D.C. Observations from LBO List

["Jay Moore" <research@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 19:45:05 -0400
From: "Max B. Sawicky" <sawicky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Saturday

Just back from the festivities.  I have no idea
if or how the WB/IMF proceedings have been affected.
It was quite clear, however, that downtown D.C. was
shut down.  For the convenience of the WB/IMF, the
police blocked off a huge area in the heart of
downtown.  There were few cars to be seen on the
fringes of the IMF zone, almost all stores shut
down.  The "Delhi Deli" near Pennsylvania and
20th did a great business.

I got off at Farragut North metro like I do
every day, but this time headed to where I
saw people.  I found myself surrounded by
kids lying all over the sidewalk in black,
bandanas, combat boots, gas masks, piercings,
tatoos, radioactive hair colors, etc.
I was in the middle of the Black Bloc.
We were on the frontier of the Forbidden
City, cops lined up behind metal fencing
that blocked the street.  After some
"The Good, the Bad, the Ugly" face-offs,
the mob started forming up, chanting
"Our streets" and marching around the
enclosed perimeter.  They looked like
the desert creatures in Star Wars.
Could have been a thousand or two,
though more kept coming along the
way.

Naturally I marched with them. It
was either that or go the Ellipse
and hear some speaker droning on.
I kept looking for Chuck0 but
never saw him.

The march was uneventful.  Eventually
we got to the Ellipse.  Very hot out
there but dry.  Bumped into Tom Kruse
through a mutual friend -- he's in
fine shape.  Met David McReynolds
in the flesh, after corresponding
with him over the net for a couple
of years.

The Bloc seemed more stocked with
gear than political slogans.  More
cultural than political on the surface,
but clearly something with
political implications.  In
general the demo was striking for
its perfect chaos of slogans and
causes, all around the general
theme of capitalism stinks. Some
of the cadre groups were out there,
but not as many as at other demos
I've been to, nor in much force.
YSA seemed to be doing good business.
Lots of races/nationalities in the
crowd, predominantly young.  A fair
number of union types carrying
Jobs with Justice signs.

The media coverage here has not been
awful, in my view, though there
is not a lot of conveyance of the
content of the protests.  A lot of
the coverage has been gossipy stuff
in the "Style" section.  Han Shan
(an organizer) as teen heart-throb.

The coverage of today will look a
lot like Woodstock.  Little trace of
China/PNTR stuff.  To me the potential
of these two separate tracks to coalesce
into something much more interesting
gives them power even as separate things.
Regarding CC's comment about who will
'control' this, I would say that nobody
will control 'it,' because there is no 'it.'
But both the AFL affiliates and the non-
union types will evolve.  It won't be
your father's AFL-CIO anymore.

I think the week is already a success, regardless
of how the WB/IMF meetings are affected.
The WB and IMF are confirmed topics of
criticism.

Tomorrow promises major disruption of
downtown.  From what I could see there
are more than enough hardcore anarchists
to cause total mayhem.  Basically the
police are reduced to protecting the
meetings or protecting downtown from
disruption.  All indications are that
the meetings come first.  So they will
end up looking stupid for that choice.
They may also have erred in shutting
down the protestors HQ yesterday. It
has given them time to regroup, I
suspect.  Tomorrow . . .

mbs