Dear people,
First of all thanx to Regina, Ilan, brian and jeroen to take time and discus the tophop-critique which in fact is shared by a large part of the Dutch direct democracy network (basisdemocratisch netwerk). The critique does NOT as often said arguing that all protesting around summits is wrong. That is really an oversimplification which does NOT do just to the points of critique. It does however criticise the dominating place such protests have within the international movement as well does it criticise the (predictable) way these protests take place. I hope more people will join in the discussion and will be able to reflect on the effect of our internationally co-ordinated actions. And regina, it also takes me a long time to find the right words since English is not my language either. It shows you do think it is an important discussion and that i am really happy about. What follows is my reaction to Ilan’s initial reply to my S-Top hopping! Article. It is a long but hopefully interesting reply.
Greetings, marco S-Top hopping!

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Marco: It was around this time last year that the first critical articles about ‘summit hopping’ started appearing on the email lists and in the publications of the anti capitalist and anti authoritarian movement.
Ilan: The origin of the cry was from people who failed to have balance between local activity of groups and the new people who join the movement. Regina wrote about some of the contribution of the "summit hoping" and the general activity. I can only add that the experience of international days - at summits and local was empowering people and recruiting.
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NEW Marco: In Holland we didn’t see that many new people getting involved because of the international protests around summits. You always see people come and go. We did see trotskistgroup attracting a lot of new members since they are moving around in the ‘anti-globalisation’ movement. I am not to much happy with that to be honest. The problem in Holland is that there are not really any new anti-autoriarian collectives formed since the start of tophopping and exept for the trotskists i also do not see many new faces on the movement related meetings. I found more people to join our collective by the concrete stuff, many anti capitalist alternatives, we do in our own town.

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Marco: This criticism was primarily aimed at the fact that these protests were geared mainly at creating a spectacle, Every demonstration is a kind of spectacle and so are the street theaters... The spectacles do educate people even if not as good as involvement in direct actions. and at the fact that the international mobilizations were gaining a disproportionately large influence/ role within the movement.
Ilan: It depends where you are. In Israel, the investment in local activity in the international days of action was much more than that of the hopping efforts. And the Hopping empowered the "hoppers" and these non hoppers work between summits.
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NEW Marco: That is good to hear and you are right that it is difficult to generalise. I do not deny in any way summitprotests did good things, they for sure did, BUT since the surprise is gone it is changing from a highly exiting and positive one to a exiting and extremely risky one. I simply say we are playing more and more THEIR game, on their turns and not (on) ours. There is a lot at stake (as we all now) and just saying it was all to be expected and we just have to deal with violence and criminalisation does not make it any less dangerous. I suggest we renew our strategy, find new ways for resisting and putting much more emphasis on (worldwide coordinated) decentralised direct action. NOT just Global Days of Action but more and more direct action which is actually creating autonomous spaces (in the widest sense of the word) to breath and act. And that is a lot more difficult then smashing some windows or organising a demo…

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Marco: People also criticized the fact that the movement is predominantly ‘white’, which results from the fact that summit hopping is only possible for relatively rich Westerners.
Ilan: A monthly minimal wage is enough for a summit hoping even for the not so rich people around.
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NEW Marco: In Europe there are already hundreds of thousands of people who do not have a minumum wage. And then I do not even talk about non-europeans….

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Marco: The point was also raised that summit hopping is a method of action which could easily lead to an escalation of violence.
Ilan: The escalation of violence is proportional to the threat we pose to the system. In vicious Israel they only nag us... because we are not yet a danger.
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NEW Marco: Yes the violence is proportional to the threat we pose on the system, but i am sure you agree a smart strategy can decrease the risks for becoming a victim of violence. Having the same kind of protest time and time again in places were the state is at maximum force is NOT a smart strategy.

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Marco:The rationale behind this, was the idea that national states would find a way of dealing, to their advantage, with the protests, which in time would become repetitive and therefor predictable.
Ilan: I doubt that even one of the countries experienced a summit hoping became happier.
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NEW Marco: No, they are not happy about the protests but since they exist they have to deal with it. Bur you can be sure that under the circumstances they are pretty happy that we at least are repeating ourselves over and over again. They much rather have that then not knowing what we will do.

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Marco: Partly due to the pressures of the approaching “summer of resistance”, the discussion around summit hopping faded away after just a few months.
Ilan: It faded away as the criticism was exposed very fast to be not sound. It started a bit earlier by the Van Der Fabel who call to withdraw from the international struggle against WTO because few of the right joined it too. In most countries the contradicting of summit hoping with local activity was found very fast to be absurd.
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NEW Marco: The Fabel (http://www.defabel.nl) had quited the campaign for mostly other reassons then i have brought in to discuss. The quit half a year before Seattle, long before summithopping ‘started’. The point about the danger of making what they call ‘spectacel-politics’ was a very valuable point i believe.

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Marco: However, the events in Genoa have made it clear that it is now time to resume this discussion.
Ilan: How to use and integrate for the best the international days and summit hoping with the local and daily work is a never ending discussion.
Marco: It has become clear over the last few months that summit hopping is literally a DEAD end strategy.
Ilan: They say that even a broken clock show the correct time once a day... So, may be the above claim will be true one day. From the effect of Genoa both on the movement and the media, it seems that it was few times more fruitful than the previous ones
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New Marco: Was the effect one the movement and the media was few times fruitful? First of all there were hundreds of people hospitalised and one boy dead. The black block was infiltrated big time. That is not what would call more fruitful!! The media is more and more picturing us as political hooligens and playing the good versus the bad demonstrater game. Dinviding the movement and misinforming most of the time. Of course as regine already pointed out rightly: the media is also saying things about the issues, but the the alternatives which they pressent over and over again are simply utopian reformism (reforms which are totaly unrealistic and also unacceptable).

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Marco: There are no summit hoppers! >" Summit hopping has often been incorrectly described as a method of activism > where x number of so called ‘summit hoppers’ travel from summit to summit, > protesting at each one. When during the European Peoples Global Action > conference (March 2001) in a workshop on “Summit hopping versus local > activism”, people were asked to how many summits they had actually been, it > transpired that almost no one had actually been to more than two summits that > could be classified “summit hop events”. The conclusion was drawn, that the > criticism against summit hopping was extremely exaggerated, because actually > people seemed to be talking about something that didn’t exist. Incidentally, > everyone did agree that we should do more to locally combat capitalism. "
Ilan: The above paragraph is contradicting the cry against summit hoping!!!!!!!!!!! Marco: > The way this particular discussion went, was indicative of the superficial way in > which people have to date been dealing with the international debate on summit > hopping.
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New Marco: No its not although i admit it is said a bit ‘criptical’. A summithoping movement is a movement build around summitprotests (were the summitprotest are like the glue which keep the movement together). That does not necessarily mean al people involved in this movement visit al the protests. I thought the result of the PGA discussion therefore was a bit superficial.

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Marco: A proposal made by the French Sans Titre network, to officially declare > “the end of the summit hopping era” by way of press release after Genoa, didn’t > even make the agenda at the Peoples Global Action network meeting.
Ilan: > And for good reason. It is absurd for any one to asume the authority to do that.
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NEW Marco: There are many times that people take a united stand so why not on this point. If political groups decide to go to protests at summits they can decide not to.

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Marco: The sad thing is that what many seemed to have overlooked in the whole > summit hopping debate, is the extent to which the movement is more and more > becoming a highly predictable movement which is build around summit > meetings- and protests.
Ilan: May be I am wrong, but I was under the impression that PGA people are involved in local activities. And I was sure that like every one involved in continuous struggles, much of our activity is predictable. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

NEW Marco: Yes many people are also involved in local activities and please stop saying i have said otherwise. What i do argue is that our joined actions are focused to much around summitprotests and that we should change our strategy -and action.

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Marco: Predictability has in the past lead to social movements becoming institutionalised and manipulated. This is especially true in Italy.
Ilan: It was not the predictability that brought them to that state, though it is predictable that authoritarian organisations will pass similar processes.
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NEW Marco: Predictability is not the only reason but one of the things which make movements vulnerable to manipulation. Decentralised action and working in affinitygroups have shown a good and effective way which has shown far more difficult for the state to deal with (the way they would like to) then centralised mass demonstrations like around the summits.

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Marco: As Cedric from the French Longo Mai movement has rightly pointed out a few months earlier, the element of surprise that amazed the world on the first Global Day of Action (18 June 1998) and in Seattle (30 November 1999), has disappeared completely.
Ilan: When the surprise changed to panic, we had first the cancellation of Barcelona and then the vicious attacks in Genoa that already backfired on them all over the world.
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NEW Marco: So the states are panicking a bit. They would panic even more if we would be able to surprise them again or make this struggle in to a struggle which is creating an visual alternative. Unless we are able to come up with an popular alternative to neo liberalism we are not really threatening them, just annoying the hell out of them. And i am not so much sure about Genoa backfiring any more on them then the real and fake black block actions have done on us.

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Marco: Instead of surprising people, we are now playing > predictable roles, which to a great extent have been scripted by the state, the > media and even reformist and authoritarian forces within the movement.
Ilan: Surprise is some time a fine tactic. As strategy it stinks. In order to be part of the masses you cannot surprise the people too often.
Marco: Genoa therefore did not just show us the true face of capitalism and the state, it > also showed to anyone willing to see the bankruptcy of summit hopping in this > current, predictable form.
Ilan: Strange claim when you see the fact that Genoa forced on the agenda of main media subjects they were reluctant to open - Israel and Germany are just a sample.
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NEW Marco: Tell me which subjects were opened and what they done with it ‘cause i do not know what you mean.

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Marco: It is to easy to put the tragic and terrible events of Genoa down to state > repression and criminalisation alone. Before Genoa, we saw already the near > fascist police operations is Gothenburg and Barcelona. It was clear that the > Italian police was out to end the protests in blood, and it must be said that they > were not the only ones using the language of war.
Ilan: Forcing the Italian to do their stupid attack on the information center made this specific hopping worth while. All the other gains are bonuses.
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NEW Marco: I do not believe what you are saying here! Dozens of people were hospitalised and that is definitely NOT something which made this specific summithop worth while! They are real people who were frightened to death. They weren’t some voluntary martyrs which came to Genoa to show the world the fascist nature of the state.

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Marco: The spokespeople of the > White Overalls and the track record of the Black Block also indicated war. The > White Overalls literally marched in rows through the streets of Genoa, wearing > helmets and armour, they even ‘declared war to the G8’, whilst the Black Block > left its calling card - a wrecked town center - in Gothenburg. Trotskyists, who > had initially only mobilised for the blockade, then decided they didn’t want to > appear weaker than the autonomous groups and suddenly announced that they > too would enter the Red Zone.
Ilan: So now the anarchists are leading the agenda... what is the negative aspect to this?
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NEW Marco: Because of many reasons i have mentioned.

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Marco: On an other side of the political spectrum the big, moderate and pacifist NGO’s, > together with a large number of small old left parties and groups were united in > the Genoa Social Forum. Their leaders warned for the approaching (state-) > violence and promised to remain peaceful. They became the spokespeople for > non-violent protest.
Ilan: After the vicious attack of the Italian police, their preaching of "non violence" is discredited. The Wu Ming of the Ya Basta trend are starting to side with the more sane of the anarchist black blockers.
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NEW Marco: I do not know what was more stupid: “preaching non-violence” or “preaching violence”. For me using violence is never self-evident but should be a well thought about choice to make. One of the reasons i think summithopping (in it’s current from) as a strategy is bankrupt It is simply not a choice but an inevitable thing to happen. And i do think it is stupid to start a fight you can not win.

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Marco: Meanwhile the media, as ever well up for a good riot, unashamedly fuelled the > fire further and, in the end, the inevitable happened: Genoa descended into an > orgy of violence.
Ilan: Well, my concept of orgy is not compatible with violence. And for sure the harsh violence is back firing already.
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New Marco: Yes it is backfiring, mostly on the movement itself.

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Marco: Is this the fault of the Italian state, the media and/or the protestors? Well, it is > really not the most important question to ask. Everyone was simply playing the > role that they had announced for themselves and this is precisely why the Italian > state has been so successful in infiltrating and manipulating the protests. >
Ilan: The back fire is not only for the beating of nonviolent participants. The crude inciting and promoting of trashing by police was exposed for all to see.
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NEW Marco: Maby in Israel but not in Holland. Yes the independent media spoke about police infiltration but who reads IMC? Certainly not the masses you would like to see involved…. 80 % or more is focused on black block violence and the cop violence is often kind of justified by the difficult circumstances they had to work under (meaning the attacks from black block). About police infiltration and provocation i have read only that there were rumours (in activist circels). Maybe it was for all t see but most didn’t (want to) see it.

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Marco: The question that we should be asking ourselves in the wake of Genoa, is not > whose fault it is, or how we should deal with repression, but instead how we can > get reigns back into our own hands.
Ilan: Real kidding to claim we had the "rains in our hands" or can get them soon. We are doing "guerilla warfare" with words and printed materials. We can enrich it in various ways and some direct actions, but it is still long time till we will really endanger the capitalist system.
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NEW Marco: I am not kidding about it, so please take me serious. When i talk about getting the reigns back in our hands i talk about the reigns in/of were we are moving, following our own agenda instead of theirs (theirs being worldleaders, vanguardists or reformist NGO’s).

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Marco: For starters we could agree to stop this precarious series of confrontations, and choose for ways of campaigning, that are aimed at the places where we live and work.
Ilan: The place most of the involved in summit hoping live and work is the developed countries. 20 - 200 - 2000 kilometers are not really so far away these days.
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NEW Marco: The number of kilometres is not the issue here, it is not about saving fuel.

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Marco: In other words campaigns which are not aimed at overthrowing something as abstract as “Global Capitalism”, but geared towards the local reality and starting from the concrete possibilities that this reality brings with it.
Ilan: Some one seems to be dreaming.... Even the pro capitalists admit that "the good old days are over". There is not any other kind of capitalism than the “Global Capitalism”. It is not secret any more.
Ilan: Ben Bove of the France peasants activist and his small delegation were natural participants in our meeting in Tel Aviv.
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NEW Marco: And i am also not dreaming, thank you. The point is capitalism is not a far away organised conspiracy but a problem you can find in your own habitat. Focussing so much on a bunch of old men in suits is oversimplicing the complexity of the capitalist system (this beside the already mentioned points about the dangers of a movement around summitprotests).

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Marco: And of course let’s keep meeting each other, in the flesh and on internet, but at our leisure and on our terms, not chased by baton wielding policemen and teargas,.
Ilan: One of the old songs inherited from the Spanish revolution says: "On barricades we will meet.". May be we better do the international congresses and the seminars the days preceding international summits. One of the most empowering experiences I had for many years was the 4 thousands strong demonstration in Madrid in the beginning of the Second Encountro in Madrid August 1997 (the PGA was born from.)
Marco: A better world is possible, also without summit hopping.
Ilan: May be, but why miss the fun? Ilan EMAC (East Mediterranean Anarchist Collective in construction)
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NEW Marco: It’s ok to meet on the barricades but do we have to keep telling the cops months in advance were we are going to build these barricades and when???? And about the encuentro. I was there and thought the demo was rather boring (slow and hot). Seven hundred people wounded and one killed is hardly funny. Seeing how things are rapidly getting more and more violent i am sure to see i will skip the next summit as well.

Take care, Marco Anarchist Collective Eurodusnie, Leiden, the Netherlands: http://eurodusnie.nl