Let them eat SalAMI

>> Globalization's opponents gather again at the Conférence de Montréal

by JACQUIE CHARLTON

Local resistors to globalization have grown up. At this year's Conférence de Montréal, North America's foremost conference on the globalization of the economy, the student blockades and mass arrests that grabbed headlines last year will be gone. Instead, a mini-conference of distinguished intellectuals holding a "teach-in" against globalization on the street is to be the new tactic of resistance. Even the famous, funky name itself--Opération SalAMI--is being rethought: the new symbol of resistance to globalization in Montreal is a convivial, democratic chair, appearing on the front of this year's flyers for the event.

Organizers of the resistance are inviting anyone interested to pull one up and listen to any number of 32 workshops that will be held throughout the day on June 1, when the Conférence de Montréal enters its second day. Workshops include "The globalization of poverty and the International Monetary Fund," given by University of Ottawa professor Michel Chossudovsky, and "The global march of women," given by Fédération des femmes du Québec head Françoise David, as well as workshops on water privatization, clearcutting of Quebec forests, biotechnology, taxation of foreign currency exchanges, tax havens and the cancellation of Third World debt.

Meanwhile, back in court

Also speaking at the teach-in will be Professor Dorval Brunelle, a sociologist and author of works on the fizzled Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), who will speak on the Free Exchange Zone of the Americas--the theme of this year's Conférence de Montréal. Last March, Brunelle testified in court on behalf of the 86 blockaders of last year's Conférence who are facing charges of mischief, illegal gathering, causing a disturbance and disturbing the peace. Brunelle told the court that Opération SalAMI and similar protests in France were responsible for the French government's daring rejection last year of the MAI and the accord's subsequent resounding flop worldwide.

The Geneva-based People's Global Action, the largest activists' network in the world, called Opération SalAMI the third largest anti-MAI protest in the world.

The arrested activists are using the defense of "civil necessity" in Montreal municipal court--that they broke the law out of the neccessity of alerting the population to the dangers of the MAI. The guilty or not guilty verdict is scheduled to come down on June 18.

According to Opération SalAMI spokesperson Guylaine Proulx, last year's protest tactics were defensive--an urgent response to the threat of the MAI. This year's, in contrast, says Proulx, are offensive, a means of solidifying consensuses and networks against globalization. She credits her group's success to the three tenets that the SalAMI activists hold dear: transparency, non-violence and training.

Another MAI in the works

Proulx warns that the MAI in another incarnation is now being negotiated by the World Trade Organization. The new accord will be made up of several treaties, a gradual approach which SalAMI activists say is designed to lull resistance to it. The new accord is to be discussed in Seattle next November, an event SalAMI organizers predict will be teeming with activists.

Though representatives of the Conférence de Montréal did not return the Mirror's calls by press time, their Web site offers no hint that its organizers have ever felt besieged by activists.

The anti-globalization teach-in in Montreal runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1 outside of the Sheraton on the corner of René-Lévesque and Stanley. A protest will be held afterward. For a schedule or more information call 982-6606, ext. 2236.

Also scheduled is a protest for the day the Conférence opens, May 31, by the notorious Comité des sans emploi, responsible for the Commando-Bouffe raid on the Queen Elizabeth Hotel two years ago. Their slogan: "The rich are rich because we are poor." It starts at 8 a.m. outside the Sheraton Hotel.