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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------