Antiglobalization Movement Is Revived As

80,000 Protesters

Descend Upon EU Summit

PHILIP SHISHKIN, KATYA KAZAKINA and EDWARD TAYLOR / Wall Street Journal 14dec01

BRUSSELS -- After three months of quiet, antiglobalization protesters staged a huge rally on the outskirts of Brussels, signaling that the protest movement still has strength.

As many as 80,000 protesters, mainly from labor unions, rallied near the site of a summit of European Union leaders due to start Friday. More protesters were expected Friday and Saturday, drawn largely from the younger disaffected demonstrators who in the past have flocked to rallies against free trade in Seattle, Genoa, Italy, and Goetheborg, Sweden.

This time, the demonstrators supplemented their usual anticapitalism agenda with protests against the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

After the events of Sept. 11, the antiglobalization movement lost momentum as public opinion in the West turned supportive of national governments, and some protesters feared being linked, however unfairly, with terrorism abroad. Media attention also focused on the antiterrorist campaign and the global economic slowdown.

Scattered Rallies

Protesters couldn't muster many demonstrators during an EU summit in Ghent, Belgium, in October or during meetings of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Free-trade negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in November also prompted only scattered rallies in France and Germany.

Nevertheless, protest organizers say that the events of Sept. 11 haven't dented their determination to fight globalization, which they say benefits Western countries at the expense of the developing world.

"Those who say that we are in a kind of vacuum now are wrong," said Sjaak Vrugt, a 27-year-old Dutchman who described himself as an anarchist. "After Sept. 11, the people I know are only strengthened in their ideas."

On Thursday, protesters tried to fuse their antiglobalization message with opposition to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. However, that may be a tough sell for the general public, which has watched televised scenes of ordinary Afghans rejoicing the overthrow of the Taliban regime.

"That's tricky," acknowledged Oliver Winrow, 23, a student at the University of London. He said he joined his school's antiwar group in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. He said that the Northern Alliance fighters backed by the U.S. against Taliban also have a shady history, which gives him pause. "So you just replace one bad guy with another," he said.

But pressed to explain nonmilitary alternatives to driving out the Taliban -- and the al Qaeda militants supporting the movement -- many protesters are at a loss.

Riet Dhont, a protest organizer and a member of the Belgian Communist party, spoke vaguely of "other democratic forces in Afghanistan." These forces, she said, should decide the country's future without the military interference of foreign powers, which have fueled Afghanistan's many wars.

The younger crowd of antiglobalization protesters was vastly outnumbered on Thursday by labor unions, which are demanding more influence in EU decision-making and protesting layoffs.

Unlike the younger protesters, the trade unionists aren't as adamant in their opposition to the war. But many say that fighting terrorism will require more than a military effort. "We must be aware that [terrorists] exploit the situation of misery and inequality," said Emilio Gabaglio, secretary-general of the European Trade Unions Confederation. The group represents tens of thousands of workers across Europe.

Mr. Gabaglio's solution: an increase in foreign aid and trade with the developing world, even though it may require some concessions by European trade unions.

Opening up the European markets to Pakistani textiles -- a move recently approved by the European Commission -- can help fight poverty. But such a move could come at the expense of labor unions, which have historically sought greater protections for domestic industries. "We do understand that we cannot keep everything that we have," Mr. Gabaglio said.

On Thursday, the protests were largely peaceful. But a key test comes Friday and Saturday as thousands of younger protesters, including anarchists, take to the streets. In Genoa, the protests led to violence between the demonstrators and police, tarnishing the reputation of some protesters and their police counterparts.

It wasn't clear whether the protest organizers would try to limit the activities of anarchists, who have been linked to violence at past rallies, at this weekend's summit in Laeken.