Posted on 09/10/2001 10:08:41 AM PDT by NorCoGOP
ARLINGTON, Texas -- It should not be seen as a success by anyone, including anti-globalization activists, that Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, decided not to allow Rome to host the United Nations' World Food Summit. Nor is it admirable that other activists have refused to disavow violence in their protests at the upcoming World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings Sept. 29 and 30 in Washington.
Violent protests have been part of nearly every major international conference since the well-publicized demonstrations in Seattle during the World Trade Organizations conference there. Thousands of protesters have descended on cities such as Montreal, Genoa, Italy, and Washington, turning international summits into armed camps. Delegates say they have become accustomed to the legions of police and protesters and the wafting smell of tear gas that now accompany nearly every international summit.
While the protests are based on a desire to better the world and do contain a core of nonviolent activists, more violent extremists put the movement at risk. The destruction in which they indulge runs counter to the stated values of their movement and threatens to discredit saner, more credible voices.
July's protests in Genoa captured the most media attention primarily because the anti-globalization movement suffered its first casualty there. Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old history student, was killed as he tried to assault a group of policemen. He and others with him had cornered a vehicle full of policemen, and he was killed as he was about to deliver a potentially fatal blow with a fire extinguisher.
While the incident in Genoa provided perhaps the most memorable example of the anti-globalization movement gone awry, there are many more. What exactly, for example, did protesters hope to accomplish by destroying stores in Seattle or overturning cars in Genoa?
Prior to the ugly scenes from Genoa, the protesters had the support of many credible activists, from Live Aid founder Bob Geldof to the local cardinal of the Catholic Church. Their stances on issues such as the international AIDS crisis, debt relief for poor countries and rights for indigenous people are more often than not laudable and based on true concern for the well-being of others.
Yet they should accord the same respect they are seeking to those they confront. They complain that the public does not have enough input in the decision-making processes international bodies undertake, which is probably true. But, in their wanton destruction, they are like someone trying to win an argument by sheer force of volume rather than with the strength of their ideas.
Now many more serious protesters are torn between whether to attend protests where they will find themselves next to brick-throwing anarchists and nihilists. Like the Weather Underground activists of the 1960s who promised to "break the glass of the ruling class," radical protesters have created an environment where wanton destructive impulses mingle with true idealism, and the former threatens to drown out the latter.
Activists who truly care about what they are doing should keep their protests peaceful and condemn those who pollute their high-minded undertakings with violence. Those who can't forswear violence should stay home or perhaps take up boxing.
Don't hold it in Rome, they have wonderful food. Hold it in Scotland, home of the world famous haggis*. When you consider haggis, starvation does not sound so bad.
*Haggis...A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.
But you really must have a good scotch to go with Haggis, otherwise it's just barbaric....
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