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BIO Protest Summary

by Scar Media Collective
Short summary of 3 day action against BIO
Copy the code below to embed this movie into a web page:
While this video is only a short summary of the 3-day protest against BIO, I can't help but to emphasize the need for critique of what happened surrounding these protests/ events. It is also important to note that romanticizing or just straight lying about what happened at any event is not helpful to any movement, which is trying to make concrete and sustainable change. In direct response to Rocky's post of the Reclaim The Streets (RTS), as an attendee, I am at the very least confused. Apparently we were not at the same RTS because the one that I attended and the following actions in the subsequent days were disheartening to say the least.

The RTS in itself lacked the appearance and feeling of being organized at all and was far from a movement that would "soon make the world tremble.." as described by Rocky. After speaking with a few people I found that many of the organizers decided to not join other groups that were working on similar projects throughout the week. For various reasons, whether they be self-righteous reasons or not, I understand why the organizers decided not to work with these individuals, but do believe their biggest fault was to not seek other groups to get ideas from and work with, especially with the last 2 RTS being so amazing. With the lack of numbers and the lack of cohesion, it was extremely obvious that the event took place without much preparation (lack of people, few if any affinity groups and general confusion).

The movie night also lacked organization. The documentary from Bio Justice 2001 was obviously unscreened, the outreach did not reach far (not very many people attended) and the people who were suppose to be centers of discussion left.

I cannot say much as far as the Food Not Bombs and the Free Market went because I caught the end. I will note that it did end early, but I respect ideas for resistance that revolve around creating community instead marching and yelling.

The zombie swarm was a complete mess. A total of 6 or 7 zombies came out... I can only sum this up to lack of preparation and outreach. I applaud the people that did dress up and apologize for the fact that you were left out to lurk by yourselves. While some resistance must be done alone I couldn't help recognize the awkwardness of being the few to show up to an event made for many and feeling obligated to do something because no one else took the time to do anything. In other words it felt wrong to put the work of a movement into the hands of a few.

I do appreciate the time and effort that the organizers took but I think there is a lot to critique here. I appreciate Rocky's intentions and support people writing reviews/ critiques/ summaries of actions but I do not think the post that Rocky wrote is an accurate reflection of what happened at the RTS and find it destructive to the overall movement.

Thanks to those who gave interviews.
Feel free to contact us @ Scarmediacollective [at] riseup.net
Don J
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mc scar
Tue, Jul 1, 2008 7:38PM
mc scar
Tue, Jul 1, 2008 7:37PM
mc scar
Tue, Jul 1, 2008 7:36PM
mc scar
Tue, Jul 1, 2008 7:35PM
SC(A)R media collective
Tue, Jul 1, 2008 6:53PM
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