Miami braces for crush of free-trade protesters

[Judi Lynn]

Thursday, October 2
Miami braces for crush of free-trade protesters


By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 2, 2003



MIAMI -- Of all cities in America, image-conscious Miami knows a few things about black eyes: There was Time magazine's nasty "Paradise Lost" profile in 1981. Then came Elian's ugly exit in 2000. And the flight of the Latin Grammy Awards in 2001 to seemingly more stable Los Angeles.
(snip)

(snip) Free-trade summits are magnets for big protests.

Expect well-seasoned radicals, some armed with squirt guns loaded with acid or urine, warns Tom Cash, South Florida's former Drug Enforcement Administration agent-in-charge and now an international security consultant.

"They will conduct criminal acts and feel that property crime is a legitimate political tool,'' Cash wrote in a client advisory issued by the Kroll security firm, his employer. "These are anarchists, known as the 'Black Bloc.' They dress totally in black and wear ski masks, carry weapons such as crowbars, large clubs or ninja sticks.''
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/epaper/editions/today/news_f3b71acb6098a19900ee.html


Woooooo. So scared! :scared:

[teryang]

1. There is no such thing as "free trade"

This is the cover for the attack on the institutions of sovereign representative governments worldwide by unaccountable corporatists and their bankers.

[cprise]

3. In practice 'free trade' is one big illegal theft

...of entrepenurial opportunities for 3rd-world citizens, and of labor and environmental regulation.

But hey, I hear people can sell gum in the streets of Chile.

[schultzee]

2. WTO is the reason our economy is failing. And it won't end

unless we get rid of WTO and take our country back from the cororate pigs.

[cprise]

4. That's why I'm supporting Dean

He's the one candidate attacking these lopsided free-trade agreements.

Kerry, OTOH, just proposed a free-trade agreement for another 3rd world country (I think it was Sudan).