"Carlo's way" by Mumia Abu-Jamal

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 lader, 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 Goteborg, 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 tonues
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 hitmen 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-democractic process.

He was fighting on behalf of most of the
people in the world.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)