Editing 1999 Seattle WTO protests (section)

==Organizations and planning==
Planning for the actions began months in advance and included local, national, and international organizations. Among the most notable participants were national and international [[nongovernmental organization]]s (NGOs) such as [[Global Exchange]]<ref name=Bogardus>Bogardus, Keven (September 22, 2004). [http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=383 Venezuela Head Polishes Image With Oil Dollars: President Hugo Chavez takes his case to America's streets.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004222044/http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil//report.aspx?aid=383 |date=October 4, 2011}} [[Center for Public Integrity]]. Retrieved February 22, 2010.</ref> (especially those concerned with labor issues, the environment, and consumer protection), labor unions (including the [[AFL–CIO]]), student groups, religion-based groups ([[Jubilee 2000]]), and [[anarchism|anarchists]] (some of whom formed a [[black bloc]]).<ref>[https://mises.org/story/348 Anarchism: Two Kinds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130031658/http://mises.org/story/348 |date=January 30, 2010}}, [[Wendy McElroy]]. About market, violence, and anarchist reject to WTO.</ref> The protests also drew support from some political conservatives, such as American presidential candidate and commentator [[Pat Buchanan]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Koppel|first=Naomi|date=1 December 1999|title=Buchanan Praises WTO Protesters|website=[[Associated Press]]|url=https://apnews.com/article/65c38548b2c76a6d8c773ffe75e4015f|url-status=live|access-date=11 November 2021|agency=AP|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116221933/https://apnews.com/article/65c38548b2c76a6d8c773ffe75e4015f |archive-date=November 16, 2020}}</ref>

The coalition was loose, with some opponent groups focused on opposition to WTO policies (especially those related to [[free trade]]), with others motivated by prolabor, [[anticapitalist]], or environmental agendas.  Many of the NGOs represented at the protests came with credentials to participate in the official meetings, while also planning various educational and press events. The AFL–CIO, with cooperation from its member unions, organized a large permitted rally and march from [[Seattle Center]] to [[Downtown, Seattle, Washington|downtown]].

[[File:WTO protestors, 1999 (20680767813).jpg|thumb|The "turtles": protestors in sea turtle costumes]]
[[File:WTO_protest_sign_(14988892087).jpg|thumb|WTO protest sign depicting the organization trampling on three environmental laws.]]
However, others were more interested in taking [[direct action]], including both [[civil disobedience]] and acts of vandalism and property destruction to disrupt the meeting. Several groups were loosely organized together under the [[Direct Action Network]] (DAN), with a plan to disrupt the meetings by blocking streets and intersections downtown to prevent delegates from reaching the convention center, where the meeting was to be held. The black bloc was not affiliated with DAN, but was responding to the original call for autonomous resistance actions on November 30 issued by [[Peoples Global Action|People's Global Action]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/seattle/n30/n30callen.htm|title=People's Global Action "November 30th, 1999-A Global Day of Action, Resistance, and Carnival Against the Capitalist System"|website=www.nadir.org|access-date=November 19, 2013|archive-date=May 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509232249/http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/seattle/n30/n30callen.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Of the different coalitions that aligned in protest were the "teamsters and turtles" – a blue–green alliance consisting of the [[teamsters]] (trade unions) and environmentalists.<ref>Berg, John C. 2003, ''Teamsters and Turtles?: U.S. Progressive Political Movements in the 21st Century'', Rowman & Littlefield</ref>

===Corporations targeted===
Certain activists, including locals and an additional group of anarchists from [[Eugene, Oregon]]<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000411-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019060126/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000411-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2007|title=In Oregon, Anarchists Act Locally|magazine=TIME|access-date=February 28, 2008|last=Roosevelt|first=Margot| date=July 23, 2001}}</ref> (where they had gathered that summer for a music festival),<ref name="eugeneriot">{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-166506496.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906124548/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-166506496.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2018 |title=Local unrest followed cycle of social movements |publisher=The Register-Guard |access-date=June 13, 2024 |date=July 1, 2007 }}</ref> advocated more confrontational tactics, and conducted [[vandalism]] of corporate [[property|properties]] in downtown Seattle. In a subsequent communique, they listed the particular corporations targeted, which they considered to have committed corporate crime.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.salon.com/1999/12/10/anarchists/|title=Who were those masked anarchists in Seattle?|date=1999-12-10|work=Salon|access-date=2018-10-17|language=en-US|archive-date=October 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017163131/https://www.salon.com/1999/12/10/anarchists/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Lead-up months===
On July 12, the ''[[Financial Times]]'' reported that the latest United Nations Human Development report advocated "principles of performance for multinationals on labour standards, fair trade and environmental protection ... needed to counter the negative effects of globalisation on the poorest nations". The report itself argued, "An essential aspect of global governance is responsibility to people—to equity, to justice, to enlarging the choices of all".<ref>[http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1999/ ''Globalization with a Human Face''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703061954/http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1999/ |date=July 3, 2008}} UNHDR, 1999</ref>

On July 16, Helene Cooper of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' warned of an impending "massive mobilization against globalization" being planned for the end-of-year Seattle WTO conference.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/wsj071699.html |title=Globalization Foes Plan to Protest WTO's Seattle Round Trade Talks |publisher=Globalexchange.org |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804174410/http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/wsj071699.html |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>  Next day, the London ''[[The Independent|Independent]]'' newspaper savaged the WTO and appeared to side with the organizers of the rapidly developing storm of protest:

<blockquote>The way it has used [its] powers is leading to a growing suspicion that its initials should really stand for World Take Over. In a series of rulings it has struck down measures to help the world's poor, protect the environment, and safeguard health in the interests of private—usually American—companies.

"The WTO seems to be on a crusade to increase private profit at the expense of all other considerations, including the well-being and quality of life of the mass of the world's people," says Ronnie Hall, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth International. "It seems to have a relentless drive to extend its power."<ref>[https://groups.yahoo.com/group/StopWTORound/message/56 THE HIDDEN TENTACLES OF THE WORLD'S MOST SECRET BODY] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221185009/https://www.yahoo.com/ |date=February 21, 2022 }} Sunday Independent, 17 July 1999</ref></blockquote>

On November 16, two weeks before the conference, President [[Bill Clinton]] issued Executive Order 13141—Environmental Review of Trade Agreements,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=56947 |title=Presidential Executive Order 13141 |publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu |date=November 16, 1999 |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804164915/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=56947 |url-status=live }}</ref> which committed the United States to a policy of "assessment and consideration of the environmental impacts of trade agreements" and stated, "Trade agreements should contribute to the broader goal of sustainable development."

[[File:Anarchists at WTO protest (14988709689).jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.2|[[Black bloc]] organizing during WTO protests]]

Activists staged a spoof of Seattle daily newspaper the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer|Post-Intelligencer]]'' on Wednesday November 24, inserting thousands of hoax editions of a four-page front-page wrap-around into piles of newspapers awaiting distribution to hundreds of street boxes and retail outlets. The spoof front-page stories were "Boeing to move overseas" (to Indonesia) and "Clinton pledges help for poorest nations".<ref>Parvaz D "[http://www.seattlepi.com/local/pi25.shtml P-I executives not amused by protesters' parody]" ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'', November 25, 1999</ref> The byline on the Boeing story attributed it to [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]] (a union organizer who had been executed by firing squad in Utah in 1915). On the same day, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development reported:

<blockquote>developing countries have remained steadfast in their demand that developed countries honour Uruguay Round commitments before moving forward full force with new trade negotiations. Specifically, developing countries are concerned over developed countries' compliance with agreements on market access for textiles, their use of antidumping measures against developing countries' exports, and over-implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).<ref>''[http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridgesweekly/19192/ No New Issues Without Redress Of Uruguay Round Imbalances] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221185029/https://greendot208.org/ |date=February 21, 2022 }}''ICTSD ''Bridges Weekly'' Seattle 99, Vol 3 No 46, November 24, 1999</ref></blockquote>