE headquarters in Boston to demonstrate for wage increases, better pensions, and more job security. Forty middle-aged white guys from the International Union of Electronic Workers headed into town. There, as IUE local 201 president Jeff Crosby recalls, "We saw this skinny kid in one of our T-shirts. Who was that guy? He couldn't be one of us—our average age is 55. Plus, he was wearing a mohawk."

Turns out he was a puppeteer from the guerrilla theater group organized by Boston's Global Action Network—the umbrella formed in the wake of the Seattle WTO protests, which Crosby and tens of thousands of other trade unionists also joined. Back home in front of GE, the troupe performed a street skit featuring robotic execs with cell phones, "and our guys thought it was hilarious." The much touted "blue-green alliance"—between organized labor and the grassroots groups it was once so suspicious of—was beginning to bear fruit.

This collaboration is just one of the marks of labor's resurgence. The era of defeat that began with the crushing of the Air-Traffic Controllers' Union in 1981 seems finally to be coming to a close. Strikes, though hardly always a sure thing, are once again proving viable, whether for janitors marching past cheering throngs in Los Angeles, actors demanding "pay for play" from AT&T in New York, or 17,000 engineers in Seattle walking out at Boeing in the largest strike by private-sector professionals America has ever seen. But strikes and mass demonstrations are just the most visible forms of dissent. The act of forming a union remains, itself, a powerful protest against unbridled corporate power. With poverty increasingly "a matter of work, not just of unemployment, in the so-called booming economy," as labor scholar Steve Fraser puts it, labor has made a new push into the low-wage service sector, and that has meant reaching out to women and immigrants.

Though only 14 percent of workers belong to unions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1999 showed the first increase in union membership in decades. In Los Angeles alone, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) signed up some 75,000 home-health-care workers—the largest number of workers organized in a single local campaign since 1941. This boost, coupled with community living-wage campaigns and more active alliances of nonunion workers such as taxi drivers and freelance artists, has positioned labor within the new and still inchoate, broad-based social justice movement—a place it dared not occupy a generation ago.

It's not just that when John Sweeney took over as president of the AFL-CIO four and a half years ago, he poured resources into organizing that labor hadn't seen in decades—creating the federation's first organizing department, initiating Union Summer to bring young people into the fold, and fostering rank-and-file leadership in the locals. Union activists around the country speak of a new openness in the bureaucratic behemoth. Even the entrenched traditional loyalty to the Democratic Party is beginning to be questioned by factions that just can't let Gore slide on the China trade bill. (There's no top-sanctioned participation planned for protests at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles, but the Pennsylvania chapter of the AFL-CIO will be mobilizing for the Unity2000 rally before the Republican convention.)

In any case, because globalization has redefined corporate ownership, the nature of employment, what constitutes a workplace, and the workforce itself, labor has had to respond with innovative, even revolutionary strategies. "It's not the 1930s," explains Elaine Bernard, executive director of the Trade Union Program at Harvard. "You can't just stand outside the plant and leaflet. The work site might not be the place where the employer of record is. Janitors might work in a fancy office building, but it's a cleaning service that hired them; it's some payroll agency somewhere that hired the nurses in a hospital."

That's one reason that what longtime labor activist Lisa Fithian calls "the janitor model" has been so effective and so galvanizing. In their astonishing victory in Los Angeles last spring—which had repercussions in cities across the country—SEIU organized janitors into an industrywide attack, in which they often massed in the streets rather than straggling into pickets at particular buildings. Meanwhile, they developed community support in the churches and other institutions in the neighborhoods where the workers live, and pressured elected officials to rally around their cause. Throughout the campaign, they figured janitors as a symbol of the country's widening economic disparity. The idea that a worker's weekly pay for cleaning dozens of hotel rooms was less than what one such room costs to stay in for one night powerfully crystallized the issues at the core of the new movement against corporate greed. "And unions are still the only mechanism we have in this country to redistribute the wealth to those who actually do the work," says Fithian.

The point, increasingly, is not lost on professionals. "The ties of the middle class to capital are loosening," says scholar Stanley Aronowitz, citing new and resurgent unions among physicians, insurance agents, engineers, and others. "In the global economy, that sort of work is hanging, too, and professionals are being cast adrift as adjunct, part-time, and contingent workers." At the same time, he adds, many unionized public employees have elected progressive new leaderships after "a long period of being beat up on ideologically and at the bargaining table." As a professor at CUNY, Aronowitz is observing such change close-up: He's on the recently elected executive council of the faculty and staff union, which replaced a more conservative leadership that held power for more than two decades.

But by all accounts, the most momentous change in organized labor's strategy has been to embrace immigrants. Only 15 years ago, the AFL-CIO helped draft laws to penalize employers for hiring undocumented workers; now the federation is supporting amnesty for the estimated 6 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. "Organized labor has come to understand that immigrants are not taking away from the movement, but have the potential to add a great deal," says Maria Elena Durazo, president of Los Angeles's local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE), which recently won a contract provision stating that an employee who is detained or deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for up to a year may return with full seniority to a job.

This new understanding is also beginning to extend to workers overseas. When the aerospace company Ametek announced that it will move 74 jobs from Wilmington, Massachusetts, to Reynosa, Mexico, later this summer, local 201 of the IUE responded by bringing a leader of the Mexican trade union movement to speak to the workers in Wilmington. "There wasn't an ounce of hostility," says local president Jeff Crosby. "It's not the Mexican workers taking those jobs; it's the company."

So, will the workers of the world unite at last? "It's one thing if your company is losing money or closing and you get laid off," says Crosby. "It's another if they're making billions of dollars and looking for cheap labor where people can't organize unions. That just pisses you off and makes you want to fight back together."

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WAR AT HOME/WAR ABROAD

Cynthia Peters, Z Magazine

http://www.zmag.org/peters5.htm

On May 15, 2000, the Boston Global Action Network (BGAN) sponsored a Mother’s March from the African Meeting House to the gold-domed State House on Beacon Hill. Having recently returned from the April IMF/World Bank demonstrations in Washington, DC, BGAN turned their attention to the local scene. Their literature invited us to "Fight domestic structural adjustment! Join activists from across the state to oppose welfare `reform’ and to honor the labor of women!" Showing the parallels between welfare "reform" (strengthening corporations and forcing people into low-wage jobs) and structural adjustment policies in other countries ("which also strip social services and hurt the poor while benefiting wealthy corporations") BGAN was thinking globally and acting locally. An African American mother of 5, who had spent several years on welfare, took the microphone and talked about being called into the welfare office and being accused of lying in order to get benefits. Their logic was interesting: How could she possibly be surviving on what they paid her? She must be cheating, the authorities concluded, or she and her children would have starved to death by now.

Nationally and internationally, neoliberal economic policies exploit people, rob them of dignity and of a means to survive, and then criminalize them for, in fact, surviving. U.S. policies squeeze Colombian farmers to the point where the only cash crop they can depend on is coca. Domestic U.S. drug laws, meanwhile, ensure that the flow of cocaine into the country will disproportionately penalize and incarcerate poor people and people of color. Philippine nurses can’t make a livable wage in their own country, where their services are desperately needed, so they leave their homes and come to the U.S., where hospitals eagerly give them two-year contracts at substandard wages and then don’t renew the contract. Poor people all over the world, who have been "structurally adjusted" out of their livelihood, come to the United States where they can be super-exploited as laborers and criminalized as illegal aliens. Sound familiar? Like the welfare mother, if you do what you have to do to survive even minimally, you are a cheat and a criminal.

Connect the war at home with the war abroad. Note the parallels in policies. Build on the momentum from Seattle and Washington, DC, by looking around you at local struggles. Show up at welfare rights rallies, union picket lines, and Mumia marches. Learn from the community organizers that have deep roots in local struggles. Create a track record of supporting their struggles. Don’t just be a globetrotter against global capitalism – showing up at the hot spots for the big demonstrations. Figure out what’s going on in your own community, and join those efforts.

In preparation for rallies and actions during the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia this summer (see www.thepartysover.org), activists have put together a forum on racism and classism, featuring the director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. (Kensington is a poor neighborhood in North Philadelphia, where residents have worked since 1991 to organize welfare recipients, homeless people, and the working poor.) This is a good solid example of creating a bridge between those who have focused their organizing against the evils of global capitalism, and those who are fighting the same beast, but domestically.

So, 5 goals for the coming year:

Build Bridges

Build more bridges between the global to the local. Keep organizing national demonstrations and hauling in participants from all over the country, but do better at being in coalition with local communities. We all have a lot to learn from each other.

Question Affinity

Small, democratic, supportive groups give people a positive way to participate in large actions, but don’t let them turn into closed circles. It feels good to talk to people you know and trust (and you wouldn’t want to block an intersection, chained to anyone you didn’t know and trust), but after the PVC pipes come off, move outside the circle. Talk to people you don’t know or trust. The feeling will probably be mutual so this might be hard work, but it’s what organizing is all about. If you only talk to people who already agree with you, you’re not building a movement.

Don’t Just Stand There, Join Something!

You were tear gassed in Seattle and arrested in DC. You’ll be on the bus to Philly and train to LA. Swooping in and taking a stand is courageous and meaningful, but the movement needs you for more than that. Join an existing social change group (or start your own). Help make decisions, organize events, make the food, install the software, maintain the web sites, and pass the bylaws. Most importantly, make the effort to create mass-based, democratic organizations with sustainable infrastructures.

Consume This!

Alternative media is where we create (and save from obscurity) a documentary record of class, race, and gender exploitation. It is where we think about what we want, what we envision for our collective future. We need an alternative media in order to communicate with each other, share information, analysis and culture, debate each other and learn from each other. We need radio, film, books, magazines, and internet access. Buy alternative media. Write for it. Use it in classrooms. Donate to it. Work in it. Make it lively. Consume it.

Show Me the Money

The movement needs money – to pay for staff and the work of organizing. It can’t be done on a shoestring. Social change takes a long time; it needs long-term commitment. It requires FUNDING. Give money if you have it, and if you don’t, find someone who does. Challenge the funding community to be responsible to activists and organizers, rather than vice-versa.

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BIODEVASTATION 2000: THE DIVERSITY OF A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT

Published on Sunday, March 26, 2000 in the Boston Globe
by Raphael Lewis

http://www.boston.com

One thread binds the hundreds of people attending BioDevastation 2000, a conference on the potential hazards of biotechnology taking place this weekend at Northeastern University: the belief that the booming biotech industry, which is holding its own convention at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, is out of control.

Yet, if their opposition to biotechnology ties them together, those attending BioDevastation 2000 are really a patchwork group that reflects the diversity of a grass-roots movement all but nonexistent three years ago.

Today, the opponents move to Copley Square for a demonstration and protest march. The 500 to 1,000 people expected to show up will represent virtually every geographic region of the continent, every race, every class, and a wide spectrum of careers and interests, based on more than two-dozen interviews conducted by The Globe.

Some are farmers fresh from the open fields of the Midwest who fear the effects of genetically modified seeds and plant species on human health, the environment, and agriculture.

Others are students and young professionals from the crowded streets of the Northeast's big cities who worry that those who cannot afford organic foods are being forced to purchase genetically altered fruits and vegetables without knowing what the health consequences could be.

Some live in Vermont communes, others in San Francisco condos. Some are high school seniors, others senior citizens.

''I'm really amazed at how diverse this group of people is,'' said Abby Youngblood, 21, a New Hampshire resident who teaches fourth-graders about the environment. ''You'd think everyone here would look the same, but they don't at all.''

Many in attendance came by the busload from Maine, Vermont, and Canada, where opposition to genetically engineered foods has gained a strong populist foothold.

Several others are career activists from California and Washington, D.C., Europe and Asia, veterans of protests on issues such as nuclear power and human rights who have rededicated their lives to getting genetically engineered foods off store shelves.

More than a few are scientists, academics, graduate students, and researchers who fear that profit-driven discoveries funded by giant biotech corporations such as Monsanto have occurred in a moral vac uum.

Many others still are consumers craving more information on a topic they say they believe has received little attention in the mainstream media.

Dorian Brooks, 60, of Arlington, has watched for the past few years with a growing sense of fear and anger as multinational corporations began stocking supermarket shelves with genetically engineered foods - without labels that say so.

When she heard that BioDevastation was coming to town, she marked it off on her calendar.

''I will go to the rally,'' Brooks said Friday, as she ate a vegan lunch during a break between panel discussions at Northeastern. ''I want the industry to know how I feel.''

For Jill Rubin, 25, of Amherst, the route to BioDevastation began in Tanzania, where she spent a college semester digging ditches to create a water delivery system in an agrarian community.

''After 300 years as a farming community, they couldn't provide enough food to sustain their population anymore,'' Rubin said. ''But they were all saying that they needed chemicals and high-tech seeds to survive. That seemed wrong to me. I realized the answer is not with technology, but with distribution of food.''

Dana Pratt, 23, of Albany, came to learn more about a topic that frightens her, before heading to Maine this summer to do outreach work with migrant farmhands.

''I've dedicated my life for the last year to fight against bioengineered food,'' said Toby Kiers, 23, a soil scientist from Steuben, Maine.

Kiers is part of a grass-roots effort to get a referendum that calls for the labeling of genetically engineered foods on the ballot in Maine this fall.

When questioned why the issue struck her as so important that it swept her into a life of activism, Kiers paused, then said: ''This issue affects every aspect of our lives. What we eat, what we know, what we control. It's an issue that is nothing short of crucial to everyone, if they know it or not.''

© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company

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BOSTON SUPPORT RALLY STOKES FIRES OF DISSENT

December 2, 1999

http://www.tao.ca/~wdbf/newengland/bossupport.html

BOSTON - Between 500-600 buoyant protesters added their voices to a growing tide of global action against the World Trade Organization on the evening of December 1st outside the Boston Federal Reserve Building in what was the largest and most enthusiastic protest Boston has seen in quite some time.

Planned to coincide not only with the third ministerial conference of the WTO, but with the anniversary of a sit-in at the State House on December 1st of last year to protest the decimation of welfare in Massachusetts, where eight were arrested, the action was co-organized by United for a Fair Economy, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, the Mass AFL-CIO and a variety of labor and environmental organizations.

A feeder march of about 200 demonstrators started at the Park Street subway station at 4:30pm and wound its way through the Downtown Crossing shopping district during rush hour. As has been the pattern in Seattle and throughout the world, large, creative puppets led the way to the menacing Federal Reserve building near Boston's waterfront where the crowd tripled in size as the rally began at 5pm.

Persevering in the face of biting winds and sub-zero temperatures, participants listened to speeches from a community organizers and labor leaders representing the Rainforest Action Network, Earth Action Network, Toxics Action Network, Students Against Sweatshops, Jobs with Justice, Amnesty International and Massachusetts AFL-CIO, while others kept up a steady stream of cheers, jeers and creative chants.

Out of the united forces of Boston rallying against the World Trade Organization formed the Boston Global Action Network (BGAN). The group came together as a much-needed effort in the area to oppose globalization on a local level. Since the December first protests, Boston has seen a seemingly unending stream of teach-ins thanks largely to the work of BGAN and promises to see much activity in the near future regarding Fidelity Investments/Oxy Petroleum, the Formation of a Student Activist Network and Biodevestation 2000. N30 is over, but the fight against global capitalism has only just begun.

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500 RALLY IN DOWNTOWN BOSTON AGAINST WTO TALKS LABOR, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS GATHER PEACEFULLY

By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff
Date: 12/02/1999
Page: A34
Section: Metro/Region

http://www.boston.com

Saying they wanted to send a message to participants in the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, several hundred members of labor, environmental, and religious groups caused minor traffic delays during the afternoon downtown rush hour yesterday while demonstrating outside the Federal Reserve Bank building.

Boston Police yesterday estimated the crowd at 500 and said there were no disturbances. The Boston rally, only a fraction in size of the 30,000-person protest in Seattle earlier this week, remained peaceful and dispersed by about 6 p.m.

City traffic, already congested because of the Central Artery Tunnel construction, slowed even further as protesters from as far as Fall River and New Bedford gathered at the site at 5 p.m., drawn by anger over the nation's current trade policies and fear of further expansion.

Protesters marched in the frigid weather chanting such slogans as "Ho, ho, ho, WTO must go."

"People are protesting here and in Seattle for the same reasons," said Russ Davis, director of the nonprofit group Jobs with Justice. "The country's world trade policies are destroying jobs."

Davis, who worked at General Electric Co. in Lynn until he was laid off this year, added: "At GE, we have been the direct victim of globalization and corporate domination of trade."

Elizabeth Skidmore, 33, a carpenter and organizer for the Carpenters Union in Boston, said she was marching for more protection for overseas workers. "There is no protection for people overseas who want to organize. In some cases union supporters are being shot for simply wanting a union."

Union protesters from New Bedford, from which many textile firms have left to settle in the South or overseas, said they attended the Boston rally because of lost jobs.

"The liberalized trade agreements that the World Trade Organization is responsible for have devastated the New Bedford area," said Jerry Fishbein, a district manager of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Technical Employees (UNITE).

The unemployment rate in New Bedford is 5 percent, double that of Boston, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

High unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy have stymied some attempts to rejuvenate the area by attracting new industry to a region once dominated by textile manufacturing, according to a Massachusetts AFL-CIO report.

The union federation's researchers said manufacturing employment in New Bedford has fallen from 20,528 in 1985 to 9,648 in 1997, a drop of more than 50 percent. Fall River, by contrast, has seen a 28 percent drop in manufacturing employment during the same period. As a result, the report said, 28 percent of residents in the two communities earn between $10,000 and $24,900 a year. Some of the protesters blamed the region's decline on the expansion of global trade without, they said, controls to prevent the exodus of manufacturing jobs.