San Francisco Protests military violence in Italy

The murder of the anti-G8 protester, Carlo Guiliani, by 
Italian police inspired demonstrations around the world. In 
the united $tates, MIM attended a protest in San Francisco 
in front of the Italian embassy. 

A letter of protest was 
presented to the consulate and after brief speeches the 
crows of several hundred marched through the streets to an 
intersection where traffic was stopped for a die-in 
reenactment of the brutality of Italian police at the G8 
summit protests. The march ended at a park a few blocks 
away. MIM distributed our flyer condemning "Free Speech, G8-
Style" (see page 1) along with copies of MIM Notes to the 
crowd. The speeches were filled with militant opposition to 
the brutality of the military and police.

Many people 
correctly made the connection between the repression in 
Italy and that perpetuated around the world by the United 
Snakes. Speakers also correctly called out the violence of 
the imperialists and decried criticisms of those actively 
opposing this violence. As one man noted, Hitler was not 
stopped through non-violence. MIM adds that it is complicity 
in violence to stand by and refuse to take action to stop 
murderers.

There was also a strongly First World chauvinist 
bent to much of the march in San Francisco. One speaker who 
was greeted with much applause complained that it was a 
crime that more trade unions are not getting involved in 
these protests at meetings by the international 
imperialists. He was referring to the lack of participation 
by trade unions within imperialist countries. And while MIM 
would welcome the anti-imperialist protests of imperialist 
country trade unions, we recognize that their economic 
interests are in supporting imperialism as they receive high 
wages paid with profits from the exploitation and oppression 
of the majority of the worlds people.

In past "anti-globalization" rallies, big Amerikan labor has focused on 
chauvinist and protectionist demands, such as keeping China 
out of the World Trade Organization. These "anti-
globalization" protests which are attended by mostly first 
world people around the world inherently recognize the 
inequality between the wealthy and the majority of the 
world's people. But they often incorrectly demand more 
wealth for the majority within imperialist countries, 
focusing on the relative income disparity between the middle 
class and the big bourgeoisie rather than recognizing that 
even the middle classes are living off of stolen land and 
labor which must be given back to the majority of the 
world's people, who do not live in First World countries.