dc.indymedia.org has coverage from the ground of the marches and protests, if you are interested in those details.

If you want to educate yourself on globalization (or more accurately, global corporatization) these sites explain a lot:

Campaign Against the IMF, World Bank and Structural Adjustment
http://www.essentialaction.org/imf/

The Global Rulemakers
http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/

Globalize This!
http://sept.globalizethis.org/

Proclaiming yourself "not part of the problem" does not make it so, even if it does eleviate your own personal guilt.

People don't just take to the streets willy nilly, as some may believe. There is a lot of thought and love behind street action. There are a lot of "cerebral" people out there marching and yellling. Who do you think is doing it? Random dumbasses who protest for arguments sake? No.

It seems abrasive to confront problems and issues in this manner, but it is an effective means of doing such. It also is a bit difficult to understand how empowering and positive direct action is looking at it from the outside. Who knows, maybe Joe has been to rally's in his college days that he can tell us about.

Activism is a joy if you just do it, and it is fun and easy too. Jesus was an activist. I've been thinking a lot of him lately. He spoke to people. He knocked over the money-changers tables outside of the temple. He cared.

I wish more people would. He died for our sin's, for Christ's sake.

Joe, I found a website based out of Chicago that is the Drugde Report for the left. It is called Buzzflash.com. Check it out.

I hope the Cardinals lose on Saturday so there will be a game 4 so Mike can go to it. That would be an experience of a lifetime.

Good night all. God bless.

I can't find any information on what happened during the IMF convention, besides for the protests. Why were they meeting, and what did they decide upon?

Is anyone offering suggestions on how to change the World Bank or IMF other then anarchy and boycotts. This is such a cluster fuck of an issue.

I also don't like the phrase, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." It's shameless attempt at a guilt trip, and I'm not going for it. There's too many problems in the world today to make that type of assertion. Personally I'm not part of the problem, nor am I part of the solution. I'm trying to make up my mind on what to think about and how to react to the World Bank and IMF problems. It takes me longer to make up my mind then most people. I like to get a little more information.

I agree with Matt when he said not that many people would care about the policies of the IMF, minus the protests and marches in Seattle and now in DC.

I more cerebral, then active and vocal, and I get really turned off by protests and marches. I especially don't like call and response mantras, unless it has something to do with the death of Randy Johnson in game 4 of the NLDS Sunday afternoon at Bush Stadium - I got tickets!

However, I appluad those who took the time to shout about all the crap that the IMF has done to third world countries. (I would also like to applaud the CA Angels for just now pulling ahead of the NY Yanks in game three of the ALDS series. Score 9-6 Angels)

Anaheim Angels: "One Half the Payroll, Twice the Heart"

I'd love to see Cowboy Autry's Angels against King of Beers Auggie's Cardinals in the 02 World Series.

Whatever you say Mike.

Hey everybody, just wanted to clarify the situation:I didn't knock anybody up. Thankyou.

MattK . I think the bumper sticker read "i'm not part of the solution,
I'm part of the problem"
Get it right.

Oh, Kev. Sweet sweet Kevin. I want to thank you, seriously, thank you.

You bring up sooo many good points, and I know that many people use that same faulty logic that you just blew up all our asses.

Number 1: There are solutions. No matter what the problem, no matter what the time, no matter what the place; There is always a solution. It is there if you choose to see it. I don't like cop-out, can't-do attitudes. There is a saying, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I've heard before the critisicm that these marches, actions, demonstrations, etc. do not accomplish anything, and also that the people who protest do not have any solutions.
That is total bullshit. We have the answers, or at least the will to find them. The main point of demonstrating is to make a scene, to make our voices heard. I remember once they had this thing in ancient Greece they called "Democracy," where everyone had their say. What a concept, huh?

Number 2: Another important aspect of marching and organizing is to create an event that people talk about, just like we are doing. Do you think anyone on this blog, or at my school would even know what the IMF and World Bank are or how horrible their policies are if there was no rally? Doubtful. I remember we were walking through some neighborhoods from an organizing meeting and some little black girls said to us, "Ya'll going to protest the IMF?" That is so beautiful, man.
Demonstrating creates awareness to issues. Granted, awareness is not enough, but it is where all discussion starts. Change begins in the mind and the heart, baby, then the body.

Diamond-who? The Redbirds have taken two big ole' bites out of the desert slitherers. The fatal blow us coming Saturday.
Then the Cards will feast in glory.

Beavers love snakes. Diamondbacks are especially tasty, if a little bitter on the tongue.

do beavers eat snakes?

schilling and the snakes are going to be devoured tommorow night.

GO Cards! 12 to 2 they beat the Diamond-Johnson-Schilling-backs. What happened to the Big Unit?

I have a million stories about DC, so please forgive me if I go astray (a little Prince lyric for ya).

Imagine streets with every parking meter having a sticker pasted on it reading, "Ashcroft is a pig." That is what it was like! So inspiring! So empowering! So Anarchy!

Matt, I looked at that picture of the "whose streets?" I think i know the girl in the red bandana.
Looks like you had good times. 8-)

Here is a link to a large picture file of us parading through the streets of DC. There was a chant that went,
"WHOSE STREETS?"
"OUT STREETS!"
"WHOSE STREETS?"
"OUT STREETS!"

http://www.ameritech.net/users/mkomanecky/whosestreets.jpg

The sticker on the bumber of this D.C. Metro PD squad car says "Bush is a punk ass chump"

The more I read and see about anarchism, the more I am falling in love with it. It is romantic, beautiful, and real. You have to really trust in people and the universe to take care of you. It is living day by day. It is bread and roses. it is fighting for our lives

You are all so very long winded (and opinionated) today. It might take me all night to digest.
Can you hear me now?

Wearing black clothes and bandanas does not make one an anarchist, that much is obvious, and no one has ever made that claim. The Black Bloc is a name and a TACTIC, not a fashion statement (Although I think it looks cool too).

Go Dick!
Durbin says no to signing the resolution for war in Iraq. I hear more and more anti-war sentiment every day.

Africa is an oppressed and exploited continent, still reeling from Imperialism and still being controlled by trans-national interests in the Global North. There is an AIDS crisis and widespread famine in Africa that is only getting worse. The U.S. supports diamond and gold mining operations and allows companies like Dupont and Monsanto sell genetically modified foods (which Africa does not want because GM crops, once planted, spread like a cancer over non-GM crops. It also has to do with future trade with the European Union, which has rejected GM foods from being imported as a form of trade contol - instead of inacting high tariffs. Rejecting GM crops accomplishes the same thing.). The solution to this can be found in a simple parable. Give a man a bag a genetically modified corn, feed his family for a day, Teach a man how to grow his own non-GM corn, feed his village for a lifetime.
Much like the African subcontinent is still exploited and oppressed, so too are the black people in the U.S.
The Civil War is over, but the war for black freedom is not.
The Civil War was not fought for the freedom of slaves, it was fought for control of the cash generator that was the South. While I sympathize with reparations, and I think that Blacks deserve reparations, I don't think money is the answer. Let's give them a better world. The Civil Rights movement is not over, black people today are NOT treated equally. They are still passed over in job interviews and too many young black males end up in a correctional facility or dead.

Consumer Report: If you really are socially concious about where you buy your clothing, try shopping at Structrrue or Bachrachs. Seriously, those stores do not try their jeans on baby rabbits, or promote slave labor. Thier prices are thrice that of the GaP and even more so then WalMart or Target, but it's the guilt free choice to make.
As far as comparing dead union soldiers to people dying in Africa: try as hard as I can, I can find no similarities for metaphor.

Still, I would love to see some pictures of the events that you experienced Matt. Back home I didn't see hardly any news coverage of the protests, It was almsot as if it were a non-issue. They seemed to be too focused on the supposed immenint war with Iraq. Therefore, I thing that I am not informed enough to agree or disagree with your accounts of the IMF festivities.

I would further like to add that I consider myself a self-respecting anarchist as the next guy, but I don't need a black mask to hide my face. What was that shit all about? Anybody that cares for a cause so much that they need a mask to conceal their identity looks like a complete poseur to me.

The United States is getting richer. The rest of the world is getting richer much slower. The rest of the third world countries don't know the difference between capitalism and maniacal despotism because their too busy blaming their problems on the evil axis of the western countries, or crawling through the dessert hallucinating trying to get to the United States. Why don't we trade with Cuba? Why don't we trade with Iraq? For the same reasons we shouldn't trade with Bangledesh or Taiwan. The United States is not the problem. If you want to solve the problem try going to DC and burning the Bangledeshi flag. The only money pouring into that country is the pennies that I pay for my ISU baseball cap. If I didn't support slave labor by shopping at the Gap or buying a University baseball cap, then those poor people in Bangledesh who make 15 cents a month would starve to death. Present a solution before you attack the Americann shoppper. This had nil to do with competition. The US was the first counrty to incorporate anti-competitive jurisdiction into its framework of law. The rest of the world needs to catch up. The laws are there. No protest is going to solve anything. The laws are there. Enforce the laws. Walmart can be taken down. The radio stations can be taken down. You could revoultionize the whole print medium. Hold up a sign and sing songs? Fuck All That. Boycott? That's Bull shit. Where does the government stand in all of this? Nowhere. They don't care. It's a non-issue. Why would the govenment think twice about going after Walmart, Starbucks, and the Gap. I don't think that's not the government's job. Enact new legislation? Spell it out. I don't see anything in the activist agenda that makes me think: "Man, I really think things are turning around, and the world is taking a turn for the better."

Ultimately, I think I have problems with grass-roots demonstrations because any ya-hoo with a black mask and a temper can participate. If their were a timeline on activism, I don't think I don't think I would enter the picture until the tenth stage or so.

What exactly were you protesting Matt?

(And) Financial inequality is not at an all time high. It's as constant as it's always been.

I better have made the news. If not, we have a TON of pictures, video, and audio from the trip. I took a digital video cam with me so now you too can feel what it is like inside a protest. It is not at all like the corporate media would have you believe! We were nonviolent, joyous, and powerful. I have pictures of the parks and streets filled with beautiful people carrying signs, sitting in the grass, holding hands in a dancing circle, and carrying giant puppets. And of course, cops!

We stayed in a part of town that was filled with small-business international restaurants - including etheopian, mexican, and vietnamese quisine. We ate out twice there - at a chinese place and a mexican place. At the church where the mobilization meetings were taking place they made vegan lentils and salad for all. We ate a lot of bread, bagels, pop tarts, junk snacks; free or cheap meals were not hard to come by. It was great. Lots of water was drank because we walked a lot.

Welcome back MattK. I can't wait to hear all about the protesting, pipe bombs, molotav cocktails, etc....
wasn't that you I saw on the news? It's good to have you home.

We abolished slavery; we abolished Jim Crow laws; we abolished the exclusion of women from voting; we abolished the 60-hour work week; and we can abolish international banking institutions that do more to prevent democracy than promote it. If we are to have real democracy, then sovereignty must reside in the people themselves, not in institutions with limited public accountability.
10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF and World Bank, by Kevin Danaher

Fuck "competitive" trade. Cooperation not competition.

Capitalism was meant to solve the world's financial troubles, to lift "all boats" on it's rising tide. It has failed miserably. Financial inequality is at an all time high. When are we going to really provide the means for all people to eat and work in this world?

I'm following the Black Bloc Anarchists' example. I am refusing to allow the rich rape the world's poor. Now there is a "global south" that is being held as slaves to the Capitalist North.

I'll take your "bunch of f'n dead union soldiers," and raise it twenty African villages dying of AIDS.

Peppermint Patty was not sexually mature enough to be a lesbian or a heterosexual. She hadn't even reaches puberty yet. If PP did grow up to become a lesbian then it still would not have meant she was a lesbian as a child. The similarities between Charlie Brown and myself only begin with our infatuation of red heads.

Peppermint Patty was definitely a lesbian. No doubt about it.
Mike good luck with your redhead; go get em tiger! Be charming,
act interested, and brush your teeth in the morning! and don't forget to
use a condom.

I'm withdrawing my Beaver bid for Presidident in 2004.

What the world needs now is another goofy president with an speech impediment, like I need a hole in my head.

What the world needs now... is less Eminen, and another Frank Sinatra, so I can get that cute little red head from work in bed with me.

Punnet Square: Cute Little Red Head with a long tall wily guy? Answer: fiesty little beavers with an appreciation for Camper Van Bhetthoven.

That last post didn't make a lot sense. didn't it? (I'll be prez in no time.)