We
Condemn the Fascist Suppression
of
Legitimate Protest at the G8 Summit
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)
condemns in the strongest terms the brutal suppression of legitimate
protest against the G8 Summit in Genoa. Carlo Guiliani, a 23 year-old
protester, was killed by gunfire during the violent and bloody dispersal
of street protests. Hundreds more have been injured by the inordinate
violence employed on the anti-imperialist globalization demonstrators.
Hundreds have been arrested and are still in custody facing possible jail
sentences of up to five years.
The Italian government had been preparing for this
extravagant event for months spending $110 million to host the summit with
the G8 heads of states housed in a luxury cruiser.
20,000 police and military troops were deployed against the
protestors. They were
equipped with anti-riot gear, live ammunition, electric truncheons, rubber
bullets, tear gas, armored personnel carriers and water cannons.
Everything was done to stop legitimate protest from
happening. Border controls
were imposed to prevent protestors from coming to Genoa.
Bomb scares were spread to create an atmosphere of tension and
siege to discourage people from joining the protest actions and to lay the
ground for the deployment of overwhelming force.
Offices of the organizers of protest actions were raided days
before the planned actions and hundreds of activists were arrested.
Police attacked to disperse the demonstrators even before they
could move from their assembly points.
Imperialist-controlled
media harps on the so-called violence of the rallyists.
But surely this “violence” from rocks and bottles are nothing
compared to the overwhelming force deployed by the fascist Italian state
under the billionaire and right-wing politician Berlusconi.
Those who one-sidedly attack the “violence” of the
protestors but sit around the table with the G8 leaders to beg for crumbs
share the guilt of those who perpetrate the worst violence and atrocities
against the people of the world. The
so-called violence in Genoa pales in comparison to the violence and
terrorism engendered by imperialism throughout the world from weapons
sales and instigation of ethnic and regional conflicts, and the economic
devastation of countries from the policy dictates of the IMF and World
Bank.
The grand rhetoric about democracy being bandied about by
the G8 heads of states is exposed as a sham by the fascist violence
unleashed on the demonstrators in Genoa. It is clear that when the
interests of big capital are threatened, the pretense at democracy is laid
aside and naked force becomes the order of the day. The workers
and the oppressed peoples the world over and particularly in the dominated
countries have learned this lesson with the blood of hundreds of thousands
of martyrs who have fallen in the struggle against imperialism and
reaction. There is nothing peaceful, humanitarian, democratic and caring
in imperialism. It means war, plunder, exploitation and devastation in
order to maximize profits for the monopolies and dominate the world.
The arrogant display
and use of force by the imperialists and reactionaries is not a sign of
strength but a sign of weakness. The
imperialists are panicky and on the defensive.
They are frightened at the growing strength, unity and militancy of
the forces that are opposed to imperialist globalization.
More and more, capitalism is being exposed to the workers and other
oppressed classes as an unjust, bankrupt and moribund system.
We call on all the anti-imperialist and democratic forces
and all those who are against exploitation, oppression and fascism to
develop their unity and cooperation in order to strengthen the
international united front against imperialism and reaction.
Long live the memory
of the people's heroic martyrs!
Violence against the people will not go unpunished!
Free all those arrested and awaiting trial in Genoa, Gothenburg and
Salzburg!
Condemn the criminalization of the just struggle and protests of the
people!
Build up people's resistance against imperialism and reaction!
International Coordinating Group
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
25 July 2001
