Question Currently, there are demonstrations going on at the G-20 in Pittsburgh. The news articles call the the demonstrators "anarchists", what ever that means. There have been similar activities at meetings all over the world over the years, as in London and Seattle in the recent past. But nobody ever tells us
what the group(s) are protesting. Surely they have an agenda, and they have funding, which enables them to take time off from work to travel to wherever they wish to meet for a protest. Can you tell us who these people are and what they are trying to do?
Answer Originally, these protests began with the demonstrations wanting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to stop interfering in developing countries. The IMF and the G-7, G-8, G-20 or whomever, would lend money to developing countries to enhance their economy. However, to do so meant the country would have to industrialize at the expense of the environment, and in some cases, the loan would actually leave the country worse off economically, since they now owed the World Bank (or someone) billions of dollars. To pay the loan the country would tax their citizens, sell-off natural resources, increase industrialization even further, and there would be an escalating spiral for that country - that could result in bankruptcy.
Since then, the protests have expanded to include every nut-job on the planet, from Anarchists who want no governments, to people protesting coal mining, to people wanting more money for AIDS research. It gives the whackos an opportunity to get together, shriek about something and break windows.
I don't know if they're funded as a group (it isn't likely because there are so many different groups), but the individuals involved may work for organizations that have a financial interest in fighting the G-20, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc. Groups like the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Acorn, and the like.
