Dear Friends -

If Phil Ochs were still alive, I do believe he'd be penning a new lyric to a familiar melody. It would start off "Here's to the land of Pennsylvania..."

This week, the city of Pittsburg in Pennsylvania here in the U.S.A. is under a police lockdown as leaders from the world's largest twenty economies (the G-20) have gathered to forge a cohesive strategy for "managing" the globalized economy.

As has happened in all of the locations where these various economic forums (G-7, G-8, WTO- IMF- FTAA, etc.) have happened, they have been met with protests. These protests have been mostly peaceful although there has been a consistent presence of members of the neo-anarchist "Black Bloc" who engage in acts of property destruction and intentional police provocation. These demonstrations have been met with various levels of police response - at times resulting in mass arrests, severe injuries and even the deaths of protesters. Seattle, Quebec, Genoa, Miami are just some of the places where police tactics have included the use of tear gas, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, tasers and even surprise physical attacks on sleeping activists.

The news media rarely covers these events. Neither the official attendees nor the voices from the street are given much more than a superficial ten or fifteen seconds of coverage. Considering that these twenty national leaders are the self-proclaimed framers of the new globalized economic order - ought we not to expect at least as much air time as say, a pop star's funeral?

I am including a link to coverage of the G-20 demonstrations in Pittsburg, PA on Sept. 24th. http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/9/25/steve

How do you feel - what do you think about "globalization"?
What do you think about the anti-globalization protests?
What do you think about the response to the protests?
What do you think about the news media coverage of these forums and protests?

With questions abounding,
Joyce Katzberg