Background: Fall of the USSR, rebirth of anarchism, birth of anti-globalization From the 1970s onward, and even more so following the
fall of the USSR and the 1990s, the
anarchist movement underwent a rebirth in the West. Several factors drove this resurgence, including the evolution of
capitalism at the end of the 20th century (
offshoring, etc.), the end of
state-communist support for
Marxist–Leninist parties, and the fact that state-socialist and communist movements were increasingly discredited within the far left. The
anti-globalization movement formed during the same period and was influenced by the anarchists who joined it from the very beginning. Although not all anti-globalists were anarchists, the two movements largely converged; this resulted in the anti-globalization movement adopting anarchist political procedures and practices.
Premises Planning Planning for the actions began months in advance and included local, national, and international organizations. Among the most notable participants were national and international
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as
Global Exchange (especially those concerned with labor issues, the environment, and consumer protection), labor unions (including the
AFL–CIO), student groups, religion-based groups (
Jubilee 2000), and
anarchists (some of whom formed a
black bloc). The protests also drew support from some political conservatives, such as American presidential candidate and commentator
Pat Buchanan. The coalition was loose, with some opponent groups focused on opposition to WTO policies (especially those related to
free trade), with others motivated by prolabor,
anticapitalist, 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 convention 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. 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.
Corporations targeted Certain activists, including locals and an additional group of anarchists from
Eugene, Oregon (where they had gathered that summer for a music festival), advocated more confrontational tactics, and conducted
vandalism of corporate
properties in downtown Seattle. In a subsequent communique, they listed the particular corporations targeted, which they considered to have committed corporate crime.
Lead-up months On July 12, the
Financial Times reported that the latest United Nations Human Development report advocated "principles of performance for multinationals on labour standards, fair trade and environmental protection ... needed to counter the negative effects of globalisation on the poorest nations". The report itself argued, "An essential aspect of global governance is responsibility to people—to equity, to justice, to enlarging the choices of all". On July 16, Helene Cooper of
The Wall Street Journal warned of an impending "massive mobilization against globalization" being planned for the end-of-year Seattle WTO conference. Next day, the London
Independent newspaper savaged the WTO and appeared to side with the organizers of the rapidly developing storm of protest: The way it has used [its] powers is leading to a growing suspicion that its initials should really stand for World Take Over. In a series of rulings it has struck down measures to help the world's poor, protect the environment, and safeguard health in the interests of private—usually American—companies. "The WTO seems to be on a crusade to increase private profit at the expense of all other considerations, including the well-being and quality of life of the mass of the world's people," says Ronnie Hall, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth International. "It seems to have a relentless drive to extend its power." On November 16, two weeks before the conference, President
Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13141—Environmental Review of Trade Agreements, which committed the United States to a policy of "assessment and consideration of the environmental impacts of trade agreements" and stated, "Trade agreements should contribute to the broader goal of sustainable development." organizing during WTO protests Activists staged a spoof of Seattle daily newspaper the
Post-Intelligencer on Wednesday November 24, inserting thousands of hoax editions of a four-page front-page wrap-around into piles of newspapers awaiting distribution to hundreds of street boxes and retail outlets. The spoof front-page stories were "Boeing to move overseas" (to Indonesia) and "Clinton pledges help for poorest nations". The byline on the Boeing story attributed it to
Joe Hill (a union organizer who had been executed by firing squad in Utah in 1915). On the same day, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development reported: developing countries have remained steadfast in their demand that developed countries honour Uruguay Round commitments before moving forward full force with new trade negotiations. Specifically, developing countries are concerned over developed countries' compliance with agreements on market access for textiles, their use of antidumping measures against developing countries' exports, and over-implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
N30 or the 'Battle' On the morning of Tuesday, November 30, 1999, the DAN's plan was put into effect. 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, a march of citizens of the developing world who marched in from the south and, beginning around 9:00, militant anarchists (in a formation known as a
black bloc) marching down Pike Street from 6th Avenue, blockading the streets with newspaper boxes and smashing windows. Some demonstrators held rallies, others held teach-ins and at least one group staged an early-morning street party. Meanwhile, a number of protesters still controlled the intersections using lockdown formations. An
AFL-CIO rally began at 10:00. That morning, the
King County Sheriff's Office and
Seattle Police Department fired
pepper spray,
tear gas canisters, and
stun grenades at protesters at several intersections in an attempt to reopen the blocked streets and allow as many WTO delegates as possible through the blockade. At 6th Avenue and Union Street, the crowd threw objects back at the police. By late morning, the black bloc had swelled to 200 people and smashed dozens of shops and police cars. This seems to have set off a chain reaction of sorts, with previously nonviolent protesters throwing bottles at police and joining in the vandalism shortly before noon. More than 500 people were jailed on Wednesday. Throughout the day, police used tear gas to disperse crowds downtown, although a permitted demonstration organized by the Steelworkers Union was held along the waterfront.
December 2–3 Protests continued the following days. Thousands demonstrated outside the Seattle Police Department protesting their tactics and arrests of peaceful protestors. President Clinton arrived and attended the conference. On December 3 the conference ended as delegations were unable to reach agreements, partly in response to the protests. Confrontations with the police continued, albeit at a lower intensity. The primary goal of disrupting the trade talks achieved, some sought the horizons of possibility; it was determined quickly that the necessary ambition to achieve the broader goals of various anarchist factions was not sufficient.
Media response The New York Times published false reports that protesters threw
Molotov cocktails at police. Two days later, the
Times printed a correction saying that the protest was mostly peaceful and no protesters were accused of throwing objects at delegates or the police, but the original error persisted in later accounts in the mainstream media. The
Seattle City Council dispelled the reports with its own investigation findings: The level of panic among police is evident from radio communication and from their inflated crowd estimates, which exceed the numbers shown on news videotapes. ARC investigators found the rumors of "Molotov cocktails" and sale of flammables from a supermarket had no basis in fact. But, rumors were important in contributing to the police sense of being besieged and in considerable danger. An article in the magazine
The Nation disputed that Molotov cocktails have ever been thrown at an antiglobalization protest within the United States. Media coverage of the protests condemned the violence of some of the protesters, particularly anarchists, who carried out "symbolic" acts of property damage. Though many denounced the violent tactics used by protesters, this violence resulted in increased media coverage of the event. The WTO meeting had an increase in evening news airtime from 10 minutes and 40 seconds on the first day of the meeting to 17 minutes on the first day of violence. In addition, WTO coverage was the lead or second story on
CNN,
ABC,
CBS, and
NBC after violence was reported. Two days after the start of violence, the meeting remained the top story on three of the four networks. In contrast, the media coverage of subsequent World Bank/International Monetary Fund (WB/
IMF) meetings in the spring, which did not involve violence by protests, showed a "pattern that was almost the reverse of that in Seattle"; according to scholars Kevin Michael DeLuca and Jennifer Peeples, this "suggests the crucial role of violence in garnering time on the public screen." The 2001 WTO meeting in
Doha, Qatar, also included no reports of violence. As a result, "there was absolutely no TV evening news coverage by the four major networks." This coverage did not center exclusively on the violence. Instead, details of the protesters' message and antiglobalization campaign were included along with the discussions of symbolic violence taking place. DeLuca and Peeples reported that the violence served as a "dense surface" that opened viewers' and readers' minds to a whole new way of thinking about globalization and corporations' operations. == Legacy ==