10,000
PROTESTERS TOOK TO THE STREETS OF HAMBURG IN OPPOSITION TO
INEQUALITY, GLOBAL CAPITALISM, TRUMP? MAY BE THE FIRST TIME TO
DO SO. LAST NIGHT'S PROTEST WAS CALLED WELCOME TO HELL, LOVINGLY
TITLED. PROTESTS WERE NONVIOLENT, BUT ALSO VIOLENT,
THIS IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE, POLICE BLAME PROTESTERS,
PROTESTERS BLAME POLICE -- 20,000 POLICE WERE DEPLOYED TO
HAMBURG, PROTESTERS WERE MET WITH WATER CANNONS AND TEAR GAS,
SO FAR 83 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED, 17 HAVE BEEN DETAINED.
ONE ACTIVISTS TOLD THE NEW YORK TIMES, I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOOD
--
I THINK THERE WERE PROTESTERS WHO WENT THERE TO VOICE THEIR
OPPOSITION, OTHERS MAY BE TO START A COUPLE BONFIRES, BUT
OUTSIDE THERE WERE DEFINITELY PEOPLE'S VOICES BEING HEARD AND
SAYING THAT THE G20 NEEDS TO REPRESENT THE PEOPLE OF
EUROPE, OF THE WORLD.
THIS MADE ME REALIZE HOW DIFFERENT EUROPE IS THEN THE
U.S. I ALREADY KNEW THAT, BUT WHEN YOU GET INTO THE DETAILS
IT'S FASCINATING. FIRST OF ALL 111 OFFICERS INJURED, DOZENS OF
PROTESTERS AS WELL. HERE THAT'S NOT HOW THE PROPORTION WOULD GO.
IF THERE WERE TWO OFFICERS INJURED THERE WOULD BE HUNDREDS
OF PROTESTERS INJURED AND ARRESTED. THEY WERE THROWING
FIREBOMBS, THE PROTESTERS WERE. SOME. THERE ARE PEOPLE RUINING
THE PEACEFUL PROTESTS, MOST OF THE PROTESTERS WERE WONDERFULLY
PEACEFUL, BUT SOME WERE NOT AND SMASHED WINDOWS, ETC. THE POLICE
HAD WATER CANNONS, PEPPER SPRAY, BILLY CLUBS, ALL OF THAT, BUT IN
THE U.S. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WOULD HAVE GONE DOWN. SOME
RIGHT-WINGERS CELEBRATE THAT, WE WOULD HAVE CRACKED THEIR SKULLS
AND ENDED THE PROTESTS SO QUICK IT WOULD MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN. OR
YOUR HEAD CRACK. THAN THE PROTESTERS, THERE ARE 160
DIFFERENT GROUPS PROTESTING, AND THEY ARE ALL PROGRESSIVE, AND
THEY HAVE SOCIALISTS AMONG THEM, ALL THESE DIFFERENT GROUPS AMONG
THEM, THAT AGAIN IN AMERICA WOULD HAVE BEEN CHARACTERIZED AS
THESE GUYS, LOOK AT THEM, ONE OF THEM THROUGH A FIREBOMB, THAT'S
IT, THEY ARE ALL TERRORISTS -- MEANWHILE THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT
IS LIKE, NO, WE ARE TRYING TO GIVE THEM AS MUCH ROOM AS
POSSIBLE TO PROTEST TO SHOW PEOPLE LIKE TURKEY AND RUSSIA
THAT YOU CAN HAVE PROTESTS IN A DEMOCRACY AND NOT ARREST ALL OF
YOUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS. WHICH IS A WONDERFUL IDEA, AND WHY I
GET MORE ANGRY AT THE PEOPLE WHO CAUSE VIOLENCE INSIDE THE
PROTESTS. AND MEANWHILE THE PROTESTERS SAY, LOOK, HAMBURG IS
A VERY PROGRESSIVE CITY, SO THIS WAS AN ACT OF AGGRESSION BY THE
GOVERNMENT TO EVEN HAVE THE G20 MEETING HERE. AGAIN, TOPSY-TURVY
-- IN THE AMERICAN MEDIA, NO ONE FRAMES THE GOVERNMENT AS THE
AGGRESSORS AND THE PROTESTERS AS THE INNOCENT ONES. IS ALMOST
ALWAYS THE REVERSE. IT'S AN ACT OF AGGRESSION BY THE PROTESTERS,
WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CAN OBVIOUSLY DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
IT'S ALMOST AS IF THE PEOPLE IN GERMANY CAN HOLD THEIR
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE. IT'S FREAKING ME OUT.
ALSO IS LIKE THE CONVENTIONS HERE, IT'S LIKE ANY MAJOR
PROTEST THAT HAPPENS IN THE U.S., MAYBE THE LAST ONE I SAW
THAT WAS AN EXCEPTION WAS THE WOMEN'S MARCH -- WHEN YOU DEPLOY
20,000 POLICE OFFICERS, IT IS I WOULD SAY ALREADY QUITE
MILITARIZED. AS A A PEACEFUL PROTESTER, I'VE BEEN THERE, YOU
ARE STARING DOWN A RIOT COP, YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO WALK, AND THE
MOST LIKE THEY ARE PREPARING FOR/KNOW THAT THE COPS WANT TO
START SOMETHING. SOME OF THE IMAGES I'VE BEEN SEEING, AND I
KNOW THERE ARE PROTESTERS -- WHETHER YOU CONSIDER THROWING A
TEAR GAS CANISTER BACK AN ACT OF AGGRESSION IS UP TO YOU -- BUT
THE IMAGES THAT STRUCK ME THE MOST WERE SEEING LINES OF
NONVIOLENT DEMONSTRATORS SITTING DOWN AND JUST GETTING WATER
CANNONS, STUFF THAT WE SAW AT STANDING ROCK AND THINGS LIKE
THAT, AND I THINK NONVIOLENT PROTESTERS WANT TO SCRAM LATER
ON WHEN IT GETS MORE VIOLENT.
AND THE NUMBERS WILL ALWAYS APPEAR, EVEN THE FOOTAGE WE JUST
SHOWED WOULD GIVE YOU THE IDEA THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF WATER
CANNONS, A LOT OF SMOKE, A LOT OF FIRE -- THERE IS SOME OF
THAT, BUT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
PROTESTING, SO IT'S THE NATURE OF THE MEDIA THAT THEY WILL MAKE
IT SEEM WORSE THAN IT WAS. IN THE AMERICAN CONTEXT IT WOULD BE
WORSE, THE ONLY INFO YOU WOULD GET ABOUT THE PROTESTS
WOULD BE THOSE ATTACKS.
THE THING WE NEED TO REMEMBER ABOUT PROTESTS AROUND GLOBAL
CAPITALISM IS THAT BEFORE YOU HAD THE ANTI-GLOBALISTS, BEFORE
YOU HAD THE ALEX JONESES, BEFORE YOU HAD DONALD TRUMP SAYING I
HATE FREE-TRADE, THERE WERE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE STREETS
PROTESTING THE G20, THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, THE WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION, THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL WAS SEATTLE IN
1999. I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT DONALD TRUMP DIDN'T START THE
ANTI-FREE-TRADE MOVEMENT, ALEX JONES DIDN'T START THE
ANTI-GLOBALIST -- IT'S A SUPER REACTIONARY RESPONSE TO WHAT
LABOR LEADERS AND CLIMATE ACTIVISTS WERE SAYING, THESE
FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS DON'T BENEFIT US. WHAT HAPPENED? 9/11,
WE MADE A RIGHT TURN, GEORGE BUSH, SO LOOK BACK IN HISTORY,
THESE PROTESTS HAVE BEEN GOING ON, EUROPE HAS BEEN A SITE OF
SOME OF THE STRONGEST PROTESTS AGAINST FREE MARKET CAPITALISM
SORT OF RUNNING AMOK, NOT THINKING ABOUT WORKERS' RIGHTS,
HUMAN RIGHTS, LET'S REMEMBER THAT WHEN TRUMP SAYS HE'S THE
ONLY ONE STANDING UP AGAINST FREE TRADE, THE REALITY IS
OTHERWISE.
AND HE SAID HE WOULD GET RID OF NAFTA, LAST I CHECKED IT
STILL IN PLACE. AND LASTLY I DON'T WANT TO OVER ROMANTICIZE
THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT, THEIR RESPONSE, OR THE PROTESTERS,
JUST A LITTLE DIFFERENT CONTEXT THAN WHAT YOU WOULD HEAR OR SEE
IN THE U.S., WHICH LEADS ME TO MY FINAL POINT, ONE OF THE
GROUPS IS, WHEN YOU TRANSLATE THE NAME, EVERYTHING FOR
EVERYONE. THAT IS THE KIND OF PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN GERMANY
AND EUROPE THAT IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE, THEY PROBABLY DON'T
EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M REFERRING TO. YES, EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE. IN
AMERICAN THEY WOULD BE LIKE, LIBERAL SOCIALIST COMMUNISTS,
EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE? NO, NO WAY! NO, EVERYTHING FOR THE VERY
FEW WHO ARE SUPER RICH.