|
|
Blog Feeds
Anti-Empire
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international edition
|
N30 + 10 years - Remembering and celebrating "The day the political landscape changed forever" international |
environment |
news report
 Monday November 30, 2009 12:24 by dunk fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk BCN > Geneva > Copenhagen
 As we still fight WTO in Geneva today, as we prepare for COP15 in Copenhagen “The day the political landscape changed forever“, was how Fritjof Capra referred to events of N30, Tuesday 30th of November 1999, in his book The Hidden Connections. He was referring to the day when 1000´s of global justice activists came together and succeeded in shutting down the first WTO (World Trade Organisation) talks in the US using (mostly) non violent direct actions (NVDA) in the north western US city of Seattle. This was the event which brought the “globalisation” debate to the mainstream. It has been misleadingly described as anti-globalisation, what it should be accurately described as is anti corporate globalisation. 10 years ago today, The Battle in Seattle: yeah, didn't we - shut it down - didn't we Today we are broadcasting from Seattle, Washington, where delegations from 130 countries are meeting this week for a historic round of trade talks at the World Trade Organization. Tens of thousands of activists from all over the world–from labor groups, to environmental activists, to farmers, to women’s groups, to many others representing a wide range of civil society–have also converged on Seattle for what the Wall Street Journal has said will be “the mother of all protests.” The Battle in Seattle: French Farmer Jose Bove Leads Protest at Mcdonalds (N30) http://www.democracynow.org/1999/11/30/the_battle_in_se...armer “Shut McDonalds Mcglobalization” of agriculture around the world—a phenomenon they said has been brought about by the decisions and policies of the World Trade Organization. Unions Take to the Streets in Seattle: A Conversation with United Steelworkers of America (N30) http://www.democracynow.org/1999/11/30/unions_take_to_t...ts_in Thousands of steelworkers marched yesterday in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization’s trade policies. The steelworkers have been some of the most militant and vocal of all the unions that have converged on Seattle. The Battle in Seattle - follow on audio stories from Democracy Now: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 - The Battle in Seattle—Tens of Thousands of Protesters Shut Down the Inaugural Sessions of the World Trade Organization A thing born once in Seattle amidst tear gas and protest… Indymedia Many things grew out of those days in Seattle, one of them has grown from strength to strength and is perhaps the best metaphor like tool we can use to understand the new ways of doing things: Networking, building up and using efficient, open and honest tools of communication: Indymedia. (infos at http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/about.shtml ) The bi lingual film “i“ or ”Eye of the storm”, made by IMC-Argentina, is a beautiful film which shows the birth and growth and magic of “a global network” . It focuses on the rise of Indymedia and how participative media grew during the economic and social crisis in Argentina. (watch trailer at http://ithefilm.com/ ) Independent media films about Seattle N30: This Is What Democracy Looks Like This film, shot by 100 amateur camera operators, tells the story of the enormous street protests in Seattle, Washington in November 1999, against the World Trade Organization summit being held there. Vowing to oppose, among other faults, the WTO’s power to arbitrally overrule nations’ environmental, social and labour policies in favour of unbridled corporate greed, protestors from all around came out in force to make their views known and stop the summit. Against them is a brutal police force and a hostile media as well as the stain of a minority of destructively overzealous comrades. Against all odds, the protesters bravely faced fierce opposition to take back the rightful democratic power that the political and corporate elite of the world is determined to deny the little people. watch film at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-20072061863625...1122# Showdown in Seattle The Seattle IMC made their own film after N30 entitled Showdown in Seattle and they should be watched to get a fuller picture. The film has been broken into 5 parts Pt 1 – Seattle Prelude Pt 2 – People Unite Police Riot Pt 3 – Occuppied Seattle Pt 4 – Unwilling Cautives Pt 5 – What Democracy Looks Like Full video is stored on Archive.org - http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_a_showdown_in_s...attle The Battle of Seattle - from indy street reporting to Hollywood blockbuster Democracy Now - Battle in Seattle: With A-List Cast, New Film Re-Creates Historic Protest Against WTO (September 18, 2008) http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/18/battle_in_seattle..._list In November 1999, tens of thousands of global justice activists, environmentalists, union members and anti-capitalist activists helped shut down the World Trade Organization in Seattle. It was a watershed moment for the movement against corporate globalization. The story of the Seattle protests has now been turned into a fictionalized film featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. We speak to the film’s writer and director, Stuart Townsend, as well as David Solnit, one of the key organizers of the WTO protests and co-founder of the Seattle WTO People’s History Project. film website: http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/ watch film online (via chinese type youtube) - http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDUxMDg1MDg=.html fuller report with links etc at - N30: The day the political landscape changed forever http://itsafunnyoldworld.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/n30/ From WTO in Geneva to COP 15 in Copenhagen.... the Social and Climate justice caravan and the battle to change the world. Two important summits take place at the end of 2009 in Europe: the 7th conference of ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and the UN climate summit in Copenhagen (COP15). With a week between them, 60 activists from the global South will travel across Europe through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Denmark. They will draw attention to the consequences neoliberal globalization and climate change have on their lives and show how to fight against them. Together with local activists, they look for alternatives to free trade and the privatisation of resources, and unite the North and South in their fights for another world. So outlines the Social & Climate Justice Caravan, which is already busy in Geneva... http://www.climatecaravan.org/ From rubber bullets, tear gas and flames in the streets of Seattle to the streets of Geneva today. Thousands protest WTO in Geneva - Property Damage and Tear Gas (2 days ago) http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/11/442437.html Up to 4-5000 people today marched in Geneva protesting ahead of the WTO meeting in an International Demonstration as part of a week of action and debate around the WTO Ministerial which runs from 30th November to 2nd December. Related links> Euronews - They (Anti-capitalism protesters) accuse the WTO of not doing enough to tackle climate change, claiming it is a mouthpiece for the interests of multinational corporations. http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/28/geneva-ravaged-by-an...tors/ http://vastminority.blogspot.com/2009/11/anti-wto-riots....html Seattle Grows Up In the lead up to the massive COP15 goings on in Denmark next month, a recent article "Seattle Grows Up" from Naomi Klein reported; A decade ago, in a New York Times comment piece published after Seattle was shut down, I wrote that a new movement advocating a radically different form of globalisation "just had its coming-out party". What will be the significance of Copenhagen? I put that question to John Jordan, whose prediction of what eventually happened in Seattle I quoted in my book No Logo. He replied: "If Seattle was the movement of movements' coming-out party then maybe Copenhagen will be a celebration of our coming of age." The Seattle activists' coming of age in Copenhagen will be very disobedient (klein article - alternative title) The climate conference will witness a new maturity for the movement that ignited a decade ago. But that does not mean playing it safe http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009...hagen Related video from Democracy now: Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/23/naomi_klein_on_c...t_why Well, the latest column I wrote for “The Nation,” is about this line that you can draw from Seattle to Copenhagen. I call the column “Seattle Grows Up,” because I think we’re also seeing an evolution of a movement that can to world attention on the streets of Seattle. I think there has been a profound deepening of the coalition between groups that are primarily focused on poverty, on development, on debt, and environmental groups that have traditionally been focused on environmental issues. We saw that in Seattle, the beginnings of that coalition, with the famous “Teamsters and Turtles” coalition. Now we are seeing something much deeper. Ok, so thats a quick trip down memory lane, happy birthday INDYMEDIA... Back to Jim Page to finish the story which has only begun... Didn't We November 30th, '99
|
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
|
View Full Comment Text
save preference
Comments (17 of 17)