Friends,
The great article by Chossudovsky ("SEATTLE AND BEYOND: DISARMING THE NEW
WORLD ORDER") is now on our website:
http://cyberjournal.org
-rkm
============================================================================
Delivered to: •••@••.•••
From: "Brian Hill" <•••@••.•••>
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Fw: comments on today by Doug Hunt
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 22:45:50 -0800
Hi
This is Doug Hunt (below) whom I have also invited to the
party Dec. 1. He is the UN coordinator for Northern NGOs
and works alot in Washington DC. He is also a member of the
clergy. Don, you might send him a note encouraging him to
come. He could help Alliance building more than any one
person I can think of.
Brian Hill
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Hunt in Seattle <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.••• <•••@••.•••>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 20:52
Subject: In Seattle .....
Hello all,
I am in Seattle, safe from now for a police gone paranoid
after a very few whackos despite everyone's best efforts got
out of line and resorted to violence, even beating down
demonstrators that tried to get them to stop -- there are
really a total of about 50/200 roudies --
Seattle is a city under esserntial martial law at the
moment, as national guard troops are moving in to ensure
that wealthy overlords can finish their planned agenda for
stealing more of the sustenance from the world's peoples to
line their already overflowing pockets.
Sorry, I have helicopters overhead, and percussion and flash
grenades going off in the streets outside and I am quite
upset at the moment. It is, however, a moment that will
clearly demonstrate to even wealthy Americans that the
powers of oppression will stop at nothing to ensure that
their plans are not interrupted.
My only hope is that this week ends without anyone being
dead. But I fear now that this is not possible. Now we have
had some very nasty people show up in the aftermath of the
police's insane response to peaceful demonstration and a few
bullies determined to create vilence. We have local
oportunists and nasties coming out and being called
demonstrators by the ever sensationalistic, corporate owned
media.
This morning and afternoon I was with 30,000 peaceful,
happy, celebrating people demonstrating and closing down the
WTO for the day. This is the response those who believe
themselves to be the masters of the universe, so that they
do not have another day taken from them by the people.
It is a very bittersweet day...
It is, still an historical moment, perhaps a millennial
moment and the events of this night -- the police wait until
dark here and then come in their black body armour as if
ordinary people were evil demons to be feared and hated.
This could well be the night that the sham of developed
world democracy began to be unmasked for what it has become
all over the world ... the plutocratic puppet of the
corporate and individual gluttons that prey upon the rest of
the world and its peoples, much like rapists prey upon their
victims and take what can never be recovered or restored.
In a week or so I may be less dramatic. I will never be the
same. I have never seen the like, not even at Kent State.
Prayers and thought are desperately needed.
Doug
==============
Dear Doug,
You won't have a chance to read this until Seattle is over,
but I want you to know that your words are getting spread
far and wide.
Your comments about "local opportunists and nasties" reminds
me very much of my own experience in Geneva in the Spring of
'98. There too there was a massive peaceful demonstration
against the WTO which was totally ruined by a handful of
violent provacateurs. The guilty party then was PGA
(Peoples Global Action). I wonder if they are at it again
in Seattle? I hope not... they keep telling me they've
reformed.
best regards to you,
rkm
============================================================================
thanks also to Brit Eckhart who sent in a version of
this following story...
rkm
----------------------------
Delivered to: •••@••.•••
From: "Brian Hill" <•••@••.•••>
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Marshall Law in Seattle -Shut down the WTO
victory for the People
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 21:34:13 -0800
-----Original Message-----
From: Janet M Eaton <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.••• <•••@••.•••>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 18:47
Subject: IMC - Battle in Seattle News- 12 Items
INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER
http://www.indymedia.org
Up to the minute grassroots WTO coverage from Seattle.
The Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to
using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting
social and economic justice. Groups Supporting the Independent
1]
Seattle Police Fire on Retreating Protesters
by dan merkle 5:32pm Tue Nov 30 '99
The Seattle Police unleashed a new
round of tear gas and was finally
able to disperse the crowd after an
all day standoff. As the crowd
retreated, the Police aimlessly fired
rubber bullets at the back of the
running protesters. As there was
clearly no danger to the Police or
any bystanders, these cowardly acts
constitute violations of human rights
laws.
At 5:15 p.m. (PST), the Seattle Police
Department ("SPD") released a huge barrage of
tear gas into a crowd of nonviolent protesters.
The crowd had taken over an intersection in the
heart of the city which resulted in a stalemate
throughout most of the day.
Teargas was dispersed intermittently during the
day as the SPD stood in front of their armored
vehicle. The crowd took no actions against the
SPD.
Finally, in a desperate attempt to take
control, the SPD released large amounts of tear
gas and fired rubber bullets into the crowd of
mostly young adults. As the protesters
retreated, the SPD continued to fire at the
backs of the harmless protesters. This cowardly
act violates the spirit, if not specific
provisions, of international human rights law.
2] state of emergency
by cnn 5:13pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Downtown Seattle has been declared by the Mayor
to be a civil emergency. 7pm curfew from Denny
Street to the waterfornt. Meanwhile hit the
link to see CNN's version of events. Then
return here for the news from the streets.
state of emergency
http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/30/wto.03/
PHOTO
Confrontation at 4th and Pike 3:30pm PST
by gazette webcam 4:54pm Tue Nov 30 '99
anarchy vs. the machine
Confrontation at 4th and Pike 3:30pm PST
(picture)
http://www.historylink.org/gazette/gazette.htm
3] Rubber Bullet Shooting
by Joe Friendly 4:29pm Tue Nov 30 '99
A police officer shoots rubber bullets into a
crowd of protestors.
Rubber Bullet Shooting (video: realvideo link)
4] Interview with Tom Hayden about the barracades
on site. by Marc Herbst 4:22pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Interview with Tom Hayden about the barracades
on
site.
by Marc Herbst 4:22pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Interview with Senator Tom Hayden,
founder of SDS, Chicago 8 member, and
California State Senator at Pike and
6th about protests-230pm.
Senator Tom Hayden Interviewed at and about the
Seattle barricades .
I was wandering up liberated Pine Street when I
came to the large "turtle" lock-boxes at 6th
and Pine. The Police were slowly clearing their
way down 6th Street. Loudspeakers were calling
for support up front to protect the line while
a crowd around the Turtle lockboxes were
chanting. The police where threatening a new
round of gassing.
At the Northest corner I saw an older man in a
suit and tie standing calmly amongst the noise.
He was talking to someone about what all the
kids were out here doing. I approached him to
find out who he was and interview him. "Tom, "
he paused "Tom Hayden."
"You're Tom Hayden?" I asked as I lifted my
hand to shake his. "Yes." I'd read a lot about
him while studying the protest movements of the
Sixties. Now a State Senator from California,
he has quite a radical past. He helped author
the Port Huron Statement, the founding document
for the SDS (the Students for a Democratic
Society) which was instramental in creating the
60's culture of liberation. He was also a
member of the Chicago 7 after the Chicago
Democratic Convention of 1968.
I asked the Senator about what he thought of
the events. Impressed by what he saw, he said
that these Seattle events were "very
sophisticated." Comparing the protest styles of
yester-year to today, he noted the differences
in tactics. During the sixties the protesters
would stand around with flowers in non-specific
locations and sacrifce their bodies to the
arresting officers. Contrasting that memory to
what he was witnessing all around him, he
commented on how these activists were
attempting to do more. He was impressed how
they were actively trying to shut down a site
of oppression. Whereas in the sixties, sites of
activism where either in Vietnam or an anti-war
protest, today the protests were actively
confronting the sources of oppression.
I asked him how the activism we are seeing on
the streets today differed from the more
radical late 60's groups like the Weather
Underground. He said that those groups
contained too much oppositional politics and
added to the splintering of the left. He also
commented about how the agggression and
issolation required by those groups lead to
burn-out.
Senator Hayden also remarked on the
coordination between disparate movements that
seems to characterize and be one explaination
for the strength of this movement. He noted
that in the 60's there were no NGOs (non
governmental organizations) and thus the
movement was able to fracture. He noted that
from the Sixties until now there had been no
big new movements born. Today, he sensed the
creation of a new movement.
When asked if he thought this anti-WTO action
would be successfull at acheiving its goals, he
was more tepid. He noted that the debate that
it sparked has made the name the WTO a
household word. He also said that capitalists
would no longer have an easy time creating
secret networksof power.
But he felt that in other ways, the movement
faced new problems that he and his fellow
protesters in the 60's did not face. He
annacdotely told me about a CIA report he read
that was written in the Seventies. The report
suggested that media needed to become more
effective in smearing the left. He said that
the major media will loose much of the
significance of the reasons and the gains made
by the anti-WTO coalition.
5] The Corporate Media Blockade
by Eric Galatas 3:46pm Tue Nov 30 '99
The Corporate Media Blockade
by Eric Galatas 3:46pm Tue Nov 30 '99
The Independent Media Center, set up
to deliver non-corporate news about
protests in Seattle, has received
information that Police WTO protest
numbers contradict ABC reports from
Seattle
Corporate Media Shenanigans
by Eric Galatas, Independent Media Center
KOMO Channel 4, the ABC affiliate in Seattle,
reported this morning that the turn out was
disappointing for the AFL-CIO gathering at
Seattle Center.
Reporting live from the field, the KOMO
reporter said that from an estimated 25,000
participants, possibly 10,000 had indeed turned
out to protest the WTO ministerial.
The Independent Media Center, set up to provide
coverage from non-corporate perspectives, has
received information from police sources that
clearly contradict what the Seattle ABC
affiliate (owned by global conglomerate Disney)
has reported.
According to the IMC, the police are at this
moment preparing to meet 50,000 protestors
making their way from Seattle Center to the WTO
Ministerial.
Stay tuned to www.indymedia.org for incoming
audio, video, print and photos of what is about
to take place, surely an historic confrontation
between forces opposing the giveaway of labor,
environment, and human rights to the demands of
capital
6] 75 000 people in the streets of France against
the WTO by PRESS RELEASE 3:30pm Tue Nov 30 '99
The demonstrations held against the WTO
Millennium Cycle were a great success
throughout France.
75 000 people in the streets of France against
the WTO •••@••.•••
7] Locked-out delegates still tourists at noon by
Andrea del Moral 2:57pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Honduran and Australian delegates who have not
been allowed access speak with protesters about
their politics of trade.
Locked-out delegates still tourists at noon
(full story)
8] Camo-clad cops beat up protesters
by Leslie Howes 2:32pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Undercover police beat up a man and a woman
that had been "marked" for arrest by police
minutes earlier.
Camo-clad cops beat up protesters (full story)
9] WTO attendees react to protestors
by James Culbertson 2:25pm Tue Nov 30 '99
A Contrast between WTO attendees and the
protestors on the street. A symbol for the WTOs
attitude toward the world.
WTO attendees react to protestors (video:
realvideo)
10] Interview with man who was hit with rubber
bullet by James Culbertson 2:17pm Tue Nov 30
'99
Interview with man who was hit with rubber
bullet (video: realvideo)
11] Police shooting and gassing peaceful
demonstrators. by James Culbertson 2:07pm Tue
Nov 30 '99
Police shooting and gassing peaceful
demonstrators. (video: realvideo)
12] Corporate Media Shenanigans
by Eric Galatas; Independent Media Center,
Seatt 1:51pm Tue Nov 30 '99
Police Information Contradicts KOMO Channel 4
in Seattle Labor March Estimates
Corporate Media Shenanigans (full story)
http://www.indymedia.org
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