Focus magazine, issue 82, winter 2008 by Comhlamh

FOCUS

ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE Issue 82/Winter 2008 ISSN 1649-7368

INSIDE Action - Bloom: Movement for Global Justice / Illegitimate Debt - Who Owes Whom? / Global Europe? / Activist Voices: We don’t want to Arm you / European Social Forum / Policing and Protest / Are You Registered to Vote?

ISSN 1649-7368 9

771649 736018

€2.50 82

{ Welcome } Credits & Contact details Focus magazine, established in 1978, now published four times a year, is Ireland’s leading magazine on global development issues. It is published by Comhlámh, Development Workers in Global Solidarity, Ireland, which works to promote global development through education and action. Focus is produced by an editorial collective of volunteers, with the support of the Comhlámh offices in Dublin. New volunteers are always welcome. Please contact Comhlámh if you are interested in any aspect of the production of this magazine. No prior experience is necessary.

Correspondence Comhlámh 2nd Floor Ballast House Aston Quay Dublin 2 Ph 086 226 5802 E-mail: info@comhlamh.org

Editorial Team Fleachta Phelan, Alison Leahy, Anna Guiney, Tess Cosgrove, Brigid Lyons, Kate Byron

Cover Photo Fionuala Cregan - Shoes and red paint reconstruct the memory of a massacre during the conflict in Guatemala

Design: Alice Fitzgerald

The views expressed in individual articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comhlámh, Irish Aid or our other funders.

Code of Conduct on Images and Messages Comhlámh is signatory to the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages (for full document see http://www.comhlamh. org/resources-library.html or contact us for a copy of the Dóchas flyer). Feedback on this issue is most welcome – email: lizzie@ comhlamh.org

We have tried to contact all relevant photographers to seek their permission to use photographs. We apologise to those we have been unable to trace.

Photography: Fionuala Cregan, Miren Maialen Samper, Salvatore Barbera Illustration: Alice Fitzgerald.

Printed by Tralee Print www.traleeprinting.com Printed on recycled paper

Charity alone will never change the world

Join Comhlámh: take action for global justice In a world that seems so unfair, don't you wish that Ireland would stand up for justice? Yet there have been moments to be proud of when Ireland helped make a difference:

You can join in campaigns  

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against apartheid for the freedom of East Timor for debt cancellation

But these breakthroughs only happen because people - like you - demand change and make justice matter. For 33 years, Comhlámh (Irish for 'solidarity' and pronounced 'co-law-ve') has been educating and campaiging for global justice in solidarity with the developing world. Our members challenge the root causes of injustice and inequality - globally and locally.

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for Trade Justice against racism for aid that makes a difference

Comhlámh can also offer advice on overseas volunteering.

{ Focus Action }

Action: Help us to Bloom!

Join us to Create an Alternative World on 7th & 8th November, 2008

movement for global justice

Those of you who are regular readers of Focus will have noticed that the action on this page are brought to you by an alliance of like-minded organisations. We have been working together for over two years now, and would love you to come along and support us as we launch ourselves formally, and take our first steps as Bloom: Movement for Global Justice. Bloom is an alliance of membership-based organisations taking action together for global justice. Its current members are the Africa Centre, Comhlámh, Debt and Development Coalition (Ireland) and Latin American Solidarity Centre. Join Us and Help to Build a Global Justice Movement in Ireland! Launch of Bloom: Friday 7th November 2008 7pm-10pm, Cultivate Centre, 15 Essex Street West, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Celebrate the launch of Bloom with us! Hear words of inspiration on movement building from the Dunnes Stores Strikers who helped lay the foundations for global justice activism in Ireland and meet with leading social justice activists from around the world.

Bloom’s First Activist Forum: Movement Building for Global Justice Saturday 8th November 2008 10am-5.30pm, The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1 Join us for a conference on global justice and be inspired by the stories, analyses and insights of global justice activists including Oscar Olivera from the Bolivian Water Wars, Eyad Burnat from the struggle against the apartheid wall in Palestine and Njoki Njehu, a Kenyan activist on debt and gender issues. Peadar Kirby will urge us to seize the moment and call for radical change in the context of the current financial crisis, while a panel of Irish activists will discuss the obstacles and opportunities for grassroots mobilization in Ireland. There’ll also be music, songs and much more. 8pm – till Late Dance the night away with us and Congomania to celebrate the launch of Bloom: Movement for Global Justice!

This action is brought to you by Focus { }

{ Focus Action }

Bloom: Movement for Global Justice People Acting Together for Radical Change and a Just World People Acting Together for Radical Change and a Just World Who we are: Bloom is a movement of people in Ireland taking action together for global justice

Our Values: l

W e believe there is a need to address and challenge the root causes of global inequality.

We seek justice in North-South relationships and therefore a radical, positive re-shaping of these relationships.

e believe in the urgent need to take W collective action against the exploitation of the Global South.

e believe in equality, justice, sustainability W and global interconnectedness.

e act in solidarity with other movements W globally advocating for a better world.

e are committed to building a movement for W global justice in Ireland.

e believe that by working together we find W strength in our diversity, and in our common philosophy.

e apply a critical and long term perspective W in our analysis and we are committed to building a vision for an alternative world.

e are creative in our approach and in our W actions.

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Let a thousand flowers Bloom!

movement for global justice

Join Us to Create an Alternative World on the 7 & 8th November, 2008

{ Illegitimate Debt }

Who Owes Whom? Nessa Ní Chasaide of Debt and Development Coalition Ireland argues that the international community of lenders must acknowledge that much of the debt of the Global South is illegitimate and adopt a more responsible lending policy going forwards.

Questions and Answers on Illegitimate Debts

ebt and Development Coalition Ireland are campaigning for a new Irish debt policy that commits the Irish government to work for:

So are all debts illegitimate? Are there any loans which have benefited the people in the countries that received them?

What are illegitimate debts?

Not all debts are necessarily illegitimate. Some loans accepted by impoverished countries may have benefited the people of those countries. That is why we support the call of Jubilee South (a network of Southern debt cancellation campaigns) for ‘debt audits’ in order to establish which loans their governments should repay and which loans they should not repay. Thus we are calling on the Irish government to update their debt policy to address this issue and to work towards establishing an international taskforce on illegitimate debts to support such debt audits.

Vast amounts of the remaining debts currently owed by impoverished countries should not have been given as they did not benefit the people of those countries. This is because many of these loans were often given:

But are governments in impoverished countries not responsible for the loans that they take themselves? Why should we blame the lender?

• Expanded, unconditional debt cancellation for all countries that need it; • Addressing creditor co-responsibility in creating unjust debts; • An international taskforce that will address the problem of illegitimate debts.

•F or useless projects which failed or never even got started.

There are two levels of responsibilities when it comes to giving and receiving a loan:

•T o corrupt political leaders who stole the money or used it to oppress their people.

Borrowing governments: should only take loans that they can afford to repay and that will be of benefit to the people of the borrowing country. Lenders: should not give loans based on unfair terms. They should not give loans with political and economic conditions attached. Lenders should not pressure impoverished countries in any way to accept loans that they may not want, or will be unable to repay. Action is needed in the North and in the South: Social justice activists in impoverished countries are working to

•O n unfair terms, with damaging conditions attached to the loan

hold their own governments to account for the loans which they accept on their behalf. We, as activists in the rich world, must work to ensure that our governments cancel all illegitimate debts and stop lending irresponsibly to impoverished countries. Are there any circumstances where a lender has recognised a loan it has given as illegitimate? No government lender has thus far recognised a loan as being illegitimate. BUT, in 2006, the Norwegian government cancelled debts owed to it by 5 countries in the Global South worth US$78 million. The Norwegian government said that they had a “shared responsibility” with the borrower for the bad debts which resulted from giving these loans. This represents a ground-breaking acknowledgement from within the lending community that lenders should be held accountable for providing irresponsible loans. What can I do to work for the cancellation of illegitimate debts? • You can contact the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and your local T.D.s and ask them to ensure a new debt policy is put in place. • Ireland will represent us at the UN Financing for Development Summit this November 2008. Write to the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and Development Minister Peter Power and ask them to ensure that the problem of illegitimate debts is addressed at the Summit.

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{ Global Economy }

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been flooded with lowprice canned goods from Europe. Cheap tinned Italian tomatoes, very cheap Danish jam where the glass costs more than the contents and Polish cucumbersâ&#x20AC;?. { } Focus

{ Global Economy }

Global Europe?

The European Union is pushing through trade deals with developing countries that serve the interests of big business at the expense of the world’s poor, writes Vicky Cann from the World Development Movement.

n January 2007, tens of thousands of workers filled Mexico City’s central square to protest against the spiralling price of tortillas, which had shot up 50 per cent since the beginning of the year. Why were these price rises happening? Tortillas, a Mexican staple dish, are made from corn flour and this market is dominated by two companies which are able to control the prices. This, combined with the elimination of government subsidies for tortillas, has meant that overall the price for consumers has risen by 279 per cent in 13 years. Bad news for consumers, good news for farmers – right? Well no. Mexican farmers were also protesting on the streets that day and with good reason. Since Mexico had signed a trade deal (NAFTA) with the US and Canada in 1994, Mexican farmers have struggled to compete with the heavily subsidised corn imports from the US. “Before NAFTA we could live off our crops. Now they’re worthless. What can we do?” said corn grower Luis Valdiga, 49, who had driven his tractor into Mexico City to take part in the demonstrations. All in all, around two million jobs have been lost in Mexican agriculture since NAFTA began, as subsidised imported corn has put many small farmers out of business. Under NAFTA, Mexico’s food sovereignty – its ability to produce enough food to feed itself without relying upon imports – has been drastically reduced. Meanwhile, 900 miles away, communities along the Yucatan peninsula are similarly living with the impacts of Mexico’s unfair trade deals with the US and Europe. These trade deals scrapped rules that had previously protected local tourist companies by limiting the foreign ownership of hotels and resorts. Now, European big business is estimated to control 90 per cent of the tourist industry around Cancun, putting local providers out of business - and sending the profits back to Europe. According to the Grassroots Cultural Movement, a local NGO, this has meant that: “The local population is increasingly

unemployed. This leads to pauperization, social breakdown and marginalization.” Whether it’s the Mexican tourist industry, the finance and banking sector, or manufacturing, Mexico - and certainly the poor in Mexico - has not seen the benefits that were promised when it signed its trade deal with Europe in 2000. But it’s not just in Mexico where the impacts of unfair trade deals are being felt. South Africa is another country that has signed such a deal with Europe. According to Ben Turok MP, who sits on the South African parliament’s trade committee, the EU-South Africa trade deal “is not a good agreement. It has not brought benefit to South Africa. Europe has been the beneficiary.’’ He continues: “We have been flooded with low-price canned goods from Europe. Cheap tinned Italian tomatoes, very cheap Danish jam where the glass costs more than the contents and Polish cucumbers. Quite a lot of products are now coming here, they are heavily subsidised, being sold below cost and are undercutting our own industries.” Since the deal came into effect, heavily reduced tariffs have made it much easier for European companies to export often heavily subsidised foodstuffs into South Africa. In fact, exports from Europe of processed food and drink have increased by more than twothirds in just a few years. This has threatened jobs and livelihoods; employment in the South African sweet industry fell by 25 per cent in 2004 when the tariff cuts kicked in. Meanwhile, key South African exports, like wine, have not seen benefits from the deal.

Under the agreement, Europe does not have to cut any tariffs on the wine it imports from South Africa, but South Africa has to reduce its tariffs on European wines by 2012. So in both South Africa and Mexico, the trade deals signed with Europe have undermined local producers, local jobs and local livelihoods, while boosting the profits of European big business. Recognising the huge potential profits for its companies from these deals, Europe has now set its sights on similar deals with a further 34 countries in Latin America, Asia and the Mediterranean. These are countries where 920 million people live on less than £1 a day and are in addition to the Economic Partnership Agreements that Europe is demanding in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific. As part of these deals, Europe will be pushing developing countries to open up their economies to European industries. They want to make it easier for companies to sell products and services overseas, with the minimum of regulation and the maximum amount of profit. If signed, these deals will lock countries into a trading system that reduces the flexibility that they have to tackle poverty, promote development and respond to new situations like the global food crisis and the credit crunch. Evidence from previous trade deals shows that these deals could also have a very profound impact upon local communities and individual households, and will hit the poor the hardest. They show why it is urgent that we stop Europe’s unfair trade deals.

For more info on the EU’s new ‘Global Europe’ trade strategy, and the concerns of civil society in the Global South and Europe about it, visit the following websites: http://globaleuropewatch.org/ http://www.s2bnetwork.org/ http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/trade/index.htm Comhlámh has recently joined the EU-wide network of groups campaigning on this issue, so you’ll be hearing a lot more about Global Europe in the coming months from us! Watch this space and our website.

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Photos: Fionuala Cregan

{ Activist Voices }

Shoes and red paint reconstruct the memory of a masacre duing the conflict

Police protect the Army Headquarters during a demonstration against US free trade agreement

‘Murderer’ says the graffiti sprayed on by HIJOS during protest against free trade agreement

HIJOS with photos of the disappeared at Army day

HIJOS at Army Day

‘The army continues to be financed by terrorists governments of the United States’ says the banner

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HIJOs peaceful protest at Army Day

‘We are not afraid of you’ say HIJOS in response to attacks against them

{ Activist Voices }

“We don’t want to Arm you” Activists in Central America confront the Army and Demand Social Change

Placing roses in rifle butts, displaying banners of people murdered by the army, painting peace murals on the ground around the soldiers feet – these are just some of the tactics used by human rights group HIJOS to confront the military on the streets in Guatemala writes Fionuala Cregan.

uring a 36 year internal armed conflict in Guatemala, at least 200,000 people were extra-judicially executed and 45,000 were ‘’disappeared’’ at the hands of the Guatemalan security services or civil patrols and ‘’death squads’’ acting under army command. A peace agreement was signed in 1996 but to date, no military leader has been judged for crimes against humanity. Among the 45,000 who were “disappeared”, many were trade unionists and individuals advocating for social change. Today, their children, who are now students, continue the struggle. They have formed HIJOS, a human rights group, to try to establish what happened to their parents and who was responsible for it. HIJOS stands for Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice against Oblivion and Silence. It has become a space where young people can speak of their experiences and find ways of converting the horror of what happened into art and action for social change and justice. “An ambush protest is a tool which seeks to denounce publicly those criminals who have not faced prosecution for their crimes. Through mobilising the masses and through artistic expression, we point out these criminals and ridicule them in their own social, economic, and political spaces.” HIJOS are demanding the immediate removal of the army from the streets of Guatemala and an end to impunity for human rights violations, in particular those committed during the armed conflict. “We Guatemalans have had to develop our own methods to denounce those who have committed state terrorism,” said HIJOS at the launch of a campaign entitled “we don’t want to arm you, we want to demilitarise you” in May this year. The campaign is actively opposing the current remilitarisation of Guatemalan society, which includes street patrols, made up of police and military, responsible for “civilian security”. HIJOS denounces them, arguing that “the army has always been closely tied to the wealthy classes. It provides a vital support to their economic plans of neoliberal capitalism. As both the

wealthy classes and army clearly showed during the internal armed conflict, they are both capable and willing to unleash the most horrific national holocaust so as to perpetuate their economic, political and cultural dominance of Guatemala society.”

along with other Guatemalan human rights organisations, have been campaigning for its abolition. “This show of force by the Army, an institution accused of grave crimes against humanity, is offensive to Guatemalan society, sending out a clear signal of the

“Confronting the army continues to be dangerous however, and members of HIJOS have been subjected to death threats, beatings, attempted kidnappings and a number of raids on their offices” The current remilitarisation began during widespread social opposition to the free trade agreements that the Guatemalan government signed with the United States in 2005. Since the signing of this agreement, poverty and social unrest have increased. Land distribution in Guatemala continues today to be one of the most unequal in the world, with 70 percent of the land in the hands of 3 percent of the population. “The killing of 200,000 victims and disappearance of 45,000 more during the internal conflict, was the result of a closing of civil spaces and the opening up of state terrorism financed by the wealthy classes and carried out by the army,” said HIJOS. The Guatemalan Army received much of its training in the School of the Americas in the United States which played a major role in supporting state terrorism in Central America throughout the 1980s. Given the fear and silence that continues to surround the atrocities suffered by hundreds and thousands of Guatemalans during the conflict, HIJOS have sought radical tools to end this silence and bring the truth out onto the streets. “An ambush protest promotes the recovery of collective and historical memory by granting survivors and friends and family members of war victims a space for public expression and condemnation, something the justice system has denied them over the years.” Army Day is commemorated each year on 30 June with military parades and HIJOS,

impunity enjoyed by these institutions. It is ironic that despite the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords we still have these displays which contribute to the institutionalisation of violence and totalitarianism in a country seeking to build democratic processes.” On 9 June this year the government announced that the official military parade on Army Day would not be going ahead due to budgetary constraints. Confronting the army continues to be dangerous however, and members of HIJOS have been subjected to death threats, beatings, attempted kidnappings and a number of raids on their offices in which computer hard discs containing information collected from survivors of the 36 year internal conflict were stolen. In June this year, shortly after the government’s announcement about the cancellation of the military parade, a member of HIJOS was physically attacked on the street by two men who threatened to kill him. “We just want you to do us a favour and tell HIJOS to stop messing about because we’ll get tired and we’ll have to kill you… We have you all on video. Who are the organizers of what you’re doing?… Tell that bunch of trouble-makers to behave like men because we’ll get tired and we’ll kill you all,” said the man. In response, in paint splashed on the street in front of the HIJOS offices in Guatemala City, the activists wrote “We are not afraid of you, Mr President.”

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{ European Social Forum }

Another Europe is Possible Photo: Miren Maialen Samper

Miren Maialen Samper was one of many activists who volunteered their time to work as translators to ensure that the linguistic diversity of Europe and the world was represented at this year’s European Social Forum. Here she writes a personal account of her experience at the forum.

Activists at the ESF in Malmö, Sweden

rom 17-21 September, the European Social Forum (ESF) took place in Malmö in Southern Sweden. The ESF is a meeting for social movements in Europe, a force of regional coordination integrated in the framework of the Global Social Forums. The aim of the ESF is to provide an open space where groups and movements opposed to neo-liberalism, a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism, and who are engaged in building a society centred on the human person, come together to debate ideas democratically, to formulate proposals, to share their experiences freely and to network for effective action. The first ESF took place in Florence, Italy in 2002, and since then one has been held every two years, with the next ESF scheduled to take place in Istanbul in 2010. Activists from across Europe and other parts of the globe took part in hundreds of political and cultural events over four days in

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Malmö. ESF activities included 250 seminars and workshops and around 300 cultural activities. Climate change, environmental sustainability and the emerging food crisis, agrofuels, food sovereignty, gender, trade, globalisation and the power of transnationals were some of the main recurrent issues discussed at seminars by representatives from different countries. Many of the seminars saw groups from different countries and regions coming together to discuss issues and create links and common perspectives. The seminars and workshops focused on cooperation among social movements in the fight for a fairer and more environmentally sustainable society, the future of global justice movements and actions that can be taken to address the repression of social activists. Malmö was a space in which we wanted to reaffirm that alternatives do exist for global justice, peace, democracy and the environment. At the ESF many activists outlined how the Global South has been subjected to exploitation by

multinationals: for example, many social movements from Latin America shared their experiences of advocating for alternatives and doing things differently. Ademar Suptitz is a small farmer from southern Brazil who addressed, from his perspective, the “developed world” of transnational corporations that drive small local farmers off the land to create huge sugarcane monocultures for ethanol - all of which generate profits enjoyed outside the locality. He is part of MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement), which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, a movement which struggles for agrarian reform. He highlighted the importance of participating in the European Social Forum to exchange experiences and establish contact with the struggles of workers from Europe and to learn about the origin of the sources which provide finance to exploit natural resources in Brazil. At the ESF, several Latin American and international groups also supported the struggle of the MST from Brazil against

{ European Social Forum }

the Swedish corporation Stora Enso, dedicated to tree monoculture plantations to produce paper. These plantations affect the welfare and livelihood of peasants, among other things, through abusive and excessive consumption of water. The ESF culminated on Saturday 20th September in a mass demonstration through the streets of Malmö. More than 15,000 participants including trade unions, anarchists, environmental groups, trade justice advocates, youth organizations, representatives from indigenous peoples, gender and economic rights activists joined together to celebrate the sense of solidarity and possibility which the ESF created for us. As we lined up to begin our march through Malmö, there was an incredible sense of commitment, passion, and positive energy: groups from around the world were demonstrating our fight for a just sustainable world and our determination to create an alternative one. For several hours we marched through the streets of Malmo; this was a movement of movements, and it was powerful. The main slogan for the ESF demonstration was “Power to the people - against capitalism and environmental destruction - another world is possible”. A theme which recurred during the ESF was deep concern and uncertainty about the role that Europe is playing in the world, and a desire for a better Europe, one which is committed to equality, human rights, democracy, accountability and environmental sustainability, among other principles. The European social movements and activists who gathered in Malmö have committed to a common agenda on the way to lead the fight for “another Europe” based on people’s rights.

“As we lined up to begin our march through Malmö, there was an incredible sense of commitment, passion, and positive energy: groups from around the world were demonstrating our fight for a just sustainable world and our determination to create an alternative one” There is a lot to be done both within our own movements (for example there is a need to increase the presence of women among speakers) and more broadly to work towards our vision of an alternative world. A new practical phase is opening up, in the context of the current global crisis, where a new alternative financial system is possible, and indeed necessary. It isn’t just a dream to believe that it is possible to finance ourselves through a social, ecological and solidarity economy and work together with cooperative enterprises so that fair trade and ethical consumerism become the norm. At European level, we are witnessing the co-option by corporate interests of the Common Agricultural Policy and EU trade policies, the weakening of democratic and civil rights, and the increase of

gender inequalities and poverty globally. Farmers movements, trade justice activists, environmental groups, indigenous people and other activists from Malmö to Belém must build an effective and strong movement to bring an agenda whereby we can act at national, regional, local and global levels. The next World Social Forum will take place in Belém do Pará, the outlet of the Amazon river in Brazil in January 2009, and the next ESF will be in Turkey in 2010. 2009 will also be a crucial year for Europe, with numerous mobilizations taking place across the region, including many focusing on the elections to the European parliament next summer. The ESF is a process. I invite all of you to be active at local level and to take part in the forum process to make another Europe and another world possible.

Miren was in Malmo as a member of Babels. Babels is an international network of interpreters and translators who volunteer to give voice to alternatives. See http://www.babels.org/ For more information about the World Social Forum in January 2009 in Belém do Para Amazon see: http://www.fsm2009amazonia.org.br

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{ Policing Protest }

Policing and Protest

Photos: Salvatore Barbera

Tomás Mac Sheoin examines the policing of protests.

These are not gardai! - Police and protesters at the G8 Summit in Germany, 2007

he policing of public protest operates along a continuum from outright repression through toleration to facilitation. Repression is normally associated with unfree societies, such as dictatorships or military regimes, while liberal democracies are generally expected to at least tolerate public protest. These are, however, only general principles and liberal democracies can turn highly repressive: we need only look across the border and back to the civil rights campaign in the 1960s to see how a supposedly liberal democracy can respond to public protest with extreme repression. Furthermore while a general model of policing protest can exist across liberal democracies it will always vary depending on regional, national and local factors. Local policing styles are of major importance: how police treat protest depends on the police’s judgement of what threat –if any- it poses. Finally, how one views protest policing is intimately associated with politics: conservatives see it as protecting public order while radicals see it as protecting an unjust capitalist system. Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate the policing of protest is to take the example of the policing of a few different protests in Ireland over the past few years. The 2002 Reclaim the Streets events were basically an example of gardaí putting manners on those it believed had broken the unwritten rules about what was acceptable

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“How one views protest policing is intimately associated with politics: conservatives see it as protecting public order while radicals see it as protecting an unjust capitalist system.” protest behaviour. What began as a rowdy street party ended with 24 arrests and 12 people taken to hospital, including a photographer for the Irish Independent. Gardaí, many having removed their identification numbers, baton charged the crowd. Following complaints and an official investigation, 7 gardaí faced assault and other charges, though the only case which came to court resulted in acquittal. While no internal disciplinary action was taken against gardaí, 288,700 Euro was paid out in compensation to those assaulted (Sunday Independent 6/7/08). The response to the protests around the EU summit in May 2004 was much more a reflection of international trends in policing. What occurred in Dublin followed a pattern that has emerged as the way in which states and police forces manage summit protests by the anti-globalisation movement. This involves some or all of the following tactics, among others: • denying protesters physical access to the site or city or even the country in which the summits are held • increasing use of physical and geographical barriers to isolate

summits from possible protests through creation of no-go areas and physical fortification of summit sites • media campaigns of delegitimisation and demonisation • increased surveillance and harassment of political activists and activities • military assistance • suspension of political and democratic rights • blocking march from taking place or blocking groups from marching • police provocation or infiltration • extension of the concept of terrorism to include legitimate protest. The policing that weekend thus reflected international policing trends which were developing in response to neoliberalism and the protests against it. While these trends were already underway before the anti-globalisation movement made its corporate media debut in Seattle, they were intensified in response to the anti-globalisation movement’s tactics of challenging the authorities for control of public space on the streets. The policing of the EU summit march in

{ Policing Protest }

These are not gardai! - Police and protesters at the G8 Summit in Germany, 2007

Dublin was preceded by a media campaign demonising protesters: the News of the World on April 4th warned ‘Anarchist army plot bloodbath in Ireland’, while Ireland on Sunday ‘revealed’ that ‘stockpiles of weapons have been stashed by anarchists at secret locations across Ireland.’ Practically this was intended to discourage protesters from taking to the streets, while ideologically it was intended to provide advance legitimation of aggressive policing tactics. During the summit, gardaí banned a planned march by placing the riot squad at the announced place of assembly of the march without informing the organisers officially. The Phoenix Park was closed for the first time in its history, while some 5000 police were mustered to guard the summit, along with specialist army, navy and air force detachments. However, for all the dire warnings, little public unrest occurred and some 5000 people defied the repression by marching towards Farmleigh House where the summit was taking place. Police can also be used to support projects by foreign capital through breaking community blockades/opposition campaigns. The most recent example of this is the

Shell to Sea protest in Mayo, where what is a political problem is being redefined as a law and order problem. A report by Global Community Monitor, based on eye-witness reports, photographs and video footage concluded gardaí were using excessive force and consistently infringing on protesters’ civil rights. The Sunday Independent (13/5/07) reported ‘there is strong evidence that members of the force may have been overzealous in quelling the subsequent demonstrations’. While this is seen as a typically neoliberal use of police, this use

occurred in Ireland as far back as May 1979 when gardaí were used to break through a community blockade at the Raybestos asbestos dump in Barnahely, Co Cork. To conclude, protest policing varies greatly. While ordinary, decent protesters will generally be tolerated, and even facilitated by police, protest which actually threatens the established order or where ordinary people try to take control into their own hands is likely to be met with repression and excessive force.

Further reading: • For Reclaim the Streets see http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/wsm/news/2002/rtsMAY.html. • For the policing of the EU accession weekend in Dublin in 2004 see Dublin Grassroots Network “Fortress Dublin?” www.indymedia.ie/newswire. pho?story_id=64958 and Make Some Noise “Media Mayday mayhem continues”. www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64571. • For the Mayo protests see http://www.gcmonitor.org/article.php?id=598 • For a bibliography on policing of the anti-globalisation movement see www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-download_file.php?field=137

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{ News }

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Bewley’s First Wednesday Debates are Back! Comhlámh’s popular First Wednesday Debates return for another season. Join us on the first Wednesday of every month at 6.15pm in the heart of Dublin in the Bewley’s Café Theatre on Grafton Street. The first one will take place on the 5th of November and debates will continue until May 2009. This year’s debate series kicks off with a look at the current financial crisis and its impact on development. ‘Does the financial meltdown signal the end of the free market model of development?’. Come along and get involved or just find out about and debate the issues over a cuppa! Admission is free, but turn up early to avoid disappointment!

Stop Climate Chaos

Global Day of Action

6th December 2008

For more information contact: info@comhlamh.org

Parade for the Planet, December 2007

A thoughtful audience at a Bewley’s Debate

We Have Moved! They said it couldn’t be done! But Comhlámh has finally moved offices! We are now overlooking the Liffey at our new address: 2nd Floor, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2. Come visit us and admire our beautiful new view.

On the 6th of December Comhlámh, with the other members of Stop Climate Chaos, will be calling on political leaders to deliver on their commitments to cut Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions during the international day of action. Plans are afoot for a series of activities on the day including multi-denominational services, bell-ringing, and the building of a visually striking flood protection barrier! Please join us to help make it happen. For more information contact: fleachta@comhlamh.org

Options and Issues in Global Development Course: 15th – 16th November 2008 A two-day workshop for people interested in volunteering overseas in a developing country. This workshop provides a chance for those thinking of working for global development to meet with others and consider the options available. For a copy of the booking form, or for more information, please email kate@comhlamh.org For more information on Comhlámh’s many courses see our website www.comhlamh.org

The colourful Stop Climate Chaos Umbrella Day on Sandymount Strand, June 2008

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Interested in volunteering in a developing country?

Working for a Better World: a Guide to Volunteering in Overseas Development Available in shops now! You can also order copies from the Volunteering Options website www.volunteeringoptions.org The Volunteering Options programme is supported by Irish Aid