Trade protests: light to moderate
The Wall Street Journal carried a short story yesterday speculating that anti-globalization protests at Cancun would be "toned down" compared to those in Seattle in 1999. While the numbers of protesters may be at Seattle levels (50,000), there is apparently little talk of shutting down the meetings. The Journal speculates that activists may have come to see disruptive tactics as counter-productive. It points out that Mexican farm laborers are expected to make up a larger proportion of the protesters and that they are "known for the orderliness in mass demonstrations." Finally, it notes that limited access (two causeways) to the meeting area itself, coupled with a large police presence, would make it difficult for demonstrators to be disruptive if they wanted to.
Today's Seattle Times says that "...Few if any Seattle organizations made the trek to Cancun."
"Jeremy Simer, director of the Community Alliance for Global Justice, a Seattle group active in 1999, said the group decided to skip Mexico and focus on a November meeting in Miami of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would extend NAFTA-type rules to 34 Latin American countries. "We thought it was more strategic" to get the word out about FTAA, he said."
Speaking of violent protests,
Cronaca reports today on new excavations near Cancun that are shedding light on Yucatan's 19th Century Caste War, here:
"Caste War excavations". The Caste War was horrific - in the 1840s, after years of oppression, the Maya swept north and almost took back the entire peninsula. Merida, the capital was in a panic. But then, suddenly, the threat evaporated as the Maya went back to their farms. Even so, the rebellion wasn't completely crushed until the early 20th Century. Both sides were ruthless and cruel. Cronaca's story reports on archeological excavations at a massacre site.
