Welcome to BASE21

Mi-Kyeong Ryu (Secretary, KoPA)

Translated by PICIS

"Assassini! Assassini!"

I finally met the demonstrators. On 20th July, 2001, Genoa was filled with Italian riot police, the carabineraie. They parked their black cars by the dozens on the road and glared at the movements of the people. When I came out of the backstreet onto a large road, thousands of people were shouting 'ASSASSINI!'. A person who was leading the demonstration from a megaphone van was telling the people 'we must discuss the direction of our actions on this situation, let's gather at the square', while the crowd shouted back at him 'we must fight right now. Let's march forward'. The demonstrators must have felt the possibility of a police attack. Some were wrapping their arms with sponge and some others were making shields with plastic. I managed to ask the person right next me with some difficulty 'where are we heading?'. Before I had time to listen to the person's reply, the black-clad mob of carabineraie shot teargas and attacked the demonstrators. The crowd tried to calm down one another shouting 'Piano! Piano!(calmly!)' and slowly moved backwards. I went into a backstreet and when I came out again, the street was completely black and there were about 20 people kneeling with their hands on their heads, surrounded by the police and being kicked.

At the time, I didn't know - that the 'situation' which the person on the van insisted needed discussion was the death of anItalian youth. 'ASSASSINI' was not a metaphor for police violence, but literally meant 'murderer'. Even after seeing the large patch of red blood on the sidewalk, I could't imagine that someone who was on the streets with me had fallen by shots from the police. Because there was no reason for us to be shot.

"Don't owe! Won't pay!"

While the Genoa Social Forum was in session, there were large photos stuck on walls around the city which attracted the eyes of people passing by. It was a picture of a chubby white baby boy sucking on the breast of a black women who had nothing but bones to sustain herself. It manifested the present reality where the 'interest on foreign debt' was eating away at public expenditure, to the extent that the millions of people of the South cannot get the most basic education and cure for their diseases. All in the name of the expansion of speculative capital - capital does nothing but worsen the world economic crisis that has once again hit Argentina, Turkey, Mexico and South-East Asia, following the one in Korea which threw hundreds of thousands into unemployment and poverty. Can there be a clearer description of the neo-liberal globalization that utterly destroys the lives of the people, from the exploitation of women workers in the South who get less than a dollar for their intense labour to the plundering by the policy of 'property rights' of indigenous knowledge used as medical cure by the people, all committed under the sole objective of eliminating all factors that are considered to be a barrier in the activities for accumulation of transnational capital?

From the 16th July, before the summit, the Public Forum took place in tents by the shore. Heated debates continued day after day, and people from all over the world reaffirmed that neo-liberal globalization cannot be our alternative. During the forum, which was organized by the Jubilee South -network centered in the southern hemisphere working for the cancellation of debt- the fact that all debt which the South are burdened with are 'illegal' and thus should not be paid back was raised. The reality is that the amount 'borrowed' from the First World (by the need from financial capital) during the 1980's was 567 trillion dollars, and despite the fact that about 3.5 quadrillion dollars - six times that amount - was paid back, the countries in the South still 'owe' the First World 2.7 quadrillion dollars. But the First World nations and global institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, under their cover-up of 'elimination of poverty' task, are enforcing structural adjustment programs as conditions for the cancellation - plans which are nothing but attempts to make the South into a playground for global speculative capital, plans that have destroyed the livelihoods of workers and the people. Thus we shout "Don't owe! Won't pay!"

"Bang! Bang! We have nothing else to do but aim our guns at you!"

Enjoying their luxury at the cruise ship anchored at one corner of the Genoa harbour, the G8 heads-of-state proved the photo to be the reality of this planet. They knew about the poverty of the developing world more than anyone else and heightened their voices that they will accomplish the mission of 'globalizing poverty'. After the summit, they were pleased with the their agreement which they insist will decrease the poverty of the entire world. But their conclusion is in fact a plan that will completely betray the peoples of the world already suffering under neo-liberalism. Their solution to the poverty caused by Third World debt is the acceleration of neo-liberal restructuring, incorporation into the world trade regime and the expansion of transnational capital investment. They confirmed the fact that the only thing in their minds was the maximization of their activity stage for out-of-control speculative capital. Also, they were satisfied with their agreement to establish a 'global fund' for the elimination of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which will in fact only fill up the stomachs of transnational pharmaceutical companies. Putting aside the fact the amount to be invested into the fund is way short of what is actuallly needed, the fund will be used for 'prevention' to prevent the spreading of AIDS to their countries, not for the 'cure' of the 3 million Africans inflicted with the disease. The companies also state that the patients must only buy the unaffordable 'originals' which are about 10 times more expensive than the cheap reproduced patents. The G8 can provide no alternatives to the world economy in crisis nor to the lives at stake of peoples around the world. At the growing anger of the people, the only thing they could do was to answer with violence. They set up the Zona Rossa(red zone)around the summit venue which was closed off to all except those who had accreditation. They built a wall, stacked up containers, blocked all roads, placed uncountable amount of military forces including land-to-air missiles and thoroughly prepared an all-out war against the peoples of the world who yearn for life.

"Violent demonstrators deserve to die??"

After the summit, the Korean People's Action Against Investment Treaties & WTO(KoPA) gathered together in front of the Italian Embassy in Seoul and protested against the murder at Genoa. The protesters stated that amidst the suppression from the police armed with all sorts of deadly weapons, the death of the Italian youth, Carlo Giuliani, cannot be called an accident, but a death that was foreseen. We also demanded an official apology from the Italian government and the punishment of the one responsible. But during the meeting that followed, the Ambassador, Carlos Trezza, merely ridiculously repeated that "the Italian government has already expressed its regret. The Attorney Office is investigating into the case and there is nothing more to be said". He added that the "G8 leaders have discussed all the issues that the demonstrators were addressing and the Italian government even put in the motion for the cancellation of debt. Why are you only focusing on the suppression? The violence was caused not by the police but the demonstrators. It was the demonstrators who destroyed half of Genoa and injured more than a 100 policemen", and blamed the demonstrators. Consistently, the media in Genoa described the anti-globalization demonstrations as a 'riot of mobsters' and that the murdered Carlo Guiliani rightfully' died since he ran away from home, was an anarchist and had criminal records on 'drunk-driving' and 'disturbance of public duties'.

"Struggling is the only way!"

We are receiving news that police violence still continues in Genoa. The police barged into the offices of Indymedia Center, beat and arrested hundreds there, confiscated hard disks, passports, diaries etc. There are about 500 hospitalized, 100 people are missing and violence continues inside the police station.

Genoa is Bupyeong where the Daewoo Motors workers were bloodied, is Ulsan where Hyosung workers against restructuring were threatened with knives, and is also Yeoido where striking cement-mixer drivers were attacked by police armed with axes and hammers. What is definite at this time is that there can be no compromise between neo-liberal globalization and lives of the workers and people. They have already started to aim their guns and proclaim war against the peoples around the world.

* This essay is a translation of the Korean original written for PICIS's 'International News'.