[p2p-research] Let's Roll the Tanks against the Banks!

[j.martin.pedersen]

On 18/07/10 15:46, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> in thailand, I believe it was the insufficient attention to the violent
> fringe, which weakened the movement and chased the middle classes away in
> fear; I also feel that it is the reason for the dramatic weakening of the
> once successfull alterglobalization movement ...

What do you base that on? First time I hear this. From within the
movements there has been mainly violence from oppresive state forces to
experience.

On a global level, I think we are still in the infancy of these
movements. Still building, nbetworking, federating.

If you are speaking about the Western European part of the movements
that gained a lot of media coverage from loosely 1998-2004 (in great
part because of minor property destruction or, as it were, creative
architectural critique, but rest of which was predominantly a fluffy,
happy hippie affair in pink), then I think it was a generational moment,
the creative forces of which are burnt out, moved to the country side
(where, such as the Tarnac 9, they are also attacked) or bringing up
children.

But - also - after 9/11, focus in the media and the law began to shift,
which meant that alterglobalisation events were less interesting for the
media - and were lumped in with terrorism by police and media. So yes,
violence led to a weakening of the movement of movements, but it was
state violence and its counter-point, socalled terrorism, and not
violence from within the movements. In fact, the minor bits of
activities that could be said to be violating public space a little bit
and corporate space a bit more, was one of the major reasons why the
media gave time and space to those movements in the first place - and
also the basis upon which NGO people like Susan George could - divide
and conquer - gain a platform to distinguish "the good" from "the bad"
and thus side with the state and benevolent capital (as if there was
such a thing).

-m