WTO Day One: A New Hope

by Mattro

[published/posted Nov 30, 1999 in Raptorial 'zine]

I had pepper spray for breakfast and tear gas with concussion bombs for dinner today. 10 hours of activism and I am sore.

Now I'm home watching the TV version of what I experienced. The media seems to be dwelling on the dozen or so anarchist agitators and other hardcore protestors who are fucking shit up unapologetically. Somehow all the trained news camera people and news editors missed the real story: tens of thousands of people from all over the states and all over the world marching together in a unified demonstration against unrestricted corporatization of our beautiful but ailing planet.

Here's some of what I saw: 65,000+ people swarming the streets of Seattle... 99% peaceful, 100% beautiful. (How do I figure it was that many people? I've been in Seattle after a sold out Mariners game gets out-- there were easily more people on the streets today than there are seats in the Kingdome... about 64,000) Of course, media is reporting the crowd was only 20,000 - 35,000, a total mistruth.

As I watched the protest crowd gathering around the Convention Center this morning, I was impressed by the level of preparation and creativity that went into all the costumes, floats, signs and theatrics. The citizens massing in the streets of Seattle new why they were there and had been planning their statement for a very long time. Though the topic at hand was serious, the overall vibe of the crowd was festive and positive... like Mardi Gras, only without the alcohol.

I cannot overstate the wonderous vibe I felt watching labor unions, human rights activists, artists, and environmentalists coming together for a unified cause. If this unification can be sustained, the rich and undemocratic-minded folk of our world truly have much to fear. I spent much of today walking around smiling and totally inspired by my fellow humans.

My smile faded on occasion like when I had my first whiff of pepper spray around 9am (it's not good to smile when a cloud of pepper vapor hits you in the face). The police began pushing outward from the Convention Center down Pike Street. They silently prodded the crowd along with short expulsions of pepper spray from little black fire extinguisher-like devices. Many members of the crowd screamed in pain and ran, others fell back and sat down in the next available intersection. The situation became tense for a time as the police held their line at Sixth and Pike and brought in one of their "peacekeeper" crowd control vehicles. There were at least a dozen people with TV and/or home video cameras between the police and the protestors.

By this time, the substantial crowd filled every available space for a block in any direction of the police line. They peacefully sat or stood in front of the line and chanted slogans (such as "no more violence!") over and over. After 30 minutes or so, things calmed a bit and I decided the situation at this intersection had reached a stalemate. My thoughts turned to heading to Seattle Center for the 10 am union rally there (I had been downtown for 2.5 hours already and all was peaceful). Based on other large protests I had attended in Seattle (and all the video cameras present), I had no reason to believe any police violence was about to ensue. I left downtown Seattle at 9:45am to join the crowd gathering at Memorial Stadium. After a morning of performance art protest and arm-locking, I was in the mood to hear some of the speeches labor and enviro-folk were giving on the other side of town. About 15 minutes after I left, police began gassing and pepper spraying all the peaceful folk I had just been standing with at Sixth and Pike. I have seen videotape of what happened there just after I left and it is ugly.

This is when the crowd became upset. It's hard NOT to be pissed off with a face full of tear gas as you gasp for air and fight off the urge to vomit. Or after a rubber bullet has hit you in the head causing you to bleed all over yourself. I don't condone the vandalism that then ensued, but I certainly understand the rage that provoked it.

I was tear-gassed later when I returned to Seattle by way of the union march. This was around 3pm. Typically this is how the gassing went: If you were lucky, a cop would make a brief announcement (barely audible) through a crackly megaphone. About five minutes after announcing we protestors were in violation of City laws, police would fire concussion bombs and chemical irritants UNPROVOKED upon peaceful demonstrators for nothing more than 'failure to disperse'. In one specific incident I saw- the police wanted to move the crowd from Fourth & Union back to Fourth & Pike. Why? I don't know... police exercise, maybe? This scale of demonstration opportunity doesn't come to Seattle very often. The protestors had been occupying that entire block for hours. I remained at Fourth & Pike for another 45 minutes (and another five rounds of tear gassing / concussion bombing) before embarking on a quest to find a Metro bus line that hadn't been canceled already (I ended up having to walk 1.5 miles North out of downtown before finding one).

Tonight there are National Guard divisions on the way to Seattle. There is a curfew underway from 7pm to dawn. A "state of emergency" has been declared by Seattle Mayor Schell and Washington Governor Locke.

The WTO organizers have the ability to stop all this chaos with one simple announcement. Tomorrow, if the WTO announces they will open their institution to some sort of binding democratic input from the common people... the riots would turn to parties and that would be that. This is ALL approximately 99% of the crowd wants to accomplish with their protests anyway: a simple announcement by the WTO admitting they have been doing their business wrong for the past 5 years and that they will correct the problem.

The whole world is watching. What are you seeing?
Write back and let me know.

From Seattle,
Mattro