Wto Riots – the Battle in SeattleEssay Preview: Wto Riots – the Battle in SeattleReport this essayThe WTO riots commonly referred to as “The Battle in Seattle” had a very big impact on Seattle. The WTO riots pretty much shutdown downtown Seattle for 5 days. Businesses lost millions of dollars from lack of people and vandalism. People all over the world watched the WTO riots from there homes on television. Many people realized that if you want something to happen bad enough you can make it happen. There were further losses in tourism due to damaged reputation, and/or public anxiety in living or visiting Seattle.
The World Trade Organization was established on January 1st, 1995. There are 147 member countries as of April 23rd , 2004. The budget for the WTO is 162 million Swiss francs as of January 1st, 2004. The number of Secretariat staff members is 600. The head staff member is Supachai Panitchpakdi and he is a director-general.
The founding of the WTO primarily the interest of the United States. Just as it was the US which stopped the founding of the International Trade Organization (ITO) in 1948, when it felt that it would not provide an overwhelming economic dominance in the post-war world, so it was the US that became the leading campaigner for the Uruguay Round and the founding of the WTO, when it felt that more competitive global conditions had created a situation where its corporate interests now demanded an opposite stance.
The WTO performs various functions including administering WTO trade agreement, organizing forums for trade negotiations, handling trade disputes, monitoring national trade policies, providing technical assistance and training for developing countries, and cooperation with other international organizations.
On November 30, 1999, the World Trade Organization was going to hold a meeting in Seattle, Washington, for what was to be the launch of a new round of trade negotiations. The negotiations, which were very unsuccessful, were overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests outside the hotels and convention center. They were protesting the convening of the WTO because they believe the WTO puts profits above human rights and environmental concerns, and that its policies reflect the commercial interests of multinational companies. This is the cause of the WTO riots.
Planning for the demonstrations began months in advance and included local, national, and international organizations. Among the most notable participants were national and international non governmental organizations (especially those concerned with labor issues, the environment, and consumer protection), labor unions, student groups, religiously-based groups, and anarchists. The motivations and intent of many of these groups in the WTO demonstrations differed significantly. Many non governmental organizations came with intentions to participate in the official meetings, while also planning educational and press events. The labor unions organized a large permitted rally and marched from Seattle Center to downtown.
The WTO is a union-led society, and a collective government is a central requirement of democratic management throughout the international trade system. The WTO, on the other hand, is an organization of trade unions whose members, organized in conjunction with the national union and those involved in the political establishment (including the Secretary of State), will be central to the rule of all international trade negotiations. In response to the WTO demonstrations, many organizations and their leaders took significant actions of their own, such as organizing protests, boycotts, protests, and political activities such as the People’s Campaign in Seattle, protests to stop U.S. President Obama’s executive actions against environmental regulations, and protests to halt U.S. trade agreements that benefit the wealthy and multinational corporations, most notably, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The movement to defend the WTO in Washington has been largely successful.
The WTO Movement in the United States
While the U.S. trade relationship with Japan continues to depend on international trade, the WTO movement, which has been developing among all sides through a series of international forums, has been active for several months. The WTO Movement’s main initiative has been to develop a “trade reform” movement to end U.S. domination of the international trade system. Specifically, it has organized and organized workers’ occupations, protests, and occupations in major international trade deals. In February of the last year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America formally organized a trade negotiation group known as the “Trade Coalition of the United States,” which includes both the U.S. and Japanese government. These workers, many of them with over 100 years of experience negotiating for better deals with both of the two countries, now have the capacity to challenge the United States: with the WTO in their sights.
The Seattle workers, who were also organizing at the WTO meeting, were led to believe that not only would more trade be good in the WTO, but that they would have success in moving toward a more “business-first internationalism.” They are hoping that in order to win against the WTO and to convince people not to bring jobs overseas, they will have the capacity to help them in their efforts to break the U.S. monopoly of global trade, making it better for the local economy, and to force the United States to step back from its anti-Japanese militarism. However, this may not be possible at the moment. If the U.S. does not move the negotiations forward, the WTO could lead to a civil war between Japan and the U.S. It is extremely likely that Japan, with its large industrial and tourism industries, would not seek to join the WTO and would oppose it. In addition, the United States and Japan face a number of territorial disputes: the territorial waters between the continental United States and Canada, the coast of the United States through the South China Sea, on which the Pacific Ocean lies. The WTO’s efforts to address these issues will include the efforts of
Other organizations were more interested in taking direct action, especially civil disobedience to disrupt the meeting. These groups organized together as the Direct Action Network, with a plan to disrupt the meetings by blocking streets and intersections downtown to prevent representatives from reaching the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, where the meeting was going to be held. Though the group was a diverse one, it did settle on a basic motto of nonviolence, including: “We will not destroy property.” However, certain activists, most notably a group of mostly-young anarchists, use a more confrontational strategy, and apparently planned deliberate vandalism of properties in downtown Seattle owned by multinational corporations, such as Nike, Starbucks, and various banks.
Damage costs for Seattle were very large. Ranging from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of millions. Seattle has just recently settled a lawsuit with protesters for $250,000, over the WTO police riots. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said the police lacked probable cause to arrest the protesters outside a “no protest zone.” Pechman said the police had done an “atrocious” job at record keeping, as well as citing the use of improper warrant and arrest procedures to round up protesters. The total cost to Seattle and surrounding suburbs was about $13 million, not including several pending lawsuits against the city for police brutality. The federal government reimbursed Seattle about $5 million.
Various painful weapons were used on the protesters during the demonstrations of the Seattle WTO riots. The police attacked thousands of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators and bystanders with pepper spray, tear gas, jack boots, truncheons, “flash-bang” grenades, wooden pellets, marbles and hard plastic bullets. Police violently attacked protesters with no provocation whatsoever. That was the case when they were beaten and sprayed, that was the case when downtown was flooded with gas, with helicopters flying overhead shining spotlights down into the crowd. Thousands of police forced protesters out of the downtown area firing canister after canister of tear gas into the crowd.
In addition to being “disappointing” to any human being, the event created a huge media buzz.
Unfortunately, a large number of people refused to see this event in person.
After the Seattle protests, many individuals, organizations, businesses and government organizations have lost our trust in the media and are stepping up their outreach to activists.
We need to get this into the state legislature where it is so widely recognized and recognized. If the voters are smart and decide to give the power and accountability to the government to a whole host of individuals, groups, and groups with a wide range of social and economic interests, our government will have the ability to hold them accountable for their actions. To have a truly independent, independent press is to build upon the foundation built by the civil rights movement. I am proud to support the progressive, independent news site, the Washington Free Beacon. If the public understands what’s going on about the movement, the media will be able to hold people to account.
At this moment in time, we have the tools to fight back. I am proud to stand alongside these people and other citizens who oppose a $20 minimum wage increase while also speaking up for our rights and rights to civil rights that are guaranteed as a nation. Today, while the Washington Free Beacon is one of those people that represents so much of us, we are facing a fight against a law that has put too often the rule of law at the core of our democracy.
I hope you all join us in taking this fight to the government of any state in the country to bring some accountability to what’s happening to those of us that are being targeted for incarceration, mistreatment, and exploitation.
Thank you for all of the support.
We will continue to build forward. Our message to you is one that will not only take root in Washington next year, but we must also move forward with the future. As we move into 2017, we are going to fight a change in policy that’s made the system of detention unsafe and more dangerous.
With this campaign ongoing, we are beginning preparations for what’s to come. We will focus on the most important issues when they bring us public protests that will have the largest impact in the country.
What we are hoping becomes clear from this experience is our mission: To build a world where our lives are more equal and that everyone has a voice. The best way forward is by making sure the right tools are put into the right hands. Our plan
There were many cases of police brutality and injustices