Since the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization occurred in Seattle Washington in December of 1999, a movement in opposition to capitalist globalization has formed throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
Active participation in this movement by a broad array of peoples forces including organized labor, environmentalists, youth organizations, womens rights organizations, immigrants rights organizations, community activists, and anti-corporate activists has been and will be the cornerstone on which its success is laid.
The anti-globalization movement does not seek policies of isolationism, as some political pundits would have the people believe, but seeks policies of fair labor standards, environmental protection, anti-poverty measures, an end to transnational corporate dictate of trade policy, an end to Òstructural adjustmentÓ as dictated by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In short this anti-globalization movement struggles for greater democracy and an end to corporate tyranny.
The undemocratic institutions and policies wreaking havoc worldwide include the World Trade Organization (WTO) the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank (WB) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The tactics which the anti-globalization movement utilizes in its struggle for an end to corporate domination include protest marches, puppet shows, teach-ins, sit-ins, walk-outs, letter writing campaigns to elected officials, public speaking, community outreach, use of independent media, education, and as a last resort civil disobedience. The ways in which the anti-globalization movement strives to achieve its goals are through the basic democratic rights of all human beings.
At every demonstration against capitalist globalization, from Seattle to D.C. to Windsor to Prague to Quebec to Genoa and numerous others, this broad array of peopleÕs forces has been met with force and violence. This force and violence is inflicted by the police and military forces assembled to protect the undemocratic corporate institutions and their policies being shaped without the input of the very people they will effect.
In Seattle, Police fired upon peaceful demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Quebec a concrete wall was erected to keep delegates formulating the FTAA ÒsafeÓ from the voices of demonstrators, while outside the concrete wall the police again meted out tear gas, brutality and arrests. With each successive demonstration against capitalist globalization there has been stepped-up repression of democratic rights. This should be a cause for alarm, as an injury to one is an injury to all.
On July 20, 2001 in Genoa Italy, amid demonstrations at the so called ÒG8 SummitÓ, Italian police savagely took the life of Carlo Guliani, a 23 year old demonstrator. Carlo Guliani was first shot by an Italian police officer, then run over by a police vehicle.
The Young Communist League of Buffalo New York, a local club of the Young Communist League, USA, stands in solidarity with all others in condemnation of this blatant act of brutality and demands justice.
In the aftermath of this murder we hereby commit ourselves unwaveringly to the cause for which Carlo Guliani was murdered. We will oppose the Òcorporate profit above allÓ policies of capitalist globalization; we will make our voices heard wherever and whenever these undemocratic institutions meet; we will educate and inform; we will expose at every turn the brutality, devastation and exploitation waged in the name of Òfree tradeÓ; we will build a larger, broader, more unified anti-globalization movement; we will not allow our unelected leaders to go unanswerable.
