OUR EYES IN SEATTLE
Perth activist Jonathan Schultz and ACF liaison chief Anna Reynolds are attending the week of WTO action in Seattle. Reports from them are being displayed on this site.
On 7 Dec, Jonathan sent the last despatch from Seattle:
Friday December 3
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A late start after going to a show the previous evening. I joined another labour rally which began at the Labor Temple and marched towards the centre of downtown. We were allowed a certain distance into the ‘no protest’ zone, but a strong police presence marked the limits of their tolerance. One officer looked like a pro at this - he had a smile on his face which would not go away, and he found the perfect photo opportunity accompanying an elderly woman across the street.
Some people wanted to challenge the police line but the rally organisers convinced them that they should continue with the rally and return separately if that was what they wished to do. I continued with the march, which became something of a street party after spelling ‘Democracy’ (I believe) in giant letters to be photographed from a helicopter. I was curious to see if anything was happening at the police line, so I returned to look and found a small group singing and dancing, and apparently waiting for more arrivals from the labour rally.
I continued to the other site of protest - the jail. Here things were getting organised, and a decision was being taken collectively by some 200 people as to what the next step should be. I had never previously believed that such a thing could happen, and enjoyed being part of the process. The first problem was there was no amplification other than a few megaphones, which made it impossible for one person to be heard simultaneously by the entire crowd. Giving the message more than once was not a good solution as once part of the crowd had heard what had been said they immediately wanted to discuss it, while another part of the crowd would become frustrated by not hearing.
This situation was resolved by the use of repeating everything that was said as a single group. Speakers would split their message into short phrases, and everyone who could hear would repeat together each phrase that was said. This slowed the communication process down, but prevented anyone from interjecting, as they would simply not be heard. Suggestions were taken for actions to follow; twenty-three were collected in total.
Note-takers in the crowd copied down each of the suggestions, which were then discussed in smaller groups which formed spontaneously.
At this point I left, with some regret, but still wanting to join the forest activist post-WTO party. The night started auspiciously with the official announcements that the talks had terminated without an agreement and the party continued until the small hours.
Sunday December 5
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I’m now on the plane bound for DC. I missed my flight yesterday due to excessive partying on Friday night. The stories about Seattle are everywhere: in the newspaper, on the Web, discussions in the streets, on buses, … I met a woman on the flight from New York who was arrested on Wednesday morning and just got out of jail this morning. From her I learned that almost the prisoners have been released now, with the exception of those charged with felonies, I presume the ‘anarchists’ who gave such a bad name to anarchy. Apparently most of the prisoners were released on their ‘recognisance’, meaning that there is no bond but they are supposed to come to a court hearing. They will all be demanding a jury trial, thus seeking to draw further attention to the cause by clogging the court system and having an opportunity to speak out again about the WTO.
For me, this battle is over, and we won it.
For Seattlites, there are many issues still to be worked out. The ministerial conference had been presented a great opportunity for Seattle. The delegates, élites from around the world, were sure to be in a mood for shopping. Incredibly for a conference about increasing profits, sponsored by some of the biggest corporations in the world, many of those working for the host organisation were volunteers.
Microsoft and Boeing had already offered warehouse space for holding arrestees months before the meeting. The police force had been shopping for crowd-control devices from the arms manufacturers, and claimed to be prepared for any protests. Yet Web site announcing the protests were already boasting that they would shut Seattle down. The authorities were unprepared for the level of organisation which could be achieved through direct action. The police reaction was disproportionate and inappropriate, misunderstanding the nature of non-violent protest.
The violence which occurred was secondary to the mass of non-violent protesters, many prepared to offer themselves for arrest. But instead of arresting the protesters, the police thought they could make them disappear with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Many people who would never have experienced police violence were suddenly confronted with it right in their streets. Farmers, unionists, locals leaving work or home, everyone was stunned. The American Civil Liberties Union has already taken the city of Seattle to court and has a Web site for people to report mistreatment by the police. There are calls for the mayor and chief of police to resign. The aftershocks of Seattle 1999 will be felt for many years.
On (late) 3 Dec in Seattle, Anna Reynolds wrote:
WTO Talks Fail
Talks to establish a new "Millennium Round" of trade discussions have failed. The breakdown in talks shows that WTO members need to fundamentally rethink how the WTO conducts its business.
The delegates of devloping nations said after the talks broke up that the process had not been fair and did not address their concerns. There had been tension building for several days, with African nations being particularly vocal about their interests being locked out.
Industry and Government tried to say that the protests in Seattle had not affected the outcome. Australian industry seemed to blame President Clinton, the Europeans and that time ran out.
However it is clear that these talks failed because of the way the WTO does its business. The protestors messages about the WTO's processes were very similar to the messages of the developing nations - trade talks that are neither equitable nor directly address public concerns can no longer succeed. The WTO needs to reform its processes so that trade policy is made in a way that is transparent, fair and balanced.
More work will need to be done over the next few years to reform the existing problems with the WTO's processes and rules.
On (early) 3 Dec in Seattle, Jonathan Schultz wrote
Wednesday 1 December
Wednesday started quietly for me as I accompanied Jenn to Sea-Tac airport. Our bus circumvented the downtown area; the driver said that nothing was moving there. The only point of particular interest was the Presidential jumbo jet parked at the Boeing airport. Arriving back in Seattle I moved to the new place I’m staying and spent a few hours chatting with my hosts.
Sometime in the afternoon I headed to the Lutheran church for a talk on effects of WTO policies on women. The Direct Action Network’s medical dispatch was operating with a mobile phone from the church and I overheard calls for help in the trouble spots downtown. I decided to volunteer for this rather than listen to the talk, and found a couple of others to go and help bring injured people back to the church. Apparently the cops had been targeting medics and anyone administering medical aid, as well as confiscating medical supplies. We saw only the aftermath of earlier teargassing, a crowd of several hundred sitting down at an intersection and a few lines of confrontation. We phoned back to the dispatch centre several times for updates on the situation but were always too late to be of help. The streets were full of groups of people wandering around, deciding where to go next, either to observe or support others already in confrontation with the police. I saw one affinity group stopped at a corner discussing democratically what to do next. The small group quickly attracted others, everyone keen to hear the latest on what was happening, until it became a more of a general meeting.
That night the cops went crazy in Capitol Hill. I heard the following day from two people where I am staying who had walked over there to buy a newspaper that they had completely blocked Broadway, the main street, in two places. Capitol Hill is a neighbourhood with lots of cafés and restaurants and had a usual crowd out for a Wednesday night. At one end of Capitol Hill is Studio 420, the DAN headquarters in Seattle. Protesters were marching down the hill, blocking one side of the street, but generally not causing concern to anyone. The police used teargas to disperse them and maintained the two roadblocks, not communicating with anyone, protester or bystander. To quote my house-mate here, it was surprising how quickly people’s mood changed from bewilderment to anger as they saw what the police were doing in their city. People formed into groups and chanted ‘Go away’ at the police. Reports in the newspaper tell of people attacked with pepper-spray as they left their house or place of work, concussion bombs until 2am, and numerous other reports of absolutely [unprovoked] violence by the police.
Thursday 2 December
Thursday morning I attended a forum on agriculture, and heard more on how globalisation is impacting on farmers and the food we eat. Some of the more interesting points for me included that a USDA (Department of Agriculture) report had already found that the rights of minority farmers had been violated in the US as agrobusiness companies buy land and reduce farmers to contract workers. There were stories on farmers in the Indian sub-continent displaced when subsidised imports from the EU and US make their products uncompetitive. We also heard how the term ‘science’ has been misappropriated to justify the position of the US and Miami group (including Australia) to call that ‘sound science’, in other words direct proof of actual harm, be used as the criterion to decide when trade-restrictive rules may be introduced. The ‘like-minded group’ of the EU and most developing countries prefer the precautionary principle, which puts the burden of proof on the company introducing a new product or production method rather than on the defender of health or the environment.
Following the forum we held a peaceful rally in support of small and organic farmers which terminated with speeches under a beautiful clear blue sky. All the time the crowd was growing as people joined spontaneously and as the protest joined with a march by the direct action folk. Following the rally the group split into two; one to protest outside Cargill and the other, which I joined, to protest at the office of the largest timber company in the US, Weyerhaeuser. The offices are in the ‘no-protest’ zone instituted by the city so we only went to a block away from it. Then we turned toward the county jail where the arrestees from Tuesday and Wednesday are held. I guess the group which had started going towards Cargill had rejoined us by then, as we were quite a large and diverse crowd. We held hands right around the jail, singing, dancing and waving at those inside who could see us through the window. One group locked arms, blocking the entrance, and later we all gathered around the entrance and in the street. Demands were issued: we wouldn’t leave until all those held without charge were released and an apology was made over the use of violence against non-violent protest. We remained for several hours; there was drumming and dancing and plenty of positive energy. Food Not Bombs brought some food. Eventually a compromise was reached; lawyers from DAN would enter the building and we would leave the area. They would phone sometime during the night to report on progress and we would consider the next day’s actions accordingly.
On 1 December in Seattle, Anna Reynolds wrote:
Texts fly around: The trade players have been circulating texts around the hotel rooms and agreements are proceeding on issues such as agriculture and biotechnology. Issues such as the review of the Trade in Intellectual Property Rights agreement have yet to gain political momentum, despite substantial evidence coming from NGO events about the impact of this agreement on developing nations.
Of great concern is the services agreement (which some NGOs are calling the new MAI) which has a draft text. The protests were sucessful in alerting the world to the concerns about the WTO, but the trade negotiators are slow learners!
Developing nation NGOs on Agriculture: A substantial number of events are being held by NGOs from developing nations who are concerned about the agricultural trrade liberalisation agreement being stitched up by Ministers. The South East Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade is a network of NGOs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philipines, Thailand and Loas. Their statement released yesterday states: “Each sovereign nation must have the independence and discretionary powers to unilaterally decide the food needs of its nation”.
The groups' concerns relate to the survival of subsistence farming in a market that is open to multinational agri-business. They are concerned that prices and reliability of food under a liberalisation agreement will not be beneficial to the majority of the population.
Public Opinion on Trade: A suvey of public opinions on trade was released today by the UK based New Economic Foundation. It has found: - Awareness of the WTO: 4%
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? – Multinational companies need binding international rules to make them stick to social and environmental responsibilties
Agree: 84%
Disagree/don’t know: 16%
UK on WTO fast track of GM foods: A briefing today by the Hon Michael Mecher, UK Secretary for the Environment confirmed my fears that Australian environment officals do not understand trade and environment issues. Last night an Environment Australia official said to me that he could see little reason for my concerns about the establishment of a new Biotechnology (GMO) Working Group inside the WTO.
This morning Michael Mecher stated "There is great potential for conflict between the WTO and the Environment treaty that is already being negotiated to tackle GMO issues – the Biosafety Protocol. The WTO [group] dealing with this issue will see conflicts about GM labelling".* * * * * *
On 1 December (late 30 Nov in Seattle), Jonathan Schultz wrote
More from Seattle:
I’m starting this report on the bus heading downtown for the November 30 Day of Action. I can hear a student activist explaining to another passenger why she is taking a stand against genetically-modified crops being placed on the market.
Yesterday I attended a protest by a coalition of environmentalists and trade unionists. Hundreds of turtles marched to protest the undermining of a US law designed to protect sea turtles from shrimp nets by several countries, among them Australia. There was a strong contingent of forest activists and of steel-workers, over a thousand of whom are still locked out from a Kaiser steel plant here in Washington state after more than a year. We met at the Methodist church, which has become a centre for talks and information for activists of many different backgrounds.
From there we had a street march, speeches, street theatre, music and general good-natured protesting.
Later we visited ‘Studio 420’, the organisation centre for the Direct Action Network. This is a beautiful example of decentralised consensus decision-making. While we painted a banner, we observed around 20 affinity groups of 5 to 20 people discuss and decide on actions for today. Following this they all regrouped and discussed their needs: bicycles, people (arrestables and non-arrestables), megaphones, etc.
Following this I moved to the extreme opposite end of activity surrounding the ministerial by attending the afternoon debriefing of the Australian delegation. The minister Mark Vaile, some bureaucrats, numerous industry lobbyists along with two (only!) representatives from accredited non-industry NGOs: the Australian Conservation Foundation and World Vision, discussed the day’s activities. Predictably this concentrated chiefly on Australia’s position with respect to agriculture as head of the Cairns group and disputes with the EU. More disturbing were reports from the official NGO day, which had been shortened by several hours due to some security issue. The report that it was attended by a broad spectrum of representatives with a wide range of viewpoints was challenged by the NGO representatives. They pointed out firstly that the most highly-respected person on the issue of intellectual property and bio-piracy, Vandana Shiva, had not been invited, and secondly that there had been few representatives from developing countries and none from the government of developing countries other that South Africa. At this point the National Farmers’ Federation representative displayed the level of his understanding by claiming that the American Jagdish Bhagwati, not known for his progressive stance on globalisation and development, was Indian because ‘he certainly looked Indian’. I say no more.
The day concluded with a People’s Gala, with speeches by the likes of Michael Moore (not theirs but ours, of ‘Roger and Me’ fame), Ken Kesey and Jello Biafra (the original) and concerts by the Laura Love Band and Spearhead. This was a wonderful event attended by many thousands of people.
'N30' - Tuesday 30 November:
Today was a highly-charged day, as you can probably imagine. I am writing this at around 1 am, and piecing together the events as best I can from memory. I have seen some of the media reports coming out of this and find it to be overwhelmingly sensationalist, concentrating on the violence and often ignoring totally the peaceful march. I found the A(ustralian)BC’s report on AM to be the one which portrayed the events in the most accurate perspective.
My November 30 started with participating in the rally at Memorial Stadium. I haven’t heard other figures of how many people were there but it was clearly measured in the tens of thousands. Most of these were trade unionists from diverse unions around the US and Canada. Other participants were from just about any movement you could name; a few which come to mind are environmental, animal rights, gay and lesbian, family farmers, maquiladora workers, consumer groups, students, you name it. During this rally we heard that direct action activists had locked on to entrances to the convention centre where meetings were supposed to be taking place and had delayed meetings. We also had the first indications that there was trouble downtown; some people had heard reports on the radio of tear-gas being used.
From there we proceeded towards the convention centre in an extremely enjoyable march from around 1pm until around 2:30pm. As we reached the central district the march separated into various groups, as the head of the march continued to convention centre while the tail, where I was, turned before reaching it. I was keen to join the other section, so continued ahead, along with many other people. One block further and we heard and saw our first tear-gas cannon, followed by many more. In a single moment the singing and laughing stopped and a still silence ensued as crowds of people remained in place, waiting to see what would happen. We gradually pieced together the story, or rather a series of stories, from people returning, some of them with eyes streaming from the effects of pepper-spray. Apparently at around 9am the police had used tear-gas on a peaceful crowd, completely unprovoked. At some point, a few protesters had broken some store windows and upturned some rubbish bins and newspaper vending machines. The police had also used rubber bullets; several people had seen this occur and one person I heard had been hit. With all the people milling around, stores began closing and workers arrived to nail boards over shopfront windows. By now the whole centre of the city was a mass of circulating people, businesses were closing and the WTO postponed its events for the day, including the arrival of Clinton. One café offered bread, salads and cakes free of charge to the protesters; these were most gratefully received.
At perhaps 3:30pm we moved to an intersection where the Direct Action Network was facilitating a non-violent protest near the Roosevelt Hotel where many of the delegates are staying. They insisted on the non-violent nature of this, and ensured that the crowd made way as a police car made its way through. There was dancing and singing, but the atmosphere was clearly more one of defiance than the joy of the earlier march. We remained here until about 5 pm, when we left, once again to the sound and smell of tear-gas as the police made another attempt at clearing the streets. We spent a short time in a fund-raising event for the locked-out steel-workers, before walking to where we could catch a bus. The curfew was now in place so we could not return downtown as we would otherwise have done. While walking we again smelt and felt the unpleasant effects of tear-gas although we were unable to tell where it came from. In many places, restaurants, supermarkets and bars were closing on the advice of the police that further violence could be expected. This appeared to me to be unfounded and counter-productive as it prevented many people of finding anything to eat or to sit down and relax.
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1 December (early Nov 30 in Seattle): Jonathan Schultz wrote:
I got to sit in on the Australian delegation's afternoon debriefing yesterday, what a bunch of men in suits, I tell you. They're on another planet. I also forgot to mention in the other report that the Seattle free weekly paper (http://www.seattleweekly.com/) did a special on the WTO with reports on lots of the protests plus stuff about how 'free' trade hurts this region, the Pacific North-West.
I didn't see anything in the Australian press on the N30 day of action. It's 8:30 am on N30 here, already the small hours of 1 December over there, and I'm just about to hit the streets.
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1 December: ANNA REYNOLDS wrote in a Media Release (Seattle 30 Nov):
Government trades away freedom of choice: ACF called on Australians concerned about the environment and health effects of Genetically Modified (GM) foods to urgently make their views known to the Trade Minister, Mark Vaile. ACF understands that the Australian Government is seriously considering support for a GMO trade deal as part of its efforts to see agriculture liberalised.
ACF’s representative in Seattle, Anna Reynolds said, “if this GMO deal gets through we can forget about having our own national laws on dealing with these controversial products. The trade in GM foods will be fast tracked through the World Trade Organisation. There will be more of these foods on our supermarket shelves.”
ACF said that today’s protests in Seattle are not surprising when proposals such as this one are being negotiated behind closed doors.
“It is proposals such as these that are inflaming the anger of people all over the world. The WTO needs to get on with the business of basic trade laws and should not dabble in important consumer rights and environmental issues.” Ms Reynolds said
“At a time when Australian regulators are struggling to address the challenge of biotechnology, the proposal on the table threatens to “chill” the development of new national safeguards for trade in GM foods.” Ms Reynolds said
Contact Anna Reynolds in Seattle today 1 - 206 - 448 8868 between 3.30 – 4.30 pm* * * * * *
On 30 November. ANNA REYNOLDS wrote:
The official NGO event in the WTO has been closed today due to a “security scare”. A vast array of events has however continued around Seattle downtown. As I write 100 marching turtles and a 30 foot dolphine are heading
towards the trade centre to protest against WTO decisions.
Family Farmers event: The US based National Family Farm Coalition and a range of visiting small farmer organisations are running an event today that presents a different view to the WTO’s discussions on agriculture. The forum today will focus on issues such as food securityand genetically modified organisms.Small farmers are concerned that agricultural trade liberalisation in the WTO is cutting out small farmers in favor of large agribusiness players.
A Farmers Declaration on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture states that “corporate control of the seed supply threatens farmers’ independence. The risk of genetic drift has made it difficult and expensive for farmers to market a pure product. Farmers who have used this new technology may be facing massive liability from damage caused by genetic drift, increased weed and pest resistance and the destruction of wildlife and beneficial insects.”
Forests: Environmental groups from both the industrialised and the developing world have held a press conference today expressing concern about WTO negotiations. The United States have proposed that tariffs on timber products be lowered or removed. The groups are concerned that domestic programs to protect forests and small locally owned mills might be in breech of free trade.
Asbestos ban challenged: A Canadian public health official reported on the latest controversial dispute being considered behind the closed doors of the WTO. The Canadian Government has complained about the French ban on asbestos imports. France has joined other European nations in banning asbestos and Canada as the 2nd largest exporter of this product has claimed this is a violation to the WTO’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. Canada claims that countries should regulate but not ban asbestos, as this is a “least trade restrictive” way to deal with health concerns.
Canadian Public Health pointed out that 3 trade officials would make the decision on this case. The information they are using to make the decision, the scientists they will consult and the deliberations of the case will not be available to interested organisations and health experts.
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29 November. JONATHAN SCHULTZ wrote:
The Battle of Seattle
Arriving at Seattle airport late in the afternoon, I immediately felt the atmosphere of the protests at the WTO talks, and to a lesser extent, of the talks themselves. My companion Jenn related the messages carried over the public address system at regular intervals: "Hello, this is the chief of the Seattle police. I am here to tell you that the Seattle police force and fire department are here to help you." In the crowd waiting for the bus into town we met our first fellow activists, and before the bus had arrived I had already distributed most of the ‘Stop WTO’ stickers I had carried from Berkeley. The bus trip was more of an activist meeting, as we all discussed the various places we had arrived from: California, Minnesota, New Mexico, and of course Western Australia and our backgrounds and interests. It really felt like what the Wall Street Journal had already labelled ‘the mother of all protests’.
Our first stop, Benaroya Hall, where the International Forum on Globalization (www.ifg.org) held a Teach-In, which was completely sold out (2500 people), over two days. Some of the highlights were Vandana Shiva of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India telling of multinational corporations enslaving all life in their quest to commodify everything. Susan George of the Transnational Institute in France exposed some of the myths of ‘free trade’, pointing out that one-third of it takes place within a single corporation and another third between corporations. Martin Khor of the Third World Network in Malaysia explained some of the doublespeak used by the WTO: ‘competition policy’ really means ‘monopoly policy’, ‘transparency’ means ‘obscurity’ and ‘technical advice’ means ‘marching orders’. José Bové of the Confédération Paysanne in France calmly told us how his organisation, after seeing communities punished by United States policy for the European policy of providing support for small-scale banana growers in the Caribbean, decided to attack a local MacDonalds. But it was not all so light-hearted; many eyes were teary as we heard of the havoc and destruction being wreaked upon peoples around the world. If you have a fast enough Internet connection and RealAudio, you should be able to watch the proceedings of this conference at www.wtowatch.org.
The debate, some would say war, between proponents of free trade and more enlightened folk, is also being played out on advertisements on the side of city buses and in banners around the city. However to judge by the response of people in the street, the feeling is definitely on the side of those who want to reform the international trading system, to make it serve people and not the bottom line of multinational corporations.
24 November. Have you seen this? http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/rulemakers/update.html It includes some stuff about Australia exploiting a loophole in US environmental regulations concerning sea turtles.
I went to a rally in SF about WTO and sweatshops last Saturday. A bit small I thought, but apparently that's par for the course over here. See photo at: http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/wto/index.html On the bright side, wearing a 'Stop WTO' sticker around town gets lots of positive responses from strangers.
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On 19 November, Jonathan Schultz wrote:
I'm having a great time here in Berkeley California getting in touch with some great activists and preparing for the upcoming festivities in Seattle. I'll try to send some reports as things happen. On Saturday there's going to be a demonstration in San Francisco which should be good. I am also going to be interviewed for the National Radio Project (www.radioproject.org) on Monday about Western Australian forests. This will be available over the Web but I've also e-mail the Australian Public Radio Community News Service to ask them to carry some of it (they're carried by RTR-FM in Perth).