Miami Mayhem

Check out Bureaucrash for running coverage of the anti–free trade protests in Florida.

Comments

[SPUR]

BC continuing to do fine activism -- shine on you crazy pro-free trade diamonds...
😉

[digamma]

Why is there a picture of Julian Sanchez in Philadelphia on the front page and no mention of protests in Philadelphia (that I can find) anywhere on the site?

[Anonymous]

yeah, what's wrong with anti?free trade protests? i don't see why you have to froth at the mouth everytime there's an anti?free trade protest, like freedom of speech and all that. why don't you organize a march for trade or something, i dunno. *shrugs*

[Ruthless]

Poster at 8:56
Because free trade be goood.
Because as in the antiwar protests, the bulk of protesters are parasites.
And because the media never explain that the bulk of the protesters are parasitic nincompoops.
'Course media never label themselves that way either.

[Anonymous]

well fine free trade is good, war is good. that's your opinion, they have theirs blah blah. i just don't get why people get worked up so much over what other people say that they happen to disagree with.

[Julian Sanchez]

Wow, I can't believe that's still up there... it's from the "Unity 2000" protests of the Republican National Convention, back when I was an AEI intern in college.

[Mark Fox]

anon 8:56: At least for the same reason you posted here. Some people need to talk, others need to ask 'em to shut up.

[Anonymous]

i guess my point is that you're *sure* you're right, and they *know* they're right, and then? live and let live is all i'm saying, do they annoy you that much? and if they do, all the way through the internet, you know, then maybe it's not them who're the problem? maybe? i mean when you have to resort to ridicule you kinda've already lost the battle.

[Kevin Carson]

Anon,

The real problem is 1) the so-called "anti-free trade" people are against corporate power--which results not from free trade, but from its opposite; and 2) the FTAA suits say they're for "free trade," but actually want the opposite: a mercantilist global economic system enforced by international agreement between states.

To further complicate the issue, there are individualist anarchists like Joe Peacott who are strongly in favor of free trade but don't think all that highly of either group in Miami:

"Free Trade is Fair Trade: An Anarchist Looks at World Trade" Bad Press Broadside #3 (Jan. 2000) http://world.std.com/~bbrigade/badpbsd3.htm

"Where Are the Anarchists?" Bad Press Broadside #4 (May 2000) http://world.std.com/~bbrigade/badpbsd4.htm

To the extent that the demonstrators propose using international regulatory bodies for "progressive" ends like labor and environmental regulations, they've got it exactly ass-backwards and need to be heavily propagandized on the benefits of REAL free markets. To the extent they want to dismantle the WTO and stop its statist intervention on behalf of big corporations, they're a useful ally.

[not Weishaupt]

Kevin, the basic reason why anti-everything protesters should go away is that they have little interest in protesting, but a lot of interest in destruction of private property. True protest involves accepting the consequences of that protest, regardless of how unpleasant those consequences may be. That is why I have time for devotees of Gandhi, or Dr. King, but none whatsoever for the idiots who think protest involves busting up a Starbucks, or spraying a fur coat.

[not Weishaupt]

Anon, what's sad is that they actually think they are accomplishing something tangible for their cause. Sadder still is that so few of them actually have one to begin with.

[Anonymous]

but if you do not think they are accomplishing anything, then why do you dwell on it so much? insecurity?

[Kevin Carson]

not Weishaupt,

I don't dispute your assessment of the Black Bloc window-smashers at all. I've had my own unpleasant dealings with the Circle-A crowd. I just wonder how representative they are of all the anti-globalization protesters down there. I know that some free market types have been involved in past protests, both anti-glob and anti-war: for example, SEKIII and other members of the Movement of the Libertarian Left have passed out leaflets at similar happenings in the past.

anon,

You've spent an awful lot of time on this thread interrogating other people about why they do or do not care about something. So why, exactly, does it matter to YOU what they are interested in? Why are YOU so worked up about it?

Things happen in the news. Those things attract people's attention. People comment on those things. Why is this such a mysterious phenomenon for you?

My guess, in this case, is that people commenting on this thread are interested in political issues involving free markets (odd, on a libertarian blog, huh?). Consequently, they express opinions about protests against a conference allegedly having to do with free markets. Weird, huh?

[Eric the .5b]

What gets me is everyone trying to explain why they're making note of something they disagree with...to an anonymous poster who keeps repeatedly harping on how it bothers him (or her) that we're doing something he (or she) disagrees with.

[not Weishaupt]

Kevin, they are not representative at all, which is sort of my point. Their actions take away from the people who actually have a valid pro/con issue that deserves to be addressed. The coarsening of discourse surrounding these events prevents the discussions that are newsworthy from making the news.

[not Weishaupt]

Oh, and I don't really dwell on it, as much as I shake my head every time I see one of those bandanna-wearing morons on my evening news. You, anon, seem to be very interested in this ongoing thread, for reasons I find inexplicable. C'est la vie.

[Kevin Carson]

Jason,

To paraphrase, "We are the well-wishers of the world's free trade, but the guarantors only of our own."

Free trade means allowing your own people to trade with anybody they want, on any terms they want. It does not mean banging the whole world's heads together until they are playing by a centrally-imposed set of rules, or forcibly opening up foreign markets, or any other mercantilist policies. And the problem with many of the neoliberal rules is that they RAISE barriers to free competition (e.g. IP law, at the risk of opening that old can of worms).

[Jason Ligon]

Kevin,

I sort of thought that was coming.

Slowly but slowly, methinks I perceive a pattern in our disagreements ...

PS
Just out of curiosity, who would be the guarantor of our free trade without a central government with the authority to do so?

[Michael]

Has anybody read the quite amusing "Big Fat Government Helps Big Fat Woman" article on the bottom of the page ?

[Madog]

I don't think any libertarians would deny that the anti-free traders and anti-globalists have a right to peaceful protest. Our beef is with their position in the "debate", which is opposite ours for the most part. The other big issue is that not all of them are content to be peaceful and respect private property.

[Jason Ligon]

Kevin,

If a 'statist' organization like the WTO can't be employed to lower trade barriers, what is your proposal for people living in markets tightly regulated by their local governments?

Getting the international community out of it is the same as saying that tyranny is okay as long as it is local, no?

[CYMK]

you corporatist libertarians just don't get it

these protestors that want to stop all trade and have the state run EVERYTHING are really the TRUE free traders

ok, end of sarcasm...
SEK3 is an interesting dude, but if you think him and his 2-5 followers are of any consequnece you need to log off the internet and actually visit the protests.

granted the WTO is maybe not the BEST friend for free trade, but that doesn't discount that those leading these weak-minded protestors are still neo-brownshirts and parasitic looters.

that being said, I hope people like SEK3 are still out there. but i wil still cheer the 'crashers.

[Anonymous]

i just think that if documenting their "parasitic" behaviour is less for their benefit and more for your own it's sorta sad, not for you personally of course 😀 but just like in general, knock yourself out!