THE DAILY TRAVESTY | A View From Inside A16
The Daily Travesty
 
9 May 2000                  Email
Vol. 1, Issue 81            On the Web
 
 
He who hates vices hates mankind. --Oscar Wilde
 

 
This is What is Happening
(pay attention if you want)
 
Excerpts from an inside experience of the A16 protest, from Beth Trigg... an "Asheville Ecofeminist Teamster"


Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

I'm writing to tell you about my experience in Washington, DC at the Mobilization for Global Justice actions.  I was part of the A16 action, a massive gathering bringing together people from many movements to protest corporate globalization and to call for an end to the IMF and World Bank and their policies, which destroy our environment, oppress the peoples of the third world, and concentrate power in the hands of multinational corporations.

I have only seen a bit of the mainstream media coverage, but what I have seen makes me feel compelled to tell my own story.  All of the television coverage I have seen, and most of the print media stories have focused on violent confrontations between police and protestors.  My own experience was very different from what I have seen in the press: what I witnessed was testament to the power of nonviolence... and the beauty of people coming together to create change.  I felt that we were part of some truly revolutionary moments in history...

Arriving on the first day at the Convergence Space, I was overwhelmed by the spirit of friendliness and solidarity between all different sorts of people who had never met before, and also by the incredible level of organization that somehow managed to co-exist with an atmosphere of fun. The Convergence Space was a combination carnival and school for social change.  Dozens of beautiful, giant puppets leaned against the walls.  A 20-foot long paper-maché monkey wrench and a huge, silver horse stood in the entryway. There were communal bikes, marked with gold spray paint, that anyone could use to get from place to place.  People were sharing food, discussing strategy, and organizing workshops.  There was a schedule of ongoing trainings posted, on subjects like nonviolent action, street medicine, and the legal aspects of civil disobedience.  Art was happening everywhere.

The rallying cry was "We have no leaders," and it truly felt that every person had a voice in the decision-making through a truly empowering process...
 
I was near tears watching such a huge and diverse group of people -- union members, anarchist punks, environmentalists, witches, college students, grandmothers, peace activists, lawyers, artists, teachers, and so many others -- working together to build a common strategy for making change in our world...  Instead of there being "no leaders," it felt like there were many, many leaders...
 
At first, many of us from Asheville felt very concerned about the unfocused, shrill and panicked feeling that seemed to characterize the atmosphere at our intersection.  There was drumming with a distinctly military feel to it, there were a few macho, loud men leading chants, and a chaotic energy which verged on violence.  We had  begun to talk among ourselves about how we could alter this energy when the first few delegates tried to get through.  They were surrounded by screaming, riled-up crowds, given no exit route, and terrified.  This approach caused the police get nervous, to get out their clubs and begin trying to extricate the trapped delegates, hitting demonstrators and getting out their gas masks.  After a couple of incidents like that, including one involving a very angry Wackenhut security guard (the Wackenhuts are a private army that guards U.S. nuclear sites- who knows what they were doing at the World Bank), the feeling in the crowd was extremely tense and edgy.  Many of us were afraid that continuing in this vein was likely to lead to escalation, and possibly to violence from the cops.

At this point, my affinity group recognized that... we needed to fill the gap and become peace keepers.  We began to circulate the crowd, talking with people about nonviolence and reminding them of specific tactics that had been agreed upon ahead of time.  We demonstrated techniques to people from the legal trainings the day before-how to drop to a sitting position if the cops are moving toward you, how to pull someone who is being singled out back into the crowd with a technique called absorption, how to draw attention to violence by toning "Om," and pointing at the person who is being hurt.  We talked about not letting the police dictate our tactics or attitudes, about maintaining an attitude of peace and loving kindness, about not using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house.  We reminded everyone to block, not to surround, to leave the person a way to get out, and keep hatred and hostility out of our approach toward individual people.  We talked with many people about the efficacy of disciplined nonviolence in the tradition of Gandhi and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.  Everyone I spoke with thanked us for helping ground the larger group in these tactics, and many talked about never having been part of direct action before...

Just as we were beginning this peace keeping work, an affinity group of grey-haired women, including Starhawk, arrived at our intersection. We knew that these were powerful women with a long history of action for social change and a deep understanding of revolutionary means and ends.  We talked to them, and expressed our concerns about the panicked energy that we felt from the larger group, and asked for their help in grounding and centering the group.  They drummed, led songs and chants, and wove a web of protection around the intersection with multi-colored pieces of yarn.  Together, we sang the words, "We'll fill the streets with justice."  Our affinity group continued the work of on-the-spot nonviolence training.  Others began to pick up our reminders on strategy, yelling "leave them a way out," "hate the action, not the person," and "block, don't surround," when a delegate would try to get past, and together, we changed the energy from edgy and panicked to focused and strong...
 
As the day went on, there were many deeply emotional moments-- the one that stands out most to me was when a group of American Indian Movement activists came to the center of our intersection and stood with a huge drum, drumming and singing.  The whole crowd was silent, and even the cops were riveted.  Many of us cried.  It was as if we were bearing witness to the beauty and dignity of the indigenous cultures and people that have been obliterated by imperialism and capitalism in the history of the world.  We burned sage and stood in vigil around the A.I.M. drum, mourning the decimation of indigenous peoples and strengthening our resolve to stand in the way of further destruction of indigenous people in our country and around the world.  Throughout the day, roving groups of clowns or musicians came through to uplift our spirits and bolster our resolve.  A group of teenagers and older women dressed in foam tree outfits paid us a visit.  A banjo player treated us to a string of Woody Guthrie tunes.  Some young butch riot grrrl cheerleaders led us in anti-corporate cheers.  We held our intersection successfully and nonviolently all day.

In the afternoon, after it was clear that the police had broken through enough other spots that they had a clear passage, we joined the massive victory parade through the streets, chanting, "Who are we?  We're the people!"   In the face of these institutions which operate in secrecy without the voices of the people whose lives are affected by their policies, we were calling out our demand for democracy, for people power, for human rights, for a safe and healthy environment, for economic justice.  In the streets and in our internal process, we were demanding, and enacting, a radical new vision for our communities and our world.  I felt that the revolution was happening-- that it was an ongoing, daily process from here on out-- and that I was part of it!

Peace.

~~Beth