Commentary

Demonstrations Throughout Europe Oppose Bush Visit

During the week beginning June 10, demonstrations rocked European cities in opposition to the visit of U.S. President George Bush to Europe. Bush met with the leaders of Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Poland and Slovenia during his visit. In Slovenia he also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His visit to Sweden was part of the E.U.-U.S. Summit held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Thousands of demonstrators confronted Bush wherever he went, opposing his unilateral rejection of the Kyoto accords on global warming and his promotion of the Nuclear Missile Defence (NMD) system. Demonstrators also opposed the role of the U.S. in the Middle East, as well as its spearheading of neo-liberal globalization.

The tens of thousands of protestors opposing Bush's appearance at the E.U.-U.S. Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden were met with unprecedented levels of state violence, including the use of live ammunition. This resulted in one police officer and two demonstrators receiving gunshot wounds, one critical. Even before the events in Sweden, the fear of violence had led to the cancellation of a World Bank meeting that was to be held in Barcelona later in June. In the wake of the shootings in Gothenburg, there are indications that other non-essential meetings associated with neo-liberal globalization may also be cancelled.

The news reports carried in the European media were consistently unsympathetic to President Bush. Many reports ridiculed him for his ignorance of geography and international politics. His position on Kyoto and the NMD system have also been strongly opposed by the European media.

The developing opposition in Europe to U.S. hegemony and the policies represented by President Bush are becoming problematic for the United States. On the one hand there is a growing people's movement in Europe, as elsewhere, against neo-liberal globalization. Since the U.S. has been in the forefront of the push for neo-liberalism, it has become a lightning rod for the global opposition to those policies. The environmental and peace movements in Europe have also been given added impetus by the unpopular policies of the Bush regime.

On the other hand, at the same time there is a growing movement amongst European capitalists against the U.S. domination of Europe, which infringes on their own ability to maximize their profits. There have been significant, though cautious, attempts by the European powers to eliminate the U.S. military occupation of important sections of Europe, including Germany itself. As the global crisis of overproduction intensifies, these inter-imperialist contradictions are bound to heat up.

The convergence of interest, however limited and temporary, between the peoples' movement in Europe and the European imperialists could spell disaster for the U.S. policy in Europe. The European imperialists are very experienced and politically sophisticated, while the U.S. has always relied on brute force and bribery to get its way. There is little doubt that the European imperialists will be able to exploit public opinion and the oppositional movement to a far greater extent than the U.S. can.

Their effectiveness in doing this has been seen most recently in the way in which the public opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was used to block the import of many competing North American agricultural products into Europe. Given the self-serving nature of capitalists, it would be naive to believe that the leaders of the E.U. actually oppose GMOs or that they are genuinely concerned about public opinion. The reality is that the European media has been instrumental in mobilizing public opposition to GMOs and would be just as quick to reverse its position if this technology were to fall under the control of European capital. Other forms of non-tariff barriers to trade will undoubtedly appear as economic crisis develops.

The intensification of inter-imperialist contention creates new possibilities for the oppositional movement in Europe and elsewhere. Exploiting those contradictions to advance the people's movement, while avoiding the dangers inherent in even an informal and limited alliance with one group of imperialists against another, requires a level of organization and political sophistication which is currently lacking in the movement in Europe and North America. Developing that necessary level of organization and political maturity has become the most urgent challenge facing the movement. Meeting that challenge will spell the difference between success and failure.