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Going Global

by Dana Shelton
The News Record (University of Cincinnati)
April 5, 2004

photo of a workshop at the conference

UC professor Elizabeth Frierson leads a "Globalization in the Middle East" class Saturday.
(Photo credit: Paul Andrews/Chief Photographer / The News Record)

Hundreds of anti-globalization activists from across the country visited UC this weekend for Cincinnati Global's second Global Conference on the World Economy.

Also called Global 2, the weekend provided workshops to educate the public on the ins and outs of becoming involved actively.

Ryan Donohue, a conference organizer and second-year political science student, said that the purpose of the conference was to "bring people who aren't into activism, into activism."

Greg Reistenberg, a third-year student affiliated with the United Students Against Sweatshops, said Friday that he wanted "activists to just relax and have fun." He hoped that other visitors would become open to activists after the conference.

In addition to UC students, activists came from as far as California to discuss globalization.

"We need to make a transition to an economy where the value of life is more important than consuming stuff," said Jason Mark of Sacramento-based Global Exchange, who taught a workshop Sunday.

The event kicked off with an anti-war rally at the corner of Clifton Avenue and Calhoun Street. About 20 protesters gave peace signs to the drivers, some of whom honked their horns in support. They held up posters that read, "Bush is April's Fool," "No US colony in Iraq" and "Impeach Bush!"

Passers-by heard cries of "Move Bush, get out the way, get out the way Bush, get out the way," and "Ain't no power like the power of the people cause the power of the people don't stop."

Later that evening the "Sweat-Free Fashion Extravaganza" was held in Great Hall. The show featured clothing made by American Apparel, a "sweatshop free" company based in California. Kim Burgas, a third-year sociology student with United Students Against Sweatshops, co-hosted the event.

Saturday visitors had a variety of workshops to attend. Nathan Schneider, another organizer of the conference, estimated that at peak times, 250 people were present.

Riestenberg hosted a workshop about the Central America Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Area in America.

Caty Dover, a sophomore at Norwood High School, attended Saturday workshops to educate herself about activism. In Globalization 101, she saw a video that showed how globalization affected the people in Ghana.

"Legal Matters for Activists taught me the legality of different places to demonstrate," she said.

Eira Tansey, a second-year undecided student, hosted the workshop "Zines," which she described as "sort of a zine 101."

Zines, short for magazines, is a term often used to describe independent publications. "We need methods that everyone can express themselves," Tansey said.

Each of the 20 people who attended her workshop made a page that was combined to make a zine. Tansey plans to send the completed zine to each of the participants.

Saturday concluded with a concert hosted by Global personnel. Robert Blake performed political folk songs, according to Donohue. Other artists included Cincinnati rapper Abiyah, Canadian-alternative band Red Umbrella and acoustic-punk band Ghostmice.

Sunday began with breakfast outside of 127 McMicken Hall. Marx Bagels in Blue Ash donated between 800 and 1,000 bagels for the conference, according to Tansey.

Dave Strano, a member of the Lawrence [Kansas] Anarchist Black Cross, hosted the workshop "Introduction to Prisoner Support and Prison Abolition." He focused on alternatives to the current prison system, such as mediation.

Strano believes that "breaking reliance on police," is necessary to reform the system. "All they have is a gun and a badge," he said.

He discussed isolation torture and what he called slave labor in prisons. "The 13th amendment makes slavery legal for prisoners," he said.

Strano also encouraged prisoner support and passed out fliers to aid in writing to a prisoner for the first time.

Peter Wagner, assistant director for the Cincinnati group Prison Policy Initiative, also contributed to the discussion.

"Crime control is an industry under the guise of public safety," Wagner said. He also believes that the police are ineffective at solving problems, and feels that the current prison system is a failure.

"High incarceration rates are new," Wagner said. "And we've gotten used to it." He displayed a map showing the number of prisons in the United States in 1900 compared with the number of prisons now. "This increase in prisons began in the 1980s," he said.

Other workshops Sunday included "Physical and Mental Preparedness in Demonstrations," hosted by Donohue. Participants were shown how to make a protective covering against the rubber bullets used by the police.

Schneider said Sunday that Global 2 was an improvement on the conference held last fall. "We were better organized, and the food was better," he said.

But he was disappointed that more Cincinnatians didn't attend.

"There were a lot of town people," he said, "We have to figure out why we didn't get as much support from the local community."

But there will be a Global 3 next year, Schneider said. "We're not going to stop."



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