WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity

On November 30, 1999, the World Trade Organization convened in Seattle, Washington, USA, for the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 that was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations. The negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests outside the hotels and convention center, in what became the coming-out of the anti-globalization movement in the United States. The scale of the demonstrations—even the lowest estimates put the crowd at over 40,000—dwarfed any previous demonstration in the United States against a world meeting of any of the organizations generally associated with economic globalization (such as the WTO, the IMF, or the World Bank). The events are sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Seattle."

Organizations and planning

Planning for the demonstrations began months in advance and included local, national, and internationational organizations. Among the most notable participants were national and international NGOs (especially those concerned with labor issues, the environment, and consumer protection), labor unions (including the AFL-CIO), student groups, religiously-based groups (Jubilee 2000), and anarchists (some of whom formed a black bloc).

The coalition was loose, with some opponent groups focused on opposition to WTO policies (especially those related to free trade), with others motivated by pro-Labor, anti-Capitalist, or environmental agendas. Many of the NGOs represented at the protests came with credentials to participate in the official meetings, while also planning various educational and press events. The AFL-CIO, with cooperation from its member unions, organized a large permitted rally and march from Seattle Center to downtown.

Others, however, were more interested in taking direct action including both civil disobedience and acts of vandalism and property destruction to disrupt the meeting. Several groups were loosely organized together under the now defunct Direct Action Network (DAN), with a plan to disrupt the meetings by blocking streets and intersections downtown to prevent delegates from reaching the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, where the meeting was to be held.

Certain activists, most notably a group of mostly-young anarchists from Eugene, Oregon (where anarchists had rioted that summer), advocated more confrontational tactics, and planned and conducted deliberate vandalism of properties in downtown Seattle.

"N30"

At 5:00 A.M. on the morning of November 30th, the Direct Action Network's plan was put into action. Several hundred activists arrived in the deserted streets near the convention center and began to take control of key intersections. Over the next few hours, a number of marchers began to converge on the area from different directions. These included a student march from the north and a march of citizens of the developing world who marched in from the south. Some demonstrators held rallies, others held teach-ins and at least one group staged an early-morning street party. Meanwhile, a number of protestors still controlled the intersections using lockdown formations.

The control of the intersections, plus the sheer numbers of protestors in the area, prevented delegates from getting from their hotels to the Convention Center. It also had the effect of cutting the police forces in two: the police who had formed a cordon around the convention center were completely cut off from the rest of the city. The police outside of the area eventually decided to attempt to break through the protestors' lines in the south.

The situation was complicated around noon, when black-clad anarchists (in a formation known as a black bloc) began smashing windows and decorating storefronts, beginning with Fox's Gem Shop. This produced some of the most famous and controversial images of the protests (one particularly widely-distributed photo showed a Nike-wearing anarchist decorating Niketown). This set off a chain-reaction of sorts, with additional protestors pushing dumpsters into the middle of intersections and lighting them on fire, police vehicles turned-over, non-black-blockers joining in the property destruction, and a general disruption of all commercial activity in downtown Seattle. One of the goals of the demonstrations was to make it known that there would be "no business as usual," and to make people look at what was going on. Anarchists targeted corporate and chain businesses intending to leave local businesses alone.

Other protestors attempted to physically block the activities of the black bloc. Seattle police, led by Chief Norm Stamper, did not react immediately, however, because they had been convinced by protest organizers during the protest-permit process that peaceful organizers would quell these kinds of activities.

The police were eventually totally overwhelmed by the mass of protestors downtown, including many who had chained themselves together and were blocking intersections. Meanwhile, the late-morning labor-organized rally and march drew tens of thousands; though the intended march route had them turning back before they reached the convention center, most ignored the marshals and joined what had become a street-carnival-like scene downtown.

That afternoon, the Seattle police fired tear gas canisters into a crowd at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Union Street. The crowd threw them back. By late evening, they were also shooting demonstrators with rubber bullets and pepper spray in an attempt to reopen the blocked streets and allow as many WTO delegates as possible through the blockade.

The opening of the meetings was delayed, and it took police much of the afternoon and evening to clear the streets. Seattle mayor Paul Schell imposed a curfew and a 50-block "No-Protest Zone".

Over 600 people were arrested over the next few days. One particularly violent confrontation occurred the evening of December 1, when police pursued protestors fleeing from downtown into the bohemian neighborhood of Capitol Hill, using tear gas, pepper spray, and physical force. A police order that day also banned the use or sale of gas masks downtown, provoking criticism. ^*

Aftermath

The conclusion by many in Seattle was that the WTO convention was not worth hosting due to the economic damage caused by the protests. Controversy over the city's response to the protests resulted in the resignation of Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, and arguably played a role in Schell's loss to Greg Nickels and Mark Sidran in the 2001 mayoral primary election.

Similar tactics, on the part of both police and protesters, were repeated at subsequent meetings of the WTO, IMF/World Bank, Free Trade Area of the Americas, and other international organizations.

The long-term impacts on WTO policies remain decidedly unclear, and it is an open question whether the WTO's actions since that time have been influenced significantly by these events.

To many in anarchist and radical circles the Seattle WTO riots, protests and demonstrations was a success and is something that is looked on as one of the most recent victories in the U.S. It is perceived as having been a success because talks were delayed.

On January 16, 2004, the city settled with 157 individuals arrested outside of the so-called no-protest zone during the WTO events, agreeing to pay them a total of $250,000.

Influences on popular culture

Several punk rock bands have shown support for the anti-globalization movement in the aftermath, such as Anti-Flag (whose song "Seattle Was A Riot" was based on the events of the protest), Pennywise (who wrote the song "WTO" in protest to their actions) and Against Me! (whose song "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" refers repeatedly to the riots, albeit sarcastically). Also, Rage Against the Machine used footage of the protests and subsequent police actions in their music video of 1999 song "Sleep Now in the Fire". Additionally, the band Leftover Crack released a CD in 2005 entitled 'Fuck World Trade' and have, with the Crack Rock Steady 7, repeatedly shown their support for the riots and the anti-globalization movement. This may have been inspired by the No WTO Combo, who were scheduled to play at the protests but ended up cancelling due to the riots. The Seattle-based Infernal Noise Brigade, founded as a musical group to play at the protests, remain together as of 2005 and have travelled to perform during protests at events such as the 2004 Republican National Convention and the 2005 31st G8 summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.

References

Parrish, Geov. "Anarchists, go home!: Hey, Eugene punks, stay away from my revolution". Seattle Weekly. December 15, 1999.
Parrish, Geov. "Beyond Gandhi". Seattle Weekly. November 24, 1999.

External links

WTO Seattle Collection - a collection of photos from the protest
Stephanie Zimmerman's WTO protest diary on ZMedia.org.
NO 2 WTO on Infoshop.org.
Call for direct action convergence; flag.blackened.net accessed Oct 11, 2004 by the Internet Archive.
Geov Parrish, The new anarchists: In Eugene, a youth-fueled movement breaks windows to ask the big questions, Seattle Weekly, September 2-8, 1999.
Before the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, there were large organized protests against the 1988 World Bank/IMF meetings in Berlin. ^*
Video: WTO Seattle police abuse

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