capitalist globalization

By Hans Bennett

by Pete Tridish

A Ruckus I Couldn’t Miss

I first heard about the Seattle Protests at a Ruckus Society training camp about 6 months before the WTO was scheduled to come to town. Ruckus is a group famous for the dramatic and daring banners they hang from cranes and buildings and towers; they focus on human rights and environmental issues. The speaker there representing the anti-WTO organizers, after making an eloquent case for the connections between all the globalization issues and for a coalition of activists of all stripes, said “We will lie down on the airstrips and stop the delegates planes from landing.  If they get past that, we will block the highways leading from the airport to the city. If they get past that, we will block the hotels they are staying in, we will block the streets, and we will block the doors of the convention center and we will not let them make another another free trade deal that week in Seattle.” How could I not help with such a plan? In that moment I committed to go.

The G20 in Pittsburgh showed us how pitifully fearful our leaders have become.

By Bill Quigley
from CounterPunch.org

The G20 in Pittsburgh showed us how pitifully fearful our leaders have become.

What no terrorist could do to us, our own leaders did.

Out of fear of the possibility of a terrorist attack, authorities militarize our towns, scare our people away, stop daily life and quash our constitutional rights.
For days, downtown Pittsburgh, home to the G20, was turned into a militarized people-free ghost town. Sirens screamed day and night. Helicopters crisscrossed the skies. Gunboats sat in the rivers. The skies were defended by Air Force jets. Streets were barricaded by huge cement blocks and fencing. Bridges were closed with National Guard troops across the entrances. Public transportation was stopped downtown. Amtrak train service was suspended for days.
In many areas, there were armed police every 100 feet. Businesses closed. Schools closed. Tens of thousands were unable to work.

Building a Movement

A severe housing crisis exists in the United States. All across the country, despite courageous struggles against divestment, land speculation and gentrification, public housing communities are being permanently displaced as developments are razed to the ground. Millions of families have been dispossessed of their homes, wrongly evicted and displaced from their communities by the escalating foreclosure crisis. Homelessness is escalating to levels unseen since the 1930’s as a direct result of the various forces of displacement stated above and economic dislocation from increased automation, deindustrialization, and the globalization of production.

Michael Moore’s New Film Names the System and Presents a Radical Democratic Critique

by Alex Knight, October 15, 2009

Capitalism: A Love Story, which opened in 962 theaters earlier this month, is Michael Moore’s most ambitious work yet - taking aim at the root cause behind the injustices he’s exposed in his other films over the last 20 years. This time capitalism itself is the culprit to be maligned in Moore’s trademark docu-tragi-comic style. And by using the platform of a major motion picture to make a direct assault at the root of the problem, Moore has created space in the political mainstream for a radical conversation (radical meaning “going to the root”).

Resisting the Economic Crisis!
From The G20 Protests to Philly

Sunday, October 18th, 7pm
Calvary Church (48th and Baltimore Avenue)

On September 24th, the twenty richest countries in the world came to Pittsburgh to "fix" the global economy, where they were greeted by mass protests against an economic system that benefits the wealthy.  Over 100 people traveled to the G20 together in a "People's Caravan" that met with grassroots community groups from across Pennsylvania, including trailer park residents resisting eviction and people fighting pollution from coal mines.

Last month, in Shenandoah, PA, just a couple hours drive from Philly, an all white jury dismissed murder charges against 4 white high school students accused of killing Luis Ramirez. Last July, Ramirez, a young Mexican living in Shenandoah, had been waiting to meet up with his fiancée and sister when four football players from the local high school picked a fight, interspersing racist epithets with punches and kicks. The four took turns beating Ramirez. Once Ramirez was beaten to the ground, a final kick cracked his skull. He died in the hospital the next day from the injuries.