Authored by: DropScience on Monday, June 29 2009 @ 12:53 AM CDT

i dont think it is silly to dismiss it when its trying to create a dialogue with power. what should be worked on is creating autonomy. as i said this does not mean that individuals who choose to take 3 days to go to this are "bad", but it does mean we should analyze our decisions to see if making a mobilization against this and that issue is worth the resources and safety of those involved. it is of course up to individuals to make final decisions about what they want to do, but what i am saying is that i WISH as much enthusiasm went into working in peoples own neighborhoods as it does into summit "infrastructure".

its annoying to repeatedly see posts for summits and conferences and camps , but never for anything with much substance behind it. rarely with any staying power.

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Authored by: Admin on Monday, June 29 2009 @ 01:11 AM CDT

I think you really fail to understand the way that summit protests come out of community activism and help grow community activism. The dynamic is an important to understand, but it doesn't lend itself to spectacular coverage by any form of media. The process underlying the anti-summit strategy was always eclipsed by the spectacular actions and protests that happened during the summits.

There have always been many involved in the summit-hopping strategy that shared your concern about local struggles. Many of us consciously tried to link these struggles to what we were doing at the summit protests.

For example, I was part of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence in Washington, DC which was organizing a massive summit protest against the World Bank and IMF in September 2001, which was of course disrupted by the events of 9-11. But during the organizing of that campaign, we consciously were incorporating activism on local struggles into the anti-summit campaign. We were involved in a local affordable housing campaign. We also were involved in a campaign to save the city's only public hospital.

Chuck

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Authored by: DropScience on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 01:01 AM CDT

i dont think im failing to understand it. i think that it is far and few between that these types of mobilizations, especially from anarchists, lead to any longevity in the area that hese summits happen.

im not saying " oh know theres gonna be cops, dont go!". kids are getting popped by cops left and right, tons of problems exist on our very local level, but it seems people dont do shit unless its some fucking summit of the richest countries blah blah bullshit.

its this continual attempt to "confront power" without taking into consideration that these power structures exist all around us. its a disregard of the totality of the situation.

trust me, im not trying to come off as another IA hack. we do do real shit in our neighborhood and connect with the people around us, much better than other places ive been involved with.

i just need to pose the question again. WHY go to summits, why are these the mass mobilizations? I am being asked to put forward an alternative, when there doesnt need to be one.

WHAT- do summits provide, that is so valuable, that we would need to supplement it?

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Authored by: CaseyFord on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 01:13 AM CDT

These motherfuckers are preparing to invade my city, making most the everyday problems we have to deal with that much worse and bringing down extra repression on us anarchists (and that would happen from this summit even if anarchists in Pittsburgh released a statement that said "fuck anti-summit organizing, let them have their little meeting"). Why shouldn't we fight it, fighting local problems as we do it? And why shouldn't our comrades come to help us fight it?

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Authored by: f xx f y on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 07:58 PM CDT

i really appreciate your critical view of events like this. i always think back to the last countersummit i attended, where some fantastic examples of quotes from the 'blac bloc' march included:

'this is what anarchy looks like!'
and
'anarchy, fuck yeah!'

thinking all along, if this is what anarchy looks like then count me the fuck out!

i definitely think there are ways in which to engage these meetings and summits without it being a massive demonstration of self-defeat. for sure, i have been impressed by the ability of people to scrape together the multiple thousands of dollars to get people out of jail, but what the hell good does that do repeating the situation over and over again if all you're getting is bruises and war stories? imagine if one was just as capable at scraping together all of that money for, say, tools, medical supplies, construction equipment, farm equipment?

i'm not of the mindset that response to these situations is completely useless. but i think that a sturdier analysis of the situation is necessary, especially considering that anarchists continue to invoke the memory of the WTO in seattle as an excuse for continuing to organize using pretty much the same model repeated constantly. that happened quite a few years ago, and since then the state and allied cronies have learned a whole lot from that (and all subsequent counter-summits) regarding how to more effectively disperse crowds, really fuck people up without killing them, throw the book at frequently arbitrarily-selected scapegoats, and use the media to completely blackball any actions that protesters take.

keep in mind: regardless of how you as a protester might frame the situation, the state and those with the guns ARE thinking of this militarily.

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Authored by: DropScience on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 08:28 PM CDT

i completely agree. im sick of this "summits are fun" mentality. they arent fun. last summer i had to get a phone call telling me all of my friends, who have been my friends growing up, were no on the this was with the knowledge that iw as also about to be in a situation for this to happen. we had to sleep being scared of passing cars because at any minute it couldve meant a raid, and any false move in that raid could get a fucking bullet in your head.

you think this is fun?

fuck that.

i dont want to see more of my friends end up on some solidarity poster, asking for donations for legal fees, as they face years in prison and all the fucking subculture does is remember them as the <insert name> <insert number> people.

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Authored by: DropScience on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 08:29 PM CDT

that was supposed to say *were on the ground face down with automatic weapons against their heads, wit hthe complete knowledge that i would be entering myself into similar situations.

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