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11/13/01

Protesters use creative measures to decry WTO

Jason Gallagher
Daily Kent Stater

Protesters utilized the power of symbolism at two back-to-back creative protests Friday. The first featured protesters in costumes that satirized the World Trade Organization, and the second focused on the burial of a copy of the Bill of Rights. Both demonstrations were held to protest alleged U.S. governmental atrocities.

Kent Change, the Coalition for a Humane and New Global Economy, held the first protest, and the May 4 Task Force followed with another. Kent Change rallied in front of the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center to protest the actions of the WTO.

Two years after its meeting was defeated in Seattle by a group of rioting protesters, the WTO is meeting again in the dictator-ruled country of Qatar, where free speech is outlawed.

"They are meeting in Qatar to avoid having another democratic protest," said David Badagnani, a political science Ph.D. candidate. "So we are staging our own protest right here in Kent."

Many political activists dislike the WTO because they say its policies hurt third-world countries.

A group of about 10 students paraded around the Student Center Risman Plaza and M.A.C. Center dressed in symbolic outfits. Some wore blindfolds, which were meant to symbolize the corporate world being blind to the needs of the third world. Others wore chains around their bodies, which were meant to symbolize the third world held down by the WTO. The protesters chanted "Go, Go, WTO," and "No, No, WTO"

The protesters chanting "Go" were dressed to symbolize people in the corporate world, while the people chanting "No", were dressed as the people the WTO is oppressing.

President George W. Bush made an appearance at the protest -- or rather, a student wearing a mask that portrayed him did.

"I'm for corporate greed," the presidential impersonator shouted at the crowd. "Protesters are no better than terrorists."

Several students took turns addressing the audience of about twenty people from the steps of the M.A.C. Center.

Most of the crowd seemed uninterested with what the protesters had to say.

"It's a circus," said Ryan Glass, a junior criminal justice major. "I'm sick of seeing protests on this campus."

The WTO protest was immediately followed by another protest by the Task Force at the Commons.

Members of the Task Force buried a copy of the Bill of Rights by the Liberty Bell to protest the government's increasing control over the privacy of its citizens.

The government recently passed legislation that allows the public's phone calls and e-mails to be reviewed by the government without a search warrant. The government says that this legislation is needed to combat terrorism. Others, however, aren't so sure.

"Just as Nixon destroyed our rights prior to the events of the May 4, 1970, President Bush and (Attorney General John) Ashcroft are destroying our freedoms today," said Alan Canfora, one of the students wounded during the May 4 events. "The new laws are extreme. Bush is manipulating the crisis (terror attacks) to demonize his political enemies."

After the Bill of Rights was buried in front of about 20 bystanders, the protesters symbolized their sadness over the government's actions by standing over the "grave" and falsely sobbing.

However, not everyone in the Task Force is against the government's new policy on privacy.

"I am the lone member of the opposition to this protest," said Paul Edgar, the Task Force's treasurer. "I believe the new legislation is necessary to track terrorist forces."

Edgar held up a sign during the burial that read, simply, "I support my government."

E-mail: jmgallag@kent.edu