The 1999 World Trade Organization Protests: Free Trade, Economic Justice (2000)

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• published: 11 Mar 2015
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Protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred on November 30, 1999 (nicknamed "N30" on similar lines to J18 and similar mobilizations), when the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. The negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests outside the hotels and the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, in what became the second phase 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 International Monetary Fund (IMF), or the World Bank). The events are sometimes referred to as the Battle of Seattle or the Battle in Seattle. Planning for the demonstrations began months in advance and included local, national, and international organizations. Among the most notable participants were national and international NGOs such as Global Exchange[2] (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).[3] 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. However, others 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 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. The black bloc was not affiliated with DAN, but was responding to the original call for autonomous resistance actions on November 30 issued by People's Global Action.[4] Of the different coalitions that aligned in protest were the "teamsters and turtles" - a blue-green alliance consisting of the teamsters (trade unions) and environmentalists. To many in North American anarchist and radical circles, the Seattle WTO riots, protests, and demonstrations were viewed as a success.[29] Prior to the "Battle of Seattle," there was almost no mention of "anti-globalization" in the US media, while the protests were seen as having forced the media to report on why anybody would oppose the WTO.[30] Similar tactics on the part of both protesters and police were repeated at subsequent meetings of the WTO, IMF/World Bank, Free Trade Area of the Americas, and other international organizations, as well as the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in the US. Previous mass demonstrations had taken place in Australia in December 1997, in which newly formed grass-roots organizations blockaded Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Darwin city centers.[31] The Seattle protests were by far the largest actions to have taken place in the United States. Controversy over the city's response to the protests resulted in the resignation of the police chief of Seattle, Norm Stamper,[32] and arguably played a role in Schell's loss to Greg Nickels in the 2001 mayoral primary election.[33][34] The massive size of the protest added $3 million to the city's estimated meeting budget of $6 million, partly due to city cleanup and police overtime bills. In addition, the damage to commercial businesses from vandalism and lost sales has been estimated at $20 million.[35] On 16 January 2004, the city of Seattle settled with 157 individuals arrested outside of the no-protest zone during the WTO events, agreeing to pay them a total of $250,000.[36] On 30 January 2007, a federal jury found that the city had violated protesters' Fourth Amendment constitutional rights by arresting them without probable cause or hard evidence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests Image By Steve Kaiser from Seattle, US (WTO protests 10 Uploaded by nesnad) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons