By Greg Butterfield
Police in Gothenburg, Sweden, shot and wounded three people with live ammunition during a militant anti-capitalist protest at the European Union summit meeting June 15. One young protester shot in the stomach was critically injured as he fled police.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors and under heavy police guard, 15 heads of European capitalist governments discussed the continent's future, including plans to expand their role in formerly socialist Eastern Europe while creating a "Fortress Europe" to stop immigration from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The unexpectedly large demonstrations and fierce street battles between cops and activists-together with Irish voters' overwhelming rejection of EU expansion plans in a June 7 referendum-shook the conference.
All the heads of state, from new far-right Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to fake "socialists" like Germany's Gerhard Schroeder and Britain's Tony Blair, denounced the protests. They vowed to enact draconian measures and restrictions against protesters at future meetings of the capitalist powers.
'BUSH NOT WELCOME!'
On June 14, between 12,000 and 16,000 people had marched in Gothenburg to protest "Toxic Texan" George W. Bush's appearance with the European heads of state. Organizers of the march, "Bush Not Welcome," called it "the largest anti- imperialist manifestation in Sweden since the Vietnam War."
"A mass murderer has arrived in our city today," declared KPML(r) International Secretary Teddy-John Frank, who spoke at the rally. "There is talk about crooks in the world and rogue states. But the real crook is George W. Bush and the real rogue state is the USA."
Swedish police bragged of their "ring of steel" to protect Bush: cops in riot gear guarding two rows of six-foot-tall steel barricades that sealed off a two-block area around the conference center.
IMPERIALIST RIVALRY BEHIND CHUMMY EXTERIOR
In media accounts much was made of the "cordial atmosphere" that surrounded Bush's discussions with his European counterparts, even though they oppose the U.S. National Missile Defense scheme, Bush's deep-sixing of the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gases, and his insistence on keeping the death penalty.
No one inside the conference wanted to embarrass or even openly challenge the U.S. chief executive.
But in the streets, youths, labor unions, communists, anarchists and EU opponents exposed Bush and the European leaders as toadies of big capital.
What underlies the differences between Washington and the imperialist governments in Paris, Berlin, London, and elsewhere became apparent after Bush left the conference.
He raced off to Poland to start his real mission: pushing for immediate expansion of the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington eagerly want to march the Pentagon to Russia's border by bringing all the formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe into NATO.
There is strong opposition to the plan, not only in Russia but among anti-war forces throughout Europe.
At the same time, the European imperialists are trying to consolidate themselves as a competitive bloc to the United States. They desperately want to extend their own "sphere of influence" by bringing Eastern Europe into the EU and creating a military structure independent of the Pentagon.
Despite the Irish "no" vote, the EU leaders declared a target date of 2004 to grant several Eastern European countries membership.
THE BATTLE OF GOTHENBURG
The police strategy in Gothenburg was similar to the one used in Quebec during last April's Summit of the Americas. A large security ring was placed around the meeting site. Protests were allowed only at a distance.
There is strong opposition to the EU in Sweden. According to recent polls, a majority of Swedes would like the country to leave the alliance. They also oppose the militarization of the EU.
These demands were put forward by one of the two major coalitions that organized the June 14-17 protests, Network Gothenburg 2001, consisting of many of the traditional left parties, the anti-EU movement and labor.
A second coalition, Gothenburg Action 2001, rallied anti- globalization forces under the slogan, "For a different Europe."
After Thursday's successful anti-Bush protest, the police began to systematically target protesters for attack.
They surrounded a school where hundreds of activists were staying and sealed it off. Thousands of protesters gathered nearby to demand their comrades' release. They hurled stones and bottles at the cops. The police charged demonstrators on horseback.
But the activists fought back. Some managed to pull cops off their horses while others torched police vehicles.
The fierce street battle forced the cops to back off and allow those in the school to leave.
Police arrested 440 people on the first day.
Media independent of the EU and U.S. governments-including the Independent Media Center and the newspapers Junge Welt and Il Manifesto-all reported that police took a very aggressive posture on Friday, the day of the shootings.
Clubs, dogs and horses were used throughout the day. IMC Radio-Sweden reported that a man was dragged from his car and beaten by cops.
Youths fought pitched battles with the police along the city's main streets, sometimes completely taking them over. Protesters ripped up cobblestones, smashed bank windows and erected flaming barricades.
Marchers got within a mile of the conference center. One small group managed to scale the fence before being arrested.
The protests forced the EU officials to cancel their dinner at a posh restaurant. Instead, they stayed behind the wall of police protection.
At about 8 p.m. youths began to regroup for a "Reclaim the Streets" dance near the city university. According to eyewitnesses, a squad of police provocateurs pelted the group with rocks. Protesters chased them and cornered them. That's when the cops opened fire.
The police immediately released a story to the media claiming that a cop had been injured and another had fired his weapon in self-defense.
But media activists exposed that as a lie. Videotape and still photos of the incident clearly show the police firing at fleeing protesters.
At least 43 people were hospitalized on Friday, and over 600 were arrested.
Despite the police violence and government warnings to stay home, 25,000 people came out on Saturday in a "For a Different Europe" march. Many local people came to protest the police brutality and show solidarity with the injured and arrested activists.
That night, at about 10:30, a police "anti-terrorist squad" raided another school where activists had returned to sleep.
Tove, a young woman staying at the Schillerska School, reported: "When they arrived they had automatic guns with lasers. They ordered me and my friend to lie down on the ground. It was very wet and cold after the rain. I was hit with a baton because I wasn't fast enough."
The next day, June 17, demonstrations across Europe protested the shootings and demanded those still in jail be released.
WHAT NEXT?
The European heads of state, who meet behind closed doors to decide how best to rule in the interests of big business, called the Gothenburg protests "anti-democratic."
German Chancellor Schroeder said: "We have to pursue these rioters with all the might of the law. No country should tolerate these criminals." He said he would try to enact laws to stop known activists from traveling between countries.
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi announced that the city of Genoa would be completely shut down for four days in July during a Group of 8 summit meeting. "The airport, main train stations and key motorway junctions will all be closed from July 18 to 22 in an attempt to restrict access to tens of thousands of demonstrators who plan to converge on the city," the London Observer reported June 17.
Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson vowed to make it easier for cops to use teargas, water cannons and rubber bullets against protesters. Starting in 2002, all European summits will be held in Brussels, Belgium, in a fortress- like location.
The turnout and militancy of protesters in Gothenburg is powerful evidence of the continuing vitality of the movement that began in Seattle in 1999.
Sweden has long been considered a bastion of liberal social democracy. But when confronted with a militant anti- capitalist movement, the state's response was to use deadly force.
If this is how the most liberal capitalist state responds to unarmed protesters, how will the capitalist rulers in general respond when they feel their power is truly threatened? What will the workers, oppressed and youths need to do to fight and win an end to capitalist exploitation, racism and environmental degradation?
These are questions that revolutionary communists must be prepared to discuss, debate and answer as the new movement searches for ways to take the struggle further.
Source: Worker's World News Service (http://www.workers.org/)
