Jonathan Freedland was being ridiculously optimistic in the Guardian this morning:
A new book, Second Chance by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the cold war hawk who served as national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, includes a startling phrase. No leftist, Brzezinski detects what he calls a “global political awakening”, a stirring across much of the developing world, among those who are “conscious of social injustice to an unprecedented degree and resentful of its deprivations and lack of personal dignity”. Thanks to television and the internet, the global have-nots can now see all that the haves are enjoying at their expense. The hard-headed Brzezinski sniffs revolution in the air.
[…]
Is it possible that the Blair era of neoliberal certainty is coming to a close, that there are stirrings abroad that call for something else? Might there not be a demand for action, as there was when the last intolerable gap in wealth opened up nearly a century ago – a demand, in short, for a battle against inequality?
Dream on, Freedland. This is what happens when you plan to challenge the neoliberal status quo:
Hamburg – Hundreds of German police searched Wednesday the homes and offices of militants planning to protest against globalization at next month’s G8 summit on the Baltic coast. Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe said they suspected 18 persons of terrorism. The inquiry is focussed on a series of petrol-bomb attacks over the past year on the offices, homes and cars of German officials in Berlin and Hamburg.
The raids, on 40 premises in northern Germany, were conducted by nearly 900 police.
The 18 had claimed responsibility under a variety of names for their bombings, prosecutors said.
Also under investigation were three persons identified as members of the separate Militant Groups (MG), a terrorist organization which had mounted two anti-G8 attacks, and 25 attacks on property in all since 2001.
Leftists accuse the Group of Eight (G8) nations of oppressing poor countries. They plan to disrupt the G8 summit to be hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the beach resort of Heiligendamm.
Police arrived at dawn at the Rote Flora, a building which functions as a headquarters for the German anarchist movement in the northern German city of Hamburg.
Prosecutors said the raids on the 18-person organization and MG were aimed at collecting documents and other evidence.
Among the targets of nine bomb attacks during 2006 was Thomas Mirow, state secretary of the finance ministry who lives in Hamburg, and there have been more attacks this year. Police have made no arrests so far.
The Rote Flora is the crumbling remnant of a 19th century theatre and was taken over by squatters in 1989.
The leftists now have a lease on the building, which has been at the focus of repeated clashes between rioters and the city-state’s riot police down the years.
Merkel has invited the leaders of the G7 nations and Russia to Heiligendamm, a high-class resort in sparsely populated countryside, to discuss world economic issues next month.
‘Leftist’ by whose definition? I note also that the arrested’ve been accused of terrorism – maybe I’m just dim, but I can’t find any reports on Google of a terrorist petrol bombing campaign carried out recently by leftists in Germany. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
I wonder how long it will take for all these people to be released with no charges against them. Not until conveniently after the G8, I expect.
