Dan Frisa
Friday, April 20, 2001

The summit is a gathering of the heads of state of thirty-four of the thirty-five nations in the hemisphere, excluding Cuba as the only totalitarian state.

Many of the same leftwing anarchists wreaked havoc during the meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, Washington in November, 1999 as well as a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. in April, 2000.

Both previous confrontations were planned and supported by various organized labor and communist groups.

Common to these mêlée’s have been muddled messages generally denouncing world trade, but never enunciating a specific set of goals.

Violence and disruption seem to be the only purpose of the activities.

So what gives?

Is this just another nostalgic opportunity for leftwing extremists to replicate the violent demonstrations of the 1960’s?

Peaceful demonstrations are important and the opportunity to conduct them should be protected and celebrated.

But these riotous, red-brigade actions of the ultra-Left are to be condemned.

They bring no issue to the fore and make no case for a particular point of view, other than to incite violence and promote some nefarious notion of collectivist opposition to progress.

E-mail Dan: danfrisa@newsmax.com.

Read Dan's previous column: Spielberg Dumps Boy Scouts.

Dan Frisa represented New York in the United States Congress and served four terms in the New York State Assembly.

See more columns by Dan Frisa.