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.
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