Cancun Dispatch: 9/12

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And then suddenly our Green Bloc friends appear. Erik and John Henry come up through the police lines carrying two trees, a banana and an almond. They place them next to our spiral, and we move the spiral over to circle them. They become the heart of the dance, as the rest of the affinity group begins to make an ofrenda of corn and beans and grain around them, arranged in a spiral. The convention center looms directly behind us: the fortress of power. We have entered behind the lines and brought the trees of life and the sacred seeds. The dance grows, and goes on and on until we are dripping wet in the sticky heat, and the sun goes down, and in the falling dark we raise a clear, beautiful tone like a sweet trumpet blast that can blow the walls of power down.
"Somos el viento que sopla,
Al imperio que colapsa."

The students are chanting political chants in Spanish and the rhythms mesh. The police have still not moved in, and now the circle grows even bigger, so we begin to sing again and start a new, slower spiral.
"No army can hold back a thought,
No fence can chain the sea,
The earth can not be sold or bought,
All life shall be free..."

One of the Mexican delegates comes up to Rodrigo. "You know what," he says, "I've been in those meetings for three days, and you're right, they are bullshit. My boss will probably fire me tomorrow, but I don't care." He joins in the spiral dance.

Our friends who have credentials from NGOs or media are now feeding us information. Behind the wall, riot cops are massed. Down the street, they are putting up barricades. Brush, Juniper, and Lisa go out to scout, and call back to give us updates. Our group gathers for a quick conference. "If you want to be sure to get out, get out now," is the advice. Some leave, but most of us stay. The students are asking for our solidarity, and while none of us want to get arrested, we just can't leave. This is a powerful moment of nonviolent direct action, completely peaceful, completely disruptive, and I am not going to walk away in the middle of it, whatever the consequences.

We begin to gather as a group to meet. The students link up in the road, and begin to discuss what to do. Now we're having an assembly in the road, a demonstration of democratic decision making right under the walls of the closed, autocratic meetings of the WTO. Valerie and Emily are both translating and facilitating, and doing an awesome job. We send negotiators to talk to the government and the police. They come back saying that if we leave voluntarily, we can go free. We decide to stay longer. They offer us buses to take us away. We demand to be allowed to march. Juniper, Lisa and Brush have been trapped on the other side of the barricades and keep calling in. Lori Wallach, one of the policy experts on the WTO from the NGOs, comes over and passes on advice from the press. Maude Barlowe from the Council of Canadians is trapped on the other side of the fence, wishing she could get through to join us. The discussions take a long time. Luke, who has been one of the major movers of this action, makes a stirring speech from the front line about the wisdom of saying enough is enough, and getting on with the next day's organizing. We continue to discuss, but finally agree to get on the buses, with media accompanying us to make sure they go where they are supposed to go.

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