s26 ya basta march

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i would like to tthank Ya basta for standing up front......they tried in a non-violent way to break through, didnt succeed but got all the shit....i dont know, i just thought they were cool by doing that. this is a nice picture, btw

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great picture. my reading of the situation from over here in the beast - amerikkka - is that we need to focus on a non-violent strategy, so that the mainstream media is not even enabled to portray violence. but more importantly it appears the police violence against imprisoned protesters stems (in part, and i stress in part) from the fact that a few of them experienced a couple of cobblestones and molotovs. the reaction was to beat everyone, and therefore make everyone accountable for the violence of a few. the issue of violence/non violence is something we have to start talking about MORE and MORE if we are to succeed as a movement.

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It appears that the bigest problem in the discussion of violence/non-violence is that some people have a very narrow way of defining "violence". I believe that violence takes on many forms. For instance impossing your will on someone with out causing them "physical" injury (as if there is a difference between mental and physical or mind/body) is a form of violence. To assume that it is not a form of violence can create some serious contradictions in the pacifist world view that i have yet to hear a coherent resolution to. The way to deal with the seeming contradiction between violence and "non-violence" in the burgeoning social movement is to realize that there is no contradiction at all. To think that there is only proves the lack of understanding of Solidarity in coilition politics. What brings people together in this movement is agreement to a large degree on the analysis of the problem ie. global corporate rule (or global capitalism) and the lack of econimic Democracy. What tends to divide us is conflict over what to do about it. We should not be seeking a type of discourse that attempts to "win" the violence/non-violence debate. What we should seek is a new type of discourse that alows for the differences in stratagies by various groups and organizations that make up the coilition of the social movement. This i believe is extremely important because the more types of stratagies of action that a social movement has the stronger it is. In any war, the victors never fight only on one front. If we attempt to fight on one front we will have centralized our stratagy making it easier for the state to flank and incircle us. Let us not divide and conquer ourselves over issues of "correct actions". The powers that be attempt to divide and conquer us enough as it is. Solidarity is the first principle. We all know this already otherwise we would not have come together in this new social movement.

In Solidarity,
M.B.R.

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I too would like to thank ya basta for standing up front inthe S26 demo.
In Amsterdam, we are now, after Prague S26 & our own demo's against Wolfensohn's visit Okt3 again discussing the violence & united front issue. Ofcource we have had that discu. before but then it was only theory, now it becomes reality.
I agree with the statement made above, that a movement with many organisations, a beast with many heads wil not be defeated if one 'head' is cut off.
I think it is important to keep having the discussio of violence/non violence over & over again... especialy with the ppl throwing molotov's on one side and on the other hand the movement's that refuse to use ANY violence.
L P U to all.
CoughSyrup

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i agree that solidarity between groups and individuals cannot be stressed enough - look at the success of N30. however, with reference to my own experience - specifically in the last year protesting the wto in seattle, the imf/wb in washington dc, the dnc in la, and nuclear issues in my home state - i believe the violence/non violence issue has begun to affect solidarity between groups and individuals, and in some cases actually impedes coalition building. i have no intention to "win" browny points. i am mearly attempting to raise an issue for discussion before it divides us. this issue is not new - re: MLK and Ghandi etc.- but it does raise important questions that open discussion up into the wider arena of what constitutes violence. this was very apparent in the proposals to formulate a solidarity agreement among activists in washington dc in april, because in that instance it became apparent very quickly that some people regarded both physical/mental abuse and property destruction as violence, while others did not. this difference may seem superficial, but actually it created a great deal of tension between activists who were thrashing out an agreement as a means to provide a strong bargaining tool in the jails. in light of this, i believe strongly that solidarity IS crucial, but it's strength will be deteremined by the foundation on which it is built. cohesion between groups is the goal of coalition building, and addressing the issue of violence/non violence can provide a foundation for this cohesion to enable us to work together, and therefore function successfully as a (global)revolutionary movement, without being controlled by one single entity.

esperanza!

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I keep seeing people referring to a few protestors throwing stones and confronting the police. I dont know what march that these people were on but the one I was on had THOUSANDS of people prepared to fight the police. We should be proud that so many people have the anger and determination to not let themselves be beaten by the police without rerturning the force used against them. Violence is nothing to be glorified, it is ugly and it causes suffering, but it is a part of everyone's lives and it is a part of our struggle. I see nothing to give me the strength to continue the struggle when I see peaceful protestors being beaten and gassed by the state without lifting a finger to defend themselves or others.
I threw rocks at cops. I am not ashamed.

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Fuck YA BASTA terrorist, We will kill you, if you visit Prague again. Czech policeman.

polorton.cz

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why would you throw rocks at cops. I think it would be the worst thing if you gave them reason to attack other protesters that might not have had violence in mind.

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I think non-violence will just be swept away in a tide of fire, it's the only way that anything will be noticed - ya bastads

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Judging from that last message, it seems that the cops aren't too concerned about debating violence/non-violence amoung their ranks. Hey pig, who's the real terrorist?

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