Celebrating the Battle in Seattle
By
SEATTLE--Ten years ago, thousands of people, both city residents and activists from around the world, mobilized to shut down the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Millennial Round meetings. "Teamsters and turtles" came together to let the world's ruling class know that they would not tolerate corporate globalization.
Over the weekend of November 27, 2009, hundreds of participants from the 1999 demonstrations gathered with others to celebrate this victory. Organized by Seattle Plus 10, a coalition of progressive groups, activists held a weekend-long teach-in titled "Global Justice Forward--The People's Summit" at Seattle University and other venues.
Journalist Amy Goodman addressed the opening session at Seattle's Town Hall on the night of November 27. Reading from her new book, Breaking the Sound Barrier, Goodman discussed the health care crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the significance of the "Battle in Seattle" in galvanizing the movement against corporate globalization and her own recent detention on the Canadian border. Canadian officials, fearful that Goodman would discuss the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, held her on the border for an hour and a half, making her late to her speaking engagement.
On November 28, the opening panel focused on "The Climate Is Changing: It's Time for Solutions!" Panelists addressed the pressing issue of global warming and the coming Copenhagen Summit as well as the changing political climate that can make progressive organizing more possible.
Bob Hasegawa, a leader of the labor demonstration in 1999 and now a state legislator, called for organizing from below and above. He stressed the key turning point that the Battle of Seattle represented. Other speakers called for continued struggle around the climate issue, as well as all the other issues affected by corporate globalization. They pointed out that the current economic crisis of global capitalism shows how correct the anti-WTO demonstrators were 10 years ago.
Other speakers included Jihan Gearon of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Dena Hoff of La Via Campesina, and David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World. Korten called for a new economy based on workers' cooperatives and small businesses, rather than corporate domination.
Through the weekend, people participated in discussions on "Global Justice 10 Years Later," "The Path to Immigration Reform," "Street Speech--Your Right to Protest," "Land as a Right: A Rural Movement Toward Food Sovereignty," "Grassroots Media" and many more. On Saturday evening, the focus was on the fight against racism at a panel on "Reclaiming Community," while a panel on Sunday evening discussed "Global Justice Forward!" and featured speakers from the labor and environmental movements.
On Monday, November 30, a whole day of demonstrations was planned at Westlake Park, one of the key sites of demonstrations in 1999. The issues raised there included immigrant rights and climate change.
The Battle in Seattle was one of the most significant victories for the workers and their allies in the 1990s--and it furthered the movement against neoliberalism throughout the world. With the current crisis of capitalism and growing disillusionment with the system, both the strengths and weaknesses of the movement of 1999 need to be thoroughly debated and discussed. This weekend was a beginning to that needed re-evaluation.
