Defending the Democracy of the Dollar

So now they’re shooting kids in the first world. Cops in Sweden who seem unable to give the more radical protestors against the capitalist conspiracy the space to dance and party in the streets have gone in with dogs, nightsticks and live ammunition and shot three (at this writing) Europeans intent on holding an unlicensed street party. Despite any and all claims to the contrary, the protectors of the neoliberal order have proven that, when it comes down to it, they will shoot. No longer are the live bullets preserved for our numbers in the developing world. GW, Tony Blair and their corporate cohorts have shown they are more than willing to let police shoot in their name.
What is it these attack dogs of capitalism are protecting? If you ask the Swedish ministers or Tony Blair, they’ll tell you it’s democracy. Of course, this leads one directly to the question: if it’s democracy your police are protecting, why are democracy’s self-described leaders always meeting behind fences, police lines, and tear gas? If it’s democracy your police are protecting, why are the only participants in these meetings high-powered capitalists and their government sponsors? If it’s democracy your police are protecting, why are democracy’s self-described leaders being feted to lavish dinners (one of which had to be cancelled due to the protests in Sweden) paid for by the world’s largest corporations? And, finally, if it’s democracy your police are protecting, why does it cost so much to join the party and why are we not included?
I’ll tell you why--because the democracy these self-described leaders are talking about has nothing to do with democratic principles. Nor does it have anything to do with justice. It revolves around profit and greed. Furthermore, the only freedom that the global capitalists are interested in protecting is their self-created freedom to make unholy levels of profit. This is the freedom they send their police out in the streets to defend by any means necessary. Until now, this has meant tear gas and truncheons in the developed world and bullets and blood in the developing world. Friday night in Gothenburg changed all that. The Swedish police have moved from rubber bullets to real bullets and democracy’s self-described leaders have dug into their public relations manuals in search of ways to blame the protestors in the streets for the bullets they received. In the same manner that the Palestinians are blamed for their deaths at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces, the street dancers in Gothenburg are being blamed for their bullet wounds. After all, if they would just stay home and accept the lies of the capitalists, they would not be lying in hospitals and the pursuers of profit could go ahead with their plans to make the world “better.”
So what does that mean for us? Should we back down in fear and let the neoliberal plans move forward? Are the European Union, the FTAA, and the WTO a fait accompli? Is wearing a suit and selling one’s soul to the corporate monolith the only way to get heard in this Time/Warner world? Or should we go underground? I say, none of the above. Now, more than ever, is the time to hold our own and strengthen our resolve to defeat the beast that thrives on profit and greed. It’s time to get more people in the streets at every meeting the beast’s minions hold. Genoa and Washington, DC and every place in between. We will reclaim the planet, but only if we keep our resolve and refuse to give in by succumbing to the capitalists’ lies or by disappearing underground in frustration. Democracy really is in the streets. It is up to us to keep it there.

-ron jacobs, author The Way the Wind Blew:A History of the Weather Underground