 February 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Protesting the FTAA in Miami Liana Foxvog is a Youth Organizer with the American Friends Service Committee-NH. She can be reached at lfoxvog@afsc.org or 603/224-2407. Add it to the list: Seattle, DC, Quebec, Geneva, Cancún... and now Miami. The anti-corporate-globalization movement continues to grow. Leaving Miami, along with the joy of successful organizing, out-of-town activists are left with painful memories of police brutality and media misrepresentation. Locals remember the transformation of a familiar city into a militarized zone, where people’s basic rights to free speech and public assembly were denied. Wherever trade ministers gather, they can no longer avoid the tens of thousands of protesters in the streets, representing millions all over the world who oppose trade agreements designed for the benefit of corporations rather than the benefit of people. On November 20, 2003, the protest arena was Miami’s business district, as close as protesters could get to the Intercontinental Hotel, where trade ministers from 34 countries (all the countries in the Americas except Cuba) met to negotiate. The FTAA would create the largest "free trade" area in the world, and would reduce "non-tariff barriers to trade" such as environmental protection laws and workers’ rights regulations. Concerned individuals are given a P.O. box for comments and face cops in the streets. External Repression Corporate media tended to divide those of us protesting the FTAA in Miami into two groups: the "good union folks" and the "bad protesters." According to these sources, the unions are organized, on message, nonviolent, and attend permitted rallies, whereas the bad protesters are disorganized, address a myriad of causes, are violent, and gather unlawfully. Portrayals of these artificial divisions are dangerous because people might believe it. I found myself having to resist framing ourselves in the same way. On Thursday morning, the protesters gathering to do nonviolent direct action at the fence outside the Intercontinental Hotel seemed disorganized to me. Later, I learned that police stopped vehicles with signs and puppets on the way to the demonstration, causing organizers to arrive late and disrupting their plans. Throughout the week, police systematically targeted organizers and stopped, searched, and arrested protesters. Police abuse at times took activists’ focus away from the FTAA issue. It was more urgent to wash pepper spray from a friend’s eyes, to dress wounds caused by police batons, to provide legal support for an illegally arrested companion. The corporate media and the police were not on our side. Nor were some people who tried to look and act like protesters. I heard rumors that guys clad in black wearing bandannas were seen using a hotel entrance reserved for police. It sometimes takes events like anti-FTAA protests in Miami for white US nationals to get a glimpse of the police repression that people of color and immigrants face on a daily basis. By recognizing this, white activists may become motivated to form coalitions with immigrants and people of color to work against police repression more generally. Protesters with privilege can use their power to draw public attention to injustice, both to police abuse and to broader threats posed by proposals like the FTAA. Working in Solidarity I am left with a couple of particularly -hopeful images from Miami. Despite the challenge of staging street demonstrations in the face of repression, the mix of unions, farmers, students, peace and justice activists, professionals, immigrants, and representatives from Latin American movements participating in the protests was especially inspiring. It illustrated the diversity of groups that are affected by corporate globalization, and that we are beginning to succeed in creating the kinds of coalitions we’ve long envisioned. Another hopeful sign is that we’ve begun to create actions designed to symbolically embody the world we envision. Fair trade protesters created a "Really Really Free Market," organized to demonstrate what real freedom is. Police forced the market to move a block from its original permitted location. Despite police searches of people outside the market area, the market featured a fascinating array of activities along a sidewalk in a small park usually frequented by people who are homeless. Fair traders shared massages, held prayer circles, and traded literature and clothing. Food Not Bombs offered free food for all. I traded dance moves with a few Miami locals who attended out of curiosity. Together, fair traders provided us a glimpse of another world, demonstrating that alternatives are truly possible. 
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