The anti-capitalist movement
A (very) rough guide

The anti-capitalist movement has grown immeasurably, bringing together numerous activists including revolutionary socialists, anarchists, environmentalists, trade unionists and reformists. In the West the focus has been on a number of spectacular demonstrations that have targeted the institutions and summit meetings of the rich and powerful, protesting against their neo-liberal agenda, their environmental destruction, corporate exploitation, and sham democracy.

Below is a guide to some of the key protests that have shaped the movement.

The Carnival Against Capitalism on June 18th 1999 really kicked off the anti-capitalist movement. It brought together the diverse range of protest groups, and specifically targeted the belly of the beast - the heart of finance capital - the City of London.

Organised by Reclaim the Streets, the protests of up to 10,000 people caught the state with it's pants down. The morning saw a number of different actions against corporations and financial institutions. Revolution organised a protest against oil giant BP, highlighting the funding of paramilitary death squads in the oil fields of Columbia to kill trade unionists and wipe peasants off their land.

In the afternoon, a mass street party divided in two and wound around the streets of the City before blocking the streets in front of the LIFFE building. The peaceful street party was violently attacked by the police who ran over one protester with a police van and repeatedly baton charged the dancing crowds. This led to some of the most serious street battles seen in Britain since the Poll Tax riot. For the first time, the term 'anti-capitalism' was on everybody's lips.

Seattle

If J18 had been the first anybody had heard of anti-capitalism, it was the protests in Seattle later that year that really made everybody sit up and take notice.

80,000 activists and campaigners from all over North America and the world attempted to shut down the World Trade Organisation meeting. The WTO is dominated by the economic superpowers and acts to break down trade barriers amongst it's member countries. This means scrapping laws which safeguard standards, protect workers rights and the environment.

The protests bought together the organised workers movement and the anti-capitalists, the teamsters and the turtles. Steel workers broke away from their union leaders to join the thousands already blockading the surrounding streets. As robocop riot police gassed people sitting in the streets and used pepper spray in their eyes, the images were flashed around the world. Marshall law was declared as the authorities continued to fire gas canisters and rubber bullets into the crowds. A curfew was declared on the city of Seattle for the first time since WW II.

Seattle saw the emergence of the black bloc, a movement which aims to fight capitalism through property destruction. Starbuck's, Nike and Gap were specifically targeted. The main protests were organised through the use of autonomous affinity groups, small groups acting independently of each other. One of the limitations of this form of organisation was shown when some groups chose to leave the main blockade to protest elsewhere, undermining the whole action.

The protests were a huge success. The WTO was forced to call a halt to its meeting a day early, failing to push through many of the reforms it had hoped would further open up the third world economies to the western multinationals. Capitalism was on the defensive.

Prague - September 2000

The protest against the World Bank/IMF summit in Prague was the first truly pan-European, militant, anti-capitalist demonstration. Revolution went there with the slogan "Turn Prague into Seattle', to repeat the hugely successful US protests and see the further integration of the anti-capitalist and the workers movement.

Unfortunately, the misleaders of the major unions in Western Europe gave the protests no active support and so a demonstration on the scale of Seattle was not to be repeated. However we did succeed in disrupting and cutting short the meeting, sending 14,000 bankers and bureaucrats home a day early.

The organisers INPEG had called for a three pronged attack to surround the congress centre at every point of approach. The demonstrators were divided into a Pink, Yellow and Blue block. Revolution marched on the Yellow block which aimed to take the main entrance to the centre. In the forefront of this block was Ya Basta, the Italian white overall movement which came padded up and fully prepared to defend itself in a confrontation with the forces of the state.

The division into three distinct blocks reflected real divisions in the movement. The Blue block was made up of black block anarchists, the Pink block was largely non-violent with many dressed up as fairies, and the Yellow block was made up of workers and trade unionists who were prepared to stand their ground and fight back when attacked, but were against the property destruction of the back block.

Canada

Six kilometres of three metre high chain-linked fence anchored in concrete, 8,000 riot police, 1,200 troops with another 10,000 on standby! This was the Canadian government's response to the anti-capitalist movement. Thousands of activists and campaigners were turned away on the US border as the circus of over 6,000 delegates rolled into town for the meeting of the FTAA.

The FTAA aims to set up a free trade block encompassing all of the Americas bar Cuba. It would give transnational corporations the power to legally challenge state provision and regulation of every public service from health care, education and social security to environmental protection and workplace safety.

The 40, 000 protesters were drawn from all walks of life. Signifi-cantly the demonstration had the support of the Canadian trade unions.

The state forces did not hold back. Clouds of tear gas hung over Quebec City; demonstrators were attacked regardless of whether they were in the 'non-violent' yellow zone or the red zone were all protest was declared illegal. Like in Seattle the trade union leaders tried to keep their rank and file members away from the rest of the anti-capitalist demonstrators, but the union members had other ideas. As protestors defied the tear gas to storm the fence, dubbed 'the wall of shame', they were joined by the thousands of trade unionists.

Quebec showed the potential of our movement when the conscience anti-capitalists team up with the masses of the organised working class. The Canadian postal workers union said that they were so impressed by the tactics of the anti-capitalists that they would be putting resources into training their own members in Non Violent Direct Action.

Genoa

300,000 on the streets of Genoa, the biggest anti-capitalist demonstration to date. The attempts of the police to criminalise the movement, to intimidate us off the streets, to repress us out of existence has failed.

The protesters had converged on the Italian sea port to welcome the G8 leaders, the eight most powerful men on earth. It's at the bi-annual G8 summit that they thrash out the agenda they'll pursue at other international meetings, such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO. Like in Quebec, the leaders had to surround themselves with a ring of steel.

By the time Revolution had left Genoa, we had witnessed the brutal assassination of Carlo Giuliani, shot in the face; we'd witnessed the horrific premeditated attack on a school building where many activists were bludgeoned in their sleeping bags; and we'd experienced the suffocating weight of oppression that strangled the city as we searched for a safe place to sleep out of reach of the fascistic police.

After the shooting of three protesters with live ammunition in Gothenburg barely a month before, the stakes had already been raised dramatically. But the shear weight of the state repression shocked the world. In Italy in the wake of Carlo Giuliani's murder and in many cities around the world 100,000's marched in solidarity.

There were three days of protests, beginning with a 30,000 strong protest in support of immigrants and asylum seekers. On the second day, Revolution groups from across Europe joined the Ya Basta demonstration, which was by far the biggest, most militant and intended to make a direct assault on the fortress Red Zone to stop the summit. The final day witnessed a huge show of strength: 250,000 people, mostly Italian workers, marched through the port city cheered on by local inhabitants waving from their balconies.

Genoa was a huge inspiration, a glimpse of what we are capable of but it also showed that the movement is not united in either its strategy or its goals. Thrashing out these differences will be vital as we continue our assault on capitalism in the years to come.

One aspect of the global anti-capitalist movement which gets little coverage in the West is the struggle in the third world. It is here that the effects of the neo-liberal policies, the structural adjustment programmes, the deregulation, the sweeping away of any legislation that stands in the way of profit is most sharply felt.

But our brothers and sisters in the non imperialist world do not take these attacks lying down. Huge strikes, occupations and direct action have shown they are willing to fight.

Many countries have been rocked by general strikes: from South Africa, where the ANC now bleed dry the very people who fought to put them in power, to India, which last year witnessed the biggest general strike the world has ever seen.

In Bolivia, strikes and demonstrations toppled the government when it privatised the water supply and even arrested people collecting rain water! Turkey, Equador and South Korea have all seen huge protests against IMF-inspired price rises and job cuts.

One of the most dynamic struggles against IMF policies is taking place in Argentina where the World Bank last month agreed an $8 billion dollar loan on the precondition that the government doesn't spend more than it earns in taxes. This means public sector workers will face wage cuts and reductions in pensions, whilst the IMF money is used to pay back interest on previous loans to Western banks. Some workers are even being paid in vouchers (called Patacones) which can only be traded for some goods.

Argentina has witnessed four general strikes this year alone and mass demonstrations are a regular occurrence. Even the unemployed workers have started a militant campaign to fight for their rights.

One thing is clear from these struggles: as long as capitalism spreads it's poverty, misery and despair around the world, the anti-capitalist movement will be there to fight back, saying ONE WORLD, ONE BATTLE!

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