Fences and Windows (26 page)

When I first decided to collect these articles and essays into a book, my hope was that the project could raise funds for activist organizations whose brave front-line work makes my writing possible. My agents, Bruce Westwood and Nicole Winstanley, took this vague hope and negotiated it into a reality, with the expert and ongoing help of Brian Iler, Alisa Palmer and Clayton Ruby. I am tremendously grateful to my English-language publishers who have all made the remarkable commitment of donating a portion of this book’s proceeds to the Fences and Windows Fund, which will raise money for activist legal defence and popular education about global democracy. Louise Dennys, Susan Roxborough, Philip Gwyn Jones and Frances Coady embraced this unconventional idea from the start.

My greatest editorial debt goes to Debra Levy. In addition to helping me research many of these columns, Debra took charge of editing this collection with unswerving commitment and sensitivity, always keeping her eye on both the big picture and on the smallest details. Louise Dennys courageously resisted the temptation to demand a complete rewrite and instead, with the lightest of hands, managed to change everything. The manuscript was further improved, polished, and double-checked by Damián Tarnopolsky, Deirdre Molina and Alison Reid, and designed by Scott Richardson.

My husband, Avi Lewis, edited each piece when I first wrote them, no matter how many miles or time zones
separated us. Kyle Yamada was the personal and editorial backup for Debra Levy and we are both most grateful. My parents, Bonnie and Michael Klein, also read drafts and offered comments. As the datelines on these articles attest, I have spent most of the past two and half years everywhere but home. This wandering has only been possible because my colleague Christina Magill has been holding down the fort, facing down every logistical challenge with baffling serenity and ingenuity.

I worked with many exceptional newspaper and magazine editors on the articles in this book: Patrick Martin, Val Ross and Larry Orenstein at
The Globe and Mail;
Seumas Milne and Katharine Viner at
The Guardian;
Betsy Reed and Katrina van-den Heuvel at
The Nation;
Jesse Hirsh and Andréa Schmidt at
www.nologo.org
; Joel Bleifuss at
In These Times;
Michael Albert at Znet; Tania Molina at
La Jornada;
Håkan Jaensson at
Aftonbladet;
Giovanni De Mauro at
Internazionale;
and Sander Pleij at
De Groene Amsterdammer
.

It was Richard Addis and Bruce Westwood who thought it would be a good idea for me to write a weekly newspaper column during the most hectic years of my life. As I scrambled to meet each deadline, e-mailing from airport pay phones, tear-gas-filled community centres and crummy hotels with rotary lines, I must confess that I questioned their judgment more than once. Now I see what they have given me: a weekly record of a remarkable chapter in our history.

I Windows of Dissent

“Seattle” was originally published in
The New York Times
on December 2, 1999.

“Washington, D.C.: Capitalism comes out of the closet. Before” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on April 12, 2000.

“Washington, D.C.: Capitalism comes out of the closet. After” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on April 19, 2000.

“What’s Next?” was originally published in
The Nation
on July 10, 2000.

“Prague: The alternative to capitalism isn’t communism, it’s decentralized power” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on September 27, 2000.

“Toronto: Anti-poverty activism and the violence debate” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on June 21, 2000.

II Fencing in Democracy: Trade and Trade-Offs

“The Free Trade Area of the Americas” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on March 28, 2001.

“IMF Go to Hell” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on March 16, 2002.

“No Place for Local Democracy” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on February 28, 2001.

“The War on Unions” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on January 17, 2001.

“The NAFTA Track Record” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on April 18, 2001.

“Post–September 11 Postscript” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on December 12, 2001.

“Higher Fences at the Border” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on November 22, 2000.

    
The Market Swallows the Commons

“Genetically Altered Rice” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on August 2, 2000.

“Genetic Pollution” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on June 20, 2001.

“Foot-and-Mouth’s Sacrificial Lambs” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on March 7, 2001.

“The Internet as Tupperware Party” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on November 8, 2000.

“Co-opting Dissent” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on May 31, 2001.

“Economic Apartheid in South Africa” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on November 21, 2001.

“Poison Policies in Ontario” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on June 14, 2000.

“America’s Weakest Front” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on October 26, 2001.

III Fencing in the Movement: Criminalizing Dissent

“Cross-Border Policing” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on May 31, 2000.

“Pre-emptive Arrest” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on June 7, 2000.

“Surveillance” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on August 30, 2000.

“Fear Mongering” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on March 21, 2001.

“Infiltration” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on April 21, 2001.

“Indiscriminate Tear-Gassing” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on April 25, 2001.

“Manufacturing Threats” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on September 5, 2001.

“Stuck in the Spectacle” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on May 2, 2001.

IV Capitalizing on Terror

“New Opportunists” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on October 3, 2001.

“Kamikaze Capitalists” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on November 7, 2001.

“The Terrifying Return of Great Men” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on December 19, 2001.

“America Is Not a Hamburger” was originally published in
The Los Angeles Times
on March 10, 2002.

V Windows to Democracy

“Democratizing the Movement” was originally published in
The Nation
on March 19, 2001.

“Rebellion in Chiapas” was originally published in
The Guardian
on March 3, 2001.

“Italy’s Social Centres” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on June 7, 2001.

“Limits of Political Parties” was originally published in
The Globe and Mail
on December 20, 2000.

“From Symbols to Substance” was originally published in
The Nation
on October 22, 2001.