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Blue/Green Alliance Only Millimeters Deep

Proving that the big US unions have not yet got with the re-globalization program, and are returning their self-serving agenda:

They have opposed the tougher automobile/SUV CAFE standards, directly leading to more air pollution and asthma deaths;

They have supported the opening of ANWR for oil drilling.

Maybe it's time that we start protesting the big US unions as well as the G8, WTO, etc.

--John K. Fitzpatrick, via e-mail

Enforcing The Law, Kinda

For the past four years, the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife has had a warning posted on their official website. The warning? That the Endangered Species Act "means hardships for most of Washington." Sounds like something from Ron Arnold and the Dumb Use Movement.

The WA Department of Fish and Wildlife warns that "Only portions of the Olympic Peninsula, the Lake Chelan area and portions of the Columbia Basin likely will be spared the economic and social disruptions."

The WA Department of Fish and Wildlife warns that NMFS or US F&WS may actually seek to protect salmon from irrigators sucking rivers dry.

If you think that the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife is undermining the ESA you can e-mail Director Dr. Jeffery P. Koenings at director@dfw.wa.gov.

--David Ortman, Seattle

P.S. Perhaps if WDFW had been doing its job for the past half century (or to be more correct, if the Legislature had given the WDFW the resources and the backbone to protect habitat), ESA listings would not now be necessary.

A Turning Point

I don't know if this will ever reach the Black Bloc or not, or if someone will listen, but the future of the Global Justice Movement (or anti-globalization, which has a more negative connotation and which is used by the corporate media) depends entirely on the strategy that anarchist elements will choose to adopt from now on. It's time to put an end to "diversity of tactics" and to choose only one course which can bring us to victory. The economic and political forces that oppose us are using our anger against us. Sure, they have the police, the military, the weapons and the media all working against us, but they also use more subtle methods, like infiltrating the supposed "violent" factions of the movement, like we saw in Genoa. The same patterns seem to be emerging at each new protest: "they" are stirring the violence in order to legitimize their "crackdowns." If we fight back with this same violence, we play into their hands and risk turning away the masses, which are critical to us.

We are at the crossroads: one road leads to total victory, the other to a partial victory at best and a total defeat at worse. Let us be intelligent and not give in to anger, for intelligence and tactics combined with the support of the masses can bring down any giant, no matter how many weapons they have. What if the Black Bloc chose to wear white in Washington and acted as peace keepers, trying to sniff out the spies who would continue the violence? The truth is that our fascist enemy is too predictable; let's not fall into the same trap. Our future depends on it. I don't pretend to be clairvoyant, but if our friends in the Black Bloc wear white in Washington, the movement will at least double. We need the numbers. But keep the name; "Black Bloc" translates into resistance, not violence. By focusing on "nonviolent resistance," we are far from wimping out or "lying down for our masters." We are in fact becoming our own masters, fighting on our own terms, like true generals. Be creative, be constructive, but above all, fight smart. Victory shall be ours, peace!

--Mark Proulx, via e-mail

Please, Not Scott

Scott Kennedy for Mayor? You're joking, right? The guy reeks of self- aggrandizement. I was at the forum on Monday and all he did was sell himself. He told us how authentic he was, that he had been an artist for x amount of years, that he knew what that was like, that he had hundreds, thousands of ideas, and that he was going to work on his own roof. He stood in the hallway afterwards handing out campaign stickers and telling everybody that he had made them himself. I can see him in 20 years, pompous, bureaucratic, and boring. No thanks.

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Anyone who wants to be elected should be immediately disqualified." This may be an over-simplification, but there's more than a grain of truth in it. It's one thing to be self-reliant out of commitment, but quite another just so you can brag about it. But what do I know, I'm only a guitar player.

--Jim Page, Seattle