The Battle After Seattle

Reason's man in Washington, DC works the IMF/World Bank protests.

Michael W. Lynch | April 17, 2000

(Page 3 of 3)

"This is what democracy looks like"
The sleepyheads had awakened in time for the Ellipse rendezvous. At 10:20 I’d guess 800 protesters, less than 15 percent of yesterday’s troopers, marched by Starbucks, where I was enjoying a coffee, a bagel, and a chat with two CBS cameraman. The protesters were chanting the standards, "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "More World, Less Bank," along with a new one I kind of like, "Al Gore, Corporate Whore." The destination was the police barricade at 20th and Pennsylvania, where they planned to get arrested.

Facing a line of police in riot gear, they initially pussed out, sitting their sorry asses down on the wet pavement, rain pouring on their head, in an attempt to make some sort of statement against world capitalism. "This is what democracy looks like," was the chant of choice, creating an image I don’t think Freedom House would put on a brochure.

I figured the cops would let them sit there all day, as the faint of heart, and those with classes to attend, would leave only the terminally idiotic to be arrested later as the sun went down and daily news deadlines were long passed. So I was surprised when, at 11:35, the cops fired pepper spray across the barricade. This stirred things up.

The protesters, who live for precisely such scenes, broadcast Darth Vader’s theme song on what was probably a makeshift microradio station, and got ready for the confrontation. The smell of vinegar was in the air (protesters soak the bandannas over their faces in vinegar to neutralize the tear gas or pepper spray), and they were again chanting, "This is what democracy looks like." But things soon quieted and I started interviewing.

"I hate Reason magazine," said a red-eyed, red-haired protester who claimed to be having a bad day on account of being pepper-sprayed. I asked why, and he said he didn’t like the facts in some of our articles--or was it that he didn’t consider them facts? One fellow, a legal observer, said he didn’t feel qualified to tell me what the IMF did. Three friendly freshwomen from American University proved more knowledgeable. They don’t like the way the international institutions promote sweatshop labor and give money to corrupt countries.

I got the real story from Josh Miller, a junior from James Madison University who’s majoring in economics. He claimed to want more elected politicians to serve on the boards of the IMF and World Bank. He also felt interest rates should be lower. But I think I hit on the genuine reason why he and a couple buddies made the more than two-hour trek from Harrisburg, Virginia. I asked him if attending protests was a good way to get laid. "There are some good looking girls here," he said, holding his Israeli gas mask, the same model I now own. "It’s true, that’s part of the reason," he said, before telling me he planned to "hit the bars" before leaving town tonight.

Robbins and Sarandon were soon on the scene, and you know how that went. At roughly 1:50 P.M., the protesters negotiated an exit strategy with the police. Those wanting to "risk arrest," a risk with a probability of one, had to sit down on the wet pavement in the pouring rain. Then, one row at a time, they would be allowed to walk through an opening of the barricade, at which point they "might be" arrested and escorted to one of the school buses less than 100 feet away. The tense standoff was finally over. Some 400 protesters took the deal; they were the lucky ones who managed to get out of the rain.