http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2008/10/11/wheres-the-protest/ Shining a light on the dismal science Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:05:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2008/10/11/wheres-the-protest/#comment-48 Soren Ambrose Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:17:08 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2008/10/11/wheres-the-protest/#comment-48 As one of the organizers of a lot of those protests in Washington, including the one that brought out over 20,000 in April 2000, I have to, well, protest at the description. In Washington we never had anyone throwing rocks or smoke bombs at IMF/World Bank actions. The most "violent" things ever got was some shoving of fences and very minor property damage (and, as those who specialize in such things will tell you, "violence" should only be applied to attacks on humans or animals, not things). And I'd like to think we were always pretty media-savvy: nothing gets press attention like a colorful protest, and we got lots of media attention. But with wars and national elections, there isn't much energy these days for organizing such events. But I'm sure the day will come again, and before very long. As one of the organizers of a lot of those protests in Washington, including the one that brought out over 20,000 in April 2000, I have to, well, protest at the description. In Washington we never had anyone throwing rocks or smoke bombs at IMF/World Bank actions. The most “violent” things ever got was some shoving of fences and very minor property damage (and, as those who specialize in such things will tell you, “violence” should only be applied to attacks on humans or animals, not things). And I’d like to think we were always pretty media-savvy: nothing gets press attention like a colorful protest, and we got lots of media attention. But with wars and national elections, there isn’t much energy these days for organizing such events. But I’m sure the day will come again, and before very long.

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