Washington protests rattle capitalists
THE FACT THAT PROTESTERS in Washington caused some disruption of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting on April 16 shows that the Seattle experience can be repeated. While the meeting itself went ahead, some of the Ministers, including France’s Fabius, were unable to reach it through the blockade.
The mass arrest of over 600 people on the eve of the meetings, and the mass mobilisations of state forces, shows that the US regime is very wary of the developing situation.
The fact that major events for US imperialism, on its own territory, have faced disruption by the home population threatens the regime in a way not seen since the anti-Vietnam war movement. The struggle of the Vietnamese and that movement’s success affected US policy for decades, a similar impact this time round could be more significant.
The consequences of structural adjustments and other IMF/World Bank policies have regularly been protested against and resisted by movements of workers and peasants throughout the world. These have never received the resounding active support of mass movements in the imperialist states.
Partially this situation has changed because of the impact within the US of some of imperialism’s policies but it has also changed because of a change of political consciousness by the activists involved.
The mobilisation in Washington marks the consolidation of a movement in the US at a higher political level. Since the anti-Vietnam war movement US ‘civil society’ has campaigned on a wide range of single issues. Nicaragua, Hispanic immigration, environment, Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and third world debt are among the issues that have featured.
In Seattle, and now Washington, a coalition of over 50 organisations and networks has found a unifying target, and have shown they are a force to be reckoned with. The target is the main arm of imperialist economic policy – the IMF/World Bank/WTO. The single issues are now clearly seen as interlinked and requiring global resolution.
The movement in the US is divided on important questions such as whether these institutions should be reformed or abolished in order to create an economically fairer world. But, it is united in opposing the injustice that does exist and sees it as a direct and deliberate result of US government policy.
The fact that official, if inactive, support can be won from the AFL/CIO trade union centre is a sign that serious links into the organised working class can be made – and another worrying development for the government.
The divisions that exist between the imperialist states; and the divisions between imperialism and the bulk of the third world on the future plans of the WTO created the room for success at Seattle.
The successful resistance to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment three years ago helped to build the confidence of the opposition movement.
The mobilisations in Washington will show imperialism that Seattle was not just a flash in the pan. How the ‘democracies’ respond will depend on the tempo of protest continuing around all their meetings and manoeuvres.