Anyone remember the WTO Seattle riot/protest?

[RandomKoolzip]

I remember this being a fairly significant news story. Does anyone who remembers it, or who perhaps participated in it, care to share their recollections (good or bad)?

[SeattleGirl]

1. How could I forget?

It started out just fine, with the marches and such.

Then, thanks to the combination of the so-called "anarchists" (idiotic, no-focus, just-wanna-cause-trouble assholes who probably had NO idea what the march was really about, or even what the WTO is), and the "over-enthusiastic" Seattle police, it ended up being really ugly. Really ugly.

All these years later, I'm still pissed off at what happened; not at the majority of people who were marching, but at those few who thought it would be just a big fucking funny idea to vandalize property, get in people's faces, and just generally bring about chaos, and at the cops who went into hyper-mode and helped bring it to absolute ugliness.

GAAAAAA!!!!!

[RandomKoolzip]

4. Did you feel as though our national security was threatened at any time?

Or were there no GLBTers at the event?

[SeattleGirl]

7. Since I just logged on to DU, I think I may have missed some things

that would put your question into context.

[jonnyblitz]

16. LMFAO!!

:rofl: you saw the stonewall threads...

[RandomKoolzip]

17. YEah, although apparently one of them got unlocked.

Still kinda perplexing why they were locked for "national security" reasons. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always pictured Stonewall as a protest about civil rights, not an attempt at overthrowing the government. Call me crazy....

[jonnyblitz]

21. it was a gay bar raid that ended up in a protest/riot . i am not

sure why the thread was locked for national security reasons but it was later unlocked. I seriously have no idea. :shrug:

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. Considering that a great deal of the protesting took place up on Capitol Hill

I'd say that "teh gayz" were very much a part of the WTO protest.

And the so called "anarchists" in ski masks were government operatives. They had nothing to do with the actual protestors, but they sure brought the cops out to play. Which was the whole idea. :grr:

[Downtown Hound]

20. I knew a lady that was at those protests

She said that weeks later she met another "protester" that actually whipped out a pay stub from the federal government with the words, "Operator" printed on it as job description. They had been hiring people weeks in advance to start riots there.

[RandomKoolzip]

23. That wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[pnorman]

26. I was at Seattle Center (on Tuesday, Day Two), and not able to actually verify the actions

of those so-called "anarchists". But considering past actions of cops, that possibility of using agent-provocateurs is very STRONG in my mind.

I was then at a monster pre-march rally in Seattle Center, under the auspices of the King County Labor Council. I recall overhearing a cell-phone conversation: "The cops are using gas!". My memory was that it was at least an hour before noon. I don't have a precise time-line handy, but it would appear that the cops were (selectively?) pro-active from the very start.

That rally fiddle-fucked for a while, and the march started at least an hour late. I suspect that was deliberate -- keep us well clear of any "messy" action. I don't recall how many thousands were in that march through downtown, but it was impressive. But what REALLY shut down that WTO, was the far larger number of unaffiliated protesters! We (the AFL-CIO) gave them plenty of "moral protection" --- had we NOT been around and in large numbers, the cops would probably have gone wild. As it was, it wasn't pretty! I recall watching video footage of cops dealing with a group that was sitting down on the pavement in silent protest. Some of those cops were pulling the improvised eye-protection clear from the faces, and squirting them in the eyes at near point-blank distances!

More later, as I dredge up old memories.

pnorman

[mondo joe]

6. You and me both. There are a lot of low income people in downtown, particularly a number

of elderly. Many were afraid to leave their homes, to see their doctors or do anything.

And a lot of small businesses were hurt, losing days of business.

[Cleita]

9. I vaguely remember a kid being interviewed on the news who

was a spokesperson for an organization called "Ruckus". He was well spoken and said that the purpose of his organization was to do just that, cause a ruckus. I never heard of them again. Were they paid protestors or just jackasses?

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Probably paid provocateurs.

[Cleita]

22. I found a link about them.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/040800-02.htm

Published on Saturday, April 8, 2000 in the San Francisco Chronicle
Graduate School for Protesters:
D.C. is next for the Ruckus Society and its well-trained troublemakers
by Janet Wells

BERKELEY - When thousands of activists converge later this month in Washington, D.C., to fray nerves and wreak havoc at the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, they will be riding a wave that began during the World Trade Organization riots last year in Seattle.
The protesters will be a diverse group of labor, environmental and social justice activists, but many will have one thing in common -- training from the Ruckus Society in Berkeley.

A sort of graduate school for the protest movement, the Ruckus Society is one of the few organizations devoted to teaching the fine art of demonstration tactics.

Working out of a bare-bones office in downtown Berkeley, the group plays a part in just about every major nonviolent direct action event in the United States and Canada, helping turn grassroots protesting into a newly chic movement using high-tech gear and high-visibility tactics.

Actor Woody Harrelson dangling from the Golden Gate Bridge in the name of old-growth forests? Brought to you by the Ruckus Society. Hanging a giant ``Buy Nothing'' banner at the Mall of America in Minnesota during the Christmas shopping rush? Ruckus-inspired. Lock down at a San Francisco school to protest the Proposition 21 juvenile crime bill? Ruckus again.

The group, started by Earth First founder Mike Roselle, moved from Bozeman, Mont., to Berkeley three years ago. Director John Sellers became one of three paid staff members, helping propel Ruckus into a surprisingly well-financed force of activism, with a $370,000 budget provided by foundation grants and public and private donations.

Sellers hopes to raise $600,000 this year and open a training center in Oakland with a climbing wall to demonstrate how to scale buildings, welding equipment to show pupils how to chain themselves together and workshop space to make giant banners, enormous puppets and other protest props.

Outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is so impressed by Ruckus' program that the company has offered to post bail for any Ruckus- trained employee who is arrested in a nonviolent action.

``They are just a great organization,'' said company spokeswoman Lu Setnicka. ``It's a very personal choice whether or not you're going to participate in an action. We want to make sure that our employees have all the tools at hand, so they are safe.''

More at link

Apparently, they claim to be non-violent so it seems those who committed violence were probably Freeper types.

[mondo joe]

11. I have a very funny memory of the first day, when things started to go south and

the vandalizing started - there was this scene on the news of a bunch of big, older union guys trying to rein it in, and there were tw or three standing with their armed crossed in front of a Starbucks. Very funny image.

[spindrifter]

2. Yes--the memories are still there.

The Seattle Police Department made a lot of tactical mistakes in handling WTO. They wore their fancy black storm trooper outfits and used aggro unnecessarily. They picked on a lot of the wrong people. It's one thing to behave like a cop around people who are actively breaking store windows. It's quite another to mace young people who are just walking around observing peaceful demonstrations. And, yes, some people won civil suits against SPD.

On the other hand, the puppetistas had great costumes.

[truedelphi]

3. I remember being in awe of that event. ANd here is what made it a big deal

The activists out in the street were able to stop the WTO meetings that would have enslaved Europe under the requirement that they open their markets with America's GMO tainted foods.

Now the USA has to give its citizens this food, while Europe can take pride in having some indie laboratories to do the testing.

OF course, since our GMO seedds are planted so extensively, and pollen is wind borne, it may all end up being a moot point anyway. You can regulate farmers, but cannot regulate pollen.

[tama]

27. Yes

and stopping the meeting probably wouldn't have succeeded without also the black block actions. That's what the liberals badmouthing anarchists refuse to give thought to, but are first to jump into the divisive tactics of state and corporate media and support state and corporate violence against people.

And what happened after Seattle? The WTO has been stalled ever since and IMF kicked out of most of 3rd world, mere shadow of it's past. That's a huge victory, after Seattle the anti-capitalist movement grew so fast so stron that a major distraction just had to happen - 9/11, wars and the movement morphed into toothless and frustrating anti-war movement.

[truedelphi]

28. Funny thing was,

It was eighteen months AFTER the protests that I even found out about the good things that resulted from the protests.

And so many here and on other "progressive" blogs refuse to understand the issues.

[mondo joe]

5. Vividly. And I still remember being very pissed off at the idiots who vandalized and

fucked with downtown Seattle.

They didn't hurt McDonalds - they hurt and caused great fear for a lot of low income, elderly people and small businesses.

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Yes, of course. Not everyone who had a legitimate grievance behaved well.

[meegbear]

12. I remember reading they trashed an FAO Shwartz store ...

and someone spraypainted "Barbie Kills" on a wall. I thought it was funny, but that's just me.

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. I marched, and I got teargassed

I work in downtown Seattle, and left work early to join the march. I left as the anarchists were starting to get out of hand, up to my apartment on Capitol Hill. That night, and for two nights after, people and police clashed pretty much outside my front door. I had gone out one night with some friends when the "riot" (read: fascist state) caught us out. We were ordered home and tried to comply; unfortunately, that required that we go in a direction the police did not want, and we were teargassed for our efforts. One of my friends was shot at point-blank range with a "bean bag grenade" that cracked two of his ribs. Latter that night, the police teargassed a parking lot next door to my building, sending several of our residents and the residents of neighboring apartment buildings to the hospital.

[cabluedem]

15. We need more civil disobiedince like that. This is a nation of sheep getting sheared. nt

[mondo joe]

25. The first day was amazing. I remember seeing the labor union people, the turtle people

and everyone else - all these diverse groups together. It felt like some kind of liberal paradise.

[truedelphi]

29. I remember one of the early "Iraq I" protests being like that

A Saturday in February of 1991. The entire Marin ferry into San Francisco was all anti-war protesters.

I got claustrophobic - the crowding was so intense. I assured myself that once we landed and I was on the city streets, I'd have more room.

But it never let up. SO many throngs of people, adults, kids, dogs, banners, gflags, kites etc.
And in the end my Claustrophobia left.

Someone who was an expert on crowd statistics was up in a plane or helicopter, and he reported that there was 1.1 million people involved!!

[snooper2]

14. FAIL...

Now, if you had posted....


Remember the WTO Seattle riot!

Sometimes you just have to fucking TAKE what's yours!


Context would have got it locked....nice try though......

[pnorman]

18. Living in downtown Seattle, I was able to observe it close up, all during that historic week.

I'll see if I can find some of my old notes & emails from that period. But below was a posting from a good friend and activist union brother, on a union-related listserve we were both members of at that time:

******************************************************************************************
Thanks for a great post, Paul!

I wish I had been there yesterday! I was hoping to see you at the Labor
Council on Wednesday. When I got there, I found the meeting cancelled, but
ran into some good brothers from the Inlandboatmen's Union, with whom I
headed down to the WTO teach-in at 1st Methodist.

Driving through downtown was WEIRD! Phalanxes of robo-cops everywhere.
Periodically we were able to see large crowds blocked by lines of cops a
block or two away. We (bunch of middle aged guys on wheels) were directed
through the downtown core without incident, and from inside the martial law
area we could see the WTO delegates going about their Christmas shopping
undisturbed by the local riff-raff. After all, the state and city put an army
at their disposal.

We had some chow with a crowd largely of Steelworkers from out of town, when
one of the IBU brothers got a call from an IBU member out at Sand Point, who
said that the 500 people arrested that morning were being held in buses at
the old Naval Station brig without food, water or access to toilet
facilities.

We organized a small trainload of bagels, bread, and water, and headed out.
Upon arrival, we found that, sure enough, the arrestees had been held on the
busses for thirteen hours, with nothing to eat or drink, or any way to
relieve themselves. We talked to the cops, who said that the arrestees
refused to be separated for "processing" (prudent!) and that they would be
fed when they did. They bluntly refused to let us pass out the food and water.

We stuck around till 1:00 AM, figuring that in the cops current mood, police
brutality was not beyond the realm of possibility, and that we should be
witnesses. About midnight, the police began moving the busses around the
building to the front door. They placed cops with rifles in a perimeter
around the busses, and proceeded to forcibly remove the demonstrators.

Unable to see or do anything, we left at that point. We know that they have
been taken to King County Jail, which has been surrounded by demonstrators
demanding their release since Thursday. Are they still there this morning,
Paul?

I got the word, late last night, that the WTO conference has ended without an
agreement!!!
Never doubt that that failure was not about specific trade or agricultural
issues. It was about exposing what these bastards are trying to do to the
clear light of day. The whole world was watching, and they COULD NOT present
us with an undemocratic fait accompli.

Any of you who saw those Asian delegates (from countries never specified) on
the news, bitching about what a disgrace it was that we could demonstate
against them with (relative) impunity, showed the true face of the WTO. In
their countries, interfere with the free movement of commodities and capital
in the name of silly ideas like labor standards, human rights and
environmental protection, and you will die, as so many have before.

This is a victory for every worker on God's green earth, brothers and
sisters, and it wasn't just our labor march (and damn sure not our nicey nice
behavior) that sent the pirates home empty handed. We made a difference, but
it was those tens of thousands of kids "pushing the envelope" that brought
the whole world to it's feet and made it take notice.

The question is, did we just "want to be heard at the table" as the media
kept saying about us, the "good" demonstrators? Or do we want to stop the
masters of the world from divvying it up with no regard for or livelihoods,
our rights, or the very air we breathe? If we are serious, we have to take
our allies where we find them.

We have given the WTO a major setback this week. We have shown that it can be
done. Now let's shut the bastards down
*****************************************************************************

pnorman

[Missy Vixen]

24. Yes

We are Seattle natives. We weren't there, but our grandma and grandpa were. They participated in the march, but they weren't pepper sprayed. We didn't know they were even there until later that day when they called to say so.

I was up all night listening to the radio re: what was happening in Seattle.

I don't think I'll ever forget it.
Julie

[pnorman]

30. "The Battle in Seattle: The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations by Janet Thomas"

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Book Description

Between 40,000 and 60,000 people protested against the World Trade Organization's Third Ministerial on November 30, 1999. They converged on Seattle to express their concerns about the power of corporations, globalization, and the gap between fantasies of the good life and the real lives of working people everywhere.

Energized by her own participation in the protests, Seattle writer Janet Thomas was determined to present a view of the events that went beyond the facile coverage of the media. She interviewed many of the participants and has created portraits of modern civil disobedience that will serve as an inspiration for all people concerned about the homogenization of daily life and the disparity between rich and poor around the globe.

By concentrating on both the personalities and the issues, The Battle in Seattle serves as a corrective to all those who believe that the protesters expressed their beliefs in vain. Janet Thomas is a published author and a playwright, and has a long history of participation in civic and environmental issues. She lives on San Juan Island in Washington.
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http://www.mapcruzin.com/rev_battle_seattle.htm

The book is available at Amazon at a very reasonable price. Seriously considering ordering it, if you're interested in how such mass demonstrations can sometimes have great effects.

pnorman
PS: That WTO Week lasted long in the public consciousness here. For many months afterward, people would "recognize" each other on the street --- sometimes by face recognition, but more usually just by the wearing of a political button. And then they'd stop to chat like old friends, for several minutes or even more. Even assuming that the authorities employed NO agent-provocateurs (a far stretch!), it was still an event that ALL here on DU should enthusiastically applaud. I shake my head in wonder, at those here who prissily distance themselves from the 'horrid" aspects of it.