Necessity Still Breeds Ingenuity - Archive of SQUALL MAGAZINE 1992-2006
School A. Diaz raid, Genoa, July 2001
Argy-bargy on the streets of Prague, September 2000. Photo: Simon Chapman

"An Anarchist Travelling Circus"

Summit-Hopping With The Anti/Alter-Globalisation Movement

There was change in the air in May 1998 at the big Reclaim The Streets in Birmingham opposing the G8 Summit being held there at the time.

Running concurrently to this were protests and street parties against the WTO in Geneva, as well as others all around the world in solidarity with this. These were part of the first Global Day Of Action - co-ordinated with the newly formed People’s Global Action (PGA) - bringing together grassroots struggles and indigenous groups from all corners of the globe against common enemies: the corporations, governments and institutions - neoliberalism - destroying their land and communities.

The next year another Global Day Of Action - J18 - opposing the G8 Summit in Cologne in June 1999 took things up a notch again, with the RTS mass-demonstration in London targeting the Square Mile – the heart of the finance industry. With the WTO Summit in Seattle in November 1999, awareness of this so-called 'Anti-Globalisation Movement' went mainstream and the Indymedia network also emerged at Seattle as the first large-scale use of the internet by radical independent media.

"An Anarchist Travelling Circus"
- Tony Blair

Faceless neoliberal institutions putting the planet under the cosh from the comfort of their offices had swung into view as targets for international mass street mobilisations and counter-conferences in cities everywhere. Geographically scattered indigenous peoples and localised struggles were now able to connect and collaborate in new ways: This was the point where the internet was becoming central to activists for organising, information dissemination and for media platforms.

The following is a list of articles in SQUALL on this:



Globalised Resistance
The first Peoples Global Action conference in Geneva in February 1998 and the international neo-liberalism they are up against. Report by Gibby Zobel - Squall 16, Summer 1998

Heard World
Gibby Zobel and friends attended the Peoples Global Action conference in Geneva and talked to a host of worldwide activists - Squall 16, Summer 1998

Resistance Allstars vs Globe Rotters
This May the temperature rose on streets across the globe in protest against the G8 Summit and WTO 50th Anniversary - Squall 16, Summer 1998

Bangin' In Banga
The second conference of People's Global Action took place in Bangalore in the southern Indian state of Karnataka - Sept 1999

Tarmac Dissenters Attack Hack 'Inventors' - Reclaim The Truth
Reclaim The Streets submit a complaint to the Press Complaints' Commission about the outrageous and false claims published in The Sunday Times that they were amassing weapons - 21st Oct 1999

Have You Been Fframed
Police photo database of protesters following J18 - Download 1, Oct/Nov 1999

Trade Offish
In the lead-up to the WTO Trade Summit in Seattle, Si Mitchell outlines some of the institutions of globalised capital who will be there - Nov 1999

Crash, Bang, Wallop, Wot A Picture
At the N30 anti-capitalist demonstration at Euston Station, one individual in particular sparked violence before rapidly leaving the scene - Nov 1999

K.O. The WTO
Why the world is suddenly taking a stance against the WTO and its stealthy ambitions - Dec 1999

Battle For Seattle 1
Si Mitchell found enough respite from the maelstrom of Seattle's first ever declared state of emergency to send SQUALL this report on the curfews, robocops, rubber bullets and multifarious protest actions which have blown a whole in the image of globalisation - Dec 1999

Battle For Seattle 2
Si Mitchell's second report from the streets of Seattle capturing the spirit of the protesters against the WTO Summit in the city - 6th Dec 1999

Crack Heads And Crack Troops On The Streets Of DC
Washington DC is buzzing with thousands of anti-capitalist direct activists, in town to prevent the World Bank and International Monetary Fund from cementing its plans for an economic world order. First a series of three contemporaneous reports from the frontline, SQUALL's Si Mitchell gets into the thick of it - 15th April 2000

Protesting Gives You Cancer
Tear gas used by Seattle Police against anti-WTO protesters last November is found to contain carcinogen - 17th April 2000

Knuckleheads With Nightsticks At 20th And 1st
Third eye witness account from SQUALL's Si Mitchell, in Washington DC as protest continue to rage against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Summit in the capitol - 17th April 2000

World Bank: Czech Set To Bounce
Anti-capitalists plan for September action in Prague against World Bank/IMF - 15th June 2000

SQUALL's Activist Guide To Prague
All you need to know before heading to the IMF/World Bank showdown in September - 2nd August 2000

Potent Mixture Brewing In Prague
Protests against the World Bank/IMF in September could be the biggest in Prague since the fall of communism - 5th August 2000

Prague A Go Go Boom
The IMF and World Bank will hold its 55th annual summit in Prague. Thousands of anti-capitalist protestors will be there too - August 2000

Report From Prague S26
Report back from Prague as the demonstrations against the World Bank/IMF rage, written by Undercurrents film-makers Martin Palmer and Paul O'Conner - 26th Sept 2000

Prague S26 In The City Of 100 Fires
Direct from frontline Prague, Si Mitchell sent back this breathless report - 27th Sept 2000

Know FC? Know Comment
Spoof paper 'Financial Crimes' circulates in Britain as protesters descend on Prague for World Bank/IMF Summit - 28th Sept 2000

Pain & Punishment For Prague Protesters
Reports of police brutality against those arrested during S26 demonstration in Prague against World Bank/IMF - 2nd Oct 2000

Ain't No Stopping Them Now
Steve Wright talks with Hobo from Radio Sherwood, a media project closely linked with Italian activists, Ya Basta!, about the motivations for their militancy, inflated padding and white overalls - Spring 2001

Basta Blaster!
Italian protest movement 'Ya Basta' declare 'war against western capitalism ahead of G8 Summit in Genoa - 26th May 2001

Genoa G8
Having narrowly avoided the police raid on the Indymedia and Genoa Social Forum, Andy Robertson escaped from Italy and sent this report back to SQUALL - 23rd July 2001

Genoa July 2001 - Statement Of Jonathan Norman Blair
Eyewitness account from British activist beaten and arrested during the School A. Diaz police attack after the G8 protests in Genoa - 27th July 2001

Thessaloniki 7 Are Released!
Anti-capitalist activists freed after two-month hunger strike in Greek prison following EU Summit protest in June 2003 - 27th Nov 2003

Reclaiming The News
A short history of Indymedia UK - 12th Jan 2004