CARLO'S WAY by Mumia Abu-Jamal

CARLO'S WAY

Column written 7/25/01

The recent police shooting of 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani in the riotous streets of Genoa has sent shock waves around the globe. Giuliani, son of a Rome labor leader, was one of tens of thousands of anti-globalist demonstrators who fell on the latest place where politicians and corporate representatives gathered to insure their continued dominance of the world's economy. Carlo was part of a growing movement, uniting the youth of many so-called first world countries with the aspirations of many in the so-called third world. It was this movement that shook Seattle, and made the anagram, WTO, known throughout the earth.

For opposing the rule of capital, for opposing the Empire of Wealth, Carlo Giuliani was shot by the hit men of capital, and, as if this were not enough, a police vehicle rolled over his prone, wounded body. With the brutal state slaughter of Carlo Giuliani, the message goes forth that anti-globalism is a capital crime. This is but the latest escalation by the armed forces of capital, which has utilized increasing levels of state violence to intimidate the swelling hordes of anti-globalists.

The blood on the asphalt of Genoa did not begin when a cop pointed his semi-automatic into the face of a masked Roman anarchist. The blood of Genoa flows from the streets of Gothenburg, in Sweden, when the European Union was holding its summit meeting. There, police fired live rounds at protestors, wounding three, one seriously.

Now, an anarchist, anti-globalist lies dead. As soon as the news hit the wire, cane the words of the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, who once quipped, "Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you." Shaw, an ardent socialist, would perhaps amend his comments in light of recent events (if he could).

What is most telling is how the representatives of the state and their propaganda arm, the media, has reacted to this vicious tragedy. While politicians uniformly spoke with forked tongues about the "tragedy," not a single syllable was uttered in criticism of the police, was it? For the media, however, a different game was played. In virtually every report, the coverage told of violent protestors -- and suggested that they were uninformed, or simply stupid for daring to care about the poor in Africa, Asia or Latin America. Examine their biased, corporate-centered coverage, and ask yourself one, simple question: What would they have written if a Genoan cop had been shot, and run over with a Land Rover driven by anarchists? Every corporate outlet would've blared about how "vicious" and "violent" the anti-globalist "terrorists" were. Of this there is no question! Instead, a muted silence. Silence, when the terrorists are the cops. Silence, when the killers are the cops. Silence, when the hit men for the corporations act out.

You hear the fractured lectures of politicians talking about "assaults on the democratic process," and the like. Yet, how democratic is the G-8 (Group of 8)? This group, which is self-selected, is seven of the wealthiest nations on earth (plus Russia). If there are about 193 nations in the world, what's "democratic" about 4% of that number making all of the rules governing the rest of the world's economy?

Look at it another way: The G-8 consists of representatives for Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States -- and Russia. If you were to count all of the people in each nation, and add them up, you'd come up with around 824 million people. That's a lot of folks. But there are 6,000,000,000+ people on earth! How can 14% of the world's population set down the rules for 86% of the rest of the people of the world? Carlo Giuliani wasn't "assaulting the democratic process."

He was protesting a profoundly anti-democratic process. He was fighting on behalf of most of the people in the world.

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Mumia Abu-Jamal is the author of three books: Live from Death Row, Death Blossoms, and All Things

Censored. A new biography, 'On A Move: The Story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is available at www.MumiaBook.com

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