We Won This Round: The Cancún WTO Ministerial Summit – Lesley Adams (2003)

1990-2010, Blockade/Barricade, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Imperialism, Institutions, Occupation, Sabotage/Ecotage, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', The Bourgeoisie

This piece was written by an activist at the 2003 ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization in Cancún. Over 10,000 protesters from around the world took action throughout the summit, occupying a building, conducting marches, disrupting the opening ceremony, using bolt cutters to break down barriers, and employing other direct action tactics. Activists faced the challenge of integrating different cultures, who each had their own organizing methods, social relations, and disruptive tactics. Many of the activists were farmers, who were protesting the globalist free trade policies that they argued had privileged multinational businesses at the detriment of their livelihoods. This was shown by one farmer, Lee Kyung Hae, who stabbed himself as an act of sacrifice, expressing, “WTO kills farmers. I am taking my life so that others can live.”

“Building alliances and solidarity between struggles is vital to counter the ways in which the current power structure is connecting our global community. The world is being globalized whether we like it or not. They choose to globalize capital. We choose to globalize resistance.”

The Mandate for 1992: Resistance – Bobby Castillo (1992)

1990-2010, Date, Indigenous, Self Institution, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption

This piece was published in the 1992 program of the International Tribunal of Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the USA. Bobby Castillo, the author of the mandate as well as the coordinator of the International Tribunal, challenged the 500th anniversary of the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus, demanding that myth be destroyed. Furthermore, he demanded the release of political prisoners/prisoners of war and the ability of oppressed national movements to exercise their rights to self-determination. This document serves to raise awareness to the new resistance of the American Indian Movement and to reaffirm the basic human rights of indigenous groups to determine their own destiny. Additionally, both the document and the tribunal are evidence of efforts by indigenous groups to redefine themselves within the current system.

Resistance #4 by ELF

1990-2010, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Privatization, Sabotage/Ecotage, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World'

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is the collective name for a group of individual cells that use ecotage to try to stop the destruction of the environemnt. Former ELF spokesperson Leslie James Pickering compiled various documents from the ELF’s functioning from 1997-2002. The publication Resistance featured the ELF three times. This second feature tells the arrest of Josh Harper, among other stories and statements by the ELF.

Resistance #3 by ELF (2000)

1990-2010, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Institutions, Sabotage/Ecotage, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World'

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is the collective name for a group of individual cells that use ecotage to try to stop the destruction of the environemnt. Former ELF spokesperson Leslie James Pickering compiled various documents from the ELF’s functioning from 1997-2002. The publication Resistance featured the ELF three times. This first feature tells the story of Craig Rosebraugh at his Grand Jury hearing in Spring of 2000.