[Nettime-bold] Re: Fake Money, Friedman Protest, etc.

[Nmherman {AT} aol.com]

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I think this is relevant to the current discussion on nettime.  I apologize 
if it appears to be too self-aggrandizing to me and my own interests.  It is 
a third-party description and not my own.  I can't understand why nettime 
(tbyfield) would refuse to post this to nettime.  It seems too crazy to be 
true.  Alex, please post this to Raw for me and perhaps forward me any posts 
to Raw explaining why nettime won't post this or anything else sent by me.

Max Herman
http://www.geocities.com/genius-2000/SFMOMA82700.html
http://www.geocities.com/genius-2000/FriedmanMN1.JPG

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http://tc.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=1074

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Personal Account of Disruption of Thomas Friedman Award Ceremony 
by Ben Grosscup 3:18am Sat Feb 24 '01  
benmalone {AT} aol.com  

This is a personal account of a disruptive action at a Thomas Friedman 
Speakign engagement 
I am writing as a person who helped disrupt a ceremony and speech of Thomas 
Friedman, New York Times Foreign Affairs Correspondent, on Friday February 
23. 

The action was meant to embarrass Thomas Friedman and the administration of 
the University of Minnesota for their support of neo-liberal economic 
structures and corporate globalization, radicalize people who questioned 
Friedman's neo-liberal ideology, and show the strength of people who stand up 
to fight corporate globalization. The ceremony we were disrupting was 
basically awarding Friedman for being a "great intellectual." I think the 
corporate controlled oligarchy of the U of M administration is doing 
everything it can to make the U of M into a corporate diploma factory to 
train a work force for a lifetime of servitude to the corporate masters. One 
particularly egregious example of this is their incestuous relationship with 
Cargill Inc., the Minnesota-based biotechnology multinational corporation. 
The University and Cargill are both putting up funds to make a research 
facility that will produce research that to which Cargill will have all the 
rights. 

I arrived at the front steps of the Northrop Auditorium where Friedman later 
spoke. A few of the people I had met in various circumstances and at the 
organizing meeting the night before were present. We decided to break up into 
groups. I was part of one of the small groups that went in the auditorium and 
sat quietly waiting until Friedman began his speech. Others stayed outside 
and passed out flyers, though I personally never got a chance to see a copy 
of what they were passing out. 

After an "academic procession," where U of M alumni wearing hats with the 
little strings walked on stage to organ music, a rendition of the "Star 
Spangled Banner," and an introduction by U of M president Yudof, Friedman 
began his speech. I wish I had recorded the Yudof's introduction because 
there were a number of very pro-corporate statements Yudof said that I would 
have liked to examine here. Shortly after Friedman began talking about his 
book, stating his now famous over-simplification that globalization has 
replaced the cold war system, came the first visible signs of disruption and 
dissent. One person near the front row stood and threw a large amount of what 
appeared to be fake money into the air. Simultaneously, people held up the 
banners they inconspicuously brought that denounced Friedman's neo-liberal 
economic agenda and the University's ardent support of it. Individuals yelled 
statements like, "Globalization is killing the poor in the third world" and 
some chanted in unison, "Globalization: Shut it down!," and "We are the 
people and the students of the U, we do not support this point of view." As 
the chants began, Friedman stopped. Our resolve in continuing to disrupt his 
speech was not rock solid and the chants did begin to cease. I can say for 
myself that it was rather intimidating to see cops to the sides of the 
auditorium and being told to "shut up," by some people who came to see him 
speak. He referred to our action as "moronic," though I expected this 
response and was not intimidated. I then pointed out very loudly yelling 
something to the effect of, "You think anyone opposing capitalism is moronic 
because you are a capitalist." 

The proceedings were aired on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) from 12 noon to 
pm. We heard afterwards that Garry Eichton spliced in commentary about 
protesters making disruptions as they occurred. However, we heard that MPR 
did broadcast Yudof threatening us with arrest for our disruption. 

We exited carrying banners. One said something like "U of M Celebrates 3rd 
World Debt and Poverty," referring again to Friedman's support of 
institutions like the World Bank and International monitory Fund. 

Then we congregated outside the auditorium chanting "Thomas Friedman is a 
corporate Lap-Dog." At times people held a bullhorn and articulated the 
critique of Friedman, the New York Times and the U of M. 

Then people went to Williamson Hall, where Friedman began a book signing at 
2:00pm. We gathered outside of the bookstore holding the banners and some 
individuals spoke out to the people in line and in the area about their 
views. By this time, the crowed had dwindled some and the energy had taken a 
definite down turn. I left as Friedman walked into do the book signing. There 
were many cops and I could see no way to continue the energy from earlier in 
the afternoon. I had no interest in beginning a dialogue with Friedman 
because it would have been on his terms and it would have taken place in the 
presence of cops who had authority to arrest me. I slipped out at that point. 

It should be recognized that in many ways, our action was disconnected from 
the lives of most of the people in the world. We were fighting an ideology. 
To be familiar with this ideology, you'd have to have read Friedman's 
writings. I think that is something to consider as we put our precious 
efforts into campaigns. We can't build a mass movement by disrupting one 
person's interpretation of a neo-liberal ideology. Nonetheless, it was 
worthwhile to demonstrate dissent. Though I think our education efforts need 
to stay focused on the issues, it is enormously helpful to be familiar with 
what Noam Chomsky calls the "cultural managers," like Friedman, who barrage 
us with this ideology through corporate propaganda outlets like the New York 
Times. 

I wish we could have been more organized and had a greater resolve to disrupt 
his speech. I don't see any reason why we should be tolerant of the many 
capitalist assumptions pervade our society. Friedman has been enormously 
successful in convincing many people that corporate globalization is 
irreversible and the best you can do is make a lot of money for yourself. He 
adds that rising to the top or "the front of the herd" is the only way we can 
steer the inevitable capitalist expansion to gain things like a "good 
standard of living," "sustainable globalization" and other nonsense. We need 
to show that we won't take it anymore, and we'll fight to stop this 
neo-liberal vision. The people already convinced that there is nothing we can 
do to corporate globalization will likely be angry at us. But uneasiness that 
our actions will offend some should not tame our militancy.  


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