AFTER KYOTO & ABM ULTIMATUMS
Bush's Europe trip
kindles huge protests
Swedish cops shoot anti-capitalist youths
By Greg
Butterfield
Police in Gothenburg, Sweden, shot and wounded three people
with live ammunition during a militant anti-capitalist protest
at the European Union summit meeting June 15. One young
protester shot in the stomach was critically injured as he fled
police.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors and under heavy police guard,
15 heads of European capitalist governments discussed the
continent's future, including plans to expand their role in
formerly socialist Eastern Europe while creating a "Fortress
Europe" to stop immigration from Asia, the Middle East and
Africa.
The unexpectedly large demonstrations and fierce street
battles between cops and activists-together with Irish voters'
overwhelming rejection of EU expansion plans in a June 7
referendum-shook the conference.
All the heads of state, from new far-right Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi to fake "socialists" like Germany's
Gerhard Schroeder and Britain's Tony Blair, denounced the
protests. They vowed to enact draconian measures and
restrictions against protesters at future meetings of the
capitalist powers.
'Bush not welcome!'
On June 14, between 12,000 and 16,000 people had marched in
Gothenburg to protest "Toxic Texan" George W. Bush's appearance
with the European heads of state. Organizers of the march,
"Bush Not Welcome," called it "the largest anti-imperialist
manifestation in Sweden since the Vietnam War."
Communist youths carried thousands of red flags bearing
pictures of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong. Other banners denounced
U.S. support for the Israeli massacres of Palestinians, called
for solidarity with Black U.S. political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal, and supported socialist Cuba and the armed struggle
in Colombia.
The march was initiated by the Communist Party
Marxist-Leninist (revolutionary) of Sweden--the KPML(r)--and
endorsed by many left parties, anti-EU groups,
environmentalists and labor unions.
"A mass murderer has arrived in our city today," declared
KPML(r) International Secretary Teddy-John Frank, who spoke at
the rally. "There is talk about crooks in the world and rogue
states. But the real crook is George W. Bush and the real rogue
state is the USA."
Swedish police bragged of their "ring of steel" to protect
Bush: cops in riot gear guarding two rows of six-foot-tall
steel barricades that sealed off a two-block area around the
conference center.
Imperialist rivalry
behind chummy exterior
In media accounts much was made of the "cordial atmosphere"
that surrounded Bush's discussions with his European
counterparts, even though they oppose the U.S. National Missile
Defense scheme, Bush's deep-sixing of the Kyoto treaty on
greenhouse gases, and his insistence on keeping the death
penalty.
No one inside the conference wanted to embarrass or even
openly challenge the U.S. chief executive.
But in the streets, youths, labor unions, communists,
anarchists and EU opponents exposed Bush and the European
leaders as toadies of big capital.
What underlies the differences between Washington and the
imperialist governments in Paris, Berlin, London, and elsewhere
became apparent after Bush left the conference.
He raced off to Poland to start his real mission: pushing
for immediate expansion of the U.S.-dominated NATO military
alliance.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington eagerly want to
march the Pentagon to Russia's border by bringing all the
formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe into NATO.
There is strong opposition to the plan, not only in Russia
but among anti-war forces throughout Europe.
At the same time, the European imperialists are trying to
consolidate themselves as a competitive bloc to the United
States. They desperately want to extend their own "sphere of
influence" by bringing Eastern Europe into the EU and creating
a military structure independent of the Pentagon.
Despite the Irish "no" vote, the EU leaders declared a
target date of 2004 to grant several Eastern European countries
membership.
The Battle of Gothenburg
The police strategy in Gothenburg was similar to the one
used in Quebec during last April's Summit of the Americas. A
large security ring was placed around the meeting site.
Protests were allowed only at a distance.
There is strong opposition to the EU in Sweden. According to
recent polls, a majority of Swedes would like the country to
leave the alliance. They also oppose the militarization of the
EU.
These demands were put forward by one of the two major
coalitions that organized the June 14-17 protests, Network
Gothenburg 2001, consisting of many of the traditional left
parties, the anti-EU movement and labor.
A second coalition, Gothenburg Action 2001, rallied
anti-globalization forces under the slogan, "For a different
Europe."
After Thursday's successful anti-Bush protest, the police
began to systematically target protesters for attack.
They surrounded a school where hundreds of activists were
staying and sealed it off. Thousands of protesters gathered
nearby to demand their comrades' release. They hurled stones
and bottles at the cops. The police charged demonstrators on
horseback.
But the activists fought back. Some managed to pull cops off
their horses while others torched police vehicles.
The fierce street battle forced the cops to back off and
allow those in the school to leave.
Police arrested 440 people on the first day.
Media independent of the EU and U.S. governments-including
the Independent Media Center and the newspapers Junge Welt and
Il Manifesto-all reported that police took a very aggressive
posture on Friday, the day of the shootings.
Clubs, dogs and horses were used throughout the day. IMC
Radio-Sweden reported that a man was dragged from his car and
beaten by cops.
Youths fought pitched battles with the police along the
city's main streets, sometimes completely taking them over.
Protesters ripped up cobblestones, smashed bank windows and
erected flaming barricades.
Marchers got within a mile of the conference center. One
small group managed to scale the fence before being
arrested.
The protests forced the EU officials to cancel their dinner
at a posh restaurant. Instead, they stayed behind the wall of
police protection.
At about 8 p.m. youths began to regroup for a "Reclaim the
Streets" dance near the city university. According to
eyewitnesses, a squad of police provocateurs pelted the group
with rocks. Protesters chased them and cornered them. That's
when the cops opened fire.
The police immediately released a story to the media
claiming that a cop had been injured and another had fired his
weapon in self-defense.
But media activists exposed that as a lie. Videotape and
still photos of the incident clearly show the police firing at
fleeing protesters.
At least 43 people were hospitalized on Friday, and over 600
were arrested.
Despite the police violence and government warnings to stay
home, 25,000 people came out on Saturday in a "For a Different
Europe" march. Many local people came to protest the police
brutality and show solidarity with the injured and arrested
activists.
That night, at about 10:30, a police "anti-terrorist squad"
raided another school where activists had returned to
sleep.
Tove, a young woman staying at the Schillerska School,
reported: "When they arrived they had automatic guns with
lasers. They ordered me and my friend to lie down on the
ground. It was very wet and cold after the rain. I was hit with
a baton because I wasn't fast enough."
The next day, June 17, demonstrations across Europe
protested the shootings and demanded those still in jail be
released.
What next?
The European heads of state, who meet behind closed doors to
decide how best to rule in the interests of big business,
called the Gothenburg protests "anti-democratic."
German Chancellor Schroeder said: "We have to pursue these
rioters with all the might of the law. No country should
tolerate these criminals." He said he would try to enact laws
to stop known activists from traveling between countries.
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi announced that the city of
Genoa would be completely shut down for four days in July
during a Group of 8 summit meeting. "The airport, main train
stations and key motorway junctions will all be closed from
July 18 to 22 in an attempt to restrict access to tens of
thousands of demonstrators who plan to converge on the city,"
the London Observer reported June 17.
Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson vowed to make it
easier for cops to use teargas, water cannons and rubber
bullets against protesters. Starting in 2002, all European
summits will be held in Brussels, Belgium, in a fortress-like
location.
The turnout and militancy of protesters in Gothenburg is
powerful evidence of the continuing vitality of the movement
that began in Seattle in 1999.
Sweden has long been considered a bastion of liberal social
democracy. But when confronted with a militant anti-capitalist
movement, the state's response was to use deadly force.
If this is how the most liberal capitalist state responds to
unarmed protesters, how will the capitalist rulers in general
respond when they feel their power is truly threatened? What
will the workers, oppressed and youths need to do to fight and
win an end to capitalist exploitation, racism and environmental
degradation?
These are questions that revolutionary communists must be
prepared to discuss, debate and answer as the new movement
searches for ways to take the struggle further.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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Email: ww@workers.org
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