Capitalist globalizers rely on teargas, rubber bullets
as
G-8 summit draws large protests
By John Catalinotto
While the G-8 heads of state, which includes
the world's major imperialist powers plus Russia, were meeting
high above Lake Geneva in Evian on June 1-3, tens of thousands
of demonstrators were blocking the streets of Lausanne and
Geneva, Switzerland, and the Geneva suburb of Annemasse,
France. They were trying to prevent G-8 officials from reaching
the summit. The movement was saying no to Bush's war and to
capitalist globalization.
Some thousands of the most militant demonstrators were able
to block Geneva's bridges and highways for hours despite the
brutal actions of 25,000 police, who used tear gas and rubber
bullets to dislodge them. According to a report in the June 2
Berlin daily Junge Welt, the German metal workers union IG
Metall used its truck to provide water for the demonstrators so
they could wash out their eyes.
On June 1 tens of thousands marched from Annemasse toward
Geneva, meeting a mass march from that city at the border.
Slogans included, "You are globalizing poverty and war," held
by the Communist Party of France. Others were "G-8 illegal,
annul the debts" and "Against an endless war, endless
resistance." The crowd swelled to over 150,000, even though
many unionists in France, Germany and Austria were preparing
massive general strikes for June 3 to fight pension
cutbacks.
Workers World was able to briefly interview Sarah Sloan, the
Washington organizer of the U.S. anti-war ANSWER Coalition, who
was at the demonstrations with a delegation of ANSWER youth.
Sloan's description indicated that the police were much more
brutal and arbitrary than the corporate media reported.
"The demonstration was even more interesting on Monday, June
2, in Geneva," she said, "because a majority of the
participants were not protesters, they were working-class youth
who were drawn into a struggle with the police. The Swiss and
German police used water cannons, rubber bullets and some type
of tear gas I have never experienced before.
"And they used it on people who were just eating, drinking
or hanging out in a section downtown. This involved thousands
of people, while about 500 protesters were trapped. There were
demonstrators in the crowd, but most were onlookers, young
people, many people of color. The police attacked heavily, but
the young workers were unafraid and wanted to struggle."
Sloan said that she and the other ANSWER youth would be
returning to the U.S. on June 9 and in the weeks that followed
would be writing and also speaking in different cities in the
Northeast on their experiences at the Evian demonstration and
at meetings of the anti-globalization movement.
Reprinted from the June 12, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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