November's World Trade Organization summit in Seattle is shaping up to be the mother of all political demonstrations

[Chuck0 <chuck@tao.ca>]

[: hacktivism :]

Trade winds
November's World Trade Organization summit in Seattle is shaping up to
be the
mother of all political demonstrations
by Jason Gay
BOSTON PHOENIX
http://www.bostonphoenix.com:80/archive/features/99/10/07/SEATTLE.html

When President Clinton and bigwigs from more than 100 nations hit
Seattle in late November to discuss the global economy at the World
Trade
Organization's annual summit, they'll be greeted by a bit more than
spiffy
fruit baskets in their hotel suites.
        Awaiting the WTO delegates will be a sea of protesters, ranging
from labor
unionists to Marxist environmentalists to anarchists. Tens of thousands
of
activists from the US and abroad are expected to descend on the city to
condemn
the WTO's role in promoting economic globalization -- and to decry what
they
see as the trampling of worker rights and the environment.
        And these activists aren't just going to march downtown and wave
a few
banners. Seattle's WTO summit is shaping up to be the Super Bowl of
progressive
rabble-rousing: activists want to block highways, take over tunnels, and
chain themselves to doorways. The AFL-CIO has rented the Kingdome --
seating
capacity 65,000-plus -- for a rally. Other activists plan to infiltrate
WTO
meetings, parade puppets through the streets, sing songs, and maybe even
throw
a few whipped-cream pies.
        The short-term goal: a clever brand of chaos. The long-term
goal: to change
attitudes about globalization and fair trade.
        "It's a historic confrontation between civil society and
corporate rule," says
Michael Dolan, an organizer with Public Citizen, Ralph Nader's
Washington,
DC-based consumer group. Adds Jeremy Madsen of the Seattle-based People
for
Fair Trade: "There's never been anything like this, ever."
        What makes the WTO such a target? Essentially, its role in
promoting
globalized trade. The four-year-old organization, which has 134 member
countries, acts as a forum for conducting international trade
negotiations,
administering trade agreements, reviewing national trade policies, and
settling
disputes. Because the governments of member nations (and, of course,
multinational corporations) want to make international commerce more
efficient,
the organization has streamlined, and in some cases eliminated, many
trade
barriers and regulations to allow for a freer flow of imports and
exports.
        Proponents argue that by boosting business, the WTO's
trade-friendly policies
have lowered unemployment and raised standards of living in many
countries,
<br>including the US. But critics say that the resulting "corporate
globalism"
sacrifices local regulatory control, dangerously weakening protections
for
workers and the environment. As an example, they point out that the WTO
opposes
local trade bans on nations accused of human-rights abuses.
        "Governments are meeting at the behest of corporate
bureaucrats," says
Denis Moynihan, a Jamaica Plain labor activist who plans on going to
Seattle. "The WTO represents a further attempt to consolidate corporate
power on a global scale -- to expand the style of actions like NAFTA
[the North
American Free Trade Agreement]."
        Adding to the Seattle buzz is the WTO's guest list. In addition
to President
Clinton, the summit is expected to attract trade ministers from nearly
every
corner of the earth. Even Fidel Castro -- whose country doesn't belong
to the
WTO -- is rumored to be coming. And since big business has a major stake
in the
WTO's agenda, there will be a substantial corporate presence. Much of
the
five-day event is being underwritten by Washington State corporate
kingpins
such as Boeing and Microsoft; Bill Gates is on the city's host
committee.
        Those names only get activists more excited. "Seattle could be
the birthplace
of a mass movement against corporate globalism in the US," says Mike
Prokosch,
an organizer with the Boston office of the labor-activist group United
for
a Fair Economy, who is also going to the WTO summit. "The WTO meeting
gives us
an opportunity to pull together all the labor activists, food-safety
groups,
consumers, students, immigrants -- everyone."
        The WTO is getting used to this kind of reaction. From the
first, it's been a
lightning rod for protest, particularly in Europe and in developing
countries
such as India, where globalization has caused rapid change. A WTO summit
in
Geneva drew more than 5000 activists and was plagued by disruptions
ranging
from small property damage to the overturning of a delegate's car.
        Hearing this, you have to wonder what the WTO was thinking when
it selected
Seattle as the site for this year's meeting. Though the Puget Sound
region does
have deep ties to international commerce (one in four local jobs is tied
to
either importing or exporting), it's also knee-deep in well-networked
activists, many of whom are veterans of lengthy disputes with the timber
industry, among other things. It's a bus trip away from the progressive
hotbeds
of Vancouver, Portland, Eugene, and San Francisco. And recently,
officials of
Seattle and surrounding King County passed resolutions making the area
an
"MAI-free zone," meaning it will not abide by the kind of multilateral
agreements on investment endorsed by the WTO.
        "I think it's incredible for [the WTO] to have chosen this
place," says John
Sellers, the coordinator of the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society, which
teaches
nonviolent protest techniques to activist groups. "I'm hoping that
they've made
a huge blunder here, and by stepping onto our home court, we can thump
them
pretty good."
        Activists have already succeeded in whipping up a surprising
amount of
national attention. They've coined an ominous-sounding buzzword -- N30
--
for the big round of protests on November 30. Law-enforcement agencies
are
paying close attention. WTO officials now want to hold a "parallel
summit" to
address activist concerns. N30 activists have even landed on the front
page of
the Wall Street Journal.
        And the protesters are in *training*. Last month, the Ruckus
Society
hosted a week-long boot camp specifically for WTO-summit protesters at a
20-acre organic farm in Washington. Called the Globalize This! Action
Camp, the
event drew more than 100 activists and featured speeches, strategy
sessions,
and physical drills in preparation for N30 events. Campers dined on
vegetarian
meals, brushed up on diplomatic skills such as communicating with police
and
the media, and practiced feats including wall climbing, rappelling, and
using
their own bodies as barriers. (Another skill taught at the Ruckus camp
was the
"puppy pile," in which protesters jump on anyone being attacked by a
police
officer, so as to create a human shield.)
        Denis Moynihan, who attended the camp, says the logistical tips
will come in
handy November 30. "Trying to plan a mass civil disobedience for the
hour
President Clinton is going to be speaking is pretty audacious," he
says.<p>
        Traditional activist marches involve a large mass of people
occupying a single
area, but Moynihan says that N30 activists will break into smaller, more
mobile
"affinity groups" and scatter themselves around the city. Each group
will have
its own "direct action" goal -- raising a banner, for example, or
blocking a
street -- and will be accompanied by a video-camera-toting documentarian
who will record the group's activities (as well as any conflicts with
authorities).
        The idea is to create so much disruption in so many places
around Seattle that
it will throw the WTO meeting into disorder -- or, better yet, shut it
down
completely. "I hope enough people go in November that they can kick the
WTO out
of this country," says Moynihan. Public Citizen's Mike Dolan isn't sure
the
protesters will be able to boot out the WTO, but he's certain they can
make
their presence felt: "We'll guarantee that the political elites will be
very,
very aware of [our] fair-trade agenda and, moreover, that the slavering
minions
of the philistine press lords will also understand the fair-trade
agenda."
        At the very least, the activists wanna have fun. Think of a
Mardi Gras parade
with attitude: there will be music, art, street-theater performances,
and
parades of papier-mache puppets representing WTO heavyweights.
There's talk of a "confrontational cuddle," where pajama-clad protesters
close
down a street with a politically correct group hug. Celebrity
corpo-basher
Michael Moore will be on hand, if only because the WTO's chief, a New
Zealander, is also named Michael Moore. And though no one's publicly
pledging
to throw pies in WTO delegates' faces, members of the infamous Biotic
Baking
Parade (who have "pied" officials in the past) were at September's
Ruckus
camp.
        N30 organizers say they are making every effort to keep direct
actions pointed
but nonviolent -- this is civil disobedience with an emphasis on
"civil." That
could be a tall order, though. This past summer, members of a rebellious
sect
of "primitivist anarchists" wreaked havoc at an anarchist convention in
Eugene,
Oregon, smashing store windows and damaging automobiles. The same group
is
making noise about another ugly showdown in Seattle, but even fellow
anarchists
hope they chill out.
        "Riots happen," says Mark Laskey, a volunteer at the Lucy
Parsons Center
radical bookstore in the South End and an editor of *We Dare Be Free*, a
local anarchist newspaper. "But I don't know if pompously promoting that
one is
going to happen is the way to go. It doesn't seem tactically smart."
        And there will be plenty of people prepared to stop a riot
should one occur.
Throughout the summit, Seattle will be patrolled by local and state
police as
well as the Secret Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms, and a gallimaufry of security entourages protecting foreign
delegates. Several N30 organizers have already met with Seattle police
to
discuss strategy and clear the air. "That's part of our normal job,"
says
Seattle police spokesperson Pam McCammon. "Seattle is known for having
pretty
good relationships [with protesters] and allowing people to speak their
minds
as long as they don't put other people at risk."
        For activists, a lot is on the line. Some organizers believe
that if the N30
protest goes successfully, it could trigger a rebirth of progressive
activism
in this country, especially around the issues of labor and corporate
greed.
Prior to the summit, traveling caravans will crisscross the country,
stopping
in cities and holding teach-ins on the WTO and the globalized economy.
Satellite protests will be held in dozens of cities; Boston's is
scheduled for
December 1. "This is much larger than the WTO," says Ruckus Society
coordinator
John Sellers. "The WTO has afforded us this incredible opportunity and
hung its
ass out for us, but this is also about the corpo-tocracy that is going
into the
last untouched places on this planet and threatening the last indigenous
communities."
        "This is just the beginning of this movement," agrees Mike
Prokosch of United
for a Fair Economy. "We have a lot of catching up to do, but we're
gaining."

Jason Gay can be reached at jgay@phx.com.



-- 
Chuck0

Alternative Press Review
http://flag.blackened.net/apr/

Free Leonard Peltier!

"A society is a healthy society only to the degree 
that it exhibits anarchistic traits." 
        - Jens Bjørneboe

[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]