sorry if some of the info in my e-mail was repetitive, I had not seen this
yet. Ylva
On Wed, 1 Dec 1999, Tony Cisse wrote:
> Jaajef wa G-L
>
> FYI
>
> Tony
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Following are eyewittness reports of today's and ogoing
> action and
> the "state of emergency" declared in Seattle against those
> protesting world corporatization. For more info. and up to the
> minute reports from Seattle and actions taking place around
> the
> world see:
>
> http://206.168.174.20/imc/
>
> and Z net's web site :
>
> http://zena.secureforum.com/wtowatch/index.cfm
>
> End Corporate domination!
>
> Altaf
>
>
> Eyewitness to Day One
>
> By Peter Bohmer
>
> Yesterday was a good day. Today was incredible. This will
> be an
> eyewitness account of someone who only saw a tiny per
> cent of
> what has been going on. I arrived Sunday night and went to
> the
> direct action office against the WTO where people have been
> meeting for a week to plan direct action. A large number of
> people,
> maybe 2000 in total, met in affinity groups to plan direction
> action.
>
> While I was there, a few affinity groups squatted (occupied)
> some
> nearby vacant housing with the plan to turn it over to
> homeless
> people after the protests against the WTO. The energy,
> initiative,
> was incredible.
>
> Monday, November 29th, I spent the afternoon at a Filipino
> Community Center in the Rainier Valley section of Seattle.
> The
> People's Assembly, a primarily Filipino and Filipino-American
>
> group that is affiliated with the Filipino left, were organizing a
> march
> today that included anti-WTO people from South Korea,
> Japan, and
> the Philippines as well as the various groups from the United
> States such as the Mumia Abu-Jamal Defense Committee.
> Their
> programs yesterday and their march today of the People's
> Assembly, which I attended were one of the few parts of the
> protest
> thus far that was led by people of color, primarily Filipino,
> and
> where the meetings and marches were multi-racial.
>
> There was also an inspiring panel of women from Malaysia,
> Korea,
> Thailand, and the Phillipines who called for an end to the
> colonialism of global capitalism, and combined in ways that
> are not
> often done issues of gender, class and global capitalism.
>
> Last night, Monday, after a huge program at a local
> Methodist
> church where Vandana Shiva, Congresswomen Maxine
> Waters,
> AIL-CIO President John Sweeney an many religious leaders
> called
> for a cancellation of the debt of the poorer countries of the
> world, a
> good sized march of maybe 8000 marched to a place where
> the
> World Trade organization was having opening ceremonies.
> The
> slogan was Break The Chains of Debt. Some people chained
>
> themselves near where the delegates were meeting.
>
> Jubilee 2000 Northwest did not want a confrontation with the
> police
> and ended the demonstration soon after when we arrived
> there. The
> march was strong but not very militant. Today was a totally
> different story. By 7 A.M., thousands of people met at two
> main
> points and a few smaller points to shut down the WTO and
> that is
> what we did. By 8:30 AM every intersection leading to where
> the
> WTO delegates were meeting was impassable. People
> chained
> themselves together, built barricades of whatever was
> available to
> throw into the streets. No vehicles could pass although some
>
> delegates tried to arrive by foot. The WTO cancelled their
> meetings
> in the morning.
>
> Every cop in Seattle was on duty backed by secret Service
> and
> many other law enforcement officials. They used large
> amounts of
> tear gas as well as pepper gas and shooting rubber pellets at
> high
> speeds to try to take control of the streets. We just moved to
> other
> streets. Thousands of anti-WTO protesters controlled for
> many
> hours large parts of downtown Seattle.
>
> It is difficult to estimate the numbers but it was definitely in
> the
> many thousands who stayed in the streets. The People for
> Fair
> Trade/Network Opposed to the WTO also had a huge rally
> and
> demonstration, 30,000 plus I heard, that crossed the direct
> action
> and linked together in a few places although the solidarity
> seemed
> limited. The delegates to the WTO had a second session
> planned
> for 2 P.M. As far as I know, that was also cancelled and it
> seems
> like little of the business of the WTO to extend the
> agreements is
> happening.
>
> Demonstrators continued to control the streets although the
> police
> often forced people out through the use of tear gas and
> charging,
> arrests seemed minimal in the afternoon. In mid afternoon,
> the
> Governor Gary Locke, a corporate Democrat announced a
> curfew,
> state of emergency, and the call up of the National Guard,
> although
> unarmed for 7 P.M.
>
> At this time, 8:45 there are a few demonstrators in downtown
>
> Seattle and a significant amount of trashing going on,
> breaking
> windows of some stores. According to the media it is people
> of
> high school age, mainly white, who are not carrying anti
> WTO
> signs. During the day, a few stores such as Nike, the Gap
> and
> other users of sweatshop labor had their windows broken but
> it was
> quite isolated.
>
> Tomorrow, militant protest will continue. Being right in the
> middle of
> it, the direct action seems very positive--thousands of people
> closing down Seattle for one day to challenge corporate
> power and
> their exploitation globally. One reporter I spoke to from
> Geneva,
> said Clinton in announcing the meeting in Seattle at their last
> big
> meeting in Seattle promised tranquillity and a welcome of the
> WTO
> in Seattle. It has been anything but that today. Tens of
> thousands
> are confronting power in Seattle on November 30th. The
> struggle
> continues.
>
>
>
>
> by The Phantom 10:16pm Tue Nov 30 '99
>
> A journalist's account in words and pictures of a day of
> protest in
> Seattle.
>
> As dusk fell over Washington State's largest city, the world
> watched. With National Guard troops on standby and heavily-
> armed riot police maintaining a very visible presence, Seattle
> has
> been declared a 'no-go' zone with a curfew effective from 7pm
>
> (Pacific standard time). The streets of the usually sedate
> North
> Western city - more famous for its coffee than its history of
> urban
> resistance - are now quiet following a massive 'mop-up'
> operation
> by the Seattle Police Department.
>
> With indiscriminate usage of their arsenal, police officers
> were
> successful in ensuring protestors and delegates alike
> suffered the
> stinging effects of teargas, plastic buckshot anti-personnel
> rounds
> and percussion grenades. Middle-aged white men in suits
> staggared from their WTO Convention meetings into the
> city's
> network of streets swarming with conflict. The sight was
> bizarre.
>
> An escalation to violence did not seem likely this morning as
>
> peaceful non-violent actions erupted around the major roads
> which
> lead to the city's Convention Centre. Protesters linked arms
> in
> efforts to prevent the delegates from meeting. The police,
> who were
> desperately trying to keep roads open, were effectively
> outnumbed.
>
>
> a controversial subject with many independent sources
> claiming
> heavy-handed policing provided the initial wave of
> confrontation -
>
> By 7.45am Johnnie Walker, a member of the Bananarchy
> Movement, joined his fellow anti-Chiquita activists in the
> formation
> of a human chain. The termainl activist in the chain locked
> his neck
> to a metal fence with a bycicle U-lock. Walker said, "We're
> protesting because Chiquita does not recognise worker's
> rights in
> Latin America, that they block Carribbean banana producers
> from
> getting a fair price - and Chiquita are going to try and get to
> the
> WTO".
>
> Delegates suddenly appeared with a police escort, and the
> line
> concentrated around the new arrivals. "Back off - you're
> gonna
> break this guy's arm" shouted a protestor as 19-year-old
> Mick
> struggled to breathe against his restrictive U-lock.
>
> By 10 o'clock, the junction of Union and 6th Avenue was
> awash
> with people. There was a tense atmosphere as riot officers
> startedto put on gas marks. "They're getting ready" shouted
> a man
> in a yellow hat. A young woman with a loudspeaker reminded
> the
> crowd of the motives of the demonstration: "This is a
> peaceful
> protest - sit down and stay sitting. We will not move and we
> will not
> be provoked".
>
> Police numbers are swelled and within seconds the thick
> grey
> smoke of tear gas permeated the air. People were being
> dragged
> behind police lines and sprayed in the eyes with pepper
> spray. The
> line of protestors fell back and the junction of Union Street
> and 6th
> Avenue fell under police control. Delegates began streaming
> through police lines as people shouted, "corporate scum -
> you'd
> sell your own children!" There's a lot of laughter as one side
> of the
> Avenue shouted "we love you" and the other responded with
> "we
> love you too".
>
> The next few hours were a constant to-ing and fro-ing
> between
> police and protestors as tear gas, pepper spray and plastic
> buckshot were blasted indiscriminately into the crowd. By
> the time
> the 35,000-strong AFL/CIO union-sponsored march arriveed
> at
> 12.30pm, the crowds of protestors who had maintained their
> blockade for over 5 hours were showing signs of fatigue. A
> young
> woman lay on the road recieving medical attention for
> buckshot
> wounds to her face, others were getting water poured over
> their
> eyes to relieve the effects of stinging tear-gas. The arrival of
> crowds
> of unionists, developing world activists and a host of
> progressive
> organisations' representatives brought a mellow atmosphere
> to the
> proceedings. Children, older people, striking steel workers
> and
> international NGO delegates worked their placating magic.
> "I'm
> here to offer support, chase girls and party" jokes 51-year-old
> Larry
> from the ILWU in Portland, Oregon. As if in response to
> Larry, a
> troupe of topless women danced past in a protest as part of
> the
> larger demonstration.
>
> Spanish WTO Convention delegates Jose and Salvador sat
> at the
> Seattle's Best Coffeeshop opposite Pike Street Market. "We
> have
> been invited to attend to the conference. I think it's a problem
> now -
> people have travelled far from around the world. They have to
> spend
> a lot of money to get here. They are ministers who have been
>
> democratically elected". I asked, Can the protest stop the
> WTO?
> "They can't stop the international trade" says Jose.
>
> At the Federal Building on Second Avenue, Norm Stamper
> (Seattle's Chief of Police), began to answer questions from
> the ten
> or so journalists awaiting the city's official response. "They
> said it
> would be the biggest protest of the century and they were
> right" he
> said cooly. Having declared the police had not used certain
> anti-
> personnel weapons, he refused to discuss how a journalist
> present
> at the press briefing had possession of a mini-rubber bullet.
> He
> joked, "[I'd better not] drop it - I'd hate to see what that does
> in this
> room if it went off".
>
> Back on the streets the tension was rising. Police remained
> intent
> on clearing the streets. Battles raged with between
>
>
>
> http://206.168.174.20/imc/
>
> the eclectic collection of protesters and police as tear gas
> canisters flew.
>
> Within a few hours word had spread about the curfew
> announced at
> a Mayoral press briefing at 5.00pm . The police broke up the
> protesters into increasingly smaller groups and pressured
> protesters to leave the streets. Bill Clinton is expected to
> arrive
> tomorrow and it is unclear how State authorities intend
> handle the
> situation . One thing, however, is certain: 1999 is a date
> Seattle
> will never forget. As protestors blocked the streets,
> the
> police responded with overwhelming force, using the latest
> sub-
> lethal weapons.
>
> The six police agencies bringing force to bear in Seattle,
> outnumbered and out-spirited, are responding with outbursts
> of
> violence using the latest sub-lethal weapons. Many
> eyewitnesses
> report that rubber bullets, tear gas grenades, hand-held
> pepper-
> spray canisters, flash-bang grenades, an armored personnel
> carrier, and an attack helicopter are all part of the
> department\'s
> crowd-control arsenal. There are also reports of the use of
> paint
> pellets to mark protestors for later apprehension.
>
> Islam and Social Justice Page:
> http://www.wco.com/~altaf/altaf.html
>
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