The De-Capitalization of Fall River

Carlo Giuliani 

Murdered by police while protesting the Group of Eight Summit 

in Genoa, Italy, July 21, 2001

The De-Capitalization of Fall River

by Mike Alewitz/ 2001/ Fall River, MA

Dedicated to Carlo Giuliana

Edited remarks by Mike Alewitz, delivered to union rally

Building of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE,) Fall River, MA, July 30, 2001. 

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Some of you probably don't know who Carlo Giuliana is.   He was a young

Italian activist shot down by a cop while demonstrating in Genoa.  After

they shot him down they ran over him with their jeep.  He was the first to

be killed on one of these demonstrations, but he probably won't be the

last.  There is no important struggle that has not been won at the cost of

our blood.  In addition to murdering Carlo, many others were beaten and

jailed.  

Millions of dollars were spent to isolate the government representatives

from the peoples demonstrations, but it didn't work.  Wherever they go they

are met with protesters.  

The officials announced at the end of the meetings that they had been

traumatized by the demonstrators.  They were victims, not Carlo.

They are going to hold their next meeting out in a remote area of Alberta,

Canada to try to avoid protests.  The WTO is going to meet in Qatar for the

same reason.

Of course they can go hide out, but the demonstrations will continue.  What

we are seeing is the birth of an important new movement.  It's made up of

trade unionists, environmentalists, anarchists, socialists, indigenous

people, human rights activists and many others.  It is a movement for global

economic justice.

What does that have to with a mural in Fall River?  Everything.  When you

drive into this city and look at those stone mill buildings sitting empty,

it is a scene repeated in hundreds of cities and towns across the country.

You cannot begin to deal with the question of the de-capitalization of this

town without confronting the realities of the new global economy.  They took

the industry and left.  They went somewhere else because their profits are

more important than the welfare of the workers.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who work and create the

wealth, and those who don't work and take the wealth.  That is what we show

in the mural.  And that is a very frightening idea to some people.

Why did the Mayor of this city try to stop this mural?  It's not only the

specific image, it's that we are saying we have our own voice.   We are

workers - we aren't supposed to be telling our story on the walls.  We're

supposed to shut up and work.

But whenever workers begin to get in motion, they immediately turn to the

arts.  When the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) knew they might be

getting arrested, they would learn different poems to recite to each other

in jail.  When the sit-down strikes took place in Buffalo, workers formed an

orchestra to serenade the masses from the factory rooftops.  When textile

workers struck in Paterson, NJ, John Reed organized New York artists to

create a great pageant of the strike performed in Madison Square Garden.

We have created this mural in that tradition, because we are looking to the

future - to a revitalized labor movement that extends the hands of

solidarity to our brothers and sisters - wherever they may be.  We are part

of a movement demanding that the obscene profits of the rich - which

get greater every day- be used instead for the betterment of humanity.

The protestors in Genoa and Seattle are fighting for such a world.  I am

therefore dedicating this mural to Carlo Giuliani and new movement for

global economic justice. They represent the future.