WTO Anniversary
We had our little WTO celebration last weekend and I have a confession to make. I’m tired of overstuffed white people with college degrees sitting on stage interpreting my experiences for me. Especially overstuffed white people with college degrees and books to sell. I don’t want to mention any names but David Korten was there as a keynote speaker, along with Garry Owens, one of the early members of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party. Owens was great, he was grounded and engaged and spoke from hands-on experience. I still maintain that the Black Panther Party was one of the most constructive political formations of 20th century America. Good choice for a speaker, Owens never talked down to us or made any sweeping predictions for the future of humanity. In fact, he was quite humble, deferring to the younger generations.
Korten on the other hand… Maybe it’s just me, but this extra intellectual interpretive nonsense gives me indigestion, especially when they’re wrong. I was there. For me the event taught us two major lessons: first, that when organized and committed, people can accomplish almost anything. With a little luck thrown in of course. Second, that the martial forces of the State don’t play games, they are dead serious about keeping things the way they are and will not let a few broken bones and blood puddles get in the way. Added to that, of course, should be the message that if we are ever to be taken seriously by world history, and if we ever seriously expect to achieve anything concrete, then we need to be prepared to respond. Like they say, "be as non-violent as possible." But Korten’s take was all roses and Ghandi, which is fine I suppose… But then he started talking about the World Bank demos in DC that happened a few months later and he said something that completely mystified me – he said that the police basically helped the demonstrators by blocking off all the streets. I know he was being funny in some ways but jeeze…….. I was there and I know that the Washington DC cops arrested over 600 people before the demos even started. They drove around town with photos taken in Seattle and arrested anybody whose picture matched. Cooperation? Also, the talks weren’t shut down. Lots of cops, lots of jails, lots of repression, little success. Korten said nothing about this. To listen to him it would seem that things had gone on in a continuous forward motion until "We the People" took over the world and ran the bastards out. I don’t think it happened like that.
My favorite DC memory is from the last day when we were all marching in a spontaneous formation and found ourselves corralled by the cops into a canyon of buildings. No way out in any direction. And suddenly a whole lot of people who had been janitors and bus drivers and off duty office workers only seconds before were talking fistfuls of plastic handcuffs out of their pockets and heading into the crowd. I managed to slip out between two distracted motorcycle cops.
So who is this guy? A self-described "author, lecturer, engaged citizen," he’s a Stanford educated Air Force vet with an interest in business. A "green capitalist," I would call him. Sound muddy? It is.
This is from "Civilizing Societies" – "Then, a mere 2.6 million years ago, quite near the end of our 15 billion year story, there came the most extraordinary achievement of all, the creation of a being with capacities far beyond those of any creature that had come before it to reflect on its own consciousness, to experience with awe the beauty and mystery of creation, to articulate, communicate and share learning, to reshape the material world to its own ends, and to anticipate and intentionally choose its own future. It was the living spirit's most daring experiment -- and a stunning cooperative achievement."
Okay, let’s check out a few phrases here. Let’s start with "the creation of a being." Not the evolution, but the creation. Which mean that there’s a creator somewhere. "…the living spirit's most daring experiment…" Huh? "…a stunning cooperative achievement." Now I’m lost. Those of us with a non-creationist worldview will have trouble with some of this.
He has a number of "affiliations" on his web site. Most of us call them links. Anyway, one of them is something called "The Club Of Rome." Described as a "global think tank" its own web site proclaims "The Club of Rome’s mission is to act as a global catalyst of change that is free of any political, ideological or business interest." That, as we know, is complete nonsense. You can no more struggle apolitically in the political world than you can swim in the water without getting wet. In my experience when people talk like they that they are usually trying to convince me of their radical credentials while trying to keep the status quo in place. It’s a conservative stance. But I could be wrong. It’s happened before…
Anyway, it was a great gathering once things broke up for a general milling and workshops. The guy from the Backbone Campaign was there – a wonderful idea to give a stylized backbone award to any politician who displays, well, backbone. When he wasn’t leading a workshop on the possible methods of holding the government accountable he was serving beers from a micro keg. An open stage was supposed to be happening in a while but I had things to do and had to leave.
I am proud to be from Seattle where the streets rose up in defiance on that great day. I am proud to be allied with a history that includes the general strike of 1919. I believe in these streets and in that history. And I think that the historical knowledge of the people who have the experience of struggle will out play the book sales every time.
Korten on the other hand… Maybe it’s just me, but this extra intellectual interpretive nonsense gives me indigestion, especially when they’re wrong. I was there. For me the event taught us two major lessons: first, that when organized and committed, people can accomplish almost anything. With a little luck thrown in of course. Second, that the martial forces of the State don’t play games, they are dead serious about keeping things the way they are and will not let a few broken bones and blood puddles get in the way. Added to that, of course, should be the message that if we are ever to be taken seriously by world history, and if we ever seriously expect to achieve anything concrete, then we need to be prepared to respond. Like they say, "be as non-violent as possible." But Korten’s take was all roses and Ghandi, which is fine I suppose… But then he started talking about the World Bank demos in DC that happened a few months later and he said something that completely mystified me – he said that the police basically helped the demonstrators by blocking off all the streets. I know he was being funny in some ways but jeeze…….. I was there and I know that the Washington DC cops arrested over 600 people before the demos even started. They drove around town with photos taken in Seattle and arrested anybody whose picture matched. Cooperation? Also, the talks weren’t shut down. Lots of cops, lots of jails, lots of repression, little success. Korten said nothing about this. To listen to him it would seem that things had gone on in a continuous forward motion until "We the People" took over the world and ran the bastards out. I don’t think it happened like that.
My favorite DC memory is from the last day when we were all marching in a spontaneous formation and found ourselves corralled by the cops into a canyon of buildings. No way out in any direction. And suddenly a whole lot of people who had been janitors and bus drivers and off duty office workers only seconds before were talking fistfuls of plastic handcuffs out of their pockets and heading into the crowd. I managed to slip out between two distracted motorcycle cops.
So who is this guy? A self-described "author, lecturer, engaged citizen," he’s a Stanford educated Air Force vet with an interest in business. A "green capitalist," I would call him. Sound muddy? It is.
This is from "Civilizing Societies" – "Then, a mere 2.6 million years ago, quite near the end of our 15 billion year story, there came the most extraordinary achievement of all, the creation of a being with capacities far beyond those of any creature that had come before it to reflect on its own consciousness, to experience with awe the beauty and mystery of creation, to articulate, communicate and share learning, to reshape the material world to its own ends, and to anticipate and intentionally choose its own future. It was the living spirit's most daring experiment -- and a stunning cooperative achievement."
Okay, let’s check out a few phrases here. Let’s start with "the creation of a being." Not the evolution, but the creation. Which mean that there’s a creator somewhere. "…the living spirit's most daring experiment…" Huh? "…a stunning cooperative achievement." Now I’m lost. Those of us with a non-creationist worldview will have trouble with some of this.
He has a number of "affiliations" on his web site. Most of us call them links. Anyway, one of them is something called "The Club Of Rome." Described as a "global think tank" its own web site proclaims "The Club of Rome’s mission is to act as a global catalyst of change that is free of any political, ideological or business interest." That, as we know, is complete nonsense. You can no more struggle apolitically in the political world than you can swim in the water without getting wet. In my experience when people talk like they that they are usually trying to convince me of their radical credentials while trying to keep the status quo in place. It’s a conservative stance. But I could be wrong. It’s happened before…
Anyway, it was a great gathering once things broke up for a general milling and workshops. The guy from the Backbone Campaign was there – a wonderful idea to give a stylized backbone award to any politician who displays, well, backbone. When he wasn’t leading a workshop on the possible methods of holding the government accountable he was serving beers from a micro keg. An open stage was supposed to be happening in a while but I had things to do and had to leave.
I am proud to be from Seattle where the streets rose up in defiance on that great day. I am proud to be allied with a history that includes the general strike of 1919. I believe in these streets and in that history. And I think that the historical knowledge of the people who have the experience of struggle will out play the book sales every time.
posted by Jim Page at 8:56 PM
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