Posted on 09/27/2002 2:25:59 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
A funny thing happened on the way to the anti-global protests in Washington, D.C. The self-proclaimed "anarchist" and "anti-authoritarian" architects of this weekend's promised mayhem have dressed up their event in enough order and organization to make a wedding planner blush. And they had plenty of help.
Of course, we know what to expect from our first big post-Bin Laden protest event. Hooded, disaffected teenagers waving signs and banners, wandering angry mobs, gripes about the "capitalist greed" that keeps our families clothed and fed, perhaps some creative PR for Iraq, a little tear gas here and there, maybe a burning flag or two. And shouting. Lots of shouting.
We've seen this all before. Every time a potpourri of violent anarchists and militant socialists descend on our nation's capital, we hold our collective breath and wait for the storm to pass. No big deal, right? The same strange mixture of wackos threatens to "shut the city down" every few years, and hardly anyone (save those who work near the World Bank) really seems to mind.
We should mind. We should be royally ticked off. Because the blame this time around lies not just with the usual hodgepodge of anachronistic socialist groups that draw supporters from our most impressionable college undergrads. You've heard their names before: the Mobilization for Global Justice, the "50 Years Is Enough" network, and the candidly named Anti-Capitalist Convergence.
Surprise! The list of those aiding and abetting this year's national disgrace includes a host of "mainstream" activist groups, straining to publicly assert that their agendas are actually moderate and sensible. Their chosen strategy is ensuring that someone else's party line is even more radical than their own.
We're talking about Greenpeace. And Friends of the Earth. And the AFL-CIO. And the Communications Workers of America. And Ralph Nader's "Essential Action" group. All of these are acknowledged co-sponsors of whatever downtown destruction your television set brings you this weekend.
If reports of an "anarchist scavenger hunt" turn out to be accurate, let's hope we all hold the right people accountable when the dust settles. Three hundred points to "whack a CEO in the head?" You can't make this stuff up.
On Friday and Saturday, as we see the mythical "rich -vs- poor" dramas unfold on CNN, it might be useful to remember two things. First, that the combined net worth of these "sponsoring" groups is well over $200 million; they can afford the best in image-control to make sure their messages are "spun" just so. Second, behemoth-sized organizations like Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth don't get involved with ground-level pavement scrums unless there's something in it for them.
That "something" is political cover for their social agenda. No matter how ridiculous Greenpeace activists may sound advocating Leftist environmental, trade, labor, or energy policies, they'll always sound slightly less radical if the anarchist movement has already staked out even more extreme positions.
The same thing has happened over the past 20 years with regard to the animal-rights movement: In 1980, vegetarians were considered the lunatic fringe. Today strict vegans, to say nothing of violent animal-liberation terrorists, have made your garden-variety meatless eater seem mainstream by comparison.
Biotech food provides another good example. When Friends of the Earth agitates for the costly and unnecessary labeling of genetically improved foods, or when Greenpeace demands the total conversion of American agriculture to 1950s-style organic growing, it ought to make our blood boil.
But we're too busy to notice, because even more disturbing lunatics - many of them presently in Washington - are justifying African starvation (in Zambia, for instance, where offers of biotech food aid have been repeatedly rebuffed) in the name of "genetic purity" and "food security."
This is not to say that either Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth would support feeding biotech grain to starving Zambians. Make no mistake about it - these groups have definitely abandoned "save the earth" in favor of "starve the children." But by getting full-blown socialists to advocate this position for them, the Greenpeaces of the world can at least try to keep their hands blood-free.
Greenpeace, for all its multi-million-dollar bluster, still needs, and uses, the far-out environmental kooks. Similarly, "mainstream" labor leaders desperately need the communitarians from the "social justice" movement, with their misnamed "living wage" crusades that punish low-skilled job seekers.
And Ralph Nader, with his off-the-scale nutty brand of social activism, needs the Anti-Capitalist Convergence. Without the candid extremists, "mainstream" groups find themselves even more on the political fringes than they already are. And that's a difficult position from which to be taken seriously.
So in order to claim the political center, ordinary activist groups give their stamp of approval to unrest, disruption, and risk to life and limb. In doing so, environmental, labor, and anti-free-trade nonprofits are also tacitly endorsing this weekend's stated goal: "We are striving toward the abolition of capitalism!"
Funny - Greenpeace takes in over $23 million each year in the U.S. alone - take a gander at "ActivistCash.com" for the proof. Ralph Nader's myriad activist groups are worth at least $19 million on paper. And globally, Friends of the Earth moves over $80 million a year. Strange balance sheets indeed for underwriters of modern socialism.
You are right, the media eats up the garbage, and it is still garbage when they present it! You know what they call people who eat garbage? Their called garbage eaters. The press and their audience.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.