by Henry Robertson Seattle
November 29, 1999…
It is definitely not business as usual in this Pacific Rim port. Ordinarily the news would not elicit much interest; a Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO)is due to commence tomorrow—that and a cup of Starbuck’s might jolt you awake. But today it seems like every time you turn a corner there’s a protest march in progress. The mood on the streets is a strange mix—festive, angry, and anxious.
I’m here with four other St. Louisans, one of thousands of contingents, large and small, that have filtered into the City of Software from all over the world. There are union delegations in uniform jackets and young radicals in all their body–pierced, hair–dyed, ragged anti–glory. There are environmentalists, anarchists, human and indigenous and animal rights activists. Tomorrow we’ll all be on the streets together for the main event, over 50,000 strong—and we will shut down the opening day of the WTO meeting.
You must admit it’s impressive to have so many diverse people gathering over something as arcane and dry as dust as the WTO, a body designed to set rules and arbitrate disputes in international trade. But everyone here has some grievance against its mission of leveling all barriers to the movement of goods and capital.
It will level a lot of ecosystems, too. By churning up trade in wood and paper it will level forests as fast as the chip mills. The WTO condemns US laws against fishing methods that kill dolphins and sea turtles as barriers to free trade.
Every country that joins the WTO gives up part of its sovereignty. If the WTO declares that its laws are illegal trade barriers, it is obligated to change those laws. If it doesn’t, then any country that has brought a successful complaint against it may be allowed to slap retaliatory duties on its exports, as the US did against the European Union in a dispute over bananas.
Intellectual property rights, including patents on genes and life forms, must be enforced everywhere, threatening the diversity of locally adapted crops while prying open new markets for agribusiness chemicals.
Increased global traffic means increased air pollution. Poor countries are promised accelerated development if they produce for the rich nations. How glutted must the rich countries become before the poor are allowed to prosper?
Tuesday, November 30… Bedraggled environmentalists gather in a small park for a pep rally sponsored by the Sierra Club. From there we proceed to a football stadium where labor is assembling its contingent, over 20,000 union members. We listen to more speeches; meanwhile, without our knowing it, people are being teargassed downtown.
The big march is peaceful and upbeat, with an exhilarating feeling of being a part of history. Everyone knew this was going to happen yet it seems to have caught everyone by surprise—not least the police.
Confusion strikes when the Steelworkers leave the line of march prematurely. Apparently they’ve made their point and don’t want to be too closely associated with the rest of us. It’s no secret that we’re not all on the same page of the hymnal here. Some think the WTO can be reformed by incorporating labor and environmental concerns into its processes. Others believe that, given its origin and purpose, it is irredeemable. In soundbite terminology, “Fix it or nix it?”
The leading edge of the march pulls up to the theater where the WTO opening ceremony is to be held. Delegations from Korea and the Philippines come dancing up with banners flying, traditional drums beating, and cymbals clashing; another group flies a banner for Tibet. Someone from the Philippines strikes up “The Internationale.” My friends and I are within a few ranks of the riot police lined up just outside the theater with shields, plastic visors, and the long sticks. The standoff ends uneventfully but the opening ceremony is canceled.
By midafternoon the march has broken up, with some groups trying to find a way to slip through the police cordon around the World Trade Center where the WTO will meet.
The police, caught unprepared, overreact. We come upon an intersection blocked by three rows of seated protesters. A police sergeant parleys with them for permission to pass through and relieve his men; they relent. Then more policemen come up with a van. This time they don’t ask; they wade in and start dragging the demonstrators aside, swinging their nightsticks. A couple of protesters are left bloodied on the pavement. In the distance we can see a fire burning in the street.
Evening finds us in a hotel bar watching the local news coverage on TV. There has been some window–breaking and looting; the camera focuses on a newspaper vending machine burning in the street. Darkness adds an air of drama to scenes of police backed up by armored cars “taking the streets back One block at a time.”
The destruction is blamed on a small faction of nihilistic anarchists and opportunistic local toughs looking to get in on the action. That’s what it takes to get the media’s attention
The talks broke down from internal discord as well when Third World delegates, encouraged by the voices of protest, refused to sign up for a process they felt excluded them. It’s safe to say we got the WTO’s attention. Our message was that the pursuit of material wealth and financial power through unbridled trade comes at too high a human and environmental cost. In Seattle we marched against this greater destruction.