[Ssf] TOES...

[Dan]

I only just found this - never heard about it. Yikes! It's from the New 
Economics Foundation newsletter -

TOES USA goes ahead despite body-bags and ban from Bush

TOES events - The Other Economic Summit - which led to the launch of nef 
after they began in London in 1984, went ahead again last month despite 
enormous pressure from American security agencies.

TOES USA was determined to hold a parallel summit to the G8, being held 
on a small island near Savannah, Georgia. But the Bush administration 
made the challenge almost impossible. Over 20,000 troops were drafted 
into Savannah over the last few months.

The schools were closed and nearly a third of the city’s population 
moved out. There were rolling road blocks in the weeks before the G8, 
and 19 missile trucks came through the city. The administration declared 
a state of emergency in the city on 24 May, which banned the right of 
assembly.

Every few weeks, the story was repeated on the local media that body 
bags were being brought into the city. Not only was all the 
accommodation in the city blocked, but after permission had been given 
at the local college to hold the TOES event, the FBI arrived and 
questioned all the professors who had been involved - reminiscent of the 
1991 TOES in Munich when organisers were all arrested the week before.

Even moving TOES to the nearby town of Brunswick was difficult enough. A 
team of lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union worked closely 
with TOES campaigners and finally managed to get a permit just five days 
before. That allowed the 24 events of TOES 2004 to go ahead, attracting 
100 participants who came to the region despite the most enormous 
difficulties. “It was a tremendous event,” said organiser Trent 
Schroyer. “But if globalisation is inevitable, why does it require 
military might, including a ‘war against terrorism’ and increasing 
corporate power and government interventions to effect this transition?”

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