[hackmeeting] Fwd: Anti-Globalization

[merce en grn.es]

tais muy callad en s, agota leer la lista de la LSSI, eh? ;)

el  servicio  de  inteligencia  de  Canada  ha publicado esto sobre el
movimiento antiglobalizacion. A lo mejor os interesa

por  cierto  que  los  que  nos  vamos  al  hackmeeting  italiano  nos
perderemos   las   protestas   que   habra   en   Barcelona.  Si no me
equivoco coinciden los dias.

M&M



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Anti-Globalization - Clips on Internet/Technology             Use
14/05/2001

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Clips From:
http://www.csis.gc.ca/eng/miscdocs/200008_e.html

PERSPECTIVES

a CANADIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE publication

Report # 2000/08

ANTI-GLOBALIZATION - A SPREADING PHENOMENON

August 22, 2000

INTRODUCTION

1. Shock and surprise were widespread in the wake of the disruptive
protests and associated violence that characterized the Seattle World
Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, 29 November-3
December, 1999. Yet the demonstrations were not something new, nor
was the principal target—multinational corporate power—an unexpected
focus. Opposition to corporate globalization has been growing for
several years, a trend underscored by increasing media attention
since 1995. Security agencies at Seattle, however, were caught off-
guard by the large number of demonstrators and scope of
representation, combined with the use of sophisticated methods and
technology that effectively shut down the Conference.

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3. Bringing together a broad spectrum of interests and agendas, J18
incorporated both people and technology. While the former
demonstrated on the streets, the latter featured in cyberattacks
against business institutions. For five hours, at least 20 companies
were subjected to more than 10,000 attacks by hackers(2). Adding a
sense of insult to injury, the Internet was the means by which the
concept of J18 originated, and by which the event was ultimately
orchestrated.

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Tactics and Technology

22. While diversity has contributed to modernizing and strengthening
protests and demonstrations, new tactics and technology, collectively
and individually, have radically changed the face of protest activity
and generated renewed life in the reality of demonstrations. Gone are
old-style gatherings confined to waving placards and banners,
declaiming speakers, and moderate, controlled marches in specific
locations. Not unlike the massive and often vigourous Out of Vietnam
and Ban the Bomb protests of the ‘60s and ‘70s decades, today’s
demonstrations, resurrecting the anarchist theme of “direct action,”
employ a host of novel methodologies that have given a whole new
complexion to the nature of the protests. The development and
implementation of new tactics are a direct result of the impact of
new technology and the ability of organizers to use it to their best
advantage.

23. Creating the foundation for dramatic change, the Internet has had
a profound impact—in part by enabling organizers to quickly and
easily arrange demonstrations and protests, worldwide if necessary.
Individuals and groups now are able to establish dates, share
experiences, accept responsibilities, arrange logistics, and initiate
a myriad of other taskings that would have been impossible to manage
readily and rapidly in the past. International protests and
demonstrations can be organized for the same date and time, so that a
series of protests take place in concert. The Internet has breathed
new life into the anarchist philosophy, permitting communication and
coordination without the need for a central source of command, and
facilitating coordinated actions with minimal resources and
bureaucracy. It has allowed groups and individuals to cement bonds,
file e-mail reports of perceived successes, and recruit members.

24. Anti-globalists aim by force of numbers to shut down targeted
meetings and, in the process, paralyze free movement in a host city.
In the short term, they carry an economic impact, a form of sabotage
long endorsed by environmental activists. In the months prior to a
campaign, activists attend extensive training and educational courses
associated with proposed protests and demonstrations. By organizing
counter summits to run concurrently with international events, as was
done during the June, 2000, World Petroleum Congress in Calgary,
activists ensure involvement. Pre-event lectures include highly
emotive subjects, such as the execution of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by
the Nigerian government in 1995, and human-rights conditions in
Bolivia and Guatemala. Idealism plays a large role, with protesters
becoming more and more knowledgeable about their subject and
sophisticated in their methodology, using travelling “road shows” and
teach-ins to increase their effectiveness.

25. The new protest phenomenon has been characterized by the broad
range of interests which have come together to conduct the
demonstrations with minimal dissension. “Reclaim The Streets,” a UK-
based initiative that originated with street parties or “raves” in
the mid-1990s, is a tactical concept that protesters have adopted to
promote their causes en masse(12), and which gave rise to the massive
gatherings at Seattle and Washington. The methodology has been
remarkable in terms of organization, especially because a central
“director” is not evident and, in part, the resulting lack of
infighting has been the secret of success. Like the Internet itself,
the anti-globalist movement is a body that manages to survive and
even thrive without a head. However, radical elements and extremists
are taking advantage both of the absence of a controlling element and
the events themselves to indulge in violence, which is not the stated
intent of demonstration participants.

26. One of the more impressive innovations has been the method of
organizing, arranging, and directing the operational and
administrative activities associated with the
demonstrations—accomplished effectively without the obvious influence
of central authority, command, or control. In many ways, the system
is very similar to that advocated by anarchists of the libertarian
socialist philosophy. Activities begin with like-minded individuals
who gather in affinity groups across the country, plan their roles,
and travel to the site of the demonstration. Once at the site, they
join with other like-minded affinity groups to form clusters and to
select a spokesperson who attends the daily spokescouncil. At the
latter, discussions are held and information passed concerning
operational and administrative activities—arrangements for
accommodation, feeding, legal advice, types of actions to be
implemented. Locations are chosen for certain activities and
agreements reached concerning the types of protest actions to be
undertaken, although complete agreement is not always achieved—the
more militant or extremist elements usually do as they please.

27. Some clusters undertake specific taskings and responsibilities,
such as securing food, transportation, and accommodation, making
legal arrangements, and forming into working groups to cope with the
range of logistical, administrative, and operational requirements
necessary for a successful protest (e.g., media, training, legal,
transportation, issues, permitted actions, scenarios, propaganda,
medical, fundraising, communications). Prior to the Washington IMF/WB
demonstration, a number of affinity groups met several months in
advance, as did representatives of the spokescouncil and the working
groups. Some sponsors, representatives of labour organizations, and a
broad range of causes formed coalitions for the purpose of
“mobilizing” participants. Again, the availability of the Internet
permitted them to share ideas, experiences, and problems from a
global perspective.

28. Cellphones constitute a basic means of communication and control,
allowing protest organizers to employ the concepts of mobility and
reserves and to move groups from place to place as needed. The
mobility of demonstrators makes it difficult for law enforcement and
security personnel to attempt to offset their opponents through the
presence of overwhelming numbers. It is now necessary for security to
be equally mobile, capable of readily deploying reserves, monitoring
the communications of protesters, and, whenever possible,
anticipating the intentions of the demonstrators. In some cases, the
extremist elements, e.g., Black Bloc anarchists, have used the ranks
of moderate protesters as shields to prevent law enforcement
personnel from viewing violent activities and from getting into
position to stop the damage.

29. Protesters have learned to employ both kerosene and vinegar-
soaked rags for anti-tear gas and anti-pepper spray purposes, and to
use a combination of chicken wire, PVC pipe, and linked arms to
create almost immoveable street barricades. As well, a technique
which harks back at least three decades to anti-nuclear and Left and
Right Wing demonstrations in Great Britain, the renewed use of ball
bearings and marbles against police horses has been suggested. Among
the use of new technologies, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is the
preferred means of encrypting communications on the Internet. As
well, the anti-globalists have adopted media-savvy techniques
developed and refined by environmental activists. For example, during
the 26-30 March, 2000, BIO 2000 biotechnology conference held in
Boston, protestors against genetically modified food set up the
‘Boston Independent Media Centre,’ which posted photos, stories and
audio clips on its Web site throughout the week of protests.

30. The Ruckus Society, a Berkeley, California-based group formed in
1995, has made a specialty of training protesters to meet the
challenges encountered in demonstrating effectively, e.g., the
placement of banners and individuals in critical locations,
overcoming obstacles, and evading security controls. Ruckus played a
leading role in preparing demonstrators participating at Seattle and
Washington, and previously trained environmentalists in civil
disobedience in Alberta and British Columbia. Representatives were
present in Windsor and Calgary, prior to the OAS and WPC conferences,
to teach demonstrators various improved protest techniques(13). An
offshoot Canadian group, Co-Motion Action, conducted a training camp
in Banff to prepare protesters for the World Petroleum Congress.
Among direct action and civil disobedience lessons taught are use of
the Internet, cellphones, video cameras, scaling walls, climbing
trees, creating human blockades, scouting sites, and forming plans to
combat police tactics(14).

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