What I Learned At The WTO Protests In Seattle...
by Pete Tridish,

A Ruckus I Couldn't Miss:

What I Learned At The WTO Protests In Seattle...
by Pete Tridish,

A Ruckus I Couldn't Miss

Showdown in Seattle, the WTO, the Protest of the Century… Well, it’s been more than a month since the exciting events in Seattle. Many of us who wre there are still energized by it, but there’s no mistaking the sense that it’s all fading away. What seemed so remarkable and so unprecedented on November 30, the physical stopping of the WTO meeting by thousands of protesters clogging the streets of Seattle, has been reported, discussed, analyzed, argued, categorized, marginalized, and subjected to the self-serving spin of everyone from network pundits to leftist militants.

GATT: Rich Men Attempt to Officially Take Control of Everything

[This commentary published in the June/July, 1994 edition of the Washington Free Press.]

The law officially requiring all tuna sold in the United States to be dolphin-safe was only in effect one week before those wonderful rich men associated with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) declared it illegal. They claim the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has reduced the dolphin kill from 500,000 annually to 4,000 in 1993, is an illegal, non-tariff barrier to trade.

The (No Longer) Phantom Menace

[published/posted Nov 29, 1999 in Raptorial 'zine]

As you know by now, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a broad-based, extremely powerful institution that wants to influence and/or trump the rules sovereign governments have created to run their nations. The WTO favors wealth and profit over things such as the environment, human rights, and unionized labor. The WTO has operated behind closed doors since its inception five years ago and, unfortunately for all of us, it has never developed anything resembling a conscience.

A Phoenix Will Rise and Vanquish the WTO
Former members of Dead Kennedys, Nirvana, and Soundgarden will once again take up arms (aka instruments) as the "No-WTO Combo"

concert preview by Mattro

[published/posted Nov 25, 1999, in Raptorial 'zine]

-------------------------------------
No-WTO Combo
(opening for)
Spearhead
Tuesday, November 30th
8pm $12-
Showbox Theater
1426 First, Seattle
(206) 628-3151
-------------------------------------

The Battle of Seattle
Hey protestors: Have your soundbites ready!

by Mattro

[published Nov 20, 1999 in Raptorial 'zine]

An old tradition is coming to the United States. Publicly demonstrating against the periodic World Trade Organization meeting of fat cat billionaires (and the politicos who enable them) who seek to make the world a safer place to become rich beyond reason or sanity. The WTO gathering (a spin-off of the GATT) will take place Nov 30 - Dec 3 in Seattle, WA, USA. This is the first time the meeting has taken place in North America.

I went to the WTO protests in Seattle in November, 1999 somewhat reluctantly. I had many commitments at home, my stepdaughter was in town that weekend for Thanksgiving, and I had lots of leftover pie to finish. But I knew some of the organizers, old friends from many years of nonviolent direct action campaigns against nuclear weapons, militarism, and other forms of injustice. And I had a posse of friends coming from up and down the West Coast—many of us veterans of those same campaigns going back to the Diablo Canyon blockade in 1981.

I'm a Canadian who in 1998-99 was in Australia working for Greenpeace from which I got fired for organizing their fundraisers into anti-uranium mining, which was a huge issue with dozens of mines opening up around Australia to make it the main supplier of uranium to the world. Getting fired propelled me into RTS (Reclaim The Streets) and EarthFirst!, both of which have a huge historic grounding in Australia.

Over the course of the year leading up to the Seattle WTO Protests in November/December 1999, I was involved in five different groups, each of which had its own founding principles, strategic guidelines and organizational narratives assisting the writing of their respective members into the common story of the unfolding events: mine were the Industrial Workers of the World, Direct Action Network, Workers and Students For a Walkout Network, Seattle Tenant's Union and Seattle Anarchist Response.