The letter below appeared in the Guardian Letter page on July 25th.


As an Indian woman writer, I found it offensive, not to say ludicrous, that Clare Short should use African politicians to belittle the millions protesting against globalisation in solidarity with the people at Genoa (Why Clare Short is wrong, July 24). Her remark that the protesters were mostly young and white might strike her spin doctors as clever. But the fact is, if the G8 had been meeting in Delhi or Africa, it's possible there would have been a million black faces protesting instead of 20,000 white ones. Speaking as an Indian, I'm grateful to the young white people who represented us.

I agree violence is counter-productive. I grew up in Calcutta in the 60s amid Naxalite terrorism. But the non-violent demonstrators have for decades been dismissed as peaceniks and ineffectual hippies. Every serious group of dissenters faces the problem of their agenda being hijacked; of people jumping on the bandwagon who are almost football hooligans. But if you go to protest and are barricaded as though there's a war on, something gives somewhere. And it is a war.

Why don't they use the democratic process, asks Clare. Becoause no one bothers to listen to the democratic protesters. If you went to lobby against the WTO in Geneva or Washington, you'd find politicians of all hues being wined and dined by corporate lawyers. Congress Watch activists can't access US representatives. Japanese business interests can. So people the world over are disillusioned by the democratic process.

Seattle was seminal. It gave people hope. It's a sign to me, a product of the 60s and 70s protest generation, that the mindlessness of the 80s and 90s has ended. That there were mostly youn people is even moreexciing, because it proves we've come full circle.

Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Gudalur, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu
 marimarcelt@email.com