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A Brief Comment: What's Happening in Seattle and Why
By Michael Albert
Ballpark 50-100,000 demonstrators assembled in Seattle. They are
farmersand industrial workers, unionists and environmentalists, young and
old, men and women, from the U.S. and from the third world, and they are
angry and their target is the WTO, and thus also oppressive world trade,
and thus also, just a minor step beyond, the market system and capitalism
itself. They are there to raise social costs to elites by their actions on
the scene and by therepercussions for continuing organizing around the
world (75,000 today de monstrated in France, for example) to curtail or
better to close down the WTO agenda.
So what do you do if you are in charge of the City and have Clinton due in
town imminently and the whole world, literally, watching? What's the elite
strategy?
(1) You can sit back and be nice and allow the demonstrators to move freely
and make their points and develop confidence and grow in number and size
and, most important, in their mutual solidarity, with more people arriving
every hour, and education and outreach blossoming each day.
Or (2) you can try and break the thing up, quickly, even if at great risk
should you fail.
>>From early reports it seems that the powers that be decided that to leave
hands off was a recipe for sure disaster. They likely envisioned the
specter of growing numbers, growing willingness to do civil disobedience,
and worst of all, growing solidarity between diverse sectors and outreach
to new constituencies, and realized that throughout the country and world
this would send a message that dissent can restrain the state. They didn't
like that picture.
Their other option _ the usual favorite choice of U.S. elites _ is to try
to
bust up opposition by using as much force as they can get away with.
Theidea in this case is to send an immediate message that being in Seattle
as a demonstrator means braving gas, truncheons, and rubber bullets, at
least. The police and media try to together get the less mobile and less
militant demonstrators to leave, depressed or angry. Then the thinned
ranks can be herded away from the WTO buildings and arrested or banished.
Judging by early reports I'm guessing that_s the elite plan. The tactics
are very typical _ intimidating costumes, quick and eager but still for
the moment limited violence, curfews, provocations to get demonstrator
(or town citizen) actions that one can complain are the source of the
repression. Provoke a little violence, repress it, in due course, with a
lot.
..
The demonstrator reaction will hopefully be not to fracture but
instead to generate more and more organization, discipline, and steadfast
solidarity and militance in marching, and, when need be, in committing
non-violent civil disobedience.
What will happen?
No one can possibly know, of course. But if you are in Seattle I think the
thing to try to affect is whether Seattle's citizens -- its cab drivers,
its bus drivers, its small shop keepers, its folks on the street -- become
sympathetic to the demonstrators or even outright supportive of them, and
whether the union and other more mainstream demonstrators align with the
street demonstrations and continuing marches and rallies, telling the
Seattle police that their opposition is workers like themselves, and angry
ones at that. This is already an important event. If alliance and
solidarity can be forged, it will be historic.
Here are some sites where you can get excellent up to the minute
information to pass along to others to build support for the demonstrators
and opposition fo the WTO:
ZNet's Global/WTO Watch -- Direct from the scene reports and
analysis--plus contextual reports and in depth materials from Z Magazine's
writers and beyond--and you can post your own reports, as well:
http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Globalism/GlobalEcon.htm
The Seattle Indy News Center -- on the ground, on the scene, with audio,
video, and print reports:
http://www.indymedia.org/
Democracy Now -- Amy Goodman reports with noted guests on the scene on
events in Seattle and their meaning:
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow.html
World Trade Watch Radio -- Live reports from Seattle with Julie Light and
Norman Solomon and their guests:
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow.html
Global Exchange's Democratize the Global Economy -- Analysis and context:
http://www.globalexchange.org/
Corporate Watch's WTO Coverage -- Analysis of corporations and their role
in society focused on the WTO:
http://www.corpwatch.org/feature/index.html
Food First -- Food politics in general and regarding the WTO:
http://www.foodfirst.org/
The Preamble Center: A research project into the U.S. economy...with
special
coverage of the WTO:
http://www.preamble.org/
Legal Help for Seattle Demonstrators: Information and connections:
http://www.nlg.org/wto/
Michael Albert
Z Magazine / ZNet
www.zmag.org
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