Author: Paola Manduca Date: Subject: [NuovoLaboratorio] Fwd: [dawn-discuss-dc] "10 Good Things About a Bad
Year" by Medea Benjamin
> >
>SOURCE: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17471 >
>10 GOOD THINGS ABOUT A BAD YEAR
>Medea Benjamin, AlterNet
>December 31, 2003
>
>No two ways about it, 2003 was a demoralizing year for those of us working
>for peace and justice. With George Bush in the White House, Arnold
>Schwarzenegger in the California State House, and Paul Bremer ruling Iraq,
>it was a chore just to get out of bed each morning. But get out of bed we
>did, and we spent our days educating, strategizing, organizing and
>mobilizing. As we greet the new year, let's remember and celebrate some of
>our hard-fought victories in a time of adversity.
>
> 1. We organized the most massive, global protests against war the world
>has ever seen. On February 15 alone, over 12 million people came out on
>the streets in over 700 cities in 60 countries and on every continent. So
>impressive was this outpouring of anti-war sentiment that the New York
>Times, not known for hyperbole, claimed there were now two superpowers:
>the US and global public opinion.
>
> 2. Over the last few months, mainstream Americans have been buying
>progressive books by the millions. Authors such as Michael Moore, Al
>Franken, Molly Ivins, Paul Krugman and David Corn have seen their books
>soar to the New York Times bestsellers list. With humor and biting exposes
>of the Bush administration, these authors helped our movement gain legions
>of new converts. No more preaching to the choir this year!
>
> 3. When the World Trade Organization met in Cancun in September to
>promote global rules that give even greater power to transnational
>corporations, they were met by well coordinated opposition from countries
>in the global south, hundreds of non-governmental organizations and
>thousands of activists. When our movement's sophisticated inside-outside
>strategy forced the talks to collapse, there was "gloom in the suites and
>dancing in the streets." And as a counter to these corporate-dominated
>global institutions, the fair trade movement had a stellar year.
>
> 4. The poorest country in South America, Bolivia, proved that people
>power is alive and well. Sparked by the Bolivian president's plan to
>privatize and export the nation's natural gas, an astounding grassroots
>movement of peasants, miners, workers, and indigenous people poured into
>the streets to demand his resignation. After five weeks of intense
>protests and a government crackdown that left 70 dead, Sanchez de Lozada
>was forced to resign. Now that's regime change!
>
> 5. The silver lining in the budget crisis affecting the states
>throughout this nation is that from Louisiana to Texas to Michigan -- and
>even in Arnold Schwarzenegger's California -- state governments are
>cutting prison budgets by releasing non-violent drug offenders. The year
>has been marked by a steady move toward treatment instead of incarceration
>and a greater understanding that drug abuse should be handled in the
>doctors' office, not the prison cell.
>
> 6. For so long, celebrities have put their careers above their beliefs.
>This year witnessed a "coming out" of all types of celebrities on all
>manner of progressive issues. Jay-Z and Mariah Carey railed against the
>racist Rockefeller drug laws, Bono and Beyonce Knowles called for the
>world to fight AIDS, and a host of celebs such as Sean Penn, Susan Saradon
>and Laurence Fishbourne courageously took a stand against the invasion of
>Iraq.
>
> 7. Progressives now have a powerful new tool for organizing: the
>Internet. E-activism through venues such as MoveOn, Working Assets and
>Meetup.com have allowed ordinary people to challenge big money and
>powerful institutions. We raised millions of dollars to run ads, we've
>confronted corporate-dominated institutions like the Federal
>Communications Commission, and e-activism has allowed an anti-war
>candidate, Howard Dean, to become a frontrunner in the 2004 elections.
>
> 8. In an unprecedented outpouring of local opposition to the assault on
>our civil liberties, over 200 cities, towns, counties and states across
>the country have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act. In fact, the
>outcry has been so profound that plans for a successor act, dubbed Patriot
>Act II, that would further broaden federal investigatory powers, have been
>scuttled.
>
> 9. While eclipsed by the war in Iraq, the corporate scandals that
>topped the headlines in 2002 continued in 2003, with indefatigable New
>York State Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer exposing the trading abuses in
>the mutual funds industry. The Enron, WorldCom and accounting scandals
>produced some positive legislation against corporate crime and forced
>institutional investors like pension funds to become more active. And
>anti-corporate crusaders joined with peace activists to expose the obscene
>war profiteering of Halliburton and Bechtel, with more exposes to come in
>2004!
>
> 10. Despite the conservative takeover of the courts, this year produced
>several landmark rulings we can be proud of. The Supreme Court upheld
>affirmative action, giving a sweeping victory to the University of
>Michigan and colleges all over the country. It struck down sodomy laws
>criminalizing gay sex, affirming the constitutional right to privacy. The
>Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gays should be able to marry. The
>Appeals Court ruled that the US military could not detain American citizen
>Jose Padilla as an "enemy combatant", and in an even more significant
>decision, found that all 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be granted
>access to lawyers.
>
>There are many more -- the immigrants' freedom march that crisscrossed the
>nation to counter the anti-immigrant backlash, the amazing youth movement
>that is bringing new culture and vibrancy to organizing, the renewed
>women's activism through groups like Code Pink, the awarding of the Nobel
>Peace Prize to an Iranian woman, Shirin Ebadi. And each one of us could
>add to the list.
>
>So while we lament the present state of the world and the present occupant
>in the White House, just remember that even in the gloomiest days of 2003,
>we kept slugging away-and sometimes even winning. Now let's move on to
>score the big victory in 2004 by sending George Bush back to Crawford.
>
>Medea Benjamin is co-founder of Global Exchange and the women's group Code
>Pink.
>_____________________________________________________________________
>
>Copyright (C) 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
>
>
>
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