home
contacts
resources
related news
radio
video
june 18 1999


USA

June 18 Reports

New York - 37 Arrested "Reclaiming The Streets"

New York: 37 people--including 2 high schoolers--were arrested today,Friday, June 18th, in a non-violent street carnival organized to protest the annual meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) economic superpowers. For nearly 2hours, 500 costume clad protesters took over the streets, tying up traffic in New York City's Financial District and rallying in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. Protesters danced to the pirate radio signalof 5000 watt mobile sound system. When the police seized the amplifier, the beat was carried on by portable radios and people drumming on 55 gallon steel drums. The first 5 people were arrested as they attempted to chain themselves together around a large sculpture of a globe. "Don't Let the G8 Decide Our Fate!" read the back of the t-shirts worn by those arrested around the globe. 32 others were arrested for blocking traffic while taking over the streets.

Washington: U.S. Treasury building In another anti-capitalist demo today marking the worldwide June 18th day of direct action, 600 demonstrators formed a human chain around the U.S. Treasury Department. This action was coordinated by Jubilee 2000, which calls on First World nations to cancel debts owed by Third World nations.

The crowd was boisterous and participants chanted and sang and even danced.

Pictures will be online at www.sinkers.org within several days.

Jubilee 2000: www.j2000usa.org


Back To Top

Boston:Carnival Against Capital

More than 100 activists joined in a Carnival Against Capital in front of Bank Boston in the center of the city's financial district. Hundreds more watched, costing the bankers many thousands in lost "productivity."

Dancers/actors from Forum of Progressive Artists performed first a south Asian-song inspired dance against patriarchy, and then a skit against exploitation of cleaning women who work in homes and offices -- at the end, they quit their jobs.

Music and drums filled the streets, the sounds echoing off the brick towers of capital as people danced and chanted.

Giant puppets -- one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse representing the World Trade Organization, a huge-jawed and top-hatted banker's head representing the Wold Bank, a tiger as the IMF -- livened a moving picket in front of the bank. Thousands of flyers were handed out explaining J18 and why we oppose neoliberal capitalist depradations.

Then two bankers appeared, Cad Gifford and Terror Murray, representing the two banks merging as FleeceBoston, appeared to denounce our protest, to mock our struggle, to maintain they had crushed workers' resistance like dried twigs, that resistance was futile.

Up leaped a Zapatista, shouting that resistance is not futile. He exposed the connection between BankBoston and International Paper (investments, shared directors) in the efforts to pillage Chiapas and displace the people -- but they had met resistance. Resistance flowering across the planet, closing financial districts. The bankers by now were tied with ribbons from our June Pole to a streetlamp. The Zapatista warned the bankers, as he sprayed them with a tall can of Greedo, that they would have to change their tune.

The bankers of FleeceBoston repented, explained their centuries of exploitation, and promised to stop. As a token, they offered for people to get in line at the bank to obtain an application for a grant of up to $100,000, a sign that the Bank would chance its was. Twenty people went into the bank and got in line. Some "regular" customers joined in, asking if the grant was real -- ask the bank, we said.

But once freed and away from the crowd and the dissolving power of Greedo, the bankers went back to their old ways, reneged on their promise, and denied the grants.

The crowd promised to return, far stronger than before, to end the rule of capital over our lives.

Reported by Boston Encuentro -- contact the Encuentro at midnotes@aol.com


Back To Top

Washington DC,more than 600 protesters formed a human chain around the US Treasury Department.

From London and other cities aroundthe globe reports are rolling in of demonstrations with tens of thousands ofpartying, protesting, participants. June 18th was picked as an internationalday of protest because today the world's eight most powerful nations aremeeting in Cologne, Germany to plan their vision of the world. Their planputs the needs of multi-national corporations before those of people, theenvironment, and democratic governmental bodies.

RTS/NYC member Ariane Rhoden says: "It's ironic--No, make that tragic--thatat the same time democracy is spreading all across the globe, we are seeinggroups such as the G8 and the World Trade Organization, none of whom wereelected and none of whom are accountable to regular citizens, dictating theshape and direction of our world." About the Reclaim the Streetsparty/protest Steve Simon says: "For at least a little while, theinterchange of bodies gyrating in motion dominated the streets of thefinancial district where the commerce of greed and profit usually reignsupreme."


Back To Top

Los Angeles Report

10:30- The group that i was with decided to leave early on the bus in case of trafic, we grosely miscalculateted..... there was no one at the meeting point. We decided to walk arround

12:30- After walking arround for a while (and flooding the bathroom at the Biltmore), we went back to the meeting point, still no one there...... Were we at the right 5th and Hill??? Was it the 18th or 19th?

1:00- Finaly, people started showing up

1:30- We were off!!! Marching down 5th street with banners, drums, whistles.... and about a million other things. the first cross street that we got to, we blocked of the intersection with a mini-van and a car that was donated to grafitti on. We set out traffic cones to block traffic, while others layed down in the street. Other people were blocking traffic with their banners. They arrested (i think) two people for tagging up the car, then left the "taggers" (hehe) alone. This part lasted only about 20-30 mins, but we had one hell of an effect. We blocked off traffic in one of the busyest areas in town. On top of that, we had the police in a panic. There

was too much media to just come in and beat the living hell out of all of us, and we were all in a group so they couldnt single us out too well. They ended up forcing us to disperce out of that area, so we all went up on the sidewalks. The swine were still not happy with this and got us all into the park (in the process, beating up about 3 people, one was an old man right in front of me. One of them tried to hit me in the leg with his stick to knock me off of a wall where i was standing.).

2:00 or 2:15- We were all in the park by now. Food Not Bombs was cookin' up some vegan goodness, and everyone was yelling at the cops. They ended up getting all pissed off, and ilegaly closed off the park. They were greeted by people chanting "Public Park!" and the ever popular "Bullshit" chant. They brought in the motercycle swine to intimidate us. We were all forced out of the park and back on to 5th and Hill.

2:30- Right when it seemed that everyone was going home, we started back up again by the subway station. We had realized that they couldnt box us in in that area! Right when they started to mobilize, we "dispersed" down to the next street and blocked off that intersection. We kept doing the same thing until the pigs started bringing in too many people. Everyone flead to different area

3:00- Me, the group that i was with, and several other people ran through what appeared to be a mall and ended up on Brodway. The cops were waiting for us. They had set up a line and they were ready for action. We all split down Brodway and turned the next street. I was starting to get really worried when i realised that the pigs werent chasing us. After we were halfway down the next block, We saw about 10- 25 motercycle swine, some on the sidewalk, some on the street, charging at us! We turned arround and

booked the other way, right back into the wall of pigs. I though that we could duck into a store, but the cops were too fast. 2-8 people got away somehow. There were about 12 people arrested, 7 juviniles. They loaded us into a metro bus comendierd by the LAPD and took us in. We all got out that night. The charges were failure to disperse (even though we were not told to disperse, but put into a situation where we tried and couldnt) and disturbing the peace (even though they had no proof that we had anything to do with the event).

There is a webpage with some pictures on it:

HREF="http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~progress/events/99_6_18/99_6_18.html">CPC - LA Reclaim The Streets

I hope to see many more events like this in the future. It was very productive in getting our message out to the people, but to a greater extent, it shows that only 200 people can reneder the cops pretty much useless for a matter of 2 hours, and even more if we tried harder! It is posible to overthrow the state! Imagine what we could all do if more poeple realised this posibility! ABOLISH CAPITALISM, CREATE ANARCHISM!!!!!!!


Back To Top

San Francisco - A Tale of Two Cities - Revisited and Reclaimed

A Tale of Two Cities - Revisited and Reclaimed - San Francisco, June 18, 1999 On June 18th, 1999, over 500 people came out to Reclaim the Streets of San Francisco. They reveled through the Financial District, stopping outside the corporate headquarters of some of the world's largest and most vile transnational corporations and financial institutions. Stops also occured at two of the city's giant retail chains -ones that exploit sweatshop workers far and near.

There were musical dance performances, giant puppets, roving art-attackers, radical videograghers, slinky dancers and the cops pithced-in and dramatically blocked traffic and created disturbance theatre spectacles of their own, by marching-in-formation, and showing up in large numbers - all dressed the same.

People Converged on the GAP headquarters handed out candy and warned the corporate worker bees, "returning to work is hazardous to your health . . . join the revolution."

At Victora's Secret, dancers deftly displayed the secret agendas of sexploitation and underwear sewn in prison. At Chevron, letters were recited from Nigerians in the wake of murders that companies like Chevron have sponsored against nonviolent protesters - protesting the utter ruin of their homelands by MNC's - Chevron & Shell. http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/nnx.html Internet-Savvy Activists, puppeteers and ravers frolicked loudly to a closed-off Chevron headquarters - protected by layers of cops. The street in front of the Pacific Stock Exchange was temporarily turned into an autonomous zone and a chorus rose up against the corporate lackeys and parasitic investor types hiding inside the white pillars of an inflated and dieing institution. At BankAmerica's monolithic tower; banners, flags, dancers and artists occupied the entrance platform outside and scrolled, "Food Not Bombs" on the black sculpture out in front (that the commissioned artist himself named - The Banker's Heart.)

Today's celebration against corporate greed coincided with the meeting, in Cologne, Germany, of the G8. They comprise the heads of 8 of the world's largest economic nation-states. Their website: . It is where 8 men in suits get together and discuss major world economic policy - without any input from or pretense of representing the citizens of their respective countries. G8 Summits and World Trade Organization meetings are just two gross examples of unelected bodies meeting and deciding on what happens with the environment, with the value of labor and with the financial management of capital that they do not own. One of the many participating puppets, in today's raucous affair, depicted an octopus, representing the reach of the arms of the World Trade Organization.

People marched on to Reclaim the normally car-clogged intersection of Montgomery and Market Streets, right outside of a Wells Fargo Bank. Representatives of the Oregon Steelworkers were present at the beginning of the rally and during the march to remind the crowd of the evils of Wells Fargo - which recently laid off thousands of workers in a pattern of downsizing that began with its acquisition of First Interstate Bank on April Fool's Day of 1996. Anti-corporate, forest-defending elves appeared and almost got a huge tripod up as they were beset upon by police officers who clubbed and shoved them, grabbed a camera woman by the throat and took the tripod poles like poor sports. But, a lovely living room (featuring couches, chairs, and a rug) was set up. People read books and chatted on the sofas, and children and adults alike enjoyed rocking in rocking chairs. Bubbles floated gingerly through the air as expressions of "Reclaim the Streets" were vocally and visually spilling out onto the streets. A sound system freely pulsed out the dance/trance music as revelers partied like IT IS 1999 (no, the DJ didn't play Prince!). Solstice spirits were awakened, dancers topped the high points of the square and enjoyed the liberated space below. The San Francisco Police formed fancy lines of riot cops to protect the flow of traffic on market street and to do mobile marching dances to the groovy music. They were nice enough to get on the bull-horn and "highly recommend" that people leave the area as they would be "subject to battons" if they did not. And, the cops embarrassed themselves, on camera, getting caught in the silly string and yarn that were hanging from the transit wires and forming intricate webs in the timeless circle of celebration.

In other spontaneous developments of the day: Montgomery Street was "tied up" with neckties, TV's were smashed in the Tenderloin District, a McDonald's billboard was embellished, and the steps of City Hall were stormed by angry protesters - the City of San Francisco has recently paid millions to guild its capital dome in goldleaf while 170 homeless people died on the city's streets last year. And, our elected and unelected local bozos also recently allowed the Disney Corporation to use City Hall as a set for filming (which is almost as bad as leaving a back window open for Dan White to crawl in.)

Amidst all the gentrification, privitization and increased policing of our fair city, people here are already looking forward to their next opportunity to turn the streets into a public living room and show that corporate greed is not what the people need.

This posting is nothing official - just a spontaneous call to celebrate life, liberate some space for people to relax in, and please - ride a bike this summer

Whispered Media PO Box 40130, San Francisco, CA 94140 USA

* Video Witnessing

* Video Production

* Media Support

"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."


Back To Top

Eugene: anarchists vs. cops

Wow! The clash between Eugene anarchists and the cops was much bigger than that AP story would have you believe. Here's a couple stories with some cool photos. For those of you who hood up at demos, these pix are an example of why you do this.

Parade escalates into rampage http://www.registerguard.com/news/19990619/1a.activistsmarch.0619.html

City officials: Anarchists promised peaceful protest http://www.registerguard.com/news/19990619/1a.sidebar.0619.html


Back To Top

J18 in Eugene: Cops attack anarchists

This paragraph was buried in an AP wire story about the riot at the Idaho car show on Friday night. This demonstrates the new ethic in American policing: make demonstrators get parade permits or beat them up.

"Elsewhere, in Eugene, Ore., police arrested 15 people after a parade featuring 300 anarchists became unruly. The disturbance began when some demonstrators veered from the parade route and walked into traffic, confronting motorists. Police in riot gear used tear gas to dispel the crowd. Minor injures were reported."


Back To Top

Contacts

Note: This list is in alphabetical order, but sometimes the state name has been used and sometimes the town name so do scroll the whole list.

Reclaim the Streets, North America mailing list
If you want to subscribe, simply send a message to majordomo@tao.ca with the message: subscribe rts-na your_address_here

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Contact: FLOW (feminists liberating our world)
Email: yazzie@unm.edu

Austin, TX

Texans to ride in solidarity with the Global Carnival against capital. Cyclists will gather at approximately 5pm on Fri, June 18 for a Critical Mass ride around this city. A regrouping will take place around 7:30 at a location to be announced to continue the celebration of the Beginning of the End of Capitalism. Participants are encouraged to bring musical instruments, costumes, food, and any other items that would help heighten festivities and RECLAIM THE STREETS. This action is without leaders or group sponsorship, it is action by and for the people, the citizens of the Earth...........

Austin, Texas: J18 group
Email: feral11@hotmail.com

Boston, Massachusetts

Carnival Against Capital. Gather on the Bank Boston Plaza at noon: 100 Federal St., Downtown Boston. Enter line to apply for reparations grant from FleeceBoston bank at 1:00. Near Downtown Crossing, South Station and State Street T Stops. A day to resist together neoliberal capital and its exploitation, oppression and wars, and to celebrate the alternative of grassroots resistance. We will have music, drums, dance, theater, short talks, puppets, posters, and leaflets.

Contact: Boston Encuentro
Land address: c/o Lucy Parsons Center, 549 Columbus Ave., Boston, 617/267- 6272; or P.O. Box 204, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Email: midnotes@aol.com
WWW: http://bak.spc.org/j18/flyers/boston.html

Denver

Contact: J18 Group
Email: StoneySmrf@aol.com

Eugene, Oregon

In dishonor of the G8 Summit meeting in Koeln, Eugene Reclaim The Streets is hosting a street party. People meet at the bus station at 10th at 2:15 pm, from where they will proceed to an as yet undisclosed street to reclaim. There will be a live broadcast done from local micropower station Radio Free Cascadia 98.5 FM featuring local rave/dance DJ's live in the studio. BRING: boomboxes and radios to pick the broadcast up, musical instruments, art supplies for a mural, costumes, poetry, stories, information to distribute (and tables to put it on if you so desire), dancing shoes, and your own sweet creative selves. Guided tour of downtown Eugene in the afternoon, pointing out some of the most insidious local manifestations of global capital.

Contact: Eugene PeaceWorks
Land Address: 454 Willamette #205, Eugene, OR 97401
Tel.: (541) 343-8548
Email: eugpeace@efn.org
WWW: http://www.efn.org/~eugpeace

Hattiesburg Mississippi

J18 group
Email: ghostfeet@hotmail.com

Lawrence, Kansas

Kansas J18 Network:

Friday JUNE 18th 1999 Mercantile Bank Massachusetts and 9th Streets at 5:00 PM Lawrence, Kansas

A day of protest, action and carnival in financial Centers across the globe. Activists from diverse groups and movements around the world are discussing, networking and organising for an international day of action aimed at the heart of the global economy: the financial centres, banking districts and multinational corporate power bases. Environmentalists, workers, the unemployed, indigenous peoples, trade unionists, peasants groups, women's networks, the landless, students, peace activists and many more are working together in recognition that the global capitalist system, based on the exploitation of people and the planet for he profit of a few, is at the root of our social and ecological troubles. The June 18th occupation and transformation of financial districts, simultaneously across the globe, will be a contribution to and practical example of the process of making connections and building alternatives to the present social order. The action is timed to coincide with the first day of the Group of Seven (or G7) summit of the leaders of the richest nation-states - in Koeln, Germany when again we will be told by the economic and political elites that the promotion of economic globalisation, 'free' trade and corporate dominance is the only way.

Contact:
Food Not Bombs 3145 Geary Blvd. #12 San Francisco, CA 94118

-or-

Contact: Kansas J18 Group
Land address: P.O. Box 442286, Lawrence, KS 66044
Tel: 800-884-1136
Email: foodnotbombs@earthlink.net
WWW: http://home.earthlink.net/~foodnotbombs

Lincoln

Contact: J18 group Email: kevin@dsndata.com

Los Angeles, California

Planned events: Global street party against globalization and corporate dominance over ecosystems and communities. Assembly at 1:00pm on 5th and Hill in Pershing Square, across the street from the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown LA. Then in mass the participants march, bike ride, dance, protest and party towards destinations to be announced. They should bring banners, food, drums, puppets etc., and preferably show up in costumes (e.g. business attire). Music and dancing. An autonomous action, without leaders or determined plan. Participants should be creative, feral.

Los Angeles June 18th Coalition
Tel.: (310) 772-8180
Email: lajune18th@hotmail.com

Los Angeles: Reclaim The Streets
Email: misskgb@hotmail.com

Massachusetts

Earth First! Western Massachusetts
Email: oakvale@aol.com

Minneapolis, Minnesota

11:33 AM at Peavey Plaza (downtown Minneapolis on Nicollet between 11th and 12th streets): food, music, info, performance and street theatre.

Critical mass bicycle ride(s) (information available at the 11:33 gathering)

Contact: J18Coalition
Land Address: 3208 West Lake St. # 83, Minnesota, MN 55416, USA
Tel: (651) 649-5460
Email: t_j00000@hotmail.com
Email: j18coallition@flashmail.com

Contact:
Tel.: 612-362-3387
Email: gigue001@tc.umn.edu

New England

Contact: Diverse Women for Diversity
Email address: jgrossho@MtHolyoke.edu

Contact: General Chad & Co
Email: GenChad1@AOL.COM

New York City, New York

Planned events: Street party. Assemble at 3 pm at Liberty Plaza, downtown Manhattan, and march to location. Groups involved in planning are very diverse and unaffiliated: Lower East Side Collective, Green Party, IWW, Time's Up!, Blackout Books, and others. Over a thousand people are expected. Music, dancing, fire-eating, pole-climbing, costumes, chalk graffiti -- all have been part of past actions.

Contact: Reclaim The Streets
Email: notbored@panix.com
WWW: http://reclaimthestreetsnyc.tao.ca

Contact: Situationist/Creative Group:
Email: jasokolinsky@jtsa.edu

Oakland

Contact: Economic Justice Now
E-mail: rich@Plevin.COM
WWW: http://www.economicjustice.org

Olympia, Washington

The meeting spot is sylvester park in downtown olympia at 3:21pm on Saturday june 12th Critical mass from evergreen state college to downtown at 3pm
contact address: oshan@tao.ca

Portland, Oregon

Contact: End Corporate Dominance Alliance
Email: ecda@angelfire.com
Land Address: PO Box 1375, Portland, Oregon 97207, USA

Reno

Contact: Reclaim The Streets Email: pete@stickerguy.com

San Diego, California

Contact: M.I.A. Alert Email: katz3693@aol.com

San Francisco

A party of thousands will Reclaim the Streets in San Francisco June 18th. Gathering at 11:30 AM at the Embarcadero Plaza, the marchers will take an educational tour of ten of the worst multinational corporations based in San Francisco. A special emphasis will be placed upon corporations for which there is a locally based boycott or reform campaign. Demonstrators will bring street theatre and good cheer wherever they go, finally meeting for a massive party to celebrate the potential of the world and to reinvigorate efforts to stave off its destruction. The primary sound system will be decentralized via pirate radio. Refreshments provided by Food Not Bombs.

This begins resistance to the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Nov 29 to Dec 3. Be there.

Bring music, art, theater, food to share, ideas, and your friends. Decentralized sound system: bring radios/boomboxes and tune to RTS Micro Radio 87.9fm

For more info call Juliette or Debra : (415) 255-7296 or 415 820-3226
WWW: http://xinet.com/rts

San Fransico J-18 network:
Tel: 415.820.3226.
Tel: (00 1) 415 820 3226
WWW: http://xinet.com/rts
Email: sf_rts@hotmail.com
Email: berkeleyrts@hotmail.com

Art and Revolution.
Tel: 415-339-7801
WWW: www.igc.org/justice/artandrevolution

Seattle, Washington

Contact: Seattle J18 group Email: kavimir@hotmail.com


global | argentina | australia | austria | bangladesh | basque country | belarus | brasil | canada | catalonia | chile | colombia | czech republic | finland | france | germany | greece | india | indonesia | israel | italy | malaysia | malta | mexico | netherlands | nepal | nigeria | pakistan | poland | portugal | romania | senegal | south africa | south korea | spain | sweden | switzerland | thailand | uk: england | uk: scotland | uk: wales | uruguay | usa | zimbabwe