Anti-WTO Activist Camporee
By Denis Moynihan

Over 150 activists from North America and beyond gathered recently on an
organic farm north of Seattle to plan for the Nov 29 to Dec 3 anti-WTO
events. The Global This! Action Camp, sponsored by The Ruckus Society and
the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), rallied front-line direct action
campaigners to organize what has been touted as the "Protest of the
Century": shutting down the World Trade Organization's Third Ministerial
meeting in Seattle.

Since its creation in 1994 as the new incarnation of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO has served transnational corporate
interests by repeatedly compelling member governments to overturn or weaken
labor, environmental and human rights laws that impede the blind pursuit of
profit. The long list of offenses has been summarized by Public Citizen's
point-man on the Ministerial protests, Mike Dolan, as "the three B's: Burma,
beef, and bananas." Massachusetts' selective procurement law penalizes
companies that profit from doing business with the repressive regime in
Burma. The European Parliament voted unanimously to ban the importation of
hormone-treated beef from the U.S. until it can be proven safe. The European
Union reserved a portion of its banana market for its members' former
colonies in the Caribbean, allowing local farmers to subsist. In each case,
one or more governments at the behest of corporations appealed to the WTO
and won, claiming that such laws amounted to unfair trade barriers. In a
recent ruling, the WTO ruled against a U.S. government tax break that
benefited U.S. companies whose export products contained at least 50%
domestically-derived components. It seems not even corporate welfare is safe
from the WTO sledgehammer, if it indirectly endorses strengthening
communities over profit.

This November, the WTO hopes to set the agenda for the so-called "Millenium
Round" of trade talks, to accelerate globalization and free trade into the
21st century. The smorgasbord includes the Global Free Logging Agreement,
trade-related intellectual property rights, and the piecemeal advancement of
the stalled Multilateral Agreement on Investments, regarding services.
Insurance and banking behemoths claim that it is their right, as well as an
inevitable consequence of globalization, a "natural progression," that their
vast pools of capital should slosh around the globe forever seeking the
greatest immediate return. Not only would increased liberalization of
capital flows ignore the lessons of the Asian financial crisis that swept
Russia and South America, but it would also open to foreign acquisition such
sacred community assets as hospitals, public schools and municipal water
systems.

This meeting, said to be the largest trade conference ever on American soil,
was sited in Seattle, America's gateway to the Asian market, in Washington
State, where, according to the Seattle Host Organization, one in four jobs
are export-related. Seattle is also the heart of the Pacific Northwest's
thriving direct action culture. Thousands of serious activists are champing
at the bit to vacate their home trenches for a couple of weeks to take a
non-violent shot at the cyclopean head of the corporate world takeover.
Warehouses are being scouted as potential squats. Seattle Food Not Bombs is
making preparations to feed the troops. A sophisticated media collective has
formed to ensure that the good work of the protestors is neither ignored nor
marginalized. Low-power, "pirate" radio activists are coordinating
communications for the masses, and a network of inconspicuous bike
messengers will feed information from the street to the clandestine
transmitters. A continuously updated website will serve as an alternative
newswire for the global public.

Behind this organizing is the newly-formed Direct Action Network, composed
of West Coast activist organizations and street theater troupes. Currently
based in the cramped, shared office space of Seattle's Community Action
Network, DAN is coordinating the mass non-violent direct action component of
the welling resistance to the Ministerial. The intellectual phalanx of the
dissent will be well represented, with a teach-in sponsored by the
International Forum on Globalization, at the 2,500 seat Benaroya Auditorium
on Saturday, Nov. 27th. Similar days of lectures, press briefings and
rallies will occur throughout the week. DAN is providing the infrastructure
for an aggressive, coordinated and colorful week of civil disobedience that
will shut down the meeting, and inspire the global public to educate
themselves and demand a seat at the table the next time the WTO tries to
meet.

The call to action is for early on Tuesday, Nov. 30th, when President
Clinton is slated to open the Ministerial with an address. The mass action
follows a decentralized, affinity-group structure. Affinity groups of from
five to 20 people are asked to abide by the action guidelines, agreed upon
by DAN and other sponsoring groups (to date, Ruckus, RAN, the Nat'l Lawyers
Guild, Global Exchange, People's Global Action, and Seattle's CISPES, IWW
and EarthFirst!), which are

no violence, either physical or verbal
no weapons
no drugs or alcohol
no property damage

Each affinity group should have a member responsible for support should
other members risk arrest. These groups are encouraged to participate as
best they can, be it street theater, banner hanging, silent prayer, or more
aggressive, confrontational tactics. A legal collective has formed to assist
the demonstrators, using jail solidarity among all those arrested to bargain
with the authorities.
An impressive security apparatus has formed to confront this rag-tag army.
The U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the State Department, The Federal Emergency
Management Agency, The King County Sheriff, and the Seattle police have
joined forces. The police promise "access to pepper spray" (to which many of
those at the action camp are no strangers) and a "flexible SWAT team." The
courts in Seattle have reportedly been closed for three days around the
Ministerial, a judge has been assigned the task of processing detainees full
time, and outlying jails have been contracted for overflow. Add to this the
resources of the principals of the Seattle Host Organization, Bill Gates,
CEO of Microsoft and Phil Condit, CEO of Boeing, and one understands the
intensity of the planning and discussion during the week at the Prag Tree
farm.
Whereas Ruckus typically helps groups acquire skills necessary to include
effective, non-violent direct action in their campaigns, this camp was
dedicated solely to bringing together the experts to shut down the WTO.
Workshops ranged from urban climbing and banner making to non-violence
training and peacekeeping, scouting, technical lock-downs and blockades,
media, website design, street theater, legal tactics, even drumming. Every
hint of free time was filled with meetings and discussions. Campfires, a
traditional mainstay of these off-the-grid activists, served as rostrums for
speakers from around the country, and for song and dance as well.
The action camp propelled the group into overdrive. A Seattle convergence to
prepare for the mass action is set for Nov 20 - 28. San Francisco's Art and
Revolution Collective took off to start a three-week Road Show from
Vancouver, BC to Santa Cruz. The staffer from the Sea Turtle Restoration
Project returned to San Francisco to ensure that the 200 sea turtle costumes
were on schedule. The Radical Jeerleaders had made copies of their
anti-corporate cheers for dissemination. The wheels were in motion to bring
to the streets of Seattle a showdown of people versus profit, on the eve of
the millenium.
For more infor, contact the Direct Action Network at 206-632-1656
www.seattlewto.org
www.agitprop.org/artandrevolution/wto.
DAN can receive tax-deductible contributions to support this work. Please
call for info.