Anti-Globalization Movement Quieter

By BRAD CAIN, Associated Press Writer

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Before Sept. 11, the anti-globalization movement

had caused considerable turmoil, sending armies of noisy and

sometimes-violent protesters onto the streets of Seattle, Philadelphia

and Quebec City and setting its sights on Washington.

But the movement has been mostly quiet since terrorists hijacked four

U.S. airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the

Pentagon (news - web sites) and a Pennsylvania field, killing thousands.

``After Sept. 11, I don't think the public is going to identify with people

running around in masks and vandalizing property,'' said Randy

Newnham, 26, who participated in the 1999 World Trade Organization

(news - web sites) protests in Seattle in which 50,000 people caused an

estimated million in damage during four days of rioting.

Across the country, words of caution are now coming from activists

known for protesting what they say are large corporations' efforts to

increase their power over people's lives worldwide.

``We don't want to do or say anything that would be perceived as

insensitive or uncaring to family members of the victims,'' said Jody

Dodd of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in

Philadelphia.

In the view of many anti-globalization activists, greed among Western

corporations is at least partly to blame for producing a climate in which

someone like Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the government's

prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, can be seen as a savior.

``If you go to the Middle East, you see that the invasion of Western

corporate culture raises anger. They sense that their societies are being

torn apart by this invading Western culture and economics. Out of that

sense of dislocation and desperation, scary things can develop,'' said

Mark Andersen, a ``punk activist'' with Washington-based Positive Force.

``If you want to make the world safer, you have to change that

atmosphere,'' said Jason Mark of Global Exchange, a San

Francisco-based group that helped organize the WTO protests in

Seattle.

But this is not a message anti-globalization protesters are taking to the

streets in large numbers right now. There have been no major

anti-globalization protests since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Demonstrators had planned to protest the International Monetary Fund

(news - web sites) and World Bank (news - web sites)'s annual meeting

Sept. 29-30 in Washington D.C., but after the terrorist attacks, the

groups called off their protests out of respect for the victims. The IMF and

World Bank canceled the meeting the following day.

Instead of an anti-globalization rally, the few thousand protesters who

showed up in Washington those days demonstrated against war. Some

dressed as peace doves, others waved signs with anti-war sentiments

such as ``War will not bring our loved ones back.''

Andersen joined a similar anti-war march in Denver where he saw a

handful of anti-globalization protesters dressed in black and wearing

masks. The tactic struck him as overly militant and out of place when the

nation was still mourning the terrorists' victims.

``It just didn't feel good. It felt very weird,'' Andersen said.

Anti-war movements have appeared on some U.S. campuses since

President Bush (news - web sites) announced his war on terrorism.

At the University of Oregon, ranked by Mother Jones magazine as the

nation's most activist-friendly campus last year, about 200 people turned

out for a recent peace rally. Vietnam-era war protests, by comparison,

drew thousands.

Unlike the Vietnam War, which many Americans viewed as a distant

conflict, the war on terrorism has a more immediate connection, said

political scientist Gary Malecha of the University of Portland.

``The perception is that the United States has come under attack and

that now is the time for the country to unite. So any kind of civil

disturbance would only get people agitated,'' Malecha said.

Even Eugene's anarchists, considered among the lead agitators at the

WTO riots in Seattle, seem to have mellowed since the terrorist attacks.

``Activity around here has come to a stop,'' said Joshua Frye, 24, an

anarchist who protested the WTO. ``People are afraid to do anything.''

If it is true that the active left is now "afraid" to speak up; they have won, game over, see ya around.

They shut down the financial district in Toronto today! If it can be done there, it can be done anywhere! DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!! Read the article below from Ontario Indymedia.

The reports of my death have been greatly exagerated.