--- F R E N D Z of martian --- Message from friend of new Canadian at Circle... -----Original Message----- From: Cooper, Matt Sent: 01 December 1999 17:28 To: Rigby, Nick; Ayres, Richard Subject: What really happened in Seattle A friend of mine was there, and gives his account of the events... -----Original Message----- From: Pablo Shiladitya Bose [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 01 December 1999 08:55 To: Adam Wood-Gaines; Bryan Robertson; Gordon Ross; Kim Morrice; James Rothney; Darren Gibbons; Matt Cooper Subject: Not Just the News So perhaps you turned on your TV's last night or perhaps you've read the paper this morning and read a little of what happened in Seattle over yesterday. Did it read something like "Angry Protesters at WTO meetings smash store windows and loot shops"? That seemed to be all that we heard from US radio stations on the way back down. But this is as always a particular media slant on events, tainted by whatever agendas they fancy. All I can give you is a first hand account of the protest against the WTO in Seattle, which was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my life. A day full of the most surreal, the most spectacular, and the most striking moments I can remember. It started with a huge labour rally at Memorial Stadium, with speakers as diverse as the ecofeminist Vandana Shiva, the liberation theologist Thomas Kocherry, and labour leaders from Ken Georgetti to James Hoffa, Jr (who I proposed we encase in cement and bury under the 50 yard line at Safeco Field, just to honour his dad). This was followed by an odd procession down to the Seattle Convention Centre. We began at the head of the pack, with the Hells Angels Against The WTO (not really, but they were some angry and loud bikers on Harleys, no idea what they were doing there, but they certainly didn't like the WTO) and moved slowly but surely through the crowd to where we found the most appropriate affiliation. Down we went, through the Chinese Anti-Communists, the Laotian pro-Communists, the steelworkers and pipefitters, the airline pilots and telecom workers, the teachers, the anti-racists, the small farmers, the radical women, various environmental organizations, and even a high-tech workers union! There were drums and there were flutes, there were people painted as wearing death's head masks, and people dressed as sea turtles (apparently they wish to save these giant sea turtles, which I wish I had known before informing my colleagues rather loudly that sea turtles made for good soup), topless women, skinheads against racism, French Marxists (though not existential ones), Swiss farmers, and many many ordinary workers, students and others not officially affiliated with anyone. 50,000 people. Can you imagine, fifty thousand people? It's a hell of a lot of people. I was amazed at how well-behaved everyone was. That was until later on. When the labour contingent had split off for another round of speeches. Probably still about twenty five to thirty thousand people milling around downtown. Not doing a whole lot, but generally taking over the core. No shopping, no commerce, no traffic. It was beautiful. All the delegate entrances were blocked by human chains. Not violently, but peacefully. Not too many delegates attempted to force their way in. Some tried to hurry into the building through the side entrances. We stopped them. It was not a good day to be in a suit, in that crowd. Who would be foolish enough to walk through a crowd of tens of thousands of protestors, we thought? Well, you guessed it. Canadian politicians and diplomats. Through the sea of people chanting "stop the suits", we band of merry Canadians spotted Sergio Marchi, former Immigration Minister and now patronage appointment, and Pierre Pettigrew, International Trade Minister, weaving their way through the crowd. Since no one seemed to know who they were, we thought we'd intervene. Shouting, "you work for us, filthy pigs" and "have you no shame, Sergio?" we moved towards them. Pierre, from this point forward to be known as "The Cat", immediately sized up the situation, realized that he could not in fact use the front entrance, blocked as it was by a human chain, grabbed hold of a nearby railing and in three quick moves hoisted himself up into the arms of a burly police officer. I swear, if it wasn't for his flowing hair giving him the additional aerodynamic sweep of the surrounding drafts, he would never have made it. Sergio, unfortunately, is of a much huskier build and did not even make an attempt at such a daring getaway. He was confronted on all sides by, well, us. He was confused (probably that someone knew his name) and after trying unsuccessfully to force his way through eventually turned around and left. Score one for us. But I still haven't mentioned the police state and its actions. Seattle's finest were out in full force. As were Renton's. And Tukquila's. And Bellevue's. I have never seen so many cops before in my life. In full riot gear. Lots of posing with their nasty looking guns and their gas masks. Striking many a "Dirty Harry" pose. So I'm waiting at an intersection at 8th and Pike. Not really doing a whole lot, just looking at the crowd. When all of a sudden I see this flash and sparks and hear a tremendous bang. Lucky for me I was wearing my sunglasses and had a sweatshirt around my neck which I quickly pulled over my face, otherwise I'd have been sobbing from the teargas as well. And it went downhill from there. When you see it on the news and they tell you that the crowd provoked the police, it's patent bullshit. I found out later that they'd charged an earlier protest in the day and done the same thing, but on 7 separate intersections, I got tear-gassed. Same pattern every time, the police would wait until the crowd had thinned out in one section, then shoot a couple of canisters of tear gas, wait for the crowd to run backwards, and then move the police line forward. On not ONE of these occasions was the crowd doing anything but not moving. They just wanted to move the crowd out of the downtown core and this was the way to do it. Was there looting and vandalism? Yes, but only by a handful of people and far later on in the evening, when most of the actual WTO protestors had left and people who had wanted to loot saw the footage on TV and came down to do their thing. In fact, most of what I saw was WTO protestors intervening, putting their own bodies in front of storefront windows to prevent hooligans from breaking them. Possibly the most heroic and most disgusting moment I saw was when some idiot youths pushed a garbage can down the hill towards a line of riot police. It would have hit them from the side, taking them basically unawares. A protestor jumped in front of that garbage can, saving the cops with his own body and stopping (with some difficulty, and being dragged under a bit) the can. After, I repeat AFTER, the protester had stopped the can (so there can be no reasonable explanation of surprise), the cops then shot a tear gas canister over HIS head. Not surprisingly, this completely infuriated the crowd, and I found myself along with my friend Mark rushing towards this protester. So did many others. We all turned around and started running in the other direction when the riot police then began to shoot at us with rubber bullets. Ah, the police state. So friendly, so welcoming. All I can say is that I am still blown away by the incredible solidarity shown by all the people who attended and the naked and transparent loyalties and abuses of the state. Which became all the more clear to us when on the way home, Canadian Customs searched my car. So when you read the news or watch it tomorrow, in the words of the great Public Enemy, don't believe the hype. When the Revolution comes, they will be the first to die. You will be next . . . P Freedom and independence will come not by acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. - Mahatma Gandhi Pablo Bose MA Candidate School of Communication Simon Fraser University (604) 224-6274 (home) (604) 720-1209 (cell) http://www.sfu.ca/~pbose -- Sent to you via the frendz list at marsbard.com The archive is at http://www.mail-archive.com/frendz@marsbard.com/
