No to the World Trade Organisation

new zealand reports

Anti-WTO protests were held across Aotearoa and around the world recently to mark the start of the latest WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar. Because of the repressive nature of the government of Qatar, the WTO was spared the kinds of protests that disrupted the last meeting in Seattle. Anti-globalisation protestors, however, vowed to keep the pressure up by organising an International Day of Action against the WTO. Below are reports on actions in Christchurch and Wellington.

christchurch report

Around 200 people joined the November 9 "Tour of Capitalist Greed" in Christchurch, which has the dubious distinction of being the hometown of WTO Director General Mike Moore.
The day was organised by a broad coalition of some half-a-dozen Christchurch lefty groups, including everyone from the Anarchist Round Table to Staunch (Alliance youth) Given the range of political ideologies represented, the planning for the event went surprisingly smoothly,

although the diversity of groups involved did lead to some mixed messages on the day. On the positive side, people of all ages and types turned up.
The day kicked off at noon in the Cashel Mall amphitheatre with a short introductory speech about the WTO by Aziz Choudry of GATT Watchdog.

tour of capitalist greed

We then marched down to the local Nike Shop, where Mathew of the Anarchist Round Table talked about the conditions workers face in Nike sweatshops in places like China and Vietnam. It was stressed that the exploitation of workers at Nike was not an exception, but rather an example of how all workers around the world are exploited under capitalism. The crowd were then invited to step forward and hurl sponge rubber bricks at the Nike Shop window. Despite the objections of one

protestor who considered the action overly violent (!), the shop was subjected to a barrage of spongy projectiles, much to the consternation of the solitary security guard.
Next stop was Telecom, where Murray Horton from CAFCA drew the crowd's attention to the sucking sound he could hear as 98% of the company's profits were being channelled offshore from the ex-state owned entity. There was then a "people's" auction where we tried to buy back Telecom. The highest bid was $20. (We are still in negotiations.)
Our next target was Starbucks, just around the corner in Cathedral Square. After a speech from Trade Aid's Simon Gerathy, everyone was invited to enjoy a cup of "fair trade" coffee, kindly prepared by Food not Bombs.
It was then back to the Cashel Mall amphitheatre and our next target: the WestpacTrust Bank. Predictably, a member of the Alliance used the opportunity to give the new Kiwi Back a plug. Green Party co-leader Rod Donald continued the reformist theme with a lecture on ethical consumerism, while a member of the Young Greens gave out fake twenty dollar bills with a subversive anti-capitalist message on the back!

overall a welcome change

Overall the Tour of Capitalist Greed was a welcome change from the traditional march and rally. The police presence was minimal, which meant we were able to briefly occupy the Telecom foyer and occasionally spill on to the road as we marched from one venue to the next. There is obviously still a lot of confusion out there as to what anti-capitalism is (it is not about switching loyalties from foreign-owned businesses to locally- or state-owned ones), but hopefully we will have another opportunity soon to set the record straight!

Kerry, Grant F & Mathew

wellington report

The Wellington Carnival Against Capitalism was a noisy, fun demonstration held on November 9 to coincide with the meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Qatar. The day consisted of a series of rolling demonstrations. About 150 people or so attended the carnival, which was a smaller turnout than previous carnivals vs. capital held in Wellington, but nevertheless a good time was held by all. Certainly, we didn't manage to stop capitalism for a day, but at least we managed to temporarily shut down a few capitalist giants in the form of Burger King and McDonald's.

Strangely enough the day began with a small Council of Trade Unions rally in Midland Park, but the CTU did not want to be associated with the carnival, so it was billed as a separate event. All the CTU could offer was a tepid speech by their chief union bureaucrat opposing some aspects of globalisation anyway. Then the carnival moved around the corner to the Ministry of "Defence" to protest against the war against Afghanistan and the sending of NZ SAS troops to fight for the American ruling elite. A few speeches were made, and slogans (unfortunately only in chalk) written on the walls of the ministry.

The next stop was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to protest against the proposed Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement. By now the protest was decidedly noisy and emotional, and at least there was a bit of a radical edge to the demo. I can remember only one person speaking about such shit as fair trade, not free trade and most speeches recommended us not to vote, and take control of our communities away from the control of capitalism. As well, a few people made the link between war and capitalists attempting to free up trade for their own profit, as the NZ government is asking for a free trade agreement with the US in return for them supporting their war. After that, we made our way to an anti-Genetic Engineering Rally in Cuba Mall, stopping to protest outside the Business Roundtable, Burger King, Starmart, McDonald's, Nike, Westpac Bank and Starbucks along the way. GE is a big issue in Aotearoa, with mass protests up and down the country against the attempt by capitalists to control and patent our food and life itself.

wellington's first reclaim the streets party

The day ended with a moderately successful Reclaim the Streets party in Upper Cuba St outside the anarchist bookshop the Freedom Shop, where a punk rock band entertained the crowd. This was the first Reclaim the Streets party held in Aotearoa, and it worked quite well. The "party" was quite lethargic, with people sitting down on chairs in the middle of the street the order of the day, but at least we reclaimed the street for an hour, and the police obliged by redirecting traffic for us.There were no arrests during the protest. The party was held in Upper Cuba St because it is the site of a proposed inner city motorway bypass that may be pushed through in the next year, even though almost everyone in the local community opposes it. It is another example of capitalism at work, with roads pushed through to benefit business to the detriment of local community.

So far, the anti-bypass movement is dominated by a mild middle-class group called Campaign for a Better City. The CBC focuses upon lobbying local politicians and legalistic opposition to the bypass. Their idea of action is to send a 1,000 strong march (the largest demo in Wellington for years) to a meeting to be talked at and bored by local body political candidates. This strategy has utterly failed with the election of a pro-bypass mayor. It's time to take more direct forms of action, and the Reclaim the Streets party was an example of this. Onwards to digging tunnels and building barricades!

report from the anti-capitalist covergence

The weekend before the carnival, an anti-capitalist convergence was held. This convergence was organised by the same loose coalition of anarchists, student radicals, and left-liberals (some even from the Alliance!!) who organised the carnival vs. capital. About 100-150 people attended various workshops on things like Decolonisation, Bastion Point, Afghanistan, Participatory Democracy, Free Trade, and Anti-Capitalism. A disturbing trend was the attempt by many reformist liberals from groups such as ARENA (Action, Research and Education Network Aotearoa) to move in on the "anti-capitalist movement" and turn it into a movement to reform capitalism!

raging against the machine

Against them, one could say: Bollocks to those who prefer fair trade to free trade. We do not want more control over the market, we want its abolition. All markets are based upon our alienation and exploitation. Under capitalism ALL TRADE IS TRADE IN HUMAN MISERY. We spit in the face of those (like the Council of Trade Unions or the Green Party) who wish to represent us. We do not speak or act on behalf of anyone. Representative democracy is a sham, concealing the dictatorship of capital. ALL STATES ARE PRISONS. We do not recognise capitalism in the meetings of the various gangsters like the World Trade Organisation but in the daily robbery of our lives in the offices and factories. OUR CARNIVAL AGAINST CAPITAL DOES NOT HAVE A BEGINNING OR END, it is not a predetermined spectacle, it does not have a fixed

date. Our present is an everyday struggle against capitalist bosses and their stooges. Our future lies beyond all mediations, beyond nation-states, beyond all attempts to reform capitalism. Our future lies in the destruction of the capitalist economy.
FOR THE TOTAL ABOLITION OF CAPITAL AND THE STATE. FOR THE WORLD HUMAN COMMUNITY.

Proletarians against the machine.