At least someone is protesting somewhere. Thousands of someones, facing their own government's attempt to repress them (sound like the US? What *will*happen at the inauguration? Will protest be visible?)
Chileans mobilize. "We're not bomb throwers," she said. "We want to confront
APEC, but only in the realm of ideas and paradigms."
~ passed on by Ximena to the social justice listserv.
Thousands Demonstrate Against Bush in Santiago
November 20, 2004
By LARRY ROHTER
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 19 - Using tear gas and water
cannons, riot police officers dispersed hundreds of
rock-throwing protesters on Friday after thousands of
people had gathered peacefully to demonstrate against the
presence of President Bush at a weekend summit meeting
here.
Mr. Bush, in his first trip abroad since his re-election,
is one of 21 world leaders scheduled to attend the annual
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, being held
here for the first time. The group, known as APEC, aims to
encourage economic growth and trade among member nations,
who account for more than half of the world's economy. The
Chilean government has trumpeted the decision to hold the
meeting here as an indication that this country of 15
million has achieved elite status.
Protest organizers said 30,000 people took part in the late
morning march, which followed a convoluted route through
downtown streets, far from the actual site of the
conference in a remote convention center surrounded by a
mountain range. The police refused to offer an estimate,
and local radio stations put the number of marchers at
about 15,000.
The protesters, a combination of graying veterans of the
Allende era, mixed with younger environmental advocates,
Indian groups, punks, goths and anarchists, said APEC
fostered economic inequality, and they criticized Mr. Bush
for the war in Iraq. They carried placards and banners
portraying Mr. Bush as a vampire, carrion-eating vulture,
demon and ghost, as well as Cuban flags and a large Iraqi
flag with the exhortation, "Hang on, Falluja!"
"We want Bush to know that he is not welcome here," said
MŪnica CerŪn, a college student who was wearing a "Bush
Stinks" T-shirt and a red headband that with the words
"Down with Bush" and a hammer and sickle. "Our government
may want to do business with him, but the Chilean people
oppose his genocidal war on Iraq and his designs on Latin
America."
Citing the same international accords that made possible
the detention of Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Britain in 1998,
opposition groups here even filed a complaint to have Mr.
Bush held as a war criminal. A judge dismissed the
complaint early this month, however, arguing lack of
jurisdiction.
A few older demonstrators also complained of American
support for the military coup that overthrew Allende on
Sept. 11, 1973. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell offered
an indirect apology for that policy last year, saying it
was "not a part of American history we are proud of." But
marchers like 58-year-old Tom·s Soto described the episode
as "an example of the kind of state terrorism that the
United States always claims to be against."
Friday's march, organized by the Chilean Social Forum and
nearly 100 other groups opposed to corporate-led
globalization, was the only legal means of mass protest the
government was willing to authorize during the conference.
But some other left-wing and anarchist groups have defied
that ban and led smaller street protests of their own all
week, resulting in rock-throwing confrontations with the
police and several hundred arrests.
Security precautions have been extraordinary by Chilean
standards, with an estimated 4,000 police officers in the
streets or around leading hotels, helicopters in the air,
streets blocked off and armored cars in reserve. The
government declared a holiday here in the capital on Friday
to encourage people to stay off the streets, but that only
seemed to encourage university students to join the
protests.
In a flier distributed to schools and government offices,
the national police warned that "Chile may be at the end of
the world, but for international terrorism, nothing is far
enough away." The text made little distinction between
antiglobalization and terrorist groups and urged citizens
to report any "suspicious attitudes" or "the places of
anti-APEC meetings" to authorities.
Sara LarraĢn, one of the organizers of the protest, called
the police flier "an effort to intimidate and spread fear."
"We're not bomb throwers," she said. "We want to confront
APEC, but only in the realm of ideas and paradigms."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/international/americas/20chile.html?ex=1101974251&ei=1&en=8335ccc73dd69add
Leave a comment