Despite repressive measures
Activists defy intimidating tactics at G-8
By Dianne Mathiowetz & Dustin Langley
Savannah, Ga.
It's easy to see why President George W. Bush
picked the coast of Georgia for his G-8 Summit on June 8-10 on
Sea Island, 80 miles south of Savannah, Ga.
Sea Island is an enclave of multi-million-dollar "cottages"
owned by some of the wealthiest people in the United States who
come to spend some down time enjoying the sunshine and ocean
breezes. Here the president met with the leaders of Britain,
France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia.
Likewise, the city of Savannah, where the G-8 summit staff
and world media were housed, is a perfect symbol of Bush's new
American empire. The center of the city is beautifully kept,
filled with lush green parks and huge ivy-covered mansions. The
streets are lined with cafes and shops for the well-heeled
tourists who flock here every year.
Just a few blocks away from the manicured city center,
however, there is an entirely different city. This one doesn't
get advertised on the tourism brochures.
Savannah, with 131,000 people, has a poverty rate of almost
22 percent, according to the 2000 census. Almost 30 percent of
children here live in poverty.
The coastal port of Brunswick, entryway to Sea Island, is a
town of about 15,000. The African American majority suffers
high unemployment, low wages and an epidemic of diseases caused
by the toxic wastes produced by chemical plants and paper
mills. Within Brunswick there are four Superfund toxic dump
sites. There are an additional 22 waste dumps in the
county.
On May 21, more than two weeks before the summit, Georgia
Gov. Sonny Purdue declared a state of emergency. More than
20,000 police, federal agents and soldiers were assigned to
security. That was 66 per protester.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, more than $37
million was spent on security--more than $100,000 per
protester.
The streets of Brunswick and Savannah were filled with armed
troops, mounted police, Armored Personnel Carriers, and Humvees
with mounted 50-caliber machine guns. F-15 jets and helicopter
gunships flew overhead. Coast Guard and police gunboats
patrolled the river and sea coast, their machine guns trained
on protesters who lined the shore.
Tall metal barricades were placed around government
buildings in Savan nah. Police wearing full riot gear were
dispatched to guard Starbucks, the Gap, and Banana Republic
whenever protesters neared.
Mohammed Alami, the Washington corres pondent for
Al-Jazeera, said, "It looks like another Arab capital on a
state of alert."
Local residents complained of people being harassed and
intimidated by security forces.
William Pleasant of Savannah said there was a concerted
effort to squash dissent in the city. "My brother, my next-door
neighbor--they've all been haras sed by the police. They've had
their stuff searched, they've been shaken down. They've been
thrown against the wall--the whole nine yards.
"And there was no justification for it, other than they
looked young, or they looked unusual. There is a sort of
profiling going on."
Carol Bass, an activist from Atlanta and organizer of the
Fair World Fair in Brunswick, said: "We're seeing soldiers on
patrol in residential neighborhoods all over the place. That is
a very dangerous slope when you talk about civil liberties and
civil rights. To call a state of emergency when there is no
emergency is a very casual use of extreme authority."
She watched the National Guard question residents about Zach
Lyde, a Bruns wick minister who was a major organizer of the
protests there. "Soldiers came to the neighborhood and were
going door to door, talking to people about Zach and the people
in his church," Bass told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
"And then this other big military vehicle came around the
corner and pointed a big old machine gun at us while we were
standing in front of his church. That's political
intimidation."
National Lawyers Guild President Michael Avery said, "The
government is using an exaggerated threat of disruption in
order to demonize and discourage legitimate political
protest."
'George Bush, you can't hide!'
Despite the Bush administration's clear attempt to
intimidate protesters, activists came from all over the
country--as far away as Arizona and Maine--and from all over
the world.
In Brunswick, more than 200 demonstrators rallied each day
against the war in Iraq, environmental injustice and in support
of the Palestinian struggle.
Educational programs on corporate glo ba lization were held
each day featuring speakers, films and cultural
performances.
On June 10, a group of protesters walked more than eight
miles on the single causeway leading to Sea Island, where the
summit was being held. They were met by 150 police in riot
gear. Fourteen activists were arrested for challenging the
police blockade.
In Savannah, a three-day International Festival for Peace
and Civil Liberties featured several rallies, marches and
musical performances each day of the G-8 Sum mit. Several loud,
spirited non-permitted marches proceeded through the city
streets.
One group headed to the riverfront, where they could see the
International Media Center where Bush and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair were meeting with the corporate media. They
chanted: "George Bush, you can't hide! We charge you with
homicide!"
Despite the intense efforts by local authorities, state
officials and federal agencies to stifle any form of protest to
G-8 policies, organizers declared that their message of "people
before profit" had been delivered.
Said one G-8 opponent, "Our numbers may have been less than
at other summits, but our call for world justice rang just as
clear, just as loud."
Reprinted from the June 24, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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