I attended the A16 Protest in Washington DC in April 2000 as I lived in the area, and mainly so I could ride my mountain bike willy nilly around most of the business district, which was blocked to traffic and completely devoid of people. I saw a GAP store vandalized, a rolling dumpster in the street near GWU, and the giant puppets, which I like quite a lot. Some young protesters were in the middle of the street on the Ellipse I believe, and a dude was reading Civil Disobedience aloud. After he had finished, I asked him if he’d noticed anything weird about the protesters and the numerous DC Metro cops in riot gear with video cameras. “Almost all of the protesters are white, and almost all of the cops are black.” I pointed out. He looked like I’d just slapped him with a mackerel. I talked to some anarchists in their black get-ups, and some kids immaculately dressed like 1970s British Punk rockers. Reading this article made me wonder what happened to them.

It’s interesting how capitalism adapts to changing circumstances so smoothly so that people can keep getting that stuff and making that money, without some big plan or institution directing it. It’s almost like there was some invisible hand guiding it.