INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PEOPLES' STRUGGLE

 

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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