I got off at the wrong station this morning (don't ask) and found myself in the middle of a mass protest in the centre of Sydney, protesting against the I.M.F. and World Bank, against globalisation, and the power unelected corporations have over soveriegn states. Very interesting. I saw some unusually heavy handed policing (for Australia) but nothing particularly bad, and certainly not the "torture" some were calling it as they yelled to the police. I thought it did a disservice to those that have endured torture myself.

Anyhow what are peoples opinions on all this? Most were 'ferals' and counter culturals, mostly youngish and seemingly expectant of a clash with police.

Regarding the IMF I have thought it's practices immoral since Bruce Cockburn alerted me to it in a song of his "And they call it Democracy". I'm also quite anti-capitalist in some areas (namely the ones that leave millions starving while the Super-rich gamble millions), but as I'm not an economist have no idea what sort of alternative exists.

Did any other city's have demonstrations today?

Thanks guys. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on.... http://www.animfactory.com/animation...ing_lg_clr.gif

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!

[This message has been edited by Yorick (edited 05-01-2001).]

I don't know much about what that's all about but that doesn't matter. I just had to say I luv your sig Yorick LOL

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http://publish.hometown.aol.com/tobb...s/clawsfin.gif
Drake A.K.A. bocaj

Missed it all since my office isn't in the city. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

You've probably got a core of people with strong political feelings about this and do passionately care. There's probably a percentage who are just in it for the fun, another bunch who are in it because they want to belong, another bunch who feel alienated, and a small minority who want to cause problems.

I definitely sympathise with the general cause, but what I'd be interested in is the alternative solution that they propose.

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http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/memnoch/genwalk.gif http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/memnoch/memname.GIF

Memnoch, could you please tell me what the IMF is (or are) ?

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http://fc1ddq.free.fr/stan2.gif
The world is my oyster !

International Mother F-----s http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...miles/wink.gif

or:

International Monetary Fund

Take your pick http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif

The Seattle and Melbourne protests of the WTO were a lot more violent than what I saw. There were a lot of police though, more than I'd ever seen at a protest before. There also seemed to be a lack of centralised articulate leadership. Seemed very grassroots in it's makeup.


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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on.... http://www.animfactory.com/animation...ing_lg_clr.gif

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!

Oh, thanks bocajacob! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on.... http://www.animfactory.com/animation...ing_lg_clr.gif

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!

Hi Yorick!
In re the WTO protests in Seattle, it was probably much the same crowd makeup as you saw: a core group of people there with reason sprinkled with the clueless and some troublemakers.
Unfortunately in my town we had a lot of people show up specifically to cause problems and wreak havoc for no good end, to which the police reacted with criminal heavy-handedness and phenomenally poor judgement.
In the aftermath of accusations and media feeding-frenzy the point of the protest was lost: we actually kept the WTO from acheiving their agenda in our city.
I hope the folks in your town have success without violence.

Wow, great to see a thread on this Yorick!
I have just got back from Oxford Street in London - unfortunately I was unable to attend any of today's demos for long as I had to work, but I support them. As far as who was involved, well there were lots of very ordinary looking people as well as anarchist and left wing groups and the demos have by and large been peaceful so far. My bf took the day off work to attend. I also ran into someone from college, again a perfectly ordinary person and not an anarchist of any description, who had gone along to show her support.

I say peaceful so far - the situation at the moment is that there are a thousand or so people trapped in Oxford Circus by the police. They have been there for 5 hours and it's p*ssing down with rain, but all they have been told is "we are keeping you here to prevent a breach of the peace". All they are doing at the moment is chanting "we want out" because they want to go home, but I can see the situation worsening if the police do not let them disperse. Most of them are ordinary people, not anarchists or anything and are just standing chatting amongst themselves, but they must be soaked and freezing by now, and will not be patient forever as it will be getting dark soon.

I think about 10000 or more took part in central London today (not bad for a work day, especially since the media have been hyping it up all week, saying it will just be anarchists who will smash everything and beat people up) with small demos up and down the country in other towns.

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http://www.gldb.com/wayno/epona2.gif
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Epona of The Laughing Hyenas and The Ladies Guild.

Thanks Epona, Absynthe.

Epona let us know how the Oxford circus problem ended up hey? It doesn't sound like a terribly constructive way to deal with a demonstration.

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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on.... http://www.animfactory.com/animation...ing_lg_clr.gif

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!

I actually hadn't heard anything about it, but what I've heard about it, I think that there are both valid and invalid things about it. I have no opinion about it, being uninformed, but I do know that money talks, and I wish I had some. I keep hearing about tax cuts, and I keep waiting, but I guess I'm in the wrong tax bracket, because it seems like my taxes keep going up??!! Maybe I have the wrong definition for cut???? Like maybe they were talking about wage cuts or something. Sorry, not very politically inclined. However, if any one knows anything about NWN, please let me know.

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"...and that's the
bottom line, 'cause Robert the Bard says so!"
Robert the Bard TLH