Mobilization for Useless Justice:
I have to drive out of Washington, DC, this morning. I’m not driving a limousine. I’m not on my way to impose oppressive loan repayment terms on impoverished African nations. I’m not stopping at a Starbucks, although I might get a bagel at the local Whatsabagel. But some people in black bandanas apparently want to stop me. They don’t appear at all interested in telling me why they want to make it difficult for me to get out of town, for other people to get to work. It apparently alternately has something to do with this week’sWorld Bank meeting, Starbucks, the IMF, the upcoming war on Iraq, McDonald’s, oil companies, the Gap, Dick Cheney, capitalism, neoliberals (whatever that means), violence against women, George W. Bush, and bad art.
Now, let’s be straight — if I sat down and had a discussion with some of the more intelligent members of the so-called “anti-globalization movement,” I’m fairly certain I’d find myself in agreement, at least in principle, with more of their views than the average American. I’m not an anarcho-syndicalist, but I’m closer to their end of the spectrum than to, say, a Fox News commentator. And I know some of this gang. One of the leaders of Mobilization for Global Justice, the DC activist group that organized much of this weeks activities, used to hang out at my house (my ex-housemate and he are friends). I even spent New Year’s 1998 at a party at his apartment. He’s really bright and not a bad guy. But his “movement” is a pile of crap.
The ideology has its merits; the activist practices, though, are muddled, ineffective, and do more to generate misinformation and misguided anger than to educate and focus the issue. Few DC residents understand what they’re protesting. No one has explained to the public why they are marching on the World Bank, but threatening to ransack Gap stores as well. Too many targets of protest are rolled into one. The ideas are never communicated effectively; instead we see predominantly young and white (a point that should not be quickly dismissed) protestors with puppets, effigies, and vague posterboard messages. Their manipulation and use of the media is pathetic (Newscasters on the local Fox station are There are no charismatic leaders to provide a voice to the ideology and communicate it to the less politicized masses. There is none of the dignity or seriousness of the civil rights movement or even the anti-Vietnam protests of decades past. Instead, this batch of wannabes only succeed in looking like a bunch of privileged college students toying with activism.