Marxists Sue DC For Right to Protest IMF By John Rossomando CNSNews.com Staff Writer August 24, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - Marxists, anarchists, and anti-capitalists are up in arms over Washington, D.C.'s efforts to create an exclusion zone for protestors during the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) planned September meeting. They have filed a lawsuit to try to prevent those security precautions from taking effect.

"We are seeking to enjoin them from setting up a two mile long exclusion zone that will have a nine foot high fence around the White House, the IMF, and the World Bank, and then have that wall surrounded by thousands of heavily armed police," said International Action Center (IAC) spokesman Brian Becker. "That is an unprecedented infringement of our First Amendment rights."

Becker said the Partnership for Civil Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of The International Action Center, The Latin American Solidarity Conference; The 50 Years is Enough Foundation, the Kwame Ture Institute, and various individuals.

"It is useful to remember that even at the height of the Vietnam War, large sections of Washington, D.C., were never declared off-limits to demonstrators," Becker said. "We will not accept the police relegating the demonstrators to a token presence. They have no right to limit the tens of thousands and perhaps more who will march because they want change.

"Police authorities have no right to determine where free speech can be exercised and in what numbers," he said.

Becker claims that police provoked a violent reaction from protesters in Quebec City when they fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. "Their efforts [to introduce security measures] constitute a real propaganda effort on the part of the police to justify their violence against the demonstrators."

According to Becker, the IMF facilitates "a massive transfer of wealth from poor countries to the rich elites of already rich countries.

"The corporate and banking elites are taking advantage of the impoverished nations of the world to further exploit them," he said.

Becker claims that the IMF abuses poor nations by requiring them to adjust their economies through the elimination of social services such as education and health care, and through the divestiture of government owned property so Western multinational corporations can purchase those properties.

The groups participating in the lawsuit, including the International Action Center, all have ties to various Marxist movements and organizations.

Numerous other Marxist-leaning publications echo Becker's sentiments about the IMF, and have referred to the protests as part of an ongoing movement against capitalism.

The July-August edition of the Marxist publication "Justice," commented on the demonstrations, saying, "The new anti-capitalist movement is gaining momentum. Since Quebec, the IMF and World Bank canceled a major meeting in Barcelona, Spain under threat of mass demonstrations. June 14-16 saw major demos in Gothenburg, Sweden against the European Union."

It also warned that Marxist activists were planning anti-capitalist protests for September 29 against the IMF and World Bank.

"The mass protests [have] had capitalist politicians on the defensive," the Justice publication said.

The Italian Marxist newspaper, Falce Martello, proclaimed what it saw as the purpose for the demonstrations. "Revolution has to be worldwide, as the workings of capitalism are inextricably linked up and socialism has to replace it," the newspaper wrote in a July article entitled, "From Seattle to Nice."

"We do not hide the fact this is a hard and difficult enterprise. However, the movement against globalization, with tens of thousands of people rebelling against the capitalist system, is an anticipation of mass struggles to come," Falce Martello stated.

The District of Columbia is taking these security precautions out of fear that the protests will turn violent.

"We are proud to provide a safe and free forum for citizens to petition their government, express their political opinions, achieve solidarity around important social and civic issues, and serve as this nation's stage for all individuals and groups [that are] exercising their constitutional rights," Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams wrote in an August 6 letter to President Bush.

"It is imperative, however, that I advise you of our concerns about this particular event. Intelligence information indicates that the protests and demonstrations surrounding this IMF/World Bank meeting will be on an intensity, scope, and magnitude that we have never seen in this city," Williams wrote.

"Recent meetings of a similar nature throughout the world have witnessed a spiraling incidence of violence against law enforcement officers, other demonstrators, and citizen by-standers, as well as tremendous property damage and destruction," he added.

Williams indicates in his letter that the District of Columbia will coordinate its security plans with federal law enforcement.

A spokesman for the IMF said the organization does not oppose the Marxists' right to a peaceful protest, but wants the protestors to respect the IMF's freedom to meet peacefully as well.

"Our basic position is that we have a right to meet, just as they have a right to demonstrate," said IMF Spokesman Bill Murray. "The security authorities are taking these actions because they are concerned about violent aspects of the demonstrations.

"We have no choice but to go along with them," he said. "There has been a steady and palpable change in the amount of violence that has occurred at events surrounding the meetings of international institutions, and we would be foolish if we didn't agree to the security measures that are being implemented.

"If the demonstration organizers do whatever they can to stem the violence, then I think that the fences would come down, and so would the amount of police," Murray said.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001