Figuring Out a16 By Way of an Introduction by Brian Edwards-Tiekert On April 16th, depending on whose estimate you go by, there were between 8,000 and 35,000 protestors on the streets of DC, trying to shut down the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. Going into the weekend, “Seattle” was the word on most lips—a16 was under tremendous pressure to be a repeat performance, proof that the WTO protests were more than a fluke. People hoped the action would cement new coalitions between labor and environmentalists, between activists in the first world and the third—in short, a16 was to mark the emergence of a new global social movement. A16 was also part of what’s turning out to be a watershed semester for activism at Wesleyan. We sent 150 to D.C. for the weekend—more than we’d sent to any protest in 25 years. Of all the colleges involved in the direct action (even those with campuses in D.C.) Wesleyan was probably the best-represented, and certainly the best-organized. Wesleyan Students performed in marching bands, worked on legal teams, and locked ourselves into blockades. We marched, paraded, and danced. We chanted, sang, and screamed. And we were pepper-sprayed, beaten, and arrested. The entire weekend was pure terror and pure ecstasy, the kind of time no-one forgets, and no two people remember exactly the same. Now the war of words has begun. Everyone from Global Exchange to the DC Police Department has been jockeying to tell the definitive story of What Happened and What It Meant. And so, going through the news-reports, the press-releases, the action alerts, and the personal testimonies rocketing around the internet, one finds a host of contradictions: we protesters were non-violent angels and black-hooded brawlers; the police were models of restraint and abusive thugs; the IMF is the third world’s best friend and worst enemy; the a16 actions were a pathetic failure and an unqualified success. According to reports on Marxist list-serves, we protestors were a savvy, articulate, diverse, and extraordinarily well-organized group. According to the Washington Post’s editorial page, we were a misguided mob of white middle-class students using the IMF meetings as an excuse to throw a street party and break things. The Wesleyan contingent fits both descriptions (aside from the breaking things bit) and, at the same time, neither really fits. We’d spent weeks training and planning, but most of us were doing civil disobedience for the first time. We well-informed, yes, and all too aware that we’d never know enough to be completely sure of ourselves. We were there for the cause, and we were there for the party, and it wasn’t always easy to tell the difference between the two. At this point, only two facts seem certain: there were a fuck of a lot of us, and none of us got much sleep. The protesters’ blockades turned away plenty of delegates, but enough came in on 4AM buses (or slept in their offices the night before) that the meetings took place. To the extent that a16 was about shutting down a meeting, it failed. To the extent that the action was about drawing attention to the IMF, forcing a public dialogue on globalization, and building the spirit of social action among its participants, it was an unqualified success. Our critics like to call us misguided. Some Wespeak writers describe us as demagogues that oversimplify the issues to produce activism cults. Thomas Friedman, globalization pundit par excellence, describes the a16 group as so misguided that it should be called "The Coalition to Keep the World's Poor People Poor." The strongest defense against such attacks, of course, is that action is a way of learning and educating; it doesn’t deliver the final word on an issue—it opens dialogue. Most went to DC hoping to learn: about the IMF and the World Bank, yes, but also about organizing, direct action, social movements, and protest culture. For most, a16 raised more questions than it answered—and most of us wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s where this special edition of Hermes comes in. What follows is drawn from the accounts of those 150 or so Wesleyan students that were a part of a16. We present our testimony, our dilemmas, analyses, and our hopes for the future. This is not meant to be the final word on the IMF or the protest actions—it’s meant to be an opening move in a prolonged dialogue on globalization and social action.