Challenging the Corporate Police State

More than 15,000 protestors came to Washington D.C. last week (Sept 27-29th) to protest the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's policies regarding Third World loan programs. The weekend of protests was organized to disrupt the planned meeting of IMF/World Bank officials on Friday and Saturday. Six Illinois State University students went to D.C., documenting the protest. We participated in three days of active resistance and demonstrations.

Unfortunately, direct non-violent action by protesting is becoming the last outlet for many people to effectively confront corrupt American politicians. It has become the only way to force these politicians to listen to the public's demands.

Those who demonstrated in D.C. were subject at any time to the use of violent police intimidation, including arrest, batons, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas. Why would they really risk all that danger if they had not already attempted other methods and failed?

Americans have been largely unsuccessful in winning the attention or concern of their politicians in Washington concerning many important global issues. The march last week was the last resort for a populace that finds itself invisible in the presence of politicians controlled by corporate rule. But the march proves that our politicians can no longer ignore us when we blockade their streets and march in the thousands.

A few thousand activists on Friday demonstrated, some attempting to blockade traffic, some peaceably assembling in public areas in order to draw attention to the toxic programs of the IMF and World Bank. Many of the demonstrators on Friday were arrested in what would later be called "pre-emptive" arrests. Basically this meant that whether you had broken a law or not, you could be arrested under the logic that you were bound to create problems for the police later in the weekend. The goal behind the illegal pre-emptive arrests was to detain as many activists as possible the first day (whether they had done anything or not) so that they would not be able to demonstrate in the main marches and actions on Saturday. The protestors were moved to a remote part of town that could not be reached by foot, bike, or bus, effectively preventing many of them from protesting in the direct actions.

After a protestor was arrested for no apparent reason other than standing quietly with his back to a police line, another protestor approached the police line and chalked, "I love you anyway." The person pictured is trying to get the cops' badge numbers.

On Saturday, up to 20,000 activists showed up to rally, march, and eventually block exits to the IMF headquarters in what would amount to a massive demonstration. The protestors first showed up for the rally at Sylvan Theater (located just south of the Washington Monument) at noon to listen to various speakers discuss the dangers of anti-democratic IMF and World Bank policies. The speakers included dozens of activists, including Ralph Nader, a major opponent of imperialist corporate globalization policies implemented by the IMF and World Bank. Activists carried numerous posters and messages: "Dump the IMF" and "Stop IMF Loan Sharking." The rally included many different activist groups as well, including the Ecological Block, Food Not Bombs, AIDS activist groups, the Mobilization for Global Justice, Fifty Years is Enough, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, and the Anarchist Black Bloc (just to name a few).

By 3pm, the activists were ready to march through the streets of Washington (and the National Mall) to show their opposition to the government's compliance with IMF/World Bank policies. The marchers encountered little opposition from the corporate riot squad, mostly because they had obtained a permit to march through the streets. The marchers made their way past the Department of Treasury, the office directly accountable for supporting IMF/World Bank policies. Protestors stopped in front of the building for a few minutes chanting "shame, shame" over and over to show their disapproval for Department of Treasury's actions. The marchers were largely successful in blocking traffic and shutting down large parts of the city during the march (although that was not really the main goal). Protestors chanted statements during the march, including "Drop the Debt" (Third World debt to the IMF), "Whose Streets? Our Streets!" and "This is what democracy looks like," and then "This is what a police state looks like" (addressing the endless miles of riot police).

The march eventually ended with the breakup of the crowd into various groups determined to directly block the IMF/World Bank headquarters. The idea originally would have been to block all entrances and exits to the building, but the police were successful in blockading all the streets leading to the building with thousands of officers.

In order to bypass this problem, the marchers split off into numerous groups, some determined to protest the IMF and World Bank in front of the headquarters, while others engaged in direct action designed to block specific exits planned to be used by corporate executives when exiting the meeting. What this basically amounted to was around 20-30 protestors blocking many of the exits in front of the police barricades, in an attempt to block the escape of the executives for as long as possible. The "Quarantine" of the officials that blocked public intersections was symbolic in that it was supposed to contain these hazardous executives and their policies within the boundaries of the police barricades for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, most that marched in the rally were afraid (understandably) of being arrested or attacked by the police squads with pepper spray, rubber bullets, and batons (which happened in the 1999 Seattle demonstrations, where protestors attempted to block World Trade Organization delegates from attending their annual meeting). Despite only a few thousand protestors participating in the direct "Quarantine," protestors were successful in keeping corporate executives pinned down for hours.

The protestors experimented with new methods of protest that may have been considered unorthodox in the past, but intriguing nonetheless. Messengers would travel between different groups blocking intersections, and inform them when a car of executives passed their intersection attempting to exit through a street farther down from the one currently occupied. The protestors would then run as fast as possible to the next intersection, effectively blockading the executives.

This method was also effective in avoiding some police brutality. Riot squads would often take over 20-30 minutes to set up before they would attack the protestors. By that point though, the protestors had already escaped a couple blocks down and were out of sight from the police. This required the police to set up all over again and chase the protestors throughout the city.

Unfortunately, this method did not work forever, and the riot squads eventually caught up with the protestors and attacked them, forcibly removed them from the intersections. Any protestors that re-entered the intersections were threatened with attack and arrest.

The number of people demonstrating was the major determinant on Saturday with regard to the lack of arrests and police brutality in many people's minds. The turnout greatly contrasted with the demonstrations on Friday. On Friday, only a few thousand protestors showed up, making it much easier for the police to detain them. On Saturday, police were less able to use violent means to intimidate the protestors simply because the protestors vastly outnumbered the riot squads.

The weekend ended on Sunday with a peaceful gathering in Dupont Circle, in which activists shared ideas and philosophies, and protested the proposed War on Iraq. Posters displayed contained slogans, one reading "Hey Cheney! Did Doctors Fix Your Heart or Remove It?" Others included "Axis of Oil, Stop beating the Drums of War", "Al Qaeda had a First Strike Policy Too", "No Blood for Oil", and "Create a Better Role for America, Don't Bomb Iraq." The group then marched from Dupont Circle to Dick Cheney's residence to voice their opposition for the Bush Administration's war for oil in Iraq.

Aside from the actual protests, it is extremely interesting and rather ironic that the protestors were threatened with arrest for exactly the same activity that the riot squads participated in (blockading intersections). The argument of the police for their blockade was that they needed to protect the IMF officials from the public. But we can see very clearly from this argument for whom they really work.

The police are theoretically supposed to serve and protect the public. When they protect a few corporate gangsters instead, we gain a much better understanding of their main priorities, protecting corporate executives and their interests.

We should be honest about the real role of the riot squads. The photos reveal very clearly that in reality, the riot squads often serve as protectors of the corporate mafia. They surely could not be protecting the public. It is after all, very difficult to serve and protect the public when you are threatening them, attacking them, and violating their constitutional rights (accomplished Friday with the pre-emptive arrests).

In reality, the corporate police state's goal is often to protect corporate executives and their freedom to rob and exploit the Third World (Which is accomplished with the unethical IMF loan sharking and funding of corporate dictators). It may be a conclusion that many of us do not want to hear, but the simple truth is that these police officers (unwittingly), serve as the protectors of policies that have become so unpopular that they provoke 20-50,000 protestors every year to travel across the entire country for massive public demonstrations.

Now that we understand the role of the police state, we must understand our role. These grassroots protests represent direct democracy at its strongest. They prove that if we force our leaders to acknowledge our demands, we can accomplish almost anything.

The goals of the protestors were simple: Disrupt daily life in Washington D.C. enough so that our politicians cannot ignore us anymore, disrupt the IMF/World Bank meetings, and educate the nation along the way regarding the dangers of economic imperialism and unfettered corporate globalization. On all of these goals, the protestors were successful.

We showed the IMF and World Bank that we will not be intimidated, and that we are not going anywhere until they either shape up or drop off the face of the earth.