Social Justice E-Zine #34 (WTO ISSUE)

[Kim or Ray Goforth]

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  "This is what democracy looks like." --WTO protestors' chant


                       SOCIAL JUSTICE #34
                        December 5, 1999
                           Kim Goforth
                           Ray Goforth


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IN THIS ISSUE:

1) BATTLE OF SEATTLE

2) WORKING FAMILIES TAKE THEIR MESSAGE TO THE WTO

3) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF POLICE
    AT SEATTLE WTO

4) WTO TALKS COLLAPSE


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   Welcome to the latest issue of SOCIAL JUSTICE E-ZINE.  The
name Social Justice encompasses the struggles of people
everywhere who work for gender equality, democratic government,
economic opportunity, intellectual freedom, environmental
protection, and human rights.
   Social Justice is an electronic magazine (e-zine) designed for
free distribution through the internet. SJ now reaches
approximately 10,000 e-mail recipients in eight dozen
countries.  Stories from SJ are then broadcast on radio stations
throughout the English speaking world.  Feel free to make copies
and share with friends (or enemies).  Think of this as a regular
magazine without the recycling.  If there's nothing you want to
read in this issue, just hit delete.
   Those wishing to be added to the subscription list (or
conversely, those who want off the list) should write to us at:

goforth86 at home.com
http://members.tripod.com/~goforth/socialjustice.html


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THE BATTLE OF SEATTLE
by Ray Goforth

As I write this essay my city is under marshal law.  Being Seattle, they
are
too polite to call it  marshal law.  Instead, they call it a "state of
civil emergency with a limited curfew."  That limited curfew lasts from
7:00 p.m. until 7:30 a.m in most areas and last 24 hours a day in some
parts of downtown Seattle.  That curfew covers 50 city blocks and police
are acting as if it extends into
surrounding residential neighborhoods as well.  The National Guard has
been mobilized and law enforcement from around the state have descended
upon the city.  Emergency laws have been decreed making it illegal for
citizens to own or use gas masks.  Moreover, it is now a crime to
express political dissent within the "no protest zone" of downtown
Seattle.  The sound of sirens and the drum of police helicopters clearly
sets the tone.

The local television news has served up a diet of shocking images: My
favorite has been the footage of a police officer clad in body armor
walking up to a citizen and kicking him in the testicles, and then
shooting him point blank in the chest with a rubber bullet.  This
kicking of protesters in the testicles appears to be a favorite tactic
as there are numerous photographs of it happening.  Even local
politicians weren't spared the marshal law treatment as Seattle City
Councilmember Richard McIver was dragged out of his car and thrown to
the ground, and King County Councilmember Brian Derdowski was shot in
the shoulder with a tear gas canister.

Thinking back upon the past couple days, I can still picture a group of
old women gasping from the tear gas and a young man bleeding against an
alley wall as his friend attempts to bandage the rubber bullet wound on
his head.  The police claim only three people were hurt but the fire
department says that they transported over 90 people to the hospital and
an untold number tended
their own wounds.  These same firefighters refused to turn their fire
hoses upon the protesters despite repeated requests from the police.
How did this happen to my city?

Just yesterday morning I was one of 50,000 trade unionists and
environmental activists peacefully marching through the streets of
Seattle demanding that the World Trade Organization incorporate human
rights and environmental protection into future trade agreements.  The
WTO was here in Seattle to set its agenda for the next several years and
opponents of neoliberalism from around the world came to try and
influence that agenda.  Earlier in the morning, several
thousand people had formed a human chain around the WTO meeting place
and physically prevented the WTO from coming into session.  The police
used tear gas and pepper spray on the crowd but it refused to budge.
Eventually the police gave up and let the protesters stay.

Throughout the day a small group of masked protesters caused sporadic
violence (smashing of some windows, overturning newspaper vending
machines, spray-painting on walls, etc.).  Much of this was done in full
view of the police who took no action to arrest them.  While there was
the occasional trash dumpster set on fire, the vast majority (99.9%) of
protesters were peacefully
registering their dissent against the WTO.  Then at about 4:30 p.m. when
the sun was setting, the police suddenly began to attack these
protesters with CS-gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and rubber
bullets.  The effect as you might imagine was chaos.  What devolved was
a series of pitched battles between groups of protesters and police that
lasted for three days.  Peaceful protests also continued throughout the
city including another labor/environmentalist march I
attended three days after the first (this one bringing 10,000 marchers).

The people who took to the streets of Seattle were a motley coalition of
trade unionists, human rights advocates, environmentalists and social
justice activists.  What they had in common was a coherent critique of
the reigning neoliberal prescription for global economic integration.

They rejected the WTO notion that a state that keeps labor costs down by
imprisoning and killing trade union activists is doing nothing wrong;

They rejected the WTO notion that child labor (and even slave labor) is
acceptable and should not be questioned in trade negotiations;

They rejected the WTO notion that environmental protection laws are
unfair barriers to trade;

They rejected the WTO notion that states should be punished for
violating patent rights but not for violating human rights;

They rejected the WTO notion that its proceedings should be held in
secret and shielded from the prying eyes of the working people who must
live with WTO agreements;

And finally:

They laughed together at the irony when the Mayor of Seattle declared a
"no protest zone" around the Niketown and Nordstrom department stores
but encouraged people to keep shopping there.  The citizens of Seattle
were free to shop for merchandise made in sweatshops, they just couldn't
complain about sweatshops.

Emerging from this common critique was an understanding that these
groups had a common purpose.  They all agreed that the emergence of the
post-industrial economy should not be allowed to unravel the web of
labor, environmental and human rights protections that common people
have struggled long and hard to achieve.

When the WTO announced that their Seattle talks had collapsed without a
single agreement, the protesters danced in the streets.  We had won and
our victory was twofold.  We effectively disrupted the work of the WTO,
forcing them to consider our agenda.  Beyond that, we formed alliances
that will carry on beyond the Battle of Seattle.  Looking back on the
past week, I predict that here in Seattle the seeds were planted for
transnational social justice alliances to begin to
tame the excesses of transnational capital.  Fifty years from now, the
Battle of Seattle may be remembered as the turning point where a more
just and equitable global order began.  At the beginning of this essay,
I asked what had happened to my city.  What happened is that common
people defied the corporate and government elites, and won.


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WORKING FAMILIES TAKE THEIR MESSAGE TO THE WTO

Shouting "No to the WTO," working families from more than 50
unions, 25 states and 144 countries were among the tens of
thousands of activists marching through the streets of Seattle
Nov. 30 to demand that international trade rules be reformed to
respect workers' rights and protect the environment.

"I believe it's important to be here because working people
around the world should unite. Corporations are growing stronger
and stronger, especially in the industries that our union is
involved with." Louis Rocha, president of Communications Workers
Local 9423 in San Jose, Calif.

"We came from different unions, different countries and different
races, but yesterday we spoke with one voice. I felt proud to be
part of the labor movement." Liz Brown of the Pacific Northwest
Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 37082.

Union activists, many arriving in the more than 200 buses hired
for the occasion, began gathering at Memorial Stadium two hours
before a 10:30 a.m. rally. An estimated 30,000 to 50,000
participants overflowed the stadium and spilled into the
adjoining parking lot, braving a cold rain. At the stadium,
rally-goers listened to the fair trade message amid hundreds of
colorful banners, signs and costumes, with the Teamsters in
yellow rain ponchos and blue caps, Machinists parade marshals in
blue ponchos and neon orange caps, and environmentalists
carrying a huge inflatable turtle.

"We're basically putting a human face on the WTO," Teamsters
President James P. Hoffa told the cheering crowd. "It has to
consider human rights and worker rights along with trade."

Speaking at the rally, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "Here
in the United States, we will continue to organize in the
Congress and elsewhere against any trade accords that do not
include workers' rights and human rights and environmental and
public health protections. And we will stop them." AFL-CIO
Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson, dozens of leaders
of international unions, as well as religious, human rights,
environmental and international leaders told the crowd that free
trade isn't "free" if its costs are child labor and forced labor,
poverty wages, hazardous workplaces and environmental
degradation, and that free trade must be substituted with fair
trade.

"We were trying to send a very clear message to the WTO that we
want the global economy to work for working families and if the
WTO won't do it, we need another organization that will," said
Rick Bender, president of the Washington State Labor Council.

Dan Thompson, secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO,
joined the rally and march with a union delegation from his
state. Thompson said he was amazed by the diversity of rally
participants in Seattle. "If you look at each group, everyone has
an issue," he said, "but it all revolves around trade." American
workers, he said, are mobilized to protest U.S. trade deals with
countries that tolerate rights violations and encourage the
flight of jobs.

Following the two-hour rally, activists streamed out of the
stadium for a march through the city's center, stopping for a
moment of silence outside the Westin Seattle Hotel, where
President Clinton is staying.

Sweeney voiced agreement with President Clinton's regrets that a
few people had given the protesters a bad name. "We must not let
the negative actions of a few overshadow the accomplishments of
more than 30,000 positive and peaceful protesters," Sweeney said.

In a demonstration of solidarity, the Longshore and Warehouse
Union shut down the Port of Seattle and dozens of ports along the
West Coast. "By taking time out from work to voice our concerns,
the ILWU is telling the transnational corporations that they
cannot run the global economy without the workers of the world,"
said ILWU President Brian McWilliams.

For More Information Contact:

AFL-CIO
815 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Phone: (202) 637-5000
Fax: (202) 637-5058
E-Mail: feedback at aflcio.org
www.aflcio.org

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF POLICE AT SEATTLE WTO

(New York, December 2, 1999) -- Human Rights Watch today called
on Seattle Mayor Paul Schell and Washington State Governor Gary
Locke to appoint an impartial, independent panel to investigate
the response of law enforcement to this week's protests at the
World Trade Organization (WTO) conference. The panel should
investigate allegations that the police used excessive force and
city officials placed unwarranted restrictions on the rights to
free expression and assembly of peaceful protesters in violation
of constitutional and international standards. If the panel finds
wrongdoing, those responsible for such abuses should be held
accountable.

Human Rights Watch also condemned the destruction of property
and violent acts by some protesters.

Allegations requiring investigation include claims that:

-police tactics to disperse protests in areas of Seattle outside
the "no demonstration" zone were overly-aggressive. In
particular, police actions on the evening of December 1 in the
Capitol Hill area require investigation. Protesters and residents
report that police used tear gas, concussion bombs, and shot
rubber pellets into crowds, without warning, at a protest
unrelated to the WTO conference. The encounter reportedly began
when a police car drove into a group of protesters.

-the decision by city officials to curtail all protests in the
downtown area, including peaceful ones, may have violated
protesters' right to free expression and assembly. Despite
assurances that they could be present in the area if they did not
block traffic, protesters report that they were not allowed to do
so.

-there were restrictions on detainees' attempting to meet, or
speak by telephone, with public defenders or other legal counsel.

-CS tear gas was sprayed into the faces of protesters who had
chained themselves to objects or were cornered, and thus could
not leave the area as ordered.

-police indiscriminately shot rubber pellets, bullets, or other
projectiles into crowds.

For more information contact:

Mike Jendrzejczyk (240)634-0100, Room 350
Allyson Collins (202) 612-4354
Human Rights Watch
1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.,Suite 500
Washington, DC 20009
Tel:(202) 612-4321, Fax:(202) 612-4333
hrwdc at hrw.org
www.hrw.org

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WTO TALKS COLLAPSE
by Ray Goforth

Belying the smug assurances earlier in the week from World Trade
Organization officials that the protesters were a mere inconvenience,
the WTO announced December 3rd that talks had completely collapsed.  The
WTO would be leaving Seattle without an agreement to start a new round
of global trade talks.

Conference participants later acknowledged that the pressure from the
streets to protect labor and environmental standards exacerbated rifts
between many of the 135 WTO member states.

Several of the richest states felt strong pressure to defend their
domestic labor and environmental protection laws while many poorer
states professed fears that this was just another form of protectionism.

"Many developing states have honest concerns about their ability to meet
higher environmental and workplace safety standards.  However, a great
many of these states are playing a cynical game.  They operate
neglectful and often brutal domestic regimes.  Their real fear is that a
'fair trade' agenda will lead to democratization of their own societies"
said one observer who asked to
remain anonymous.

Developing states steadfastly rejected a United States proposal for a
working group to study how labor standards could be incorporated into
future trade agreements.  Tensions were also high between developed
states as the European Community and the United States clashed over
agriculture subsidies.

WTO supporters almost without fail are quick to pronounce that global
trading integration is inevitable.  While the collapse of the Seattle
round of WTO trade talks does not necessarily negate these
pronouncements, it does indicate that the terms of that integration are
still open for debate.


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For those who have inquired:  We (Ray and Kim Goforth) grew-up in
southern California where we were active in a wide variety of
progressive political organizing activities.  We moved to
Seattle, Washington, USA in 1988 where we took positions with
different social service agencies. In 1995, we completed
undergraduate degrees in political-economy at The Evergreen State
College.  In 1998, we completed law degrees (juris doctor) at the
University of Washington.  Ray works for a labor union and Kim
advocates for victims of domestic violence.

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