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1999 WTO Protest
Articles on this Page
News on Seattle Hearings-
Dec/99
Chemical Weapons used in Seattle
Rodney King discovered America
- from Milutin <noshelter@tao.ca> Tue, 7 Dec/99
Seattle Police and vegans
- From: Good Goals <vrc@tiac.net>Wed, 08 Dec 1999
American Civil Liberties Union
collects reports on Seattle police violence
Alert! Pike Place
Market Gassing
organise wto prisoner solidarity
action - From: Stephanie Sersli,
4 Dec 99
WTO protesters tortured in
Seattle jails (fwd Anitra Freeman) Sun, 5 Dec 1999
tortured by police in Seattle
- From: berlin@socrates.berke
Interview with Seattle MD--
Richard DeAndrea Dec 6/99
Dr. Interviewed in the NYTimes
Forums
innocent bystander arrested
at pike place market -by sharon borgstrom, 4 Dec 99
Diary of Seattle-WTO photographer
From:
Yuill Sun, 05 Dec 1999
The World Trade Organization
should be charged with War Crimes
Capsules of Seattle Brutality
- clipped from the Toronto Media
WTO Arrests of Canadians-
Jailing Unwarranted Dec 3/99
Rage Against Corporate America-
by Chad McCulley, Dec 3/99
Hell In Seattle-
from yura Dec/99
No globalization without representation
- from Free Student Press Project
Collateral Damage in Seattle
& Report from Portland
student Jim Desyllas -from
Janet M Eaton Dec 2/99
What I said to the mayor of Seattle
- by Chrysalis Farm, Dec 2/99
Seattle Occupation
- by Gordon McGlothlen, Dec2/99
I'm Still Ablaze-by
Gabriel Taylor, Dec 2/99
What YOU can do to preserve LIBERTY
- by Chrysalis Farm, Dec 2/99
CUPW in Seattle, Dec 1, 1999
POSTAL WORKERS FORM HUMAN BARRICADE IN SEATTLE
CROSS CANADA CARAVAN CONVERTED TO SEATTLE FIRST
AID STATION
PROVACATEURS/POLICE OUT OF HAND
Eyewitness account of nonviolent
action at WTO - by Peter Bergel, Dec/99
Seattle demo: a view from the
street - by Brian Williams, Dec 1/99
yet another account of the wto
protest- by Jonathan Oppenheim, Dec/99
Police Attack Brutally and Quickly-
by Morgan Stewart
Stop the WTO, my story
- by Erin Smith, Dec/99
The WTO was SHUT DOWN in seattle!-
by Yang Chang, Nov/99
Seattle Report with Photos
- by Tony Formo, Dec/99
Photos and Diary at
http://www.monkeybagel.com/
Photos below are copies of photos sent by Tony
Formo as the protest action began
tonyformo@jps.net
other photos
Links to other web media coverage.
E-mail a brief letter to all Canadian politicians asking them to withdraw and cancel our membership with the WTO.
Facts World Trade Organization
WTO Sets rules for the global economy and
enforces them
US delegations to the Uruguay Round; the vast
majority were members of the corporate elite
GATS: Extends rules to include services: health care, education,
water systems...
Key players - U.S. Coalition of Service Industries
TRIPS: Patents life forms, DNA, traditional medicines, etc.
Key Players - Intellectual Property Committee (Monsanto, Dupont, GM,
Bristol Myers, Squibb, & 7 other major US corporations)
Financial Services: Gives "North" banks open access to entire
world
Key Players - Financial Leaders Group (Barclays Bank, Chase Manhattan,
Ford Financial Services, Bank of Tokyo, Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Canada,
etc.)
Millennium Round
Lets corporations overturn national laws
Key Players - International Chamber of Commerce & the Investment
Network (Fiat, Daimler-Chrysler, BP, etc.), and the U.S. Coalition of Service
Industries
WTO Agreements
Agriculture: The Uruguay Round Agreement expands markets for
global food corporations like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, while
undercutting small farmers and food self-sufficiency.
Food Safety: The WTO's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards
(SPS) tell countries "how much safety" they can have — and even whether
they can label possible hazards. The SPS Agreement protects trade at the
expense of scientific caution and consumer protection.
Services: 70% of the U.S. Gross National Product now comes from
services like banking, telecommunications, and health care. GATS, the General
Agreement on Trade and Services, opens up the world to highly developed
U.S. service corporations.
Patents and Copyrights: TRIPS, the Trade-Related Intellectual Property
Agreement, extends U.S. "first come first patent" rules to the whole
world. Under TRIPS, a corporation can patent a strain of rice grown for
hundreds of years in India, a medicinal plant from the Amazon jungles,
or even your DNA.
Investment: TRIMS, Trade-Related Investment Measures, give corporations
more rights to use their money however they want without government interference.
Dispute Settlement: Under the WTO, trade complaints go to a
secret, unelected panel of three "trade experts." Their decision is binding
on all the countries in the WTO.
--------
Michel Chossudovsky "Seattle
and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order"
----
Rainforest Action Network on Seattle - Blow
by Blow
Seattle - Blow by Blow
http://www.co-intelligence.org/WTOblowbyblow.html
--------
Beyond
Seattle - CORPORATE WATCH - Dec/22/99
· A first hand report from the streets
· Martin Khor on the Revolt of the Developing
Nations
· A statement by Philippine grassroots
movements
· Working Together After Seattle...and
more
-------------
The Direct Action Media Network's WTO protest
coverage is up and running. For the latest coverage of the demonstrations
and events in Seattle, check out:
http://damn.tao.ca/wtopage/wto.htm
At DAMN -Sub
Lethal Weapons hit the Steets
---------
See Postcards from Seattle
http://brasscheck.com/seattle/
--------
Photos of Seattle Protest at
http://www.monkeybagel.com/
--------
Democracy
Now Seattle Radio
--------
Znet
coverage
--------
Labournet News
--------
Seattle
WTO.org Listservs and Links
--------
Corporate Watch has
ongoing alternative coverage of the World
Trade Oganization meetings in Seattle.
--------
View the World
Trade Agenda Newletter
--------
Susan George has written an excellent brief
history of international trade negotiations
leading up to the Seattle WTO negotiations that begin on November
30, 1999.
TRADE BEFORE FREEDOM: SEATTLE PREPARES FOR BATTLE
http://www.tni.org/george/wto/trade.htm
--------
November 30th, 1999 - A Global Day of Action,
Resistance, and Carnival Against the Global Capitalist System
A coalition of radical ACTIVISTS has been
formed in Seattle to stage actions against the conference, and activi
If you, or your group, plan actions on
November 30th, please let others know as soon as possible, to FACILITATE
NETWORKING and communication, as well as International media efforts.
Please send your contact information to: n30contacts@angelfire.com
NOVEMBER 30 GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION COLLECTIVE
http://go.to/n30
GENERAL SEATTLE anti-WTO Activities:
http://www.seattle99.org
Protestor's Guide to WTO Seattle
- http://www.wtocaravan.org
- http://www.seattlewto.org
- http://www.peopleforfairtrade.org
- http://www.ruckus.org
- http://flag.blackened.net/~global
- http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/lobby/8771/iwwwto.html
- http://www.agitprop.org/artandrevolution/wto
--------
Stop-wto-millennium-round-and-globalization-stuff-webliography"
--------
The WTO and Public Health- Oct/99
- For over fifty years, access to health-care for all has come to
be regarded as a fundamental human right in many countries. Today, though,
health-care is increasingly considered as a new field for commercial activity.
Next month's meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle is set
to accelerate this creeping privatisation of public health-care.
Read a full report as citizens prepare to oppose the sellout of Health
Care.
The Health Care Action Group of the Alliance
for Democracy will be at World Trade Organation meeting in Seattle holding
a workshop Monday Nov. 29.
--------
WTO Web Cam at
History Link
---------
WTO PROTESTS -- EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE -
See exclusive video shot by the WebActive team from November 30 to December
2, 1999 that depicts protesters clashing with police as the WTO got
underway in Seattle.
http://www.webactive.com
--------
See also Seattle
WTO Discussion List - http://members.aol.com/pgacaravan
Visit the electrohippies
& activists page
--------
Excellent media coverage(including
more personal accounts and some amazing realvideo, if you've got
a highspeed connection) can be found http://www.indymedia.org
and http://206.168.174.20/imc/
--------
WATCH THE WTO IN REALVIDEO at
WTOWatch.org.
--------
Visit the Electronic
Civil Disobedience Site
--------
Visit http://gatt.org/
--------
CitizensontheWeb.com - Economic Reform Page
All out Chemical Warfare was used on protesters at World Trade Org demo in Seattle.
Before police and military personnel got out of
control in Seattle a tense meeting took place among federal, state and
city officials in a command center at Seattle police headquarters. The
decisions made in that meeting led to the creation of a "no protest" zone
and downtown curfew, and the decision to use chemical weapons and extreme
violence to create such a zone. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Attorney General Janet Reno were active in pressuring Seattle officials
to crack down on the protests.
--------
CNN confirmed the presence of active US military chemical warfare specialists in Seattle for the WTO meeting. They were there as "anti-terrorism" advisors.
Weapons used by police in Seattle on protesters include rubber bullets, tear gas grenades,hand-held pepper-spray canisters, flash-bang grenades, an armored personnel carrier, and an attack helicopter are all part of the department's crowd-control arsenal. Paint balls filled with pepper spray were fired from a high speed hopper gun to torture and mark protestors.
Police dressed all in black used nightsticks the size of baseball bats shot plastic bullets, pepper spray. They fired heavy canisters of gas over protestors' heads. One flying grenade struck a woman between the eyes.
Forces included the Seattle Police Department N, the King County Sheriff, the U.S. Secret Service, the Port of Seattle Police, the Federal Protective Service, and at least one other agency that police spokesman refused to identify.
The tear gases used were OC, widely known as pepper spray, and deadly CS. Police fired tear gas and pepper spray indiscriminately without provocation or warning.
Flash-bang grenades were fired high in the air where to explode with a brilliant light and a very loud explosion.
Helicopters with a spotlight moved in on protestors and on Capitol Hill, police used a brilliant spotlight while simultaneously firing tear gas grenades over the heads of protesters.
An armored personnel carrier was used as a platform from which to launch tear-gas, flash-bang, and rubber bullet attacks.
Evidence of Nerve Gas
KIRK JAMES MURPHY, MD: Individuals exposed to chemical weapons
in the late afternoon and evening of December 1st at two locations downtown
blocks adjacent to Pike Place Market and the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol
Hill evinced and reported a pattern of symptoms which is inconsistent with
the pattern of symptoms which may be ascribed to irritating agents. This
"atypical" pattern of symptoms includes the rapid onset of: mydriasis (pupillary
dilation) with resultant impairment of visual acuity; tachycardia (rapid
heart rate) with some palpitations; new-onset hypertension (high blood
pressure) in one individual; nausea, vomiting, diarrhea (persisting for
days after exposure); abrupt or immediate onset of menstruation (asynchronous
with usual menstrual cycle); muscular fasciculation (twitches); muscular
dyscoordination; lethargy, confusion, disorientation, diminished concentration,
nocturnal hallucinations. Moreover, some casualties reported an abrupt
experience of loss of muscular tone and strength that sometimes (but not
always) immediately preceded a loss of consciousness; one observer of these
affected individuals reported uncontrolled, spasmodic movements in those
affected.
Some individuals exposed in the Pike Place Market area reported that the aforementioned symptoms came immediately after exposure to a non-irritating agent which was did not cause pain, lacrimation, or burning on mucous membranes.
. . . The pattern of symptoms is not consistent with known mechanisms of action of the irritant chemical weapons OC, CS, or CN. The pattern, however, is consistent with disruption of neurotransmitter activity. Lamentably, the single most compelling explanation for the observed findings is the (deliberate or accidental) inclusion of "incapacitating agents" which disrupt neuronal function in the chemical munitions discharged by law enforcement agencies in Seattle during the WTO protest.
While direct cholinergic effects or indirect (inhibition of acetylcholinesterase) effects arising from synergistic combinations (of OC, CS, and CN) cannot be ruled out at this time, the experience and observations Medical Collective members, together with the aforementioned information, appears to most robustly support the hypothesis that the casualties described above resulted from exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors used as chemical weapons in crowd control.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on December 4 that the Seattle Police Department had to replenish its chemical weapons stocks by going to outside sources. Various individuals have reported being told by individual law enforcement officers that chemical weapons in addition to OC, CS, and CN were deployed by various entities; these anecdotal accounts are not yet confirmed.
Any information regarding the use of chemical munitions in addition to OC, CS or CN, as well as information regarding the discharge of chemical weapons by agencies other than the Seattle Police Department would be helpful.
. . . If you were exposed to chemical weapons during the WTO protests and have the pattern of "atypical" symptoms discussed below, please make a written, signed, and dated account of your exposure, including details such as the (approximate) location in which you were exposed and the date and part of the day (morning, midday, afternoon, evening) of your exposure, as well as the nature of your symptoms. Please send such accounts to the email above and to the ACLU unit investigating law enforcement actions in Seattle during the WTO protests.
KIRK JAMES MURPHY, MD: mailto:kmurphy@ucla.edu
===========
Questions on force and chemical weapons
- Dec/99
A small number of Special Forces troops, were sent
to Seattle by the Defense Department for the meeting of the World
Trade Organization. The military mission, according to the Pentagon, was
to provide support to the FBI, Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), U.S. Secret Service and other government agencies responsible
for security there.
Four special forces troops from the Joint Special Operations Task Force were deployed to Seattle to be on hand to advise FBI "crisis support" agents. Fifty-five military Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams, along with 25 explosive-detecting dogs and their handlers, were sent. The soldiers wore civilian attire -- keeping a low presence, Defense Department documents say. Troops from the U.S. Army Biological-Chemical Command and many other US military outfits were there. Six members of the Wyoming Air National Guard lent a hand by flying 3,300 pounds of civilian riot control munitions from Casper, Wyo., to Seattle.
This leads many people to wonder exactly who really was
in command of all police and military personnel once the city went into
a state of "Civil Emergency"? It also raises the very serious question
as to why police were allowed to roam the streets with authority to use
deadly force if necessary without proper identification? Were some of these
unidentifiable police in actuality military personnel and is this the reason
they refused to give proper identification when asked? In light of allegations
of various "strange symptoms" not normally associated with the effects
of tear gas on people and the possible harm to the environment, a disclosure
of the exact contents of the 3,300 pounds of civilian control munitions
from Casper, Wyo., to Seattle is indeed in order. Were neurotoxins part
of this dispatch (or any dispatch) of "civilian control munitions"?
--------
Some Facts on the Policing and Chemical Weapons
Use
* Seattle cops worked closely with Feds who in turn were advised by
active US military including Special Forces
* Federal agents spread rumors among local police: "Expect five to
six officers deaths"
* Panicked Seattle cops armed themselves with gas including some provided
by Federal agents in Wyoming
---------
"We had some follow-up meetings and an officer whose brother works
for King County said there was FBI and Secret Service in their riot training
sessions and they were told to fully anticipate that five to six officers
would be lost during the protests, either seriously injured or killed."
- Brett Smith, 10 year veteran of the Seattle Police
Posted to alt.law-enforcement from article in SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Also from P-I:
"A handful of officers took matters into their own hands, getting permission
to empty the munitions stores of police departments in Auburn, Renton and
Tukwila, the King County Jail and the Department of Corrections. In addition,
some drove around in a sport-utility vehicle to buy chemical agents from
a local law enforcement supply business.
Meanwhile, a police captain flew to Casper, Wyo., to pick up a stock
of gas from federal agents."
* Local chief says he does not know how his loaned officers were trained
Source: http://www.seattle-pi.com/local/cops09.shtml
"The image is shocking: A SWAT officer on riot duty last week during
the World Trade Organization protests kicks an unarmed man in the groin.
Then he fires a beanbag round from his rifle at close range while the
man retreats, hands high above his head. Today, the Tukwila police officer
returns
to desk duty after a week's suspension from the Valley Emergency Services
Unit as his supervisors look into the Dec. 1 incident."
"We need to understand what the circumstances were; what they were
instructed to do," the chief said.
Brass Check - http://www.brasscheck.com
--------
News on Seattle Hearings-
Dec/99
The police chief has resigned. One police officer has been suspended for assaulting a civilian. The city is facing a lawsuit filed against another officer who allegedly pepper sprayed two women while they were in a car.
City council's investigation has already drawn hundreds of citizens with tales of victimization. At the hearings, dozens of residents described being sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray while walking home from work or shopping. One woman with asthma said she continues to have trouble breathing a week after inhaling the tear gas. Others told how officers threw tear gas canisters into the doorways of restaurants and businesses, trapping customers inside and causing fumes to seep in.
Ken Schulman saw officers start launching tear gas canisters without warning — and with no demonstrators in sight, only innocent residents.
Barbara Liberace, 60, was walking to her downtown doctor's office for her chemotherapy treatment. An officer yelled at her, "Bitch, when I tell you to move, you will move," and then hit her with a baton, breaking her wrist.
Jennifer Whitney, the medical team coordinator for the Direct Action Network, said she’s receiving 40 calls a day from people who are still suffering from the tear gas. 4,000 people who were injured by tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and assaults from police officers. Hundreds of people were hit in the face and head with rubber bullets, including one young woman who, after being shot in the head, got pepper sprayed in her face and then was hit by a baton. One officer used his baton to hit a wheelchair-bound man with multiple sclerosis. Officers sprayed pepper spray in the faces of medics while they were treating injured protesters. At other times they confiscated medics’ supplies.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington,
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for the
city to appoint an independent review panel to do its own investigation
free of political influence.
--------
WTO Seattle Aftermath -
Dec 6/99 -
Report Incidents of Police Misconduct to the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union
of Washington is closely monitoring police treatment of WTO protesters
and residents of Seattle. They are looking for incidents of police action
against citizens that have occurred during the WTO conference.
They need personal reports of any
of the following activities - if they happened to you or if you were a
witness:
Unprovoked physical aggression by
police: shoving, kicking, hitting with billyclubs, overly forceful restraint
Use of pepper spray, tear gas, CS
gas, shots of rubber bullets against non-violent protesters or onlookers
either without warning or in excess
Being pursued or chased by police
when trying to flee or disperse
Encountering any of these activities
as a bystander or within an area that is NOT a designated "no-protest zone"
Or other unreasonable restrictions
on your civil liberties
We need details on what happened
to you or what you witnessed. Please contact the ACLU of Washington right
away!
If you know someone who does not
have web access, but would like to file a complaint, please have them call
the ACLU Complaint and Referral Line
206-624-2180
http://www.aclu.org/action/wtoform.html
Click here for ACLU-WA's ONLINE COMPLAINT FORM
http://www.aclu-wa.org/ISSUES/police/WTO%20ACLU.htm
Alert!Pike
Place Market Gassing - Health Warning
(fwd) Mon, 6 Dec 1999 From: David Barbarash <otter@vcn.bc.ca>
A NONLETHAL NERVE GAS MAY HAVE BEEN USED on
Wednesday, December 1st @ Broadway Street and Pike Place Market
Dr. Kirk Murphy of the DAN Medic
Team has issued this warning, in the hopes of compiling documentation of
chemical warfare. He urges anyone who participated in the aforementioned
demo who exhibits/ed the following symptoms to contact him ASAP:
- abrupt onset of menstruation
- vomiting/diarrhea
- temporary impairment of vision
- confusion
- brief unconsciousness
- convulsions
- delayed burning
Dr. Kirk Murphy - 206-396-3983
Please pass this message on to anyone who attended
the march on the afternoon of December 1st.
--------
The World Trade Organization should be charged
with War Crimes
December 3rd 1999
(This is an opinion for the Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray & the Use of Chemical Weapons on Canadian Citizens.)
Pepper Spray and other gas weapons used in Seattle by security forces of the WTO are banned chemical weapons under the Geneva Convention. Reports from Seattle this week document cases of abuse too numerous to list in this letter. A woman with asthma nearly died when sprayed. A man fled down city streets with a baby for some distance before police got to him and unleashed the spray. The spray was used as a tool in arbitrary arrests where police just moved in, incapacitated people with the spray and then herded them off to mass detention.
In Canada evidence at the APEC inquiry is to the effect that the RCMP moved in to attack protesters with pepper spray because orders came from higher up. These were orders to clear roads immediately by any means possible. In Seattle some residents are blaming the mayor and calling for his resignation. But the truth may be that the mayor is just becoming a scapegoat for the WTO. What likely happened is orders came directly from WTO security chiefs for those areas to be cleared. In the USA the police have been growing more violent and abusive in recent years and it appears the WTO took advantage of this and harnessed that force to the maximum.
Since the WTO is a world body, and the people attacked were residents of many nations, the use of pepper spray amounts to a war crime and a violation of the Geneva Convention. The WTO should also be investigated as to the arbitrary arrests and detention of hundreds of people. And let's not forget that many of those hit by the gas weapons were in fact being openly tortured and denied treatment.
Nearly all of the protesters and residents present in Seattle were there to exercise their right to free speech. Most believe that Trade is a natural endeavor of nations, but that Free Trade is an ideological thing. In this case protest is one of the only avenues that can be taken. Ideologues, as history shows, do not want citizens to participate in their own democracy. Any influx of genuine ideas and debate would spoil the grand utopian dream. Free Trade might become Fair Trade or Mixed Trade.
The truth is that the sacred cow of Free Trade is diseased and if it dies nations will still trade as in the past. The real sacred cow we have to protect is the rights of citizens to free speech and to participate in their own government.
Some things are too important to lose and that is why the WTO should face charges for the crimes it has committed in Seattle.
By Gary Morton
The anti pepper spray coalition web site is at
pepper.htm
A letter on the recent pepper attack on housing advocates in Ottawa
is at
pepper.htm#let
---------
WTO Editorial by Gary Morton
December 1999 - Appalling Ciivil Right Violations
in Support of the WTO in Seattle -
Nov/99
We have reports from Canadians
and Americans protesting the latest attempt by the World Trade Organization
to short circuit democracy and the rights of world citizens.
Read their views from the streets
by scrolling this page for a number of articles and links to other sites
and coverage.
Using chemical warfare and violence
against peaceful protesters, citizens and reporters, National Guard and
police have arrested and jailed 600 or more people in Seattle. They have
been bussed to a police concentration camp set up at a mothballed navy
base in suburban Seattle.
Though non-violent protesters have
been tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed reports indicate the police simply
left the few people responsible for the acts of vandalism on the streets
for corporate media to film.
Police have created a 46-block "no
protest" zone to keep activists away from the World Trade Organization.
Yet the curfew has no basis in law. People are are appalled that their
constitutional rights to free speech and free assembly have been suspended
to create a militarized zone for the WTO.
A spokesman for the United Steelworkers
of America condemned police brutality saying, "I've witnessed things in
the last four days that I didn't believe could happen in America." And
in spite of the no protest zone police have even gone as far as a mile
outside of it to attack local residents and protesters with tear gas, flash
bombs and pepper spray. Police rush in without provocation and make no
announcements before attacking.
The WTO Big Lie
Basically the lie the WTO
is pushing in this session is that it has a human face and that it is democratic.
Bill Clinton's announcement on some minimum standards on child labour (standards
that will never be enforced) are geared to create the human face. Yet at
the same time WTO head Michael Moore and UN Secretary General Koffi Annan
are saying that the WTO is not a world government and thus can't really
ever have a face that is more than trade without a human rights aspect.
China and its hordes of slaves are also entering the WTO in this session.
So what does that say about the WTO and slave and child labour?
On the democracy issue, the WTO insults
the people of the world to talk about democracy while holding 600 protesters
arbitrarily in a military concentration camp they quickly threw together
in Seattle.
--------
Seattle Police and vegans
Wed, 08 Dec 1999
From: Good Goals <vrc@tiac.net>
Found this in one Seattle demonstrator's report:
Now its about 11:00 pm and my group arrives to the jail...
They put us for four hours in a closed concrete cell,
before letting us to our cells to sleep. I later heard
that when One of us refused to move until he got to
see a lawyer, so the jailmen in response HIT HIM,
CHAINED HIM TO A CHAIR, PEPPER SPRAYED HIS FACE, AND
COVERED IT WITH CLOTH SO HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO ESCAPE
IT. They gave us food based on meat, ignoring the
demands of the vegan people..
--------
Dr. Interviewed in the NYTimes Forums
These are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Deandrea. He had come from Los Angeles to Seattle to participate in the protest and ended up taking care of the injured:
. . . . But I did see penetration wounds, I did see people bleeding.
I did see teeth loss, I did see broken bones. There were children present,
there were families present, they were firing upon families, mothers, grandmothers,.
They were just firing at them. They came out in full police force. It was
very obvious that there was an institutional control that had no regard
of human rights whatever... They were shooting tear gas canisters directly
at protesters' faces. [Regarding the plastic, bullets, here is] some of
the damage I saw: these plastic bullets took off part of one person's jaw,
smashed teeth in other people's mouths. We're treating people in a studio
loft downtown. I just treated an ear wound. People have been treated for
concussion injuries. There have been people who have been treated for plastic
bullet wounds. Lots of tear gas injuries, lots of damage to cornea, lots
of damage to the eyes and skins. They were using a pepper spray, a tear
gas and they were also using some sort of nerve gas. We had reports of
many demonstrators winding up with seizures the next day. It causes muscles
to clamp up, muscle contraction, seizures. They have done several illegal
things regarding these people in jail. They have been telling them that
they would not be let out, not have their bail set if they didn't give
their names. [Note: protesters have refused to give their names on the
grounds that they do not have to speak unless they have a lawyer present.]
It's their legal right not to give their name. They don't have to speak
at all. Attorneys came up and said we are representing these people; the
police called [them] ...liars. At this point they have still refused to
let any of ...[the attorneys] see their clients.
. . . . . .
Rodney King discovered America
Milutin <noshelter@tao.ca>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999
"i just got back to Arizona today from Seattle and most of the media
always
seems to talk about the violent protesters....in my opinion the protesters
were not violent, but the police were and more people should start
talking
about violent police and police brutality instead of writing about
violent
protesters. I was tear gassed many, many times, i was attacked by pepper
spray and concussion grenades, people next to me got hit by horses,
beaten
with club's, and hit by rubber bullets. After i was arrested for sitting
down in a park on wednesday morning (spent three days in jail, without
talking to a judge or lawyer), i was pepper sprayed in the directly
in the
eyes, beaten and kicked, thrown on the floor, all for going limp,...rodney
king (not columbus) discovered america." -- Geert Dhondt
Interview with Seattle MD:
From: NLP Wessex [mailto:nlpwessex@bigfoot.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 1999 1:59 PM
"This is the beginning of a police state"
(posted on http://www.emperors-clothes.com
at
1 am 12-4-99. Graphic pictures relating to this events described in this
interview also available at http://www.emperors-clothes.com/).
Photos
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/bullets.jpg
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/bloodeye.jpg
--------
My name is Richard DeAndrea. I'm a medical doctor. What I saw up here was martial law. This turned into a police state. Everything you have seen on television regarding local news broadcasts including national public radio was a blackout. The police were using concussion grenades. They were shooting tear gas canisters directly at protesters' faces. They were using so-called rubber bullets. These are actually hard plastic. Some of the damage I saw: these plastic bullets took off part of one person's jaw, smashed teeth in other people's mouths. I saw the police arrest people who had their hands up in the air screaming we are peacefully protesting. The amount of looting that took place was so minimal I don't even know where they got the footage from. I am saying this beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is a definite sign that America is heading towards a police state unless people start standing up for their rights as individuals. I am actually shocked and ashamed. I am ashamed of the police force, I am ashamed of the mayor I am ashamed of Bill Clinton. I am ashamed of the whole thing.
Jared: These rubber bullets - what are they?
Dr. DeAndrea: They are made of polyester type material. They are like a hard plastic toy. The idea is to hit your body, do damage, not actually penetrate. But I did see penetration wounds, I did see people bleeding. I did see teeth loss, I did see broken bones. There were children present, there were families present, they were firing upon families, mothers, grandmothers,. They were just firing at them. They came out in full police force. They brought out swat teams, they had the national guard up here, there was CIA surrounding the delegates' buildings. It was very obvious that there was an institutional control that had no regard of human rights whatever.
In addition we have video footage of protesters being taken away as well as human rights being violated. Prisoners were taken and they were tortured. There is a case, I believe his name is Holm, Keith Holm. He was tortured because he would not give his name. They handcuffed, laid him on the floor, they smashed his face against the concrete, they grabbed his hair, they ripped out a lock of hair. and then placed pencils between his fingers and pressed on them until he would give his name. He refused. They were also banging his head against metal objects. He was actually the first protester released because the Internal Affairs came in to do an investigation and they wanted him gone because he would be able to give testimony.
We're treating people in a studio loft downtown. I just treated an ear wound. People have been treated for concussion injuries. There have been people who have been treated for plastic bullet wounds. Lots of tear gas injuries, lots of damage to cornea, lots of damage to the eyes and skins. They were using a pepper spray, a tear gas and they were also using some sort of nerve gas. We had reports of many demonstrators winding up with seizures the next day. It causes muscles to clamp up, muscle contraction, seizures.
They have done several illegal things regarding these people in jail. They have been telling them that they would not be let out, not have their bail set if they didn't give their names. Its their legal right not to give their name. They don't have to speak at all. Attorneys came up and said we are representing these people. The police called the attorneys liars. At this point they have still refused to let any of them see their clients. There are close to 600 people who were arrested and they have been holding them for two days on charges that are mostly misdemeanors, such as refusal to disperse. A lot of people in there have not gotten medical attention either. I have gotten calls from young ladies in there who have had all sorts of emotional problems as well as physical problems. They have called me for medical attention from inside the jail. There are people still sitting in there who have not even been processed.
Today there were fewer attacks by police, but they did arrest more people. And there was no violence today by the marchers and all through the day yesterday it was the same. What you are seeing on television about looting and anarchistic protesters - there's astraight-out blackout and they are basically pushing that [line]. There is not much damage to property here. There are not many windows that have been damaged or stores that have been looted. Those are extremely rare cases.
I used to believe newspapers were telling the truth. But now I am no longer behind that. This is the beginning of a police state. You can quote me on that.
--------
tortured by police in
Seattle
From: <berlin@socrates.berkeley.edu>
Fwd: Wobbly tortured by police
(fwd) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 17:57:45 -0800
(PST) Fellow Workers, I just caught up with a FW from Olympia today,
Thursday, December 2nd. I did not get a chance to talk with her for very
long, but she was visibly shaken. She is very concerned about her anonymity
at this point. I will call her FW Marie.
FW Marie was one of the first people arrested here in Seattle. Her and her partner were arrested by themselves. Keeping with the tactic of non-compliance, they refused to surrender any information to the police. This tactic is used to block up the system and promote widespread solidarity within jail.
To break FW Marie down, the Seattle Police Department strapped her to a chair and beat her. They kicked her while lying prone on the floor. These officers isolated the two from each other and while alone in her cell, they threatened to strip her naked and periodically would unbuckle the harness she was wearing intimidating her with the threat of gang rape. She continued to refuse to give any information even as being peppersprayed. Another group of people was brought in and the FW Marie and her partner were integrated with this new group. This new group did not know anything about jail solidarity and gave the police all the information they asked for. When FW Marie and her partner began coaching the new arrestees on jail Solidarity, they were again thrown in isolation and beaten.
They were left in solitary for 18 hours. When the entire group was brought before the court, it was found that FW Marie and her partner were not registered in the jail. There were no records of their arrest nor any official documentation of their presence. Using this disappearing act, similar of Chile, Argentina and Brazil, the only people who knew of their presence, were the police officers conducting the torture. She and her partner were immediately released into the downtown region of Seattle, traumatized and in the middle of a riot. FW Marie made her way back to the Direct Action Network HQ and was safe as of 9 am Thursday. This account is to the best of my knowledge of what was directly related to me.
I am hoping that FW Marie will make her own statement when she feels
able. One note for all FW's... I am writing much of this on the fly, since
this situation is very fluid and I need to move fast and often. The Independent
Media Center is not in any immediate danger, as a matter of fact, Ralph
Nader is 10 feet away speaking out against WTO right now. The problem is
editing. If you can edit length and grammar for redistribution to more
media that would be great. We are hard pressed here and are constantly
in the streets and on the phones. Ron Judd, Pres of the SCLC had his office
call the IWW to request their presence at the big march tomorrow. Wish
us luck, I hope someone is collecting video, I have got some great stuff
shot by the IMC. Check out the stream video on indymedia.org for some great
stuff. More later Eric in O... errr Seattle
The Interfaith Vigil has already taken place, but the rest of this is
still timely:
[forward]
Hi, Seattle Progressive Coalition ("SPC") members and allies,
Please come down to the King County Jail (5th & James) in Seattle
today, Sunday, 12/5, at 1:00 for a Faith Healing Circle (see first posting
below).
A number of non-violent protesters were released last night, including
SPC member Amanda Jarman, Teamster 174 organizer Rob Hickey, and GLBT activist
Paul Bristo... yet quite a number remain incarcerated as of late last night.
Experiences of torture inflicted in the jail were recounted, for example:
- - A man with AIDS was denied his medication for 55 hours;
- - A woman was beaten so badly that her face was unrecognizable by
her mug shot and had to be released;
- - Men with long hair (especially dred locks) were lifted off the ground
by their hair;
- - Our prisoners were beaten on the back of their feet;and
- - Our prisoner' arms were twisted behind their backs and when up around
the shoulder, guards intertwined and twisted their fingers, causing immense
pain. In fact, two men passed out from this...
Late in the afternoon one of the National Lawyers Guild negotiators
told me that they were on a verge of a deal to get everyone released...
except City Attorney Mark Sidran killed the deal. We must oust that man!
SPC co-facilitator John Tirpak (bj047@scn.org), who is an attorney,
advises people who feel they might need legal support around WTO issues
to call the National Lawyers Guild legal team 206-621-5820, Direct Action
Network legal team 206-632-9482, the Public Defenders 447-3900, and/or
ACLU legal team 624-2180
To participate in helping gather statements of police abuse on Capitol
Hill, contact UW law student Tara Herivel: therivel@u.washington.edu. Copies
of citizen complaints about police behavior should be sent to:
- - ACLU: www.aclu-wa.org. Click on WTO;
--------
Hi,
I've been helping out with the Direct Action Network Legal Team, who
are providing legal support for those arrested during WTO protests in Seattle
this week.
At this point there are something like 600 (we don't know exact numbers)
people who have been arrested and are being held. I have been answering
the phones today and have heard a number of disturbing reports from the
prisoners:
1. women and men being held in solitary confinement because they refuse
to identify themselves
2. men and women subjected to police torture (ie being pepper sprayed,
beaten). One woman was beaten bloody this morning, another woman was stripped
to her underwear, hogtied and dragged. Police were overheard threatening
that they would use whatever force was necessary to get protesters to identify
themselves.
3. no vegetarian meals provided unless the person provides two affidavits
that they have been a vegetarian for at least one year
4. people being denied medication
5. people's eyeglasses being taken from them (some are legally blind)
until they give their names
6. men being kneed in the groin if they use resistance tactics (ie going
limp)
Yes, there are a fair number of Canadians who are being held by Seattle
police, some of whom already have prior arrests (which means they can be
identified a lot more readily).
Yes the police know we are using jail solidarity as a tactic and are
trying to bust this up.
BUT there is AMAZING jail solidarity happening in those cells - very
few people have given their names - and they need your support!! Activists
in Seattle have been organising daily marches. Please organise in Vancouver
and take part in a worldwide solidarity action.
Thanks,
innocent bystander arrested at pike place market
this is my story as an innocent by-stander arrested at pike place and
the 32 hours i spent incarcerated at a downtown precinct, sand point, and
the king county jail.
i came over to seattle wed. afternoon hoping to gather some information
on the wto. i wanted to talk to people about some of the issues and i really
wanted to see the damage that had been done knowing that in a few days
it would all be cleaned up and business would go on as usual. i had a great
day walking around the city talking to people about all kinds of issues.
i was hoping to find some protesters but none were to be found.
i walked up to capitol hill, i must say i was shocked at the troops
of police officers blocking access to certain areas. i was really blown
away when the police were marching in formation and cadence, it reminded
me of the facism of nazi germany, this is not the seattle that that i know
and love. I ended up on capital hill and still did not see any protesters,
all seemed normal to me. I realized that I had better start heading back
to the ferry landing because I wanted to get out of Seattle before it got
dark. I ended up at the pike Place market where I finally found some peaceful
protesters sitting at the entrance by the bronze pig. I listened to the
songs they were singing and was impressed with their youth and passion.They
were suddenly concerned about the safety of the merchants and the shoppers
inside the market if the police decided to tear gas them and so they stood
up and walked away. I walked towards the ferry. I got as far as the corner
of Pike and 1st avenue. The police had lined up with their horses and their
tear gas and their sound machine which duplicates the sound of what i imagine
a nuclear explosion would sound like. They began throwing tear gas at these
peaceful protesters that I had encountered earlier. They had linked arms
and were singing.The sound effects the tear gas, the chaos, I was so confused
I crossed the street into a forbidden zone I knew nothing about. I asked
some officers what they thought they were doing and it was then that I
was assaulted by four or five police officers with sticks pushing me towards
a wall. My instincts took over. I was being attacked after all, for no
reason.I pushed back. I was hit on the back of my head with a stick. I
was handcuffed and taken one block to a squad car. I was yelling the whole
way. I wanted to be known that I was an innocent bystander. I was not passive.
I am not a trained protester. I had not planned to get arrested, I was
on my way home.
I was taken to a police precinct somewhere in downtown Seattle and my
wallet, car keys and ferry schedule were taken from my pockets. I was put
into a holding cell for an hour. They then roughly put me into the back
of a van. I was cuffed this whole time. This one one wild ride. I wasn't
buckled up and since my hands were cuffed behind my back I was unable to
steady myself. I was taken to Sandpoint. I was now wondering what I was
being charged with, no one had read me any rights. The police officer at
the downtown station asked me for a physical description of my arresting
officer. I didn't know, they all look the same to me.
At Sandpoint I saw alot of insane things. A young woman who had a broken
nose split lip recieving no medical attention. The police asked me all
the usual questions. I was cooperative. Eventually I was put on a bus with
some other women. After a while we were driven to the King county courthouse.
We were processed and put into a holding tank with some others. There were
telephones. At Sandpoint we were told that the phones were broken. People
were calling their defense team. We were told that since marshall law had
been declared we had no rights to an attorney.There were women that had
been taken into custody at 7 o clock in the moning and it was now around
mid-night. They had not eaten . We were not fed until 7 the next morning.
Most of the women were denied food for 24 hours. There was a woman with
us who was ill and denied medical attention.
What makes me really mad today is reading in the P.I. today, statements
saying that we were not denied food and medical attention. Blatant lies.
So many lies and I am so tired. I am sick of telling my story. I want my
life back. I am a victim of violence and am suffering tonight from delayed
stress. I am trying to stick to this story but I am getting really burnt
out. There were so many incidents of abuse which I witnessed first hand
inside the walls of King County Jail, at sandpoint, at that obscure police
station where I was first held. I could go on and on. I was an innocent
bystander....
Diary of Seattle-WTO photographer
:: Yuill Herbert and Jonathan Robinson in Seattle Wednesday 1 December
1999
Five in the morning. Wake up after a few hours sleep. No breakfast.
Stumbled out into the pouring rain, forget jacket but there is no going
back. Yuill remembers his.
Two days of engaging, talking and diplomacy fails. Civil disobedience
becomes the gesture of those who have nowhere else to turn.
Thousands of activists have taken over the market for a briefing session.
No mango and bread this morning.
Our march advances into rush hour traffic. Strange that there are no
police. Protestors stop the traffic. Menacing four wheel drives often don't
stop. Minutes later the Convention Centre is surrounded and trade delegates
are blocked outside.
Anita Roddick is on the front line and feeds us nuts and raisons for
breakfast. John Vidal from The Guardian is there too, complaining about
timid US activists and that we don't have a lighter.
Two hours are spent sitting, linking arms. The riot police forming a
double line in front of us. At one point a tank backs them up with tear
gas and rubber bullets. They begin to move forward. We chant that this
is a non-violent protest. Then we chant the world is watching. There are
many TV cameras in between us and the police. Our hearts are pounding.
The legal aid passes out the phone number to call when we are arrested.
After some time the police back up. It is still raining, freezing cold
too.
Lunchtime. A long thin alley that minutes earlier was blocked with riot
police is now empty. Bewildered, hesitant, we explore. Twice we turned
back, then changed our minds. No mistaking that we are entering the secured
zone that hundreds of riot police are protecting with tanks. No point pretending,
we are both petrified. Amateurish police blockades of large rubbish containers
are easy to jump and we are in. It is exhilarating to realise we are behind
the lines.
Few tenacious yet cautious steps are transformed by the sound of gun
fire. Tear gas is pouring around the corner. We are on the run, so too
are a handful of cameramen and journalists with credentials that legitimate
their presence on the inside.
I mumble something as we stumble past John Vidal, he doesn't register.
Yuill tries again, affectionately hitting him.
"Hey, what's happening?"
Tear gas speaks for itself. Crazy, but the three of us change direction
straight into the almost romantic midst.
"Bastards… oh fuck, bastards, bastards".
John Vidal is not happy. You have to spit all the liquid out of your
mouth as it is burning. The pain forces you to shut your eyes. Yuill is
suffering too, choking badly and so am I. He stops, uncertain if he can
go on. Pulling clothes over our faces we move on. We arrive at the place
where the tear gas was released. The digital camera records the damage.
Four police cars, wheels slashed, windows smashed and plastered with graffiti.
Police reinforcements arrive, some hanging off a tank, all looking like
Robocop.
Life on the inside ends abruptly. Riot police approach us requesting
our passes. Of cause we have none.
Beyond the tense and dramatic front lines there are more protests. Eight
people with their arms cemented together at the top of the hill. Already
the police had tear-gassed them three times, surrounding the group and
spraying their faces. Sometimes they even lifted the protester's gas masks
off their faces to spray them more directly. But they held strong, cement
meant they were going nowhere fast.
In other places the blockades were more peaceful, with banners, posters,
costumes, huge puppets and drums. The people held their line, the police
held theirs and WTO delegates did not pass.
Things suddenly turn rather insane. We are back at a blockade. The police
move forward. The protesters sit down. The police fire pepper spray at
the crouched people and step forward over them. We try and get pictures
with the digital camera. The captured protesters link arms and legs. The
police use their wooden sticks to separate the people, sometimes violently
hitting them. Some people are thrown back over the line and some are carried
away and arrested. We are shocked at the violence of the police.
Then loud bombs. The police are firing rubber bullets, tear gas and
pepper spray into the crowd. Protesters with masks and paint on their skin
grab the tear gas canisters as they land and toss them back into the ranks
of the police. Then the protesters light a dumpster on fire. The air is
filled with gas, fire and rubber bullets. We are on side, trying to take
pictures of this. It is like a war zone. One person goes down under the
rubber bullets in front of us. After a bit he crawls to safety. Jonathan,
maybe unknowingly, is in the thick of it with the digital camera. I see
Jonathan stuck between rioters and policemen and yell a warning. The police
fire pepper spray which directly hits us. It is a pain beyond pain. We
stagger through the crowd, leaning on each other, blinded and convulsing
in pain. Medics with the Direct Action Network come to our rescue. We are
drowned in water, the relief if incredible. The excruciating pain persists
for maybe half an hour. Our faces are dabbed regularly with alcohol, then
ointments. Finally the pain becomes bearable, we can see again and are
on our way home. But things are getting worse. This is a depressing scene.
It is now three in the morning. Images from the digital camera have
gone to hundreds of media and organisations around the world. Half asleep
we talk live to radio stations abroad. We do our best to focus attention
on the agenda of the World Trade Organisation, it is not easy. Meanwhile
police helicopters circle overhead and tear gas canisters are exploding
at the bottom of the fire escape.
World Voices in Seattle: 001 212 568 6191
World Voices
Telephone +44 (0)20 7928 8228
Fax +44 (0)20 7928 2882
Email uk@worldvoices.org
Online http:\\www.worldvoices.org
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: end message :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
LAURA LIVOTI, www.radioproject.org
Teamster business agent Hobe Williams had just spied his mother on a
passing bus. "I turned to wave. Suddenly I was pepper-sprayed. Right in
the face," Mr. Williams said yesterday. "No warning. No provocation. Nothing.
We were just marching down the street to a church."
"Everywhere I looked people were being beaten and gassed,'' said Jeanette
Wallis, who lives in Capitol Hill on the edge of downtown. The 28-year-old
nurse was heading home from picking up a few groceries when she was caught
up in a confrontation with police Wednesday night. "We tried to escape
down side streets, but there were police waiting there with mace,'' Wallis
said yesterday morning, as she waited to take part in her first anti-trade
protest.
Kaela Economos, 21, pulled out Polaroid snapshots showing a bleeding
mouth and badly bruised nose. They were souvenirs, she said, from three
police officers who grabbed her from behind as she talked to a friend,
smashing Ms. Economos's face into the sidewalk.
Deanna Christian, a sweet-looking grandmother, was pepper-sprayed in
the face as she stood on a street corner holding a sign proclaiming: "Democracy."
"I suffer from asthma. I thought I was going to die," she said. "I was
hysterical. I was terrified."
Residents of Seattle's trendy Capitol Hill were particularly angered
that riot police invaded their district firing off many rounds of
tear gas at crowds well outside the downtown curfew zone.
Marcher Kari Lerum, a professor of sociology at Seattle University,
said several victims of the early-morning police attack in Capitol Hill
sought refuge in her house. "One was suffering a panic attack. Another
had just left a restaurant
At King County jail, people were allegedly strapped into four-point
restraint chairs as punishment for non-violent resistance or asking for
their lawyers. In one case a man was stripped naked before being strapped
into the chair.
Wednesday. My mind and body are still ablaze from the events of yesterday
that impacted me in an irreversible and amazing way.
Call me for a more detailed report, but here are the basics of my story.
First of all the media is full of lies. There were about 100,000 people
there. Maybe 200 of them were violent and destructive the other 99.8% of
the people were involved in non-violent protest. Of those people about
20,000 were involved in a highly organized and peaceful act of civil disobedience.
That is where I was.
I met up with one of the several marches heading for downtown on a dark
and misty Seattle Tuesday morning around 7:00 AM. There were a few hundred
people there at first, banging on empty water jugs, hefting signs, banners,
and puppets, and chanting protest of the WTO. We marched through the streets
of downtown Seattle making our way toward the convention center and being
led by the protest organizers. We swelled in numbers quickly as more protesters
arrived on the scene and marches merged in intersections until there were
thousands of us. I happened to be pretty near the front holding up one
half of a banner that I had made that read:
UNITE
for democracy
RESIST
the corporate agenda
The march went past several police barricades made up of metro busses
and cement barriers staggered in the streets and manned by formations of
cops wearing flak, riot helmets, and gasmasks. They carried long riot batons
made from high impact plastic (I asked one), canisters of tear gas, fire
extinguishers, def-tek 38 caliber weapons capable of deploying rubber bullets
and chemicals, handguns, and plastic zip-ties.
At each barricade we came to the march left a bunch of protesters who
started forming human barricades by linking their arms together. The numbers
at the front of the march dwindled as these barricades were formed. I was
among the first 50 people to arrive at the barricade in front of the Roosevelt
hotel (where the WTO delegates were staying) and one of the Convention
center entrances. The cops there were King county Sheriff and they were
REALLY, REALLY nervous. They were totally tense and locked defensive stance
with their feet planted wide apart and riot batons across their torsos.
They did not say a word; they just kept anyone from getting past them.
We argued a little bit with them, but thanks to one energetically non-violent
protester dressed as a gray squirrel super-hero, the peaceful mood was
set. We told the cops that we loved them and that they were doing a good
job as we formed our barricade.
The barricade began with one row of linked protesters. It grew to two
rows quickly. The front row was blocking the entrances to the hotel and
the entire street. The rear row formed a peace barricade that served as
a buffer zone between the protesters and the cops. I was on the peace barricade,
two feet from the riot batons and tear gas canisters, with a piece of wet
cloth over my mouth and nose imprinted with an anti-WTO slogan.
The tactical ops van for the protest was set up in the intersection
right in front of us. It turned out that the barricade I had joined was
to be the center of the civil disobedience and the most powerful force
in shutting down the WTO. The white protester van had generators in the
back and began pumping out loud music. It was a rhythmic pulsing drum beat
with a little bass. Organizers standing on top of the van communicated
support, information, and advice to the barricades through microphones
and loudspeakers. WTO delegates trying to get into the convention center
of into the hotel were throwing themselves at the line, bouncing off of
our arms in total futility. Things started getting really tense and loud
as tens of thousands of people finished forming a human barricade that
totally surrounded the convention center. Billionaire international bankers,
industrialists, and slave-labor using environment destroyers were screaming
at me and shoving me, wanting to get into their hotel, but I wouldn't let
them. I just kept saying things like: "take the day off, buddy, your meetings
have been cancelled" or "You are not welcome here until you meet the people's
demands" or "There is NO way you're getting past me, give it up"
It was exhilarating. These middle aged power-suit wearing capitalists
who had gotten very used to getting their way were screaming at me to move
and I was smiling back and refusing, 100% certain that there was absolutely
nothing they could do.
In one barricade (not mine) a delegate actually pulled a gun on the
protesters and started waving it at the crowd. They still didn't move.
You won't hear that on the news. Also won't hear about the cops firing
rubber bullets and tear gas canisters from 38 caliber weapons at protesters'
chests and faces at point blank range. Protesters on barricades (not mine)
got rubber bullets through sternums, jaws, cheeks, teeth, and ribs. Riot
batons were smashing heads, arms, and bodies on the barricades when they
drifted too close to the police line.
Our barricade was the most successful one of the entire battle. I say
that with total confidence because the organizers were constantly updating
us on the events around. When the tear gas from around the corner drifted
into our line and pain and fear crept into me, the guy on the loudspeaker
was there informing us that the cops had tear-gassed a barricade on 6th
Street nearby and that they were likely coming our way. The barricade under
tear gas held firm (that one at least) as the protesters sat down in the
street and refused to move. One barricade became violent as the tear-gas
caused panic and trampling. Some protesters began hurling chunks of broken
cement at the cops and subsequently increased the level of violent retaliation.
Our barricade was the only one that didn't let a single person by all day.
I stood there from about 7:30 am to around 5:00 pm and wouldn't let anyone
go by. We were also the only barricade that didn't get gassed or shot at
because of our successful use of the peace barricade between the cops and
the protesters. I was calmly talking to these cops assuring them that I
wanted no one to get hurt and that I would NOT try to cross their line,
nor would I let anyone else. They told me they wouldn't club me or shoot
me so long as I didn't and that they were glad that our peace barricade
was there acting as a buffer zone and increasing their visibility into
the loud and chaotic streets.
That didn't stop me from worrying as I heard the orders on their radios
and the protesters police scanners to get ready to gas us. I'd hear the
cops grumble in fear as they placed their gas masks on their faces and
readied the canisters and the defensive line. But time and time again,
they decided it wasn't necessary to gas us.
International press agents, WTO delegates, delegates' families, and
Seattle citizens and protesters all had to stop at these barricades; the
people would simply NOT let anyone by. The protesters were asked by loud
chanting amid the explosions, announcements, and music to join the lines,
and they did. Rappers stood on top of the van and preached the people's
needs and demands to the crowds to the throbbing beat of the music. During
some of the interludes of relative peace, fire-breathers and dancers paraded
around while buckets of soup were distributed to the barricades by men
on bicycles. Legal observers were strategically placed with their "legal
observer" t-shits and notepads at every barricade.
Around 11:00 am the AFL-CIO march went through. It took over an hour
for the 60,000 union members to march by blasting music from radios, bagpipes,
and loudspeakers. The teamsters drove a couple big rigs through the heart
of the march, blasting their air horns, bringing everyone's spirits up
as we saw these giant machines on OUR side with anti-WTO slogans flying
from the exhaust pipes.
Our spirits were high. We were shutting those fuckers down and we knew
it. It was working, and despite the exhaustion and the burning of our eyes
and lungs, we found this powerful feeling of unity and above all else STRENGTH
in our solidarity on the barricades.
Michael Moore, the media activist (not to be confused with Mike Moore
the Secretary General of the WTO) arrived at our barricade surrounded by
hundreds of people and cameras. He wanted to talk to the cops behind us.
We refused to let him by but asked him to join our line. He stood there
for a while letting activists get some precious air time (still less air
time that the WTO reps are getting) and gave us his support before answering
a call for more people blocking the entrance to an alleyway around the
corner.
There was destruction and violence for sure. Sledgehammers through windows,
Molotov cocktails into police lines, and spray-painted anti WTO slogans
all over most buildings in the protest area downtown. ...of course THIS
is the material that makes the news. Not the barricades, not the non-violence,
not the point blank shooting of peaceful women and men, but the vandals
and looters.
Beware of what you hear on the media. The networks are trying to turn
this into another LA riot story when it was most certainly NOT. Not during
the day at least. I was there. Dead center. Front line. Eyes open. Ask
me if you have any questions about this history making incident that united
labor, the environment, human rights, feminism, and a whole spectrum and
anti-corporate agenda activists.
solidarity. -gabe
Dear Friends,
Notes on 11-30-99 WTO Protest Actions
* The protests today represented a new beginning of cooperation between
labor, environmental, peace, human rights and other groups. Many were represented
and worked together very well. * The direct action was carried out by mainly
young activists who had been trained for the week before and handled themselves
superbly, by and large. They were disciplined, radical, well-educated and
had a good grasp of the value of nonviolence, at least as a tactic. I found
that they knew a remarkable amount about WTO, free trade, capitalism and
related topics. * The City of Seattle's downtown area was completely shut
down. The people took over the streets and the police were not able to
exercise more than token control over them. * For the most part, the police
behaved well. They were seriously outnumbered, stressed, provoked at times
and probably felt frightened. Nevertheless, they used force sparingly and
overstepped the need infrequently. * The protesters did a magnificent job
of policing themselves. The minor outbreaks of violent anger were contained
by the demonstrators with surprising skill and commitment. * The WTO meetings
were seriously impacted. The opening was delayed, many delegates were prevented
from attending at all, and those who did could not get to their meetings
without running the gantlet of angry protesters making their message clear
in both mass and invidual ways. * It was probably a very significant day
in the history of people's power, "free" trade evolution and defense of
democracy.
Personal Experiences
After gathering at Steinbrueck Park at 7 a.m. today, we marched downtown
in a huge march which stretched for many blocks. How many I couldn't tell
from my position within it, but we were only half of the total since another
march started from another location, converging on the WTO meeting place
from another direction.
Once downtown, we split into different sub-groups to occupy different
parts of downtown. The area around the WTO had been divided into thirteen
sectors with clusters of affinity groups (small autonomous action groups)
responsible for deciding upon _ and carrying out _ a blockade of their
sector. My group marched around downtown a bit and wound up in front of
the Sheraton Hotel, where many delegates were staying. Human blockades
were set up by dedicated affinity groups at every entrance, including the
parking garage. Protesters lined up across the entrances, linked arms and
stood their ground. At several points there were face-to-face standoffs
between protesters and police. The police wore face shields, gas masks
(at times) and body armor and carried long sticks, sidearms, pepper spray
and sometimes plastic riot shields. The protesters wore old clothes, rain
protection and bandannas against tear gas. Some were wildly costumed and
a few had gas masks.
There was some pushing and rough stuff now and then when delegates tried
to get out of the hotel or get back in. Protesters tried to prevent any
entry or egress and sometimes the delegates tried to push through. When
they did, police interfered, if they were close by.
About 10 a.m. tear gas was used by the police to clear the immediate
area. By that time I had moved up the street and was not gassed. When the
gas dispersed, I went back down to find out what had occasioned the use
of the gas. It had been used to clear the intersection along Union to afford
meeting access to some WTO delegates. However, rather few of them appeared
to be using it. The police lined both sides of the intersection to keep
it clear. As the delegates walked through, the crowd booed them loudly
and then began shouting "shame, shame." A few minutes later, another tear
gas attack back up the street drove people down toward my position and
the gas followed them. I was gassed slightly.
As I walked around downtown, I found that practically every intersection
was filled with people dancing, drumming and blockading and the numbers
were truly amazing. The police were mostly holding various lines and not
letting people through them. Then periodically they would use tear gas
to clear an area. People would leave the area, circle around to another
block and come back when the gas dispersed. The police would shortly abandon
the intersection they had just secured and move to another one and the
process would begin again. The upshot of this was that the police were
unable to protect much of anything at all, yet hey could not spare the
manpower to arrest demonstrators without losing control of the areas they
were trying to protect. The downtown was firmly in the protesters' hands
and it was clear that without the consent of the governed not much could
be accomplished, if enough of the governed decided to resist.
Some of the signs that impressed me included:
* The Senators who ratified the WTO Treaty should be tried for treason.
* Do YOU remember voting for the WTO?
* Keep the sweatshop in the sauna.
* More health, less wealth.
* I hope you can eat your money.
* No legislation without representation.
I saw two police cars parked in the street as part of a police counter
blockade. One had a flat rear tire and both had such graffiti as "Pig"
and "Fuck cops" spray-painted to them. There was also some glass breakage,overturning
of dumpsters and paper boxes and defacing of buildings, but the damage
was trivial considering the huge numbers of people in the area, the anger
that the tear-gassing triggered and the wealth of those against which the
property damage was directed. More important, though, was the response
of the demonstrators to virtually every outbreak of property damage or
hot-headedness. Demonstrators moved immediately to quell property damage
and equally determinedly to break up conflicts. Others immediately began
to chant "Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent protest! The effect was to put
the rowdier elements on notice that their tactics were not appreciated
by the vast majority of those present. I even saw a line of demonstrators
link arms to successfully protect the windows of a VoiceStream Wireless
store from window-breakers.
The favorite chant of the day was "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! WTO has got to
go!" Not too imaginitive, perhaps, but easy to learn and it had a good
rhythm. At one point, a group sang the Star Spangled Banner. When they
got to the line about the land of the free, people stopped singing and
went into wild applause. Another favorite chant was "Whose streets? Our
streets! Whose streets? Our streets!"
Crowd size estimates on the news seem to have been characteristically
small: one early report said there were 5,000 downtown in the morning.
I would guess the number at 4-6 times that, though that is only a guess.
All I can say is that all the streets I went to were full of people and
I would guess that a tightly packed block would probably hold about 1,000
people. Even a loosely packed block would have to have 3-400 in it. And
there were blocks like that up and down many streets. I can't imagine there
were less than 10-20,000 downtown in the morning and possibly as many as
30,000. Then there must have been a good 40-50,000 in the "Big" labor march
which came downtown in the afternoon. That would boost the count to 50-60,000,
maybe even as high as 70,000. Honest estimates based on helicopter pictures
could be made, but I don't know if they will be.
In many intersections, protesters "locked down." They connected themselves
to each other and to heavy blocks or concrete-filled pipes to make it impossible
for the police to move them. This was another reason the cops didn't arrest
people. They just couldn't. Some of those locked down were still in the
intersections when the police used tear gas in the area and they just had
to endure it.
I spoke briefly to a WTO delegate from Trinidad and Tobago _ a small
country of less than 2,000 square miles _ which has what he called "manageable
debt." He seemed to understand what we were protesting about quite well.
Especially he understood the trade-offs forced by the requirements of debt
repayment.
People on the streets were often very helpful towards one another, sharing
water, helping them out of areas in which they didn't want to be, washing
each other's eyes and so on. A few medical types are carrying saline solution
for severe tear gas victims. There are also legal observers wearing specially
printed white T-shirts and taking notes on what they see going on.
Two kinds of tear gas seemed to be in use. One was whitish-grey and
seemed to remain relatively local where it was shot. The other was dark,
almost black, and seemed to blanket much larger areas quickly. It obscures
vision like smoke even if you don't get anywhere near it.
I heard many fascinating conversations about the relative power of violence
and nonviolence. It was wonderful to hear so many people who weren't me
carrying the defense of nonviolence in these circumstances.
In some places there was plastic yellow tape marked "Police crime scene.
Do not cross." In many others there was identical looking tape which said
instead, "Unseen crimes."
A very disciplined drum corps with drums, cymbals, flags and a whistle-blowing
majorette dressed in dark, revolutionary-looking clothing showed up from
time to time throughout the day. They would march in tight formation along
the street, playing and responding to the whistled commands of the majorette.
Then, at a whistled signal, they would begin to deploy in various patterns.
They were entertaining, clever, humorous and good at what they do. At one
point, as they marched down a street, they suddenly veered sharply left
and walked right into Starbucks, playing and marching around several times
to the shock of the customers, some of which left at once.
The vanguard of the "Big" march arrived downtown about 1:30, occupying
the whole street. Although it came in fits and starts, it flowed past my
vantage point for 50 minutes before I found my Salem friends and joined
them. We looped through a number of blocks of downtown and then began to
head out of downtown a block over from where the march came in. To my amazement,
we could see a steady stream still coming in! It was 2:45. I left the march
and stood on the corner to view the rest of the march. By 3 p.m. the march's
end had passed the point at which is could see it entering downtown a block
up the street. However, it was still another 20 minutes before the end
passed my vantage point. This means that a march that often filled the
entire street took about an hour and a half to pass one point. Could that
be less than 50,000?
I saw signs for at least these unions: steelworkers, electrical workers,
teachers, bricklayers, ILWU (Longshoremen), painters, Stanford workers,
service employees, teamsters, sheet metal workers, marine engineers, transit
workers, boilermakers, plumbers steamfitters and refigerations workers,
public service workers of Canada, cement masons, pulp paper and woodworkers,
nurses, Canadian airways workers and carpenters.
When the march had left, I went back to one of the lockdowns on 6th
Avenue right next to the Sheraton Hotel. There were still a lot of people
downtown. There were clearly less than before, but they still filled many
blocks and the occupation continued. At one point there was a disturbance
as two men appeared to be trying to break though a line of protesters which
was linked to prevent delegates from getting past. Behind them was a line
of police. There was a scuffle and I went right over there to see if I
could help maintain the peace. One of the two fell down and immediately
got up, very freaked out. I began to calm him only to have my attention
drawn to the other who was a few feet away. His suit coat was open and
he had a sidearm holster from which he had already removed the gun. It
was pointing down, but I had a moment of serious fear as I realized that,
should he raise the weapon, I would be right in his immediate line of fire.
However, he did not raise it. Rather, he and the other man crossed through
the police line and were gone. The crowd had responded at once, shouting
"He's got a gun. He's got a gun." and pointing. The police responded by
spraying the entire scene, including me, with pepper spray. Although I
have seen tear gas a number of times before, I had never confronted pepper
spray before. It's pretty painful just to have on your skin. It must be
really awful to have in your eyes.
At 5 p.m., the police moved to clear the entire area. They began firing
off large amounts of tear gas and people began to run down 6th. A number
of us shouted for them to walk to prevent panic and stampede. Then we moved
slowly out of the area. The tear gas overtook us and I was gassed more
heavily this time. The stuff isn't as nasty as what they used to use in
the 60s, but it's bad enough. Shortly after that I left. I later heard
that the police used gas to clear most of the protesters out, but some
remained and the day's first arrests took place that evening. I heard numbers
like 22 and 25 _ a tiny number considering how many had been there during
the day. Taken as a whole, the day was an unquestioned success. The WTO
could not help but get the message about how they were viewed by the many
thousands present. Moreover, they had not been able to agree on their agenda
before they arrived for this meeting and then they lost a good deal of
yesterday because the downtown area was so congested and even more of today
due to delays and absence of delegates.
Thanks for reading this far, if you have. Please forward this to people
who should be informed.
Thank you.
Peter Bergel
---------
I got on a Greyhound bus in Pittsburgh at 3:00 am, the morning after
Thanksgiving, and traveled 2 and a half days to Seattle to join the protests
against the World Trade Organization. I arrived to see tens of thousands
of activists from the widest range of causes I've ever seen in one place,
united around a common concern -- their desire to have a say in the decisions
that affect their lives, otherwise known as democracy. I won't go into
the WTO in great detail. The information is out there. You can find for
yourself that in the last 4 years the WTO has been in existence it has
ruled against every environmental and human health and safety regulation
that has come before it and, through economic leverage, has compelled countries
to repeal these "barriers to free trade." Such barriers in this country
have been the sections of the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species
Act. But I won't go into that further, instead I want to share with you
what happened here, to me and thousands of others, yesterday.
My friends and I woke up late Tuesday morning. One of the largest protests
of the century, and we sleep in. We joined the protests at about 9:00 am,
and joined a human chain of people blocking one entrance to the convention
center where the first day of the WTO summit was to take place. This was
the scene at every street that led to the convention center. The plan was
to not let delegates enter and to shut down the meeting. This may sound
drastic, but the purpose was to send a message that many have phrased as
"No globalization without representation." The WTO meetings are closed
to the public and the WTO is not subordinate to any national government
or, more importantly, and democratic body. Yet it has shown itself to have
more of a say in things as basic as the quality of the air we breath than
we ourselves do. To me and nearly 50,000 others, this warranted the serious
direct action. However, as serious as these demonstrations were, they were
to be ALL non-violent.
After being part of our own barrier to free trade and turning back WTO
delegates for about an hour, we heard that protesters needed help at another
intersection a few blocks away. Since there were more than enough people
to keep up the barrier where we were, we left the blockade and headed for
the corner of 8th and Seneca. When we arrived, we saw lots of demonstrators
but no major media cameras. There was a smaller group of people sitting
down on the street (which had already been closed) with police in riot
gear standing behind them. Instead of the ordinary billy clubs, all of
Seattle's police were holding 3 foot oak clubs that look more like baseball
bats than batons. When they began putting on their gas masks it became
evident that they were planning to use pepper spray on the people sitting
down. The rest of the crowd was pleading with the police not to use this
cruel tactic. It was possible that if more people sat down, they police
wouldn't spray them, so I joined that group. When it became apparent that
they were going to use the spray anyway, we all locked legs and arms together
and I pulled a bandana my friend had given me over my face, covering my
mouth and eyes. Onlookers began yelling, "Get ready! They going to do it!
Get ready!" I heard the spray and people began screaming in pain. I was
just expecting spray, so I was pretty surprised when I felt one of those
big clubs land on the top of my head. The guy behind me took most of the
force from the blow, so I wasn't hurt badly. I covered my head with my
arm and covered my eyes with my hand, as the screams continued and it became
obvious -even though I couldn't see anything from underneath my bandana-
that the cops were not only spraying but beating the people as well. A
police officer then grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my face and
sprayed me in the eyes with a canister of pepper spray. I held my eyes
closed tight and my bandana absorbed the spray, protecting my eyes and
face. I breathed a little bit of it in and began coughing. the crowd started
to break up as the police continued beating people. I pulled away and stood
up, pulling the bandana away from my eyes to see the police beating the
few people that remained sitting. One woman was trying to get up and they
kept jabbing her in the side with their clubs. The rest of the crowd pulled
those people to safety and began washing their eyes with a solution of
baking soda and water to counter the effects of the blinding pepper spray.
This was my first experience with the spray. I got a tiny bit of the spray
on my forehead and it burnt very badly, was very painful. I can't even
begin to imagine the pain the people felt who got it sprayed directly into
their eyes. I think I was luckier than anyone else I was sitting with,
having escaped the spray and only having been clubbed once.
I screamed at the cops for a while, called them fascist pigs between
plenty of other expletives. But when things calmed down a bit, myself and
others began speaking to the police. It suddenly became evident that some
of them were visibly disturbed by what they had just done. One female officer's
hands were shaking as she held her club up to her chest like the rest did
in the line they had formed. She kept blinking her eyes to avoid crying.
We talked to other officers who wouldn't look us in the eyes, but their
faces showed no signs of pleasure.
After I calmed down a bit and got my emotions under control enough to
speak, I said to them, "You probably think we're just fanatics with nothing
better to do, or maybe vagrants who are too lazy to be working right now,
or maybe spoiled college kids who don't have to work. You can think that
we're idiots who came across a few statistics on environmental degradation
or sweatshops, that we're out here today to be self-righteous and think
that we're better than everybody else, but we're people just like you.
And everybody standing here with me knows exactly why they're here today.
We're trying to make the world better. And I don't think a single one of
you even knows why you're here. How many of you support the WTO? How many
of you even know what it does? We know why we're here. Why the hell are
you here? I don't think any of you became police officers to beat people
who aren't a threat to anyone's safety. Just who do you think you're protecting?
We're unarmed. None of us have tried to attack you or anyone else today.
You attacked us. You aren't protecting yourselves; there's no one behind
you that you're protecting -- Who do you think you're protecting!? If you
have a good reason for beating us today, if you felt it was right, that's
one thing. But if you didn't have any reason and you still beat these people
anyway, I want you to ask yourself why you did it. Why you were willing
to inflict violence on other people for no reason other than you were told
to?"
I asked them to go home and think about that; what they did to make
things better today by beating non-violent protesters; if that's what they
became cops to do. They were all silent, turning they heads constantly
to avoid eye contact with any of the protesters speaking.
The commanding officer walked down a line in between the police and
us, pushing protesters back. He ordered the crowd to disperse, saying that
if we didn't leave they would remove us by force. We didn't leave. We just
kept talking to the police more. I asked the commanding officer to explain
to us why we ought to leave. He didn't acknowledge the question. I asked
them all if that's what those clubs meant, that they didn't have to explain
their actions to anyone, even themselves. Other protesters reminded them
that even though they were trained to be robots, they were still people
who were responsible for their own actions -- orders or no orders. I told
them my name, where I was from, that I go to college, that I have family
and friends. I asked them their names. None answered.
We stayed there and the police didn't charge. Not because I think we
convinced them not to, but because there were too many of us. Soon a group
of people with their arms chained together inside tubes wrapped in duct
tape. Four of these people were from Athens; three OU students and friends
of mine. The police were still threatening to charge the crowd. I quickly
realized that these people had no way to protect their heads from the police
clubs. Being obviously violent had already proven to be no defense against
police violence. Another OU student and I walked up to the police line
to ask them about this. The line was now made up of different police officers.
We approached one and asked him about this. He looked at us and said,
"Well, if they're worried about getting hurt, they should have thought
about that before they came out today." I asked him to show me his badge
number. He refused. "Aren't you required to show your identification to
the public?" He didn't answer. The officer to his left sneered at me and
said, "Well you have all the answers, why don't you tell me?" Before I
could, he raised his club and yelled at me to back up. I did and continued
talking to him, but he looked away and ignored me. The first officer had
no identifying number anywhere on him. No visible badge, no number on his
helmet. I took his picture and got others to. Telling everybody that we
needed to watch him.
When I first spoke to police after they had beaten us, I was very encouraged
that some had actually shown some signs of human compassion, but my hopefulness
disappeared after I talked to the latter group of officers and realized
that many of them were quite happy to inflict harm on people. Reinforcements
came and as protesters cleared the way for them, one cop pushed a protester,
and said "Get the fuck out of my way," with a smile on his face.
From time to time ambulances would come through, and the crowd would
clear a path immediately. Some protesters said, "What if WTO delegates
are sneaking in in the ambulances?" But people came to an immediate consensus
that, although that was a possibility, it wasn't worth risking people's
safety. Suddenly, a WTO delegate made it unnoticed through our lines. But
when he made it to police they refused to let him enter. They turned back
another delegate later. As it turned out, we were guarding an exit not
an entrance; that they police's orders were to not let anyone in -- whoever
they were. Also, since police had shut down the street and no protesters
had attempted to cross police lines, none of us were even doing anything
illegal. -- which is probably why none of the people in the sit-down group
were arrested. Though none of us were arrested, all of us were beaten and
sprayed.
Word soon made it to us that the situation was worse elsewhere. We made
our way to the heart of downtown and found the streets full of tear gas.
There was a large group of people sitting down in front of police in full
riot gear with their gas masks on. Behind them was an armored tank. They
police attacked protesters again. Against non-violent protesters, they
used pepper spray, clubs, tear gas, and later fired rubber bullets and
marbles at the people. In every single instance I witnessed first hand,
police violently attacked non-violent protesters with no provocation whatsoever.
That was the case when I was beaten and sprayed, that was the case when
downtown was flooded with gas, with helicopters flying overhead shining
spotlights down into the crowd. Thousands of police forced protesters out
of the downtown area firing canister after canister of tear gas into the
crowd. My friends and I were split up in the crowd of people fleeing from
the gas. eventually, I made it back to the house to join them.
The whole way to their house, I was hoping that this story would get
out. Hoping that the level of violence inflicted on non-violent protesters,
peacefully assembled, would wake a lot of people up and show them the level
of democracy in this country. Hoping that people would see what the level
of force aimed at people who peacefully oppose the interests that are dominant
in this country and the world. I returned home to have this hope crushed.
The local news stations were reporting on the broken windows of businesses
and not the broken bones of protesters. They reported on things like "police
fatigue." Which I assume is when your arms get tired after you beat people
for hours. They talked -- and continue to talk about -- the extremely "restraint,
open-mindedness, and gentleness" displayed by police.
A state of civil emergency was declared and a curfew was set for 7pm.
If anyone was downtown after that, they would be arrested. Police cleared
the curfew zone of people, but we watched them on TV continued to pursue
them up Capitol Hill -- blocks past the curfew zone. The police chased
them into a business area and fired tear gas into crowds that were now
made up of shoppers and people getting dinner as well as protesters. Finally,
after 12 hours of people being beaten and gassed, a small riot broke out.
A Starbucks coffee store was damaged and looted. I'm amazed it took this
long to happen, and I say this in all honesty from being here first hand,
that, by repeatedly attacking and torturing non-violent protesters, the
Seattle police sought to incite a riot and finally succeeded to a small
degree. The news kept running the scene of Starbucks being looted again,
and again, and again. At least a dozen times in under an hour. There were
also quick clips of police beating demostrators shown once and not again.
A newscaster on KOMO, channle 4, said, "Look, earlier today we saw protesters
carrying signs with clear messages against the WTO, but what you have going
on now is an unruly mob just trying to cause problems. In the pictures
we're seeing now, I don't see any signs at all. These people don't have
any message." What the newscaster failed to notice was that people, myself
included, dropped their signs when they were fleeing for their lives. They
were dropped because you need two hands to guard your eyes from tears gas.
Talk of the "police being too lenient" has continued into today's news
reports. And the lack of signs continues to be portrayed as a lack of any
constructive purpose among the protesters. One newscaster said, "Come on,
get a life. We live in a prosperous country."
In all honesty, the news is scaring me more than the riot police, because
what it has done is justify further violence against the protesters. They
have said that "police have been too lenient." The police have used teargas,
pepper sprays, clubs, rubber bullets, and marbles against peaceful civilians
in downtown Seattle. The only thing they haven't done is used live amunition.
And in the event that greater violence occurs against protesters, the media
will have justified it.
Besides insulting protesters the local media has focused on the disruption
to traffic and holiday shopping. The National Guard is now occupying the
city, a 50 block "no protest" zone has been established, about 120 people
have been arrested, and many have been hospitalized -- though that has
received no coverage as far as I've seen.
In other news, we succeeded in shutting down the first day of WTO meetings.
The situation is still developing, so I encourage everyone to watch the
news coverage and contrast it to what I've written here. AND PLEASE, do
your own research on the WTO. --------
My friends,
Things have gotten very, very bad here. Seattle is in a state of police
occupation. There are 500+ people being held without access to their attorneys
in Sandpoint, an abandoned military complex in Seattle. Police are tear-gassing
non-violent people without warning. Police will beat and gas anyone with
a protest sign. You are not allowed to carry any signs or even SPEAK while
you are on the streets of Seattle. People are being held in metro busses
for days without access to attorneys. There are searches without warrants.
Over fifty blocks of downtown Seattle have been blocked off by police and
national guard barricades. Innocent people who aren't even protesting the
WTO are being pepper sprayed in the faces for entering the streets to question
police who are filling their homes with tear gas. Non-violent people are
being shot in the faces at point blank range with 38 caliber weapons.
The Constitutional rights of these people have been totally ignored.
We have a right to free speech. We have a right to peaceful assembly. We
have a right to our attorneys. We have the right to not be searched without
warrants. These rights have been lost. The brutality and violence on the
streets of Seattle is in the form of tear gas, pepper spray, riot batons,
rubber bullets, and illegal imprisonment.
The media portrays our struggle as a riot similar to the LA riots. The
media has shown clips of looters and vandals a thousands times over without
giving even a percent of the relative airtime that the non-violent protest
deserves. The non-violent protest on Tuesday was a SUCCESS! We shut down
the WTO for a day! The looters and vandals made up a very small portion
of the anti-WTO people on the streets that day. The media attempts to discredit
our success by making us look like a bunch of mindless bloodthirsty looters.
We are not. We are a non-violent rational people with a unified cry for
justice filling the streets.
The Seattle police dept., King County Sheriff, and the National Guard
have retaliated against our non-violent action by imposing a military state
upon Seattle that makes protest impossible by removing many of our Constitutional
rights while causing untold misery upon the citizens of Seattle whether
they be opposed to the WTO or not. President Clinton addresses the grievances
of the protesters in his speeches while calling in the National Guard and
allowing the rights of citizens to be stolen from them.
If protest is impossible in Seattle, it must be brought elsewhere. THIS
PROTEST IS NO LONGER JUST IN OPPOSITION TO THE WTO!!! It must now address
the atrocities being committed in Seattle by the City, County, State, and
Federal government around the clock. People in Seattle are being violently
removed from the streets!
In solidarity with the political prisoners in Sandpoint, we, the people
of Bellingham, Washington are marching on the Federal Building tomorrow
at noon to engage in an act of mass non-violent civil disobedience. I urge
anyone who is in the area to attend and anyone outside of the area to lend
us your support by protesting the treatment of the citizens of Seattle
in your own community. This movement has brought tens of thousands of people
together from many different walks of life and political interests. The
City, County, State, and Federal governments in response to demands from
the WTO have responded to this popular cry for justice with illegal force
and violence.
DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE ON THE MAJOR NETWORKS!!! I have witnessed
these lies firsthand. 99% of the protesters in Seattle are employing non-violent
forms of resistance to the WTO. This right has been removed from them.
Take up the protest wherever you may be. If there is one thing I learned
on Tuesday it was that the people united are far more powerful than anything
that can stand in their way.
Solidarity
-Gabriel Taylor
--I am collecting testimonies from protesters present at Tuesday's demonstration.
-gabe
My name is Matt Harmon-Craig. I am a student at Western Washington University
and went down to Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization on Tuesday.
I went down because I think that we are living in a time when corporations
have been enthroned in our justice and political system. Corporations are
both protected by the Bill of Rights and have more access to our elected
officials then any "normal" person in our country. In my studies of the
WTO's decisions and policies it has become clear to me that the WTO is
simply the lap dog of the multi-national corporations whose motive is only
profit maximization. I started marching on Seattle at about 7 am and several
thousand of us went from intersection to intersection dropping off protesters
by the hundreds at each one to blockade the delegates from getting in.
The first blockade I was a part of was where the busses were acting as
sort of a wall blockade between the police and the protestors. After about
a half hour of frustrating shouts against the WTO about fifteen turtles
armed with a ladder charged the busses and climbed onto the top of them
with about fifty protestors following behind. Shouts of "hurray turtles"
filled the air. I stayed on top of the bus for about a half hour looking
down upon the line of riot cops just on the other side.
During the rest of the day my affinity group would go back to tactical
and find out where the delegates were breaking through the blockade and
go to where they were understaffed. I only saw one act of violence against
the police and the man who was about to throw a stick at the police found
himself quickly surrounded by about ten non-violent protestors as people
chanted non-violence. His stick was quickly pulled from his hand. I saw
the black clad people smashing windows and spray painting. The feeling
I got from this crowd, though I didn't condone their actions, was that
these were not random acts of violence. They were directed actions of violence
against certain corporations for specifc political reasons. The actions
of violence by the police against the non-violent protestors I saw were
emense. The police never targeted the black-clad people who were doing
the damage, they only attacked the 99% of the 50,000 who were acting non-violently.
During the day, as I was chanting "no violence," I ended up getting gassed
six different times. People around me got shot with rubber pellets. The
sixth time I got gassed I had to retreat as a medic sprayed baby oil on
my face. At the top of the street well away from the police we recovered
from the tear gas. The people in the blockade i had just fled were staying
and crying because the tear gas had gone off so close to where they were.
Then, for some reason, the police broke through the protest line. About
six officers on horses charged through the protest line to escort two sheriffs
cars through the blockade. The protestors that were sitting down got trampled
by the horses. Their riot sticks were in the air and they took a swing
at anyone that got close. I walked out into the street near the horse officers
as they rode by and began chanting "the whole world is watching." An officer
took a swing at me but missed by about four feet. He then pulled the horse
alongside me and pointed the baton at my face about six inches form my
nose. He was saying something thorugh his gas mask (I still don't understand
how the horses can stand the tear gas without masks) but I drowned him
out with my chanting. A legal observer asked the officer's badge number
but they rode off back through the protestors once the sheriff cars had
gotten through. We walked around the perimeter of the protest for a few
more hours but then left before the curfew.
The police started using tear gas sometime between 8 and 9 am on Tuesday,
November 30th and never stopped. I saw on the television the violence that
they committed over the next few days. If the World Trade Organization
cannot meet without having to enforce a police state then I think that
is fairly indicative of how much of a problem the people of the world have
with it. A similiar story happened in Geneva, Switzerland at their second
meeting. Then to enforce a "no protest" zone where your first amendment
rights are revoked makes a mockery of the constitution and democracy. If
the people cannot simply stand on the street and say this is wrong then
they own us. We are their crops and we are being farmed. The lesson I learned
from Seattle is that our government is scared. The poeple are slowly begining
to realize that as the Dow Jones is skyrocketing the majority of the people
in America have found their incomes stagnating or declining. Environmental
problems are getting worse. The organization demonstrated by the protestors
I'm sure have an entire army of FBI men working on how they could not have
known this was going to happen. As rage against corporate America grows
and orgainzation against it becomes clearer and better the official response
is to clamp on the lid tighter and tighter. It gives one the feeling of
being on a runaway machine.
permission to copy, print, etc. ----------------
Collateral Damage in Seattle
Report from Portland student Jim Desyllas (posted 12-2-99)
Called-in from a pay phone outside Seattle. Wed., 7:30 pm Pacific time.
I just spent 4 days in Seattle. The "information" people are getting
from the mass media is false. This was not, as Pres. Clinton claims, a
peaceful protest marred by the actions of violent protesters. This was
a massive, strong but peaceful demonstration which was attacked repeatedly
by the police with the express purpose of provoking a violent response
to provide photo opportunities for the Western media. I know because I
watched it happening. I'll tell you how they did it.
As Michel Chossudovsky says in his "Disarming the New World Order" (See
Note # 1 at end for link to that article) - the government put a lot of
effort into making sure the protesters in Seattle were a "loyal opposition"
who wanted to reform the WTO, not get rid of it. But the people in Seattle
- American steel workers, Canadian postal workers, college kids from all
over, environmentalists from Australia - - you name it - were not for reforming
the WTO. They were for getting rid of it.
And this wasn't just true of the protesters. I interviewed delegates.
None of them had anything favorable to say about the WTO. Two delegates
from the Caribbean were angry about job loss. One delegate from Peru took
a bullhorn and got up on a car and spoke to the protestors against the
World Trade Organization. He said it hurts the workers and farmers. I interviewed
a Norwegian guy from Greenpeace. Totally against it. Even a delegate from
Holland said it had hurt the farmers there. He said though it is supposedly
democratic, that's actually a lie: the US, England and Canada and a few
others get together and decide what they want to do. Then they ask the
rest of the countries to vote and if they vote wrong they threaten,"You
won't get loans," or whatever. They get them to do what they want by blackmailing
them. The Italians we interviewed were upset too. I couldn't find any delegates
who were in favor.
So the government instigated a "riot" to discredit the movement against
the WTO because they couldn't dilute it. I am not guessing about this.
I was there. I saw it happening. And I will tell you I am frankly shocked
to see, close up, just how little our leaders care what happens to ordinary
people. Clinton can pose and speak a lot of flowery stuff but the truth
is - we are nothing to them. I saw this with my own eyes.
Sunday and Monday, there was no violence. None. The people were aggressively
non-violent; they were self-policing. Up until Tuesday at 4pm there was
one window broken in the whole city - a McDonalds window. This compares
favorably to the typical rock concert, let alone a demonstration of people
who were non-violently barring entry to the World Trade Center!
At this point, a new group of police - tactical police - moved in and
started gassing people and shooting rubber bullets. Is it any surprise
that people got mad? Of course, the young kids hit back by breaking some
windows in retaliation for being gassed, sprayed with very painful pepper
gas, and shot with dangerous "rubber" bullets. The police instigated these
kids, plain and simple.
Sunday and Monday they had young cops, using them to block the streets.
These were trainees. But Tuesday they had the real cops; none of them were
young. They were trained to attack people. A small group, maybe 100 people
total, struck back. Then these cops herded that group around the city,
making sure there were plenty of photo ops of "violent protesters."
A number of times they had these 100 or so protesters caught between
buildings and walls of police. They could easily have arrested and detained
this small number of people and gotten it over with. Instead they would
gas them and let them go. Then trap them again, gas them again, and again
let them go. The cops made no arrests that I know of until late Tuesday
night though the skirmishing was going on from three till 9:30. The cops
would blockade three or five blocks of an area, give the angry kids room
to operate, keep gassing them - when you gas a person, let me tell you,
it gets them fighting mad.
Tuesday night the police gassed all of downtown. This was going on from
3 PM, till 6 PM.. Gas everywhere. The kids broke a few windows - McD's,
Starbucks - small stuff - burned a few garbage cans. The police were using
these people as extras. It was staged. I believe also the police had their
own people in there, encouraging people to break stuff - if people think
I may be exaggerating, I saw supposed protesters - they were screaming
and so on - and then later, when everything was over, the same people tackled
other protestors and put handcuffs on them.
At 6pm they issued a State of Emergency. At that point they had pushed
the 100 people outside the city limits, so the police went outside the
limits too, and they started gassing that area too, gassing the neighborhoods
where the regular people live. I am not exaggerating. The police were relentless.
This was in an area from the city limits for about 10 blocks to the
Seattle Central Community College. If you were alive, the police gassed
you. People coming back from work, kids, women, everyone. People would
go out of their houses to see what was happening because these tear gas
guns sound like a cannon - and they would get gassed. A block away there
was a Texaco gas station - they threw tear gas at gas pumps, believe it
or not - they were like vandals. They gassed a bus. I saw it with my own
eyes. A bus. The driver, the riders, the people just abandoned it .
I was sitting in a little coffee shop called Rauhaus, [Jim did not spell
this - the spelling may be wrong.] They were shooting "rubber" bullets
at the glass. I picked up a dozen of the things in a few square feet. They
were also shooting this paint that you can only see with a florescent light.
They would paint anyone and everyone and then go hunting them.
Anyway, because they were gassing everybody, the local people got mad
too and they joined the 100 who had been herded out of the city. So soon
there were 500 including the neighborhood people and all very angry. Naturally.
Because they had been gassed and hit with pepper spray, that stuff does
a number on you. And shot with these damn bullets. Then people set up barricades
at Seattle Central Community College. The cops organized themselves for
about an hour and then moved in and gassed that area.
Today they started mass arrests. That was because Clinton - the Greeks
call him the Planitarchis, Ruler of the World - was coming. Weeping crocodile
tears about how he just LOVES peaceful protest, which of course you'd have
to be two years old to believe he had nothing to do with the police action.
This whole thing, this police attack, this was US foreign policy, not some
action decided by some bureaucrat in Seattle. This was the State Department.
They wanted to discredit the people.
When things started on Sunday, there was a protest rally of solidarity
involving people from different walks of life. Monday it got even bigger.
Tuesday there was a big sort of carnival where people were doing different
things, a band was playing music and people were blocking the World Trade
Center. And about 3 PM the cops started throwing tear gas.
The thing that drove Clinton crazy was that on Tuesday the protesters
had succeeded in making nonviolent human chains and had therefore stopped
everyone from going into the World Trade Center. Only maybe 27 delegates
got through, mostly US and British. There were what seemed like tens of
thousands of protesters involved. So the police did their gassing number
against these nonviolent people to break up the human chains and make the
protesters look violent.
Today (Wednesday) I followed the union protest put together by the Longshoremen's
Union. They went down to the docks and had a rally then marched to Third
Avenue. As soon as they got there the cops started gassing them. There
was an old lady there. She had gone downtown by bus to buy something. This
lady was in her 70's and I saw her trying to run, but she couldn't breathe.
She was in shock. I carried her to a building entryway. She was gasping,
terrified. She had been in Germany, and it was like she was having flashbacks.
The tear gas sounds like gunfire and there were helicopters overhead, sirens,
cops on horses, everything.
They had clearly made a decision to destroy this movement.
So anyway there I was with her in this building and she wanted to go
to the hospital but there was tear gas everywhere and I was afraid if I
tried to move her she'd be gassed again. I went to this line of cops and
begged - I mean begged - these riot police to help her. They ignored me.
A girl told me later that a one year old had been gassed. And I myself
saw a girl no more than 18 - a cop had busted her lip wide open - she was
bleeding - and then they gassed everyone including her. After that she
was kneeling on the ground crying like a baby and praying for 15 minutes,
Hail Mary, Hail Mary. Over and over. She was in a state of shock. They
just gassed these people who were sitting down non-violently and doing
nothing. Nothing.
At one point the Seattle Mayor said his boys were not using rubber bullets.
Miraculously, by then I had ten in my pocket. I could open a little market,
sell the things. They are everywhere. I and other people started giving
them to delegates and stuff. "See what they're doing? They're shooting
"rubber" bullets and lying about it." We showed them to the media. I guess
enough people and the media got the information because the Mayor made
a new statement then that they were using them. As if he hadn't known.
They shot rubber bullets from four feet away into the face of a guy
next to me, broke all his front teeth. When that happened I lost it. I
forgot I was supposed to be getting the news for all of you and I started
yelling at the cops, "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you sick, man?"
So this cop aimed his gun right at me. That was his answer. So I first
put my hands in front of my face because I didn't want to lose my teeth.
And then I thought, to hell with it. I was wearing my target shirt that
said "Collateral Damage", you know? With a bullseye target, like they wore
during the bombing in Yugoslavia. And I told this guy, "Go ahead, shoot!
Here! Here's the target!" He didn't shoot me.
I want to emphasize, these protesters were NOT violent people. They
were the most non-violent people I have ever seen. Even when I was screaming
at the cop, this girl came up to me and said, "Do not scream. This is non-violent."
These people were too much to believe. They must meditate all the time,
I don't know.
Clinton said he supports nonviolent protest. That is baloney. Today
(Wed.) the protesters were causing absolutely no "trouble". In downtown
the cops had people running who weren't even protesters - like that old
lady or just people going to work or shopping - everyone was getting gassed.
The busses weren't running because of the gas. I was lucky to catch one
with a driver who could still see. I begged him to drive the old lady home
- the driver changed his route especially for her. If you want to find
human decency, stay away from the Planitarchis. Go to the to regular people.
They have some. The Planitarchis lost all his years ago. Now he wouldn't
know human decency if it came up and bit him.
So now I have made personal acquaintance with the people who run this
country, and they are quite simply scum. There were people at work, people
with babies, they were all getting gassed because the government would
not allow an assembly of people speaking their minds. It is the same as
what happened in Athens. Clinton's requirements on the Greek government
created the riot and he did the same thing here. And then he says he supports
nonviolent protest? How? By shooting rubber bullets? And today they outlawed
gas masks. They want to make sure everyone gets his money's worth.
Today, just like yesterday night, the police were in the residential
neighborhoods. People in cafés were getting gassed and shot at,
you could hear it on the windows, bang, bang, bang. A guy trying to cross
the street to go to his house got gassed. First a drunk guy outside a bar
yelled at the cops "Get out of here!" so they gassed him. And then this
other guys was just crossing the street to go home so the cops figured,
might as well gas him too. People got gassed for coming out of restaruants
and bars and coffeee shops. I'm amazed that nobody died who had asthma
or something.
Or maybe somebody did die and they didn't talk about it. I mean after
all, it's just collateral damage..
***
Note # 1 - For a critical look at the World Trade Organization, click
on SEATTLE AND BEYOND: DISARMING THE NEW WORLD ORDER or go to http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm
If you would like to browse articles from Emperors-Clothes.com, click
here Or go to: http://www.emperors-clothes.com
{FROM AN OLD-TIME RESIDENT OF THE GREATER SEATTLE AREA: Thoughts On
Witnessing Three Days Of Hell In Seattle}
As you, no doubt, are fully aware, I am no friend of anarchy and civil
disorder -- far from it, in fact; but, in the course of the last several
days, even I have had no choice but to conclude that our local "authorities"
clearly overstepped their bounds.
The police brutality exhibited by some of our local "boys in black"
(and I purposely say some, since not all of them were involved ) in Seattle
-- especially on Tuesday and Wednesday - -- was (shades of Lenin's "Che-Ka"!!)
horrifying, to say the least. (One of the motive forces that seemingly
drives some such men to become "peace officers" is an inherent sense of
sadism!)
The last such occasion that springs to mind occurred on the University
of Washington campus (back in 1970, if I recall the year correctly), when
one of my girlfriends was returning to her dormitory from the U.W.'s undergrad
("Suzallo") library and was attacked by Seattle's "riot police," who cracked
her skull for "walking on campus." (Well, how else was she to get back
to her dorm from the library -- fly?!?)
This week, old people and babies were pepper-sprayed and gassed indiscriminately;
people totally uninvolved in the protests against the WTO, many of whom
were simply trying to get home from work, were beaten, kicked, and shot
with so-called "rubber" bullets -- you name it... (One man was kicked in
the groin and shot at close range.)
Many people with legitimate concerns in downtown Seattle were gratuitously
pepper-sprayed by the police, simply because they happened to be present
as the police went by. (Policemen would turn and shoot streams of pepper-spray
into their faces -- this, after having passed by them, in the first place!)
Even several WTO delegates were pushed around by the police, believe it
or not!
Those individuals who attempted to assist the fallen were themselves
subjected to police brutality; police "batons" come raining down on both
the people who had collapsed and on those trying to help them get up. Meanwhile,
the police deliberately pressed their heavy boots down upon the heads of
those on the ground (who were being handcuffed with the particularly cruel
"flexi-cuffs" under the pretext that they were "resisting"), in order to
prevent them from being able to "move on," as they were being "ordered"
by the police (who then proceeded to gas, pepper-spray and shoot them at
close range with "rubber" bullets in clear cases of deliberate and unwarranted
cruelty). In one case, a woman fell to the ground and the police then began
to shoot pepper-spray at her and at a person who was attempting to help
her get up! (Media video also showed the police harassing a just-gassed
older woman who was merely trying to unlock her car so that she could get
away from these horrors and get home!)
Clouds of tear gas were sent flying into business establishments, and
the people inside were then attacked by the police as they tried to get
out (it having become a "crime" in Seattle to possess, buy or wear a gas-mask
if one is a civilian). This was all witnessed by [my fiancee] and myself,
watching day-long TV coverage of the events from the safety of our home.
Had we been caught in the "crossfire" of gas and pepper-spray, we might
well have died, under those circumstances, as you are fully aware, due
to our severe cases of asthma and chemical-sensitivity -- especially, without
gas-masks!
What is especially disconcerting is that the police were attacking peaceful
protestors, while the anarchistic and criminal elements were allowed free
rein -- almost as if by collusion with "the powers that be"!?
So this week, [name deleted], has provided us with a foretaste of what
the "New World Order" holds in store for us, if it is ever allowed to come
fully into its own! The Gestapo and the "Che-Ka" were merely the "blossoms"
-- will we live to see the "berries"? God knows!
- -- Yura
What I said to the mayor of
Seattle
I'm appalled!
CUPW in Seattle, Dec 1, 1999
Below are three eyewitness
reports on Seattle. Two are from postal workers and one from Catherine
Louli. Issues the morning of December
POSTAL WORKERS FORM HUMAN BARRICADE IN
SEATTLE
CROSS CANADA CARAVAN CONVERTED TO SEATTLE FIRST
AID STATION
From Catherine Louli:
The following is an account of the WTO shut down, and I am sure others
will send out their perspectives. I have barely slept in the last
week, so please excuse my scattered thoughts and lack of humor
The University of Victoria and Camosun College began organizing against
the WTO before the school year started. Kari Worton, our Director
of Academics, participated in civil disobedience training provided by Ruckus
early in September, and we started having nearly weekly forums against
the WTO in order to try and explain the complex issues involved.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to
strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively
debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident
views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on,
while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced
by the limits put on the range of the debate."
Proof Positive Police caused the violence
hi all,
this is a VERY preliminary report. a general idea
of what happened today from those who couldn't join us.
the WTO was shut down! at least for one day.
i just got back from seattle tonight. i was there
most of the day. it was an indescribable experience.
i haven't seen any media coverage yet, so what
i report now is what i either witnessed or heard recounted many times by
people. i can't promise complete accuracy, but here goes.
the radical morning action to blockade the conference
was largely successful. this was before the union march so numbers were
not so massive, but the police felt the need to use a lot of tear gas,
pepper spray and rubber bullets. tear gas usually causes vomiting,
the entire area around the convention centre was
now blockaded, a massive area, i'd say 50-60% of the downtown area, something
like 10-15 intersections. it was around this time that the morning session
of the WTO conference was officially cancelled. conference goers and the
press had a really hard time getting in or out of the area. one germany
reporter who finally got out said about the convention centre that, "there's
no one in there to talk to."
the police continued to attack with tear gas and
pepper spray in various areas and riot police were seen and used in many
places. several amoured personnel carriers traveled around the area. they
then began to centre their assaults on a main street in the afternoon,
repeatedly tear gassing consecutive intersections, and moving protesters
back block after block for about 3-4 blocks. the barricades which people
had built from dumpsters and newspaper boxes could be seen in each of these
intersections. a fucking beautiful sight.
at that point things seem to stall. there didn't
seem to be enough police to continue clearing the streets, especially when
the huge union parade finally arrived in the mid-afternoon, which swelled
the numbers at each blockade to sometimes incredible numbers. looking down
some streets i could see lines of protesters, police, protesters, police,
etc. for several blocks.
by late-afternoon there was only the odd tear
gassing, there seemed to be a stand-still as thousands and thousands of
protesters simply occupied the streets and blockaded without much resistance
from the police (no doubt now tired and demoralized). at about this time
we started to hear that the conference had been cancelled for the day.
after a few hours of this some organizers began
to call the crowds to disperse. shortly after that the police also ordered
the largest crowd to disperse from the core of seattle's commercial district
(where the massive nike store was vandalized beyond belief). during this
time there was a little looting, very little i must stress. just as my
group left that area, we heard loud explosions, tear gas bombs going off
in succession, 8, 9, 10, of them. when we cut across a street that looked
into the downtown core we could see the massive haze, produced by the tear
gas bombs, which now enveloped the area. most cops wore gas-masks the entire
time.
apparently there were not very many arrests. i
heard several accounts of police dragging a protester out of the crowd
where other pigs set upon her with their batons. brave guys.
luckily, my group somehow avoided being gassed,
though many of our friends were gassed multiple times. i'm sure their stories
and others will come out in the next few days.
as we left tonight, we heard that the city was
under a 7pm curfew and that a State of Emergency had been declared with
the National Guard on their way into the city.
our thoughts are with the thousands of activists
and unionists who are still in seattle, planning for tommorrow's day of
events.
like i said before, this is a very preliminary
report with, i'm sure, some mistakes. i just wanted to give people an idea
of what happened in seattle today.
peace and solidarity,
yang
mm-mmm-mmmm I Love Turtles.
Even more popular than sea turtle costumes were rain ponchos saying
"The Protest of the Century", modeled by David, one of my WTO roommates.
The reason for so little poncho and so much sky in the photo is a failed
attempt to capure a rainbow that appeared at the end of the march, but
my cheap-ass camera didn't get. Rather than joining me for march activities,
David went downtown to listen to speakers (who he reported as being excellent)
and also witnessed demonstrators being tear-gassed. According to David,
the protestors provoked the police, who obliged them with a show of force.
I went to an environmentalists' rally, which marched to Memorial Stadium
(the home of Seattle high school football games and professional soccer),
where we joined huge delegations of unionists. The morning was predominated
by tired sppeches from union politicians, but the people-watching was fascinating,
with seat turtles waiting in line to buy food along with hard hats with
beer bellies, and an exortic collection of people from around the world.
There were bus loads of Canadian unionists who came to Seattle from B.C.
Pictured here are people advocating the freedom of Tibet. China was
not a popular place among WTO protesters, both for its human rights abuses
and for the potential threat to jobs. The causes I received literature
on during the day included:
The march itself was fun, with chants of "Hell no, WTO" and the ever-present
"Hey, Hey.Ho, Ho" mantra.
As a veteran of many demonstrations (and a recent reader of Protectors
of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America by
Frank Donner) I was on the alert for people doing camera sweeps of the
crowd who didn't seem otherwise interested in the messages presented, and
got a photo (which could be electronically enhanced) of a woman who seems
a likely suspect. {Attempts to enhance the photofrom the camera I was using
were useless}.
The demonstration started off with a play of The Price Is Right, stage
managed by the WTO, with the three panelists being 95% of the Population,
Democracy, and Transnational Corporations. Not surprisingly, WTO agreed
with Transnationals rather than 95% of the People or Democracy on every
issue raised.
A young black student who seemed to consider himself a potential demagogue
gave an oratory in which he said said that shutting down campus tomorrow
would be the most important day in the millennium. I appreciated his enthusiasm
and his identifying multinational trade scams as The Enemy, but have a
few decades of skepticism that shutting down campuses (which doesn't seem
likely at UW) is a usefully direct route to ending corporate hegemony over
people and environments.
There were a couple of speakers from my generation of anti-Viet Nam
war protesters who told the story of how what happened with Martin Luther
King and Civil Rights and the Anti-War movements evolved into non-violent
protest that in the relatively short term stopped a lot of bad shit from
going down. What wasn't continued was the extent to which right-wing bad-asses
out to exploit the rest of the world have long-term agendas to screw the
rest of us.
For me personally, the most blatantly lame presentation of the UofW
demonstration (including the part that involved marching around to places
that only trees (presumably our sympathizers) were listening, was by someone
who was a professor in Canadian studies, which was a sad comparison to
the letter to the editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
I had written that morning, noting how Canada was a colony with public
decision makers who have been out to fuck the Canadian public on behalf
of US-based multi-national corporations who get tax breaks to purchase
political influence from shitheads like Brian Mulroney. I expect that I
could do a better job of teaching Canadian Studies than the person who
gave the lame-assed presentation at the UW Anti-WTO rally, and would like
to make that a public challenge.
Later in the rally, I got drafted to hold play WTO in a puppet play
marriage with Big Business (performed by Greed). I guess that because I'm
middle aged and Caucasian, I fit the WTO stereotype better than other available
pseudo-actors. I believe I performed my role well, lasciviously jerking
the phallic pole the WTO mask was on through my fingers at times that masterbatory
imagery seemed appropriate.
After bicycling home and writing the above, I gave serious consideration
to staying home rather than going out in Seattle rain and traffic (way
worse than Toronto's), but decided that there were symbolic issues involved
that seemed to demand my presence. I was wearing my Citizens for Local
Democracy t-shirt, which seemed as compelling a reason to be represented
in the WTO protest around the Kingdome as my 1989 Seattle Mariner ballcap
(which had at least as much symbolic power under the circumstances.
I intend to do a greatly expanded version of these WTO notes, some of
which were scribbled in my car by the Seattle train station before the
march of demonstrators arrived from downtown. I had a friendly chat with
a local cop, who said he understood my point of view about how the Kingdome
might be a symbol of why people might want to protest World Trade. He was
willing to take my photo in front of the Kingdome with my Citizens for
Local Democracy t-shirt, but I was out of film. It was a nice cop interaction
anyway.
A cop interaction that was a lot less friendly happened after I joined
the front of the parade going to encircle the Kingdome. It was established
weeks in advance that rather than encircling the building where WTO officials
were actually meeting, demonstrators would encircle the Kingdome, across
the street. I was at the front of the parade when it met cops who originally
said something about letting people beyond their barrier two by two if
identification was shown, but somehow that didn't seem to be happening,
and the front of the march was filled with heavy weights from the Steel
Workers Union and media types looking for opportunities to show goonish
behavior among demonstrators. I started shouting "Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent
protest!" at the top of my lungs, and the bullshit slowed down, at least
until I left the scene of the provocation (and helped start the crowd of
thousands in the other direction). As someone who is now a Seattle local
citizen, I'd like to take on a lot of personal responsibility to find out
how this shit went down. There was supposedly a deal that demonstrators
could encircle the Kingdome rather than the building across the street,
and some collusion between cops and organizers of the demonstration that
led us to a place where cops wouldn't let people through for a peaceful
demonstration that had been arranged in advance. A lot of goonish Steel
Worker Union heavy weights arrived at the front of the parade yelling about
how they were taxpayers who should be able to go where they wanted. It
seems like a blatant set-up, and rather than ignoring it in the stimulus-overload
of WTO, it might be a good idea to follow up and find out who was responsible
for a deliberate dead end to the demonstration and the obvious set-up of
Steel Workers Union goofishness. My personal suspicion is that organized
crime has ties to labor unions, stadium construction scams, professional
sports, the gaming industry, and anti-democratic governments like Ontario's
Common Censors. I also suspect that the WTO is about enhancing (rather
than diminishing) the role of organized crime in multinational governments.
I was born and raised in Seattle, and moved home in August (my Mom died),
after having fled to Toronto as a political refugee in 1968 in protest
of military conscription and the War in Viet Nam. With that sort of political
commitment in my life, I participated in a lot of demonstrations in Toronto,
while doing a lot of thinking in perspective about what the demonstrations
might (or might not) accomplish.
Today's activities had some interesting parallels and differences with
the many demonstrations I participated in as a Torontonian:
WTO protesters tortured in Seattle jails
(fwd)
Sun, 5 Dec 1999 13:59:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Anitra Freeman
organise wto prisoner solidarity action-
Sat, 4 Dec 99
From: Stephanie Sersli, steph_sersli@yahoo.com
by sharon borgstrom
8:21pm Sat Dec 4 '99
----------
From: Yuill <seattle@worldvoices.org>
Sun, 05 Dec 1999
:: World Voices WTO Update 3 Personal Diary
Capsules of Seattle Brutality clipped from
the Toronto Media
Managing director of the National Radio Project, Livoti was interviewing
activists and onlookers on the corner of 6th and Union in Seattle on Tuesday
morning. As the police began massing in full riot gear, Livoti - wearing
her WTO press credentials - was telling a police officer that she was a
journalist. Still, a policeman [badge number 4409] hit her in the back
with a baton. She was then sprayed directly in the face with pepper spray
and was blinded for 15 minutes until an activist medic treated her. Said
Livoti: "Despite the fact that the officer clearly knew that I was a working
member of the press, he attacked me."
People coming out of restaurants were shocked Wednesday night to find
police running at them, and men could be seen running through the streets
with babies in their arms trying to get away from the tear gas. "One gentleman
was trying to put his baby in a car, and they maced him,'' Wallis said.
"We were singing Christmas carols when they lobbed the last tear gas,''
said Wallis, who hadn't paid much attention to the WTO protests, besides
watching them on the television news.
"My two front teeth are almost horizontal. I can't protest today. I
have to see my dentist."
King County Councillor Brian Derdowski was hit in the shoulder by a
tear-gas canister. He said police tactics were asinine.
when she was hit by a rubber bullet. You expect this in China and Indonesia,
not in Seattle."
One woman was stripped naked by four woman guards, while a male guard
outside watched. She further had her arms and legs folded behind her and
was held down on the floor with the full weight of two guards on top of
her.
--------
WTO Arrests - Jailing of Federation Representatives
Unwarranted
Newsflash - Canadians arrested WTO-Seattle
From: Lucy Watson (Internal intern1) <intern1@CFS-FCEE.CA>
Thursday, December 02, 1999
Ottawa - At least two Canadian student
leaders were among hundreds arrested and jailed yesterday for peacefully
protesting World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle.
Canadian Federation of Students
National Deputy Chairperson Elizabeth Carlyle and Newfoundland and Labrador
Representative Jen Anthony, in Seattle as part of a Federation delegation,
were arrested Wednesday morning while participating in a peaceful march
more than two kilometres from the WTO meeting site.
“We came to Seattle to demonstrate
against the potential danger to higher education posed by the WTO negotiations,”
said Anthony. “Exposing education to free trade will undoubtedly result
in rapid tuition fee hikes and the further privatisation of higher education.”
The WTO has emerged as an organisation
with the potential to regulate all aspects of the global economy, including
the provision of government funded social programmes. The Canadian Federation
of Students has been consistently opposed to trade agreements that
threaten to supersede the will of individual citizens and undermine public
services.
“In every country where free trade
agreements have been implemented, the living and working conditions of
the population have worsened,” said Carlyle. “The violence that did break
out on Tuesday is minor in comparison to the misery that a WTO agreement
would create.
Seattle Mayor Paul Schell has declared
that Seattle is in “a state of civil emergency” and has extended a curfew
until midnight Friday. By his own admission, peaceful protesters and residents
have been caught in the crossfire of tear gas, pepper spray and rubber
bullets. Media accounts state that least 600 people have been arrested.
“There was only ever a small minority
involved in the violence, and by Wednesday, most of it had stopped,” said
Carlyle. “The real story is the police and the National Guard making indiscriminate
sweeps, arresting everyone from protesters to coffee shop patrons.”
The Federation is concerned that
the curfew is being extended until Friday, the day the WTO negotiations
conclude. “The actions of a few are being used as a pretext to prevent
people from visibly demonstrating their opposition to the WTO talks,” said
Carlyle.
Carlyle and Anthony have yet to
be arraigned. The Canadian Federation of Students is calling for the release
of all those being held in connection with the events surrounding the anti-WTO
demonstrations.
-
For further information, please contact Mark
Veerkamp, British Columbia Chairperson at (604) 733-1880 or (604) 908-7223.
--------
I'm Still Ablaze
DATE: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:53:04
From: "Gabriel Taylor"
Eyewitness account of nonviolent action at
WTO
Peter Bergel of the Oregon PeaceWorker
http://www. teleport.com/~opw
Here is an account of the WTO actions in Seattle from my perspective.
I have been doing nonviolence training for several days and I was on the
street all day today. -- Peter
_________________
Overall Impressions
No globalization without representation
Wed, 01 Dec 1999 13:59:40 EST
From: Free Student Press Project
<freestudentpress@hotmail.com>
Seattle Occupation
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1999 16:47:14 -0700
From: Gordon McGlothlen
Rage Against Corporate America
DATE: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:53:18
From: Chad McCulley
Collateral Damage in Seattle & Report
from Portland student Jim Desyllas
(posted 12-2-99)
From: "Janet M Eaton"
1] Subject: FW: Collateral Damage in Seattle
Hell In Seattle from
yura
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999
From: "Chrysalis Farm" <bright@famrc.org>
To: Seattle Mayor Paul Schell,
Last night in Seattle, there was
a demonstration in support of Pensylvania death-row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal.
The demonstration was peaceful. It took place outside of the unconstitutional
"no-protest zone".
A police car drove into the crowd
of demonstrators and hit several demonstrators. The demonstrators reacted
angrily and then were attacked mercilessly with tear gas, pepper gas, concussion
grenades and rubber bullets fired at close range.
In the days preceding, peaceful
protesters were indiscriminately gassed, shot at with rubber bullets and
attacked with concussion grenades. I was not there, but my wife and two
of my children were and are there now. I have seen video which proves that
the police instigated and apparently continue to instigate a classic police
riot in your city.
I demand that you call off your
dogs. I fear for the safety of my family members, my friends who are there
as well as all of the demonstrators who are there.
I demand the appointment of an independent
prosecutor to fully investigate the decision-making process that led to
the police riot and the actions of those in command on the street and individual
officers.
In the face of the incontravertible
evidence of massive police misconduct in your city, undoubtedly to be uncovered
by such an investigation, there must be subsequent massive firings and
criminal trials of police officers and especially the cheif of police Norm
Stamper.
Signed,
Chrys Ostrander
bright@famrc.org
--------
What YOU can do to preserve
LIBERTY
From: "Chrysalis Farm" bright@famrc.org
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999
Individuals who are concerned about the health
and safety of the peaceful protestors in Seattle and the preservation not
only of human rights but our very constitutional democracy should contact
Seattle Chief of Police Norm Stamper at 206-684-5577, or Seattle Mayor
Paul Schell at 206-684-4000.
Dear Folks,
Please don't be silent in the face
of the police terror raining down on folks in Seattle.
Below is a list of e-mail addresses starting
with the Mayor, Paul Schell, then one to the council as a whole and followed
by each councilor's individual address and finally the email address of
Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran.
LET THEM KNOW that you're appalled
and that there needs to be massive firings of police officers and especially
cheif of police Norm Stamper and the appointment of an independent prosecutor
to fully investigate the decision-making process that led to the police
riot and the actions of those in command on the street and individual officers.
The Mayor of Seattle Paul
Schell
The Council
as a whole
Council members
jim.compton@ci.seattle.wa.us
sue.donaldson@ci.seattle.wa.us
jan.drago@ci.seattle.wa.us
nick.licata@ci.seattle.wa.us
richard.mciver@ci.seattle.wa.us
margaret.pageler@ci.seattle.wa.us
tina.podlodowski@ci.seattle.wa.us
City Attorney:mark.sidran@ci.seattle.wa.us
--------
From: Dave Bleakney <DBLEAKNEY@CUPW-STTP.ORG>
Subject: FW: Seattle reports from
postal workers
David Bleakney
National Union Representative
1, solidarity, dave
Yesterday, a number of postal workers in Seattle
chose to join with direct action groups in the streets of Seattle. We missed
the AFDL-CIO event at the stadium as it was clear the action was
in the streets and the WTO had to be stopped.
Many postal workers arrived Monday afternoon in
Seattle. Others were bused in Tuesday morning from British Colombia. The
director of the Business Council on National Issues (a big lobbyists
for corporations and free trade cheerleaders) referred to Canadians
in Seattle as "reactionary forces".
We met at Victor Steinbeck park in the morning.
We proceeded to close intersections. There were all kinds of puppets and
props. Some people brought along huge floats that were set in intersections
while protesters chained themselves to to it. Postal workers locked
arm and arm formed a cordon around the float in one location, where we
remained for several hours.
There was a battle for turf all day. Sometimes we were
driven out but would reclaim the area again after regrouping. We took several
volleys of tear gas and stun grenades. I was gassed four times yesterday.
Some of our group were also attacked with clubs.
This morning, in Seattle, the show of state oppression
is unavoidable. Already there have been lots of arrests. Downtown
Seattle is basically under martial law. There are cops and National Guard
goons in every parking lot. We can't even walk down the sidewalk because
our ponchos say "No to WTO". The land of the free and the home of
the brave...?
Report from Dave Condon, Regional education and Organization Officer,
Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 9:30 am Seattle, Dec 1, 1999
report from Cindy Ferris, Dec 1, Seattle
Hello from Seattle. It's been a really crazy time.
This morning (Dec 1) the downtown is closed. It has been declared a no-protest
zone. Already there have been lots of arrests.
We were held up for about an hour at the border
when we crossed into the U.S. The Caravan was thoroughly checked
and our Australian participant had to obtain a visa to enter.
Over the weekend I attended the IFG which was really
enlightening and educational. I marched yesterday in Seattle and fortunately,
was not beaten or sprayed like so many others.
We chose to offer the Winnebago yesterday to assist
the demonstrators in the street. It was transformed from an anti WTO Caravan
to a mobile first aid station for the people in the streets of Seattle.
After all, the state just wanted to beat and attack people. Medical services
is something they want to leave to the transnational corporations.
Anyway, we are all okay. Thanks to all those who
asked.
We will be sending further reports and pictures
when it becomes possible.
Cindy Ferris, Seattle, December 1, 1999
PROVACATEURS/POLICE OUT OF HAND
It's been an exiting time in Seattle. On Friday
and Saturday 2,000 attended the International Forum on Globalization. One
thousand others were turned away due to lack of space. The audience was
filled with students, environmentalists, artisists, farmers and workers.
It was clear that many who attended did not have reform of the WTO on their
minds. Following the IFG forum it has been a raukus time in Seattle.
On Sunday and Monday there were protests
and demos of a non violent nature on every corner in the downtown core
of Seattle. All of this led to the big event of Tuesday where labour with
ngo's and non aligned youth joined forces with the direct action groups
to shut down the WTO.
Approximately 20,000 formed human chains and blocked intersections
beginning 7 am Tuesday. They were joined by "official" labour protest at
approximately noon.
In a act of solidarity, dockworkers shut down the U.S.
western seaboard.
The Seattle police were out in force with riot gear,
swat teams and many different pieces ofmilitary hardware, including water
cannon and concussion bombs.
As word came out to the tens of thousands of protesters
that the WTO had effectively been shut down, the police response escalated
The labour march continued back to the Stadium. However, many trade unionists
remained in the streets of Seattle to continue the blockade of the WTO
and
it's corporate bill of rights. At this point approximately
30-35,000 remained downtown.
From approximately 1-7 pm on Tuesday the police
in Seattle escalated their actions to the point of direct confrontation.
Delegates to the WTO started to arrive and tried to resume their meetings
with little success.
It is true their was some property destruction.
As someone on the line I observed that those who perpetrated these acts
were not part of the tens of thousands of non violent demonstrators. There
is little doubt they served the interest of the state and there are many
in Seattle suggesting this work was accomplished by agent provacateurs.
On more than one occasion, I, along with others,
tried to impede these people from destroying our attempts to maintain closure
of the WTO. The reason protesters tried to stop the destruction of property
is that we wanted to keep the WTO closed and we knew that if the destruction
continued the state and government would escalate an already volatile situation.
As a result of the destruction the mayor and governor announced a state
of emergency and locked down the Seattle core between 7 pm and dawn on
December 1. Clearly, the provocations play into the hands of the authorities
and the state.
Between 3;30 and 7 pm the police used tear gas on a random
basis, and used batons to probe and hit non-violent demonstrators under
the guise of protecting the peace.
This uncacceptable and inappropriate use of force outraged
many. The police stood by and watched the handful who chose to smash windows.
Instead of making any effort to protect the private property of corporations
they chose to directly attack those non-violent demonstrators who had been
so effective all day.
This morning, December 1, the curfew was lifted
at dawn and an arrest perimeter was imposed at 7 am. It covers the downtown
core near the convention centre. The mayor declared that any person protesting
in the downtown core of Seattle would be immediately arrested. Is this
the democracy that Pettigrew, the Canadaian trade minister keeps referring
to when talking about the WTO? Is this the democracy that the western powers
intend to export?
The governor sent in the National Guard to downtown
Seattle. There have been hundreds of arrests since this morning and the
arrests continue as of this writing. As of 10 am Seattle time protestors
have been put on buses and driven out to Sand Point Detention Centre.
People continue to defy this restriction and go to the downtown core.
Clinton is expected to leave his hotel within minutes and attend
the WTO talks.
The police presence is oppressive. The station is
volatile and if there is a word to be used, the entire situation
is edgy.
Many protectors agreed prior to the remonstration
and want our sisters and brothers around the world to understand that Seattle
is not the end but the beginning for us. Resistance is having an impact.
Clearly, it was the direct actions in the street that turned Seattle into
the event it has become.
The EU announced this morning that they were uncomfortable
with the use of force yesterday. Governments continue these
discussions without including other voices. Even when they do, it is done
for cosmetic and public relations reasons. The less developed
nations have rejected any
discussion on labour side accords. This rift between developed
and developing nations may well preclude any consensus here in Seattle.
The protests have had their impact as courageous students and youth
continue to voice their opposition to an unjust and violent society.
Report from Catherine Louli, media relations for
the Cross Canada Caravan
David Bleakney
National Union Representative
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
377 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1Y3
Phone: 613-236-7230 ext 7953
dbleakney@cupw-sttp.org
http://www.wtocaravan.org
--------
Brian Williams, closetpunk@dojo.tao.ca
Seattle demo: a view from the street.
hey all,
Words suck. I can hardly express my experience at
the anti-WTO demonstration that I took part in on Tuesday in Seattle, but
I'll try. Maybe you saw shit go down on the news, no doubt warped
by corporate-controlled media, so I thought I'd like to give you a brief
first-hand account.
Three friends and I arrived around noon, checking in at
one of the organizing centres - organizers were running around on walkie-talkies,
talking to people on the front lines. We were asked to go pick up
some medical supplies and rush them to some activist medics who were attending
protesters who had been hit with pepper spray and tear gas.
We stuffed it all in our packs and headed off for our crash course in downtown
Seattle geography.
The place looked like a warzone. Cops everywhere -
BUT - protesters everywhere - tons of 'em. The meeting place
we needed to get to was blocked off, but eventually we hooked up with the
medics and delivered the supplies. We then started walking around
downtown, checking things out.
Basically, the protesters (an interesting mix of mostly-young
environmentalists, students, labour groups, anarchists, and liberal
intelligentsia) controlled most of downtown. I've never seen anything
like it. The conference centre where the WTO talks were supposed
to take place was completely blocked off. People interlocked their
arms and prevented delegates from entering the building. Major intersections
were packed full of placard-waving, dancing, drum-playing freaks
like myself. I chanted, I blocked, I did some graffiti, and I laughed
like hell. I can't recall a time that I've felt so invigorated and
liberated. After years of wandering around in bewildering corporate-controlled
cities, I was finally in a place controlled by everyday people, and for
one day the elites in suits were the ones on the run. I'll never
forget being at one of the smaller blockades, hearing a crowd roar behind
me, and turning to see the streets swelling with tens of thousands of people.
Most surprisingly, the anarchist presence at the protest
was very strong. Affinity groups formed based on common politics.
There was no central office telling everyone what to do, which gave the
whole demonstration an organic, truly democratic feel - many decisions
were made right on the spot. The riot cops, decked out in their brand new
gear, were simply pathetic. They looked bewildered. From time to
time they'd spray pepper spray, tear gas, or fire rubber bullets at the
crowd, but with the tens of thousands of people present, well, they were
out of their league. And more significantly,
they lost the ideological battle - Seattle citizens were wondering
why their city was turned into a police state just so some elite corporate
hacks could plot world domination! This was a day when the people
told globalisation to fuck off, and the WTO was forced to listen.
I could go on and on with hilarious anecdotes from the
day, but franky, I'm tired as hell. Suffice it to say that this was
one of the most significant days of my life. And whatever the media
may say - and I'm sure they'll focus on a few isolated incidents of "violence"
(read: property damage) - this was
a day when everyday citizens were able to seize control over their
lives and their future. I just hope this has lasting effects on our
consciousness.
Oh yeah, and if anybody needs more info (i.e. "what the
hell is the WTO?"),
let me know.
Cheers,
-Brian
-------
yet another account of the wto protest
Wed, 1 Dec 1999
From: Jonathan Oppenheim <oppenh@black-hole.physics.ubc.ca>
- long-winded and boring is where I'm at right now. The attempted shut
down is still continuing, and people can check out www.indymedia.org for
updates.
xxx
jonathan
---------------------------------
In the weeks leading up to the event many of us from Vancouver began
converging on the site to help organize the shut down.
The Direct Action Network, composed of groups from around
the world helped facilitate the organizing, and had rented a warehouse
to provide food and meeting areas.
The area around the Conference Center and paramount Theater
where the meeting and opening ceremony was to occur had been divided into
12 "pie slices", and various affinity groups organized into clusters to
claim responsibility for shutting down each of the slices.
Vancouver folks, joined by kids from Calgary and Edmonton
formed into a flying squad of about 100 people. The role of the flying
squad is to weave in and out of the crowd, providing support for any blockade
which needed more people. We had set up a communication network in
order to coordinate efforts between the 12 pie slices, and figure out which
areas to fly to.
On the actual day of the November 30th shut down (N30),
we were joined by many other kids from Vancouver and Ontario, but things
were so chaotic that we ended up splitting into smaller flying squads and
trying to coordinate our efforts using cell phones.
We began with one of the marches at 7 a.m., while some
groups began to block the area around the Paramount Theater. We quickly
left the march, and headed to the weaker back side of the Conference Center,
in the "H" slice. Once there, we joined a small crowd who had linked
arms and locked down in front of one of the motorcade routes. Just
like at APEC, it was this weak back area
that the Seattle police tried to clear first. At around 8:30,
the riot squad, decked out in gas masks, started firing canisters of tear
gas at the passive crowd. The crowd, many wearing goggles and bandanas
amazingly held their ground for some time, until the police moved in with
pepper spray and more tear gas to push everyone back. After clearing
the area, about 10 delegates were ushered between two walls of riot police.
The delegates smiled and waved at us and even snapped pictures of the crowds
on either side of them.
At around this time, the police electronically jammed
our communications network and all we could here on the radio was a recording
which kept repeating "this is bullshit, bullshit!" Fortunately, there
was a smaller network of digital cell phones, and secret channels which
we were able to still use to gather information and relay to the affinity
groups.
Later in the day the police were able to figure out some
of the channels we were using, and posed as communications people to feed
us false information. Most of the coordination ended up being spontaneous,
with people just running back and forth to try to even out the blockades.
There were also some people monitoring police scanners, and we were sometimes
able to figure out which entrances the police would try to clear.
At around 9:30 a.m. I went with some of the flying squad
to another location on the back side of the conference center, in the "E"
slice. This ended up being the second entrance that the police cleared.
This time however, people were a bit angrier after the last gassing, and
a few people had
moved dumpsters and newspaper boxes into the middle of the street to
form a barricade. The police then fired canisters of tear gas into
the crowd, but some brave folks kept throwing them back at the police.
It was like watching a tennis match, with canister after canister getting
returned. "Love-30!".
This prompted the police to fire plastic bullets into
the crowd (brian has one as a souvenir if anyone wants to see it!).
They also used paint guns and aimed assault rifles at the crowd as an intimidation
tactic. After getting shot, a protester threw a water bottle at an armored
personal carrier. For a second, I thought it was a Molotov, but it
was just Evian water. The police then pushed the crowd back, some
riot squad members using their truncheons.
We spent the rest of the day weaving in and out of hot
areas, so that the police would never know which areas were weak (we read
in an activist zine that chaos was the best tactic). Police cars and equipment
trucks were used as blockades just by waiting until they got to a strategic
location and then lying down in front of them (i saw one woman puncture
a bus's tire to form a blockade).
Throughout the day it was incredible how violent the police
were, and how restrained demonstrators were. Passive blockades were
usually cleared with tear gas (including cannisters which explode high
over a crowd and cause explosions which can be heard several blocks away).
Pepper spray (which most felt was worse than tear gas), rubber bullets,
horses and batons were also used (also rumors of stun guns). Often,
no warning would be given, and arrests were almost never made. It
was fairly obvious that the police were severely outnumbered (estimates
of the crowd tend to be at around 50,000 in the middle of the day), and
had decided that it was too much work to arrest civil disobedients (At
5 p.m., we were only aware of 15 arrests).
By noon, we had occupied downtown Seattle, and the opening
ceremonies had been delayed and then canceled. Less than 500 out
of 3000 delegates had been able to get in, and those that did get in were
often several hours late. Delegates (or anyone in a suit for that matter)
were often prevented from entering an area by a single chain of confident
protesters. Most delegates scampered around, looking frustrated,
trying to find a way inside. Some pretended to be workers looking
for their cars, tourists, reporters or observers. One even offered us his
gold watch if we would let him in. Every where they went, the delegates
were met by taunts, and people offering them photocopied dollar bills.
Some of the delegates were also tear gassed by accident (the police used
so much gas that breathing anywhere in the downtown area could sometimes
be painful).
By mid afternoon, the mayor and governor had declared
a 7 p.m. curfew, and booked the services of the national guard for the
following day. The police then began clearing a corridor along Union
St. one intersection at a time. This became increasingly difficult
as the large march of labor and environmental groups flooded the area,
and so, more tear gas was used. Union leaders had announced that
the march would not participate in civil disobedience, but a sizeable portion
of their members defied union bosses and joined us.
The police then began began to push the crowds out of
the downtown area, away from the Union St. Corridor they had created.
Some in the crowd became increasingly angry, and a few smashed store windows
and ripped out newspaper boxes. The GAP, McDonalds, Nike Town, and
Nordstroms suffered damage.
Later, a group composed mostly of fraternity brothers
and sorority sisters looking for thrills looted Starbucks, carrying out
bags of coffee.
The property damage created a fairly large rift
in the group. Most wanted to continue with the shut down for the
following day, but some were so upset over the property damage that they
wanted to cancel the shut down and instead clean up the streets.
One person suggested helping the police find the vandals. Some people
were upset that some news outlets had concentrated their coverage on the
broken windows, ignoring the physical police violence or the issues that
people were protesting (heaven forbid).
In the end, people fortunately favored another shut down
attempt and came together again, but the dynamic was a bit weird for a
bit.
All in all, I think we kicked serious korporate ass (for
one day). It was easily the most awesome show of defiance I have
ever seen, with people enduring a lot of pain in order to keep occupying
their blockades. No one was bored, not even the delegates.
j
-------
Police Attack Brutally and
Quickly
Re: yet another account of the wto protest
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999
From: veenoghu@uvic.ca
1
In the aftermath of Seattle I thought I would
post my thoughts and experiences on what happened as well.
I have quoted in full Oppenheim's for the cross-posts
that didn't get it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the last couple of weeks I had been out of the office
a lot working on Rob Fleming's City Council campaign, the Kwantlen College
CFS Referendum, the CUPE Strike and then last week the CFS National General
Meeting in Hull. I returned Monday to the peak of a campaign that had culminated
in over 400 people either already sent down to Seattle or prepared to leave
the next day.
I took care of a couple of the details I was really worried
about (grabbed walkie-talkie's & emergency cash etc) and then joined
the 250 UVic and Camosun students on the bus that left UVic at 5:30 am
for Seattle.
Our trip to Seattle was remarkably uneventful. We
travelled by bus arranged through the AFL-CIO. They paid for the
buses from Vancouver down; we paid to get to Vancouver (heavily subsidized
by the UVic Students' Society). The AFL-CIO also made some arrangements
to help get us across the border. We had faxed down everyone's name
citizenship and birthday prior to our arrival and the border guards were
friendly and quick, no hassles were given except for one student who wasn't
allowed across for undisclosed reasons.
The entire border crossing with 6 full buses, four of
whom needed to have permits issued to drive in Washington state took less
than 45 minutes.
Shortly before arriving in Seattle we started to hear
reports about the police crackdown. Kari received a phone call from
a CBC Reporter letting us know that they had tear gassed a group of protesters
and that things were pretty hairy. We reiterated our non-violent
strategy and continued our attempts to ensure everyone was well prepared
for the rally.
We arrived about 12:00 in Seattle, too late to participate
in the AFL-CIO's 10 am rally, but early enough to participate in the 12:30
March. Because of our location we ended up marching in two contingents
near the back of the crowd, one group under the blue camosun college "Save
Our Universities, Save Our Colleges" (memorable from Saturday's Chretien
crash) the other further ahead near to the International Socialist contingent.
The march moved very slowly and the several thousand orange
hatted marshalls barely kept things moving. The Teamsters, the Steelworkers
and other major US Unions all were out with lot's of cash obvious.
The Teamsters had eight 18 wheeler "protest rigs" fully painted up with
Teamster's logos and containing sound equipment and other convenience products
(microwaves, coffee etc.).
We were impressed with the number of Vancouver and Victoria
faces we recognized who hadn't travelled with us. Many of the
leadership of the various Vancouver/Victoria unions were present including
Doug Sprenger of UVic's CUPE 951 and David Ridley 1st Vice-President of
the Hospital Employee's Union, who both came over and greeted me.
We did end up near the back because of our location outside of the Stadium
and those folks marched first, but after a couple of "A.F.L.C.I.O. You
marches move Too Slow" chants, we got under way shortly after 1 pm.
Our larger contingent (beneath the camosun
banner) were quick to merge with the bus loads of Canadian Federation of
Students members from Vancouver that included several from the National
Executive. Notably Liz Carlyle Deputy Chair and Jenn Anthony the
Deputy-Chairperson Elect of the CFS (who I heard were both arrested in
demonstrations this morning).
Myself and my affinity group marched along 5 ave. North
past the space needle and then up to 4th Ave. By the time we had
reached 4th Avenue, my group had started to move much quicker than the
larger marching contingent. As a result we had an opportunity to see much
of the march. The march was very colourful with union members decked
out in coloured rain ponchos bearing their insignia's (a great idea for
a future wet february strike). members of various groups were taking on
a variety of activities to make their contingents stay motivated.
From the Sea Turtles of which there were several hundred to the Greenpeace
WTO Condom (Practice SAFE TRADE emblazened on the side) to several hundred
people carrying signs about the Zapatista's who were drumming and chanting
alternately in Spanish and English.
As we approached Pine St. a friend from Victoria came
running along opposite to the march and started to tell me what had gone
on in detail in the morning. He let me know that a number of
UVic students were at the front of the line several blocks up 4th Ave holding
back the riot cops. This student also informed me that the AFL-CIO protest
marshals were directing the demonstration away from even seeing what was
going on.
Using the two-way radios and Moving quickly I gathered
as many Uvic students as possible and we proceeded to Pine and 4th Ave.
with in the March. After a heated debate with the protest marshals
in which we attempted to move the route of the march to at least see what
was happening to the other protesters it was clear that they were making
a concerted effort to keep people safe and away from anything confrontational
(and in retrospect effective).
The Marshalls did however make some good points to me.
They explained that this demonstration was going to be a safe one in which
no one was confrontational and as such people had brought their kids and
their grandparents with them. I was as a result initially unsuccessful
in diverting the march. At the time I was under the impression that
the march route had been changed, but I now have the map of the march route
in front of me and it is clear that they marched along their original route
at least until that point.
Anyway, we went through the line of marshalls, and encouraged
others to do the same. Many of our numbers did as well and we headed
up block by block discussing our advancement every block as we moved closer
to the cops. At 4th and Union it was clear that we were a highly
confrontational zone, that cops could be closing in behind us and that
the far end of the block on fourth was completely closed by cops (4th &
University). After meeting up with several other UVic students who
had been in the rally since 7 am, they advised us of some of the conditions
and realities and we made a decision to make a foray in for ten minutes
and to stay only long enough to have a
look around.
This didn't turn out to be a possibility. We moved
directly in to the front of the line (at 4th & University) where several
riot cops were holding back protesters from entering the intersection.
Jason Loxton found a fine orange barrier to climb on top of and he surveyed
the area. I followed him up and it was clear that the police had
full control of the intersection with three separate police lines holding
back protesters and the fourth direction having already been taken over.
When I looked back at the protest rally I could see that the fluorescent
hatted marshalls had moved closer one block and that the Greenpeace condom
was coming towards us instead of turning as the marshalls had originally
suggested.
I turned around and started to talk and muse loudly about
what I saw, not addressing anyone in particular I was more making fun of
the whole situation than making any kind of motivational speech.
But, the police were not willing to allow me to speak and they prodded
me with their batons from behind and told me to get down. I did this
easily and started to try and engage them in dialogue about the WTO, or
their lives, or even why they couldn't move their eyeballs in a direction
that would allow them to see me (they were all staring away from everything).
Now these cops were King County Sherrif's dept.
They were decked out in green gear that included small fire extinguishers
of pepper spray and full face gas masks. They were carrying batons
but not shields and were backed up by others who had what looked like an
M-16 that was pointed at the feet of the crowd, a tear gas gun and several
other miscellaneous weapons that wouldn't be legal in Canada even if the
cops wanted to carry them.
About a minute after I was told to get down an officer
using a megaphone directed the crowd to move back a few feet. The
crowd responded by chanting "You Move Back" and "Our Streets Too."
These chants were meant in fun, but symbolized the expectation of those
who were protesting that they had a right to be there. People started
to sit down and it was clear no one was moving back.
The cops didn't plead, they didn't engage, they didn't
even warn us about what happened next. They waited, long enough for
me to start to absent-mindedly move away from them through the crowd and
then they attacked. Brutally, quickly and very violently. First
they pepper sprayed a huge stream of spray directed at the front of the
crowd on the left hand side of the road. Then within a few seconds
they launched a large amount of tear gas at least 4 or 5 canisters in under
a minute.
I quickly regretted not having bothered to bring a gas
mask. The pepper spray was bad enough from the distance that I was
at, but the tear gas was both frustrating, confusing and disconcerting.
Despite the peaceful tactic of sitting it was clear that it was the police's
intention to drive us backward down the street. This was successfully
effected by creating massive pandemonium. Everyone started to run,
and despite a few of us encouraging walking, the street cleared very quickly.
I retreated to try and find everyone and ensure that our group had made
it away successfully, when I turned back to look the cops had started moving
towards us.
I'm a little unclear on the next few minutes, but I do
know that we retreated successfully.. we established a place to put the
banner up and realized that although the march had come in our direction
by a block they had started to move away from us again. The Greenpeace
condom was obviously being affected by the tear gas and the group was dispersing
quickly.
The tear gas was being fired continuously and it was difficult
to breath and see what was going on. People were running away from
the cops who had been pepper sprayed and several times I directed them
to make shift eye-rinse stations. Not that there was enough water
to soothe anyones burning throats and eyes but, several people were prepared
to do first aid.
Several things happened along the way that were worth
observing. The group of protesters were almost entirely non-violent.
At one point shortly after the police started firing tear gas at us, several
protesters threw sticks back at the cops. This clearly had no good
purpose and was not hurting them at all and yet the pandemonium created
by the police's extensive use of crowd weapons, made it impossible for
us to focus on dissuading these people. In the calm before the gas,
there was no property destruction or throwing of weapons of any kind.
The banner was extremely useful in that it created a rallying point for
our folks. It was over 10 feet tall and extremely visible, this meant
we had a central place to come back to, even though we kept retreating
further away. At one point the banner was abandoned because it was
so damn heavy, but without being able to find anyone without it I went
and grabbed it again. The radios, though not as useful, also helped.
I realized that despite having only a small portion of our group with us
that nearly all of the radios had come to where we were. Kari, Summer,
John, Sarah and Meadow were all with us and Kyath's radio had long since
become relatively inoperable due to battery death.
Our group managed to come together at 4th & Pike and
figure out who we were missing. The affinity group process helped
considerably in this task, in that everyone knew exactly who they were
supposed to keep track of and whether or not they were with us at 4th &
Union. Summer and myself, then Alison and myself and finally Scott
and myself made forays back up to the police lines that were now established
on 4th at the far side of the intersection of 4th & Union in order
to find out who were missing.
According to my mother, who was watching everything on
the news at home 4th & Union later became a major standoff when the
cops decided to clear the intersection. We left before that happened
but what we did see was a large number of overturned dumpsters and garbage
cans in the street and when we went through the intersection it was clear
that protesters intended to keep control of it as long as possible.
We were scheduled to leave at 4 pm and made the busses
just in time to count everyone and get the whole crew on the road about
half an hour late. The Canadian border guards greeted us warmly on the
way home and we caught the 9 pm ferry from Tsawwassen Terminal with about
an hour to spare.
If you haven't already please check out Jonathan's report
on the WTO Shutdown following my signature and this pithy quote:
-- Noam Chomsky, American linguist
In Solidarity,
Morgan Stewart
veenoghu@uvic.ca
Chairperson of the UVic Students' Society
<http://www.uvss.uvic.ca/> Local 44 of the Canadian Federation
of Students
---------
STOP THE WTO, MY STORY, Erin Smith
This is by far the common experience which
i either witnessed or heard from almost all the other protesters
that i talked to.
don't believe that b.s. they're
trying to sell you in the corporate media. 99% of the protesters were engaged
in an effective blockade of the conference, that leaves very little time
to "riot". i only witnessed a small group of about 15 kids who specifically
set out to destroy property (of course they had no problem making the news).
i hope she doesn't mind that i took
the liberty to edit her account, i only did it for comprehension reasons.
From: Erin L Smith, n9840501@cc.wwu.edu
To: no2wto@listbot.com
No-WTO
Here is my personal account of yesterday's events
in Seattle. I didn't not have time to edit it.
STOP THE WTO, MY STORY, Erin Smith
This morning the 30th of NOV. I woke up at 6:20 am to
catch a bus paid for by the Whatcom Labor Council. The bus arrived
in Downtown Seattle at 9:30 am right on time for the lawfull AFL-CIO
rally and march.
Last night had been a night full of nervous thoughts and
sleepless tossing, after all I planned on purposefully breaking laws the
next day.
By 10:30 am my friends and I were at a peaceful rally
in Denny Park a few blocks from Memorial Stadium were the AFL-CIO rally
was getting underway.
But my friends and I have been studying the World Trade
Organization or WTO for the last month; and via that analysts we knew it
was our job as young people to bring the message of why WTO's policies
are unjust.
We had come to Seattle to participate in non-violent civil
disobedience. My study of social history had brought me to one conclusion,
that the only way to affect real change was through civil disobedience.
I was not the first to come to this realization, my vanguard
includes individuals like, abolitionist John Brown, and organizations like
the S.N.C.C. or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Also
Howard Zann a professor of history at BLANK U. came to that same awareness
in his book BLANK TITLE.
The WTO has been setting international trade regulations
since BLANK YEAR. The WTO tells our own government what sort of products
we can authorize to be bought or sold in our country, in essence setting
our own regulations. The WTO has purposefully set standards for human
rights and environmental protection below tolerable levels. It should
be noted that most WTO's decisions are usually in the best interest of
big business and greed not the everyday working person. For examples
of these WTO resolutions and settlements check out recent editions of
both the Seattle Times and PI on-line at their web sites.
By 11:40am my friends and I were on 6th street between
Pike and Pine blocking a main entrance of the Sheraton hotel. About
100 peaceful protesters had formed a human chain linking our arms together
to prevent Ministers from getting into or out of the hotel. As I
entered the area I could see small but visible clouds of CS gas (tear gas)
bellowing into the sky as protesters booed. The cops had cleared the intersection
of Sixth and Pine but our locations half way down that block seemed to
be, ok for now. We successfully kept several Ministers out the hotel
over the next 30 minutes. However my attention was drawn back to sixth
and Pine where the cops had gassed earlier by more booing. The cops
were back at it, this time using rubber bullets, pepper spray as well as
the CS gas and they were coming, my way.
It quickly became clear that the cops were going to clear
that entire block of Sixth. As I watched the Seattle Police pepper
spay my fellow protesters, my eyes began to burn and forthe first time
I comprehend that the men and women who swore to protect citizens were
gassing the citizens who were being peacefully disobedient. I was
feeling the effects of tear gas, and it was not pleasant. My eyes
teared up and my lungs and throat started to burn. In a few more
minutes the pain was nearing unbearable levels, but I was going to stand
my ground. The human chain was only at half strength by now because
the police were walking down the line spraying those who didn't leave or
didn't leave quickly enough with pepper spray. All those who had
been brave and took the spray were either on the ground weeping for mercy
or running blindly for freedom while holding their eyes and crying. I was
faced with a decision to run and avoid getting spayed but only gassed,
or stand firm get sprayed then run. My choice I regret but in the
pandemonium of the moment I ran for safety wherever that was. I found
myself heading for the intersection of Sixth and Pike. Protesters
seemed to be rallying and forming a new line at the cross walk. At
this point the gassing stopped but the cops remained.
The next hour was full of questions and high tension.
As police in full riot gear including gas masks engaged the now shocked
and confused protesters in a stare down. Two sides of the intersection
had a wall of police 3 deep, ready to use more force if that decision was
made. However as tensions calmed and the effects of the CS gas wore
off, peaceful protesters simply sat down and asked the police to remove
their masks. After some time the police did exactly that and a great
sigh of relief could be heard from the protesters. At this point
we were informed that some ministers were getting into the convention center
at Eighth and Seneca so my friends and I headed out to reinforce our diminished
numbers.
This blockade was only 30 strong but unyielding and it
included a fence. After turning away several more ministers, we were being
told of another entrance close by that was unguarded where some ministers
were getting in. By now the original 30 protesters had swelled in just
a few minutes to 70 plus. Half of this new total headed off for the
other entrance to prevent the minister from getting in there. There
were only a few police here but not one protester, we quickly took up our
positions and just in time too, more ministers were trying to get in.
But we stood firm and turned them away again, using the human chain
tactic. At this point their was word again that yet another entrance
was weak and need more numbers. My friends and I quickly ran for this new
stand off.
This time there was some 100 protesters dancing and making
music with improv drums. 30 or more police officers and 5 approaching Ministers.
By now it was widely known that the morning session had been cancelled
and that the afternoon meeting was in doubt, it was three by now and the
afternoon meeting was scheduled to start at 3 o'clock. The protest
was working, the media had
to cover it, and our issues were being heard, we had prevented the
WTO from being productive and hope to continue winning the game in a non-violent
way. At this point we linked arms in a strong human chain of 60 protesters
or so, blocking an entrance 20 yards long. With our back to the police
we faced the Ministers, blocking their entrance. Suddenly from behind
us the police were punching a hole in our line with force. I
was hit in the back with a riot club at this point, I decided to look as
peaceful as possible by standing there with my arms linked. The
police, through the hole they had forced in our line, grabbed the
Ministers.
This happen two more times in quick secession until all the nearby
ministers were helped through.
By now it was 3:45 and my friends and I had decided to make our way
back to our bus where
the AFl-CIO rally was just now ending and our bus would be leaving
with or without us at 4:30pm.
---------
Below is a link to a RealVideo which shows positively that the police
started the violence in Seattle. Note that the demonstrators are simply
standing around, drumming and chanting before the vicious attack by the
cops firing tear gas and rubber bullets. The demonstrators crime? They
didn't clear the intersection when told. SO FUCKING WHAT. The cops and
the Seattle Cheif of police and the Mayor should be arrested and put on
trial for this gross violation of human rights and gratuitous use of violence!!!
http://w3.encoding.com/imc/uploads/polic6o4y7r.ram
-------
the WTO was SHUT DOWN in seattle!
30 Nov 99
From: Yang Chang <yangc@interchange.ubc.ca>
To: apecalert-l@envirolink.org
disorientation and sometimes blackouts. by in
large, people stood their ground and none of the blockades went down completely
(that i know of).
-----------------
Nov 30 99 Report
by Tony Formo
tonyformo@jps.net
The WTO ruled that the United States may not forbid the sale of shrimp
caught without sea turtle extruder devices. The devices protect endangered
species while allowing shrimp to be caught and some Asian nations successfuly
got the WTO to rule this protection of endangered species an unfair trade
practice. Sea turtles and dirty oil from Venezuela that doesn't meet the
standards of the US Clean Air Act are the two major WTO cases that have
Americans questioning the threat of the WTO to sovereignty and local democracy.
A giant inflatable sea turtle (the green object pictured above) was along
for the parade, as well as dozens and dozens of people dressed up in sea
turtle costumes, adding to the surrealism of the event.
There were also advocates of a godzillion other causes, from ending the
US embargo of Cuba to legalizing hemp.
--------
University of Washington Rally
Tony Formo
--------