1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Did Cool Stuff, your weekly reminder that I have a 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: podcast called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. I am 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and every week I bring you 5 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: stories of rebellion or I don't know, whatever I think 6 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: is cool, which is mostly rebellion. But it's not always 7 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: just that. I am multifaceted. There's facets of me that 8 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: like music, although I usually talk about bands that are 9 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: really political, but sometimes I whatever. I'm not defending this. 10 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: I like my show and you might too. Otherwise you 11 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: might not be listening to part two of an episode. 12 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: This is part two of a two parter that's tied 13 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: into a broader project I am doing talking about well, 14 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: it's part two of talking about the Battle of Seattle 15 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine, but it's part to something or 16 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:49,559 Speaker 1: other of a larger thing. I am doing about the 17 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: alter globalization movement, about the fight against neoliberalism and basically 18 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: radical politics at the turn of the millennium. I have 19 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: a producer. My producer's name is Sophie. Sophie isn't on 20 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: the call because there's no guest. It's just me and 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: a microphone. But Sophie is still here with us today 22 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: and also listening in on the call while not live 23 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: but later editing. It is our audio engineer, Eva hi Eva, 24 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: and our theme music was written for us by n Woman. 25 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: And so where we left our heroes. I talked about 26 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: the five different groups that came together to well, they 27 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: didn't come together, the five different groups of various levels 28 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: of interacting with each other that were all different, diverse 29 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: coalitions themselves of various groups that all went to Seattle 30 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: to try to stop the World Trade Organization from on 31 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: democratically making decisions to got the world for profit. So 32 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: everyone was getting ready and then they went to Seattle. 33 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: That's what we're going to talk about this time, We're 34 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: actually going to get there. Imagine that an entire episode 35 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: of context. No one's ever heard of Margaret doing that. 36 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: So people were like, you know, it's not enough to 37 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: do a day of action or even like several days 38 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: of action. Because of the summit was several days long. 39 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: People wanted to get started early to build up momentum. 40 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,959 Speaker 1: They called for nine days of action before the protests 41 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: even started. It was billed as a street theater convergence 42 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: by Dan. Dan got like a two week lease on 43 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: a building for one thousand dollars. I feel like I 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,239 Speaker 1: must be missing a zero here, but I really think 45 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: it was one thousand dollars. I read that they're like 46 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: total budget for all of the protest stuff was about 47 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: twenty grand total or something. I'm not sure it's a 48 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: really good return on investment. I'm just saying anyway, they 49 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: got a lease on his building and they open it 50 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: up as a convergence center, which is a staple of 51 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: protests at the time. Basically, you rent out a building 52 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: and that's where you have your meetings and you make 53 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: art and occasionally you hide from police and hope you 54 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: don't all get mass arrested. That's the one that you 55 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: actually like pay for and then like other places, are 56 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: squatted by people who are a little bit more risk tolerant. 57 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: The welcome center was called four to twenty the Denny 58 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: Space because it was at four to twenty East Denny 59 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: Way in a former night club, and yes, people did 60 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: already use four twenty as the weed number in nineteen 61 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: ninety nine. I went back and double checked. I was 62 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: pretty sure because I was alive during that time, but 63 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know Wikipedia says that four 64 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: to twenty was popularized in nineteen ninety one by High 65 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: Times magazine, and that's why there's a Wikipedia article in 66 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 1: today's sources. So I wanted to double check that people 67 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: got themselves a conversion space. And over nine days leading 68 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: up to the protests, several thousand people came through. They 69 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: put on action after action to help inform local folks 70 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: about the upcoming protests and help get people organized and 71 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: build up momentum and get practice walking around with giant 72 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: puppets and stuff and like stilt walkers and clowns, and 73 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: I bet there was fire breathing, I don't know. On 74 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: November twenty first, there was a big parade through a neighborhood. 75 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: On November twenty second, Global Exchange protested sweatshop labor in 76 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: front of the gap, and folks dropped a banner from 77 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: the building that read sweatshops free trade or corporate slavery. 78 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: One night, people did what's called a newspaper rap, where 79 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: you print a fake front page on a newspaper and 80 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: go around to all the newspaper boxes and put your 81 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: cover on the papers inside. They somehow did this to 82 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand copies in one night of the newspaper, 83 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: the Seattle Post Intelligencer, and basically they put a fake 84 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: front page that talks about how badly the paper was covering. 85 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: The wto the fact that they did this to twenty 86 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: five thousand papers in one night is so amazing. There's 87 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: like so much truth to the many hands make light 88 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:36,600 Speaker 1: work thing, which is actually it's funny. It's one of 89 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: the reasons that writing fiction or making movies about this 90 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing is so hard because Western storytelling is 91 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: so this is complete tangent, but it's interesting to me, 92 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: so maybe you'll like it. Western storytelling is so built 93 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: on individuals, individual characters that it really struggles with building 94 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 1: tension and plot and moving things forward with groups. And 95 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: it's hard to get an audience to like it when 96 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: you do it because you have to break so many 97 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: of the rules. And that's why. For example, there's a 98 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: movie about the Battle of Seattle called The Battle of Seattle, 99 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: and it's not a particularly good movie. It's not quite 100 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: as bad as I thought it was going to be. 101 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: I always avoided watching it, and I've read a book 102 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: critiquing it. It's in the sources, but it focuses on 103 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: these like individual leaders, and that's just not an effective 104 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: way to understand this, especially when you're talking about twenty 105 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: five thousand copies of a newspaper. That's not something three 106 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: people do anyway. There were parades and marches everywhere for days, 107 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: and they were all of the hits of the era, 108 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: like the radical cheerleaders who crashed a mainstream parade, or 109 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: a four hundred person strong critical mass bike ride, critical 110 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: mass bike rides or well, they're just called critical masses. 111 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: It's where you get together a critical mass of people 112 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,799 Speaker 1: on bicycles to sort of ride together in the streets, 113 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: and it's a bike rights style of protest, but it 114 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: also gets used a lot in other protests, especially during 115 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: this era. Two women dropped a banner from the retaining 116 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: wall of I five, the big interstate that runs through Seattle, 117 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: reading shut down the WTO. According to the source I 118 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: read about it like one of the women's moms was 119 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: like cheering her on from the side, and that's cool. 120 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: There's puppets, and there's stilt walkers and clowns, and there's 121 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: marching bands and shit marching around thousands strong. In the 122 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: build up to the protests, the police are largely hands 123 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: off during all of this time. As best as I understand, 124 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: both the mayor and the chief of police were like, 125 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: we do not want to turn this into a shit show. 126 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: We just need to keep our heads down, make sure 127 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: that they don't like doing anything real bad. We'll just 128 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: get through this. That seemed to be the attitude that 129 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: the state was taking in response. So they didn't come 130 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: down and beat up all the stilt walkers in clowns, 131 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: because that's also a bad image, although that'll happen later. 132 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: Seventy five people squatted an abandoned building downtown and opened 133 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: it up to house activists coming into town. So basically 134 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: like if you show up a loan and are like, 135 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: I don't know where to go, They're like, go to 136 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: the squad. You can go stay at the squad. And 137 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: they managed to hold the building the entire length of 138 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: the wto although not without tents, standoffs, and a number 139 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: of confrontations and a lot of negotiations with lawyers and shit. 140 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: At one point, riot cops surrounded the building. They were like, 141 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: you all leave or get arrested. Only fifteen squatters stayed inside. 142 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: Then the cops were chased off by reinforcements from the 143 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: four to twenty space. Basically, they're like, it's coming down 144 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: to the wire, it's all going to happen. But then 145 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: like tons of people from the conversion space come and 146 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: converge on this area, and the cops are like, never mind, 147 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: we don't want to do this. Through a friendly lawyer, 148 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: squatters negotiated to hold the building through the length of 149 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: the WTO and then hand it off to a homeless 150 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: advocacy group. In exchange, the squatters were like, we'll sign 151 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: waivers saying if we get hurt in the building, it's 152 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: not the landlord's fault. I actually don't expect that the 153 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: landlord held up his side of this bargain, but I 154 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: am not sure. I didn't find a follow up about 155 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: what happened. And then on November twenty ninth, the WTO 156 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: sort of began. There were no WTO meetings that day, 157 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: but there was a big reception party for the arriving delegates. 158 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: The WTO wanted to fly under the radar as much 159 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: as possible and just kind of do this gala behind 160 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: closed doors, but activists weren't going to let that happen. 161 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: The Rainforest Action Network used their climbing skills to hang 162 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: a startlingly large banner, like literally professional like activists nonprofits 163 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: hang really large, impressively large banners. They hung this banner 164 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 1: off of one hundred and seventy foot crane. It had 165 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: two arrows. One pointed one way and read democracy, and 166 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: the other pointed the other way and said wto. As 167 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: protests began to ramp up on the twenty ninth, hundreds 168 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: of people dressed as sea turtles roamed around downtown. This 169 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: is like an environmentalist group, folks talking about how laws 170 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: are being changed in a way that destroys the environment 171 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: and kills all the sea turtles. And they would go 172 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: around dress as sea turtles talking with people about the wto. 173 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: Five thousand people led by faith leaders marched circles around 174 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: the building where the opening reception was happening, so they 175 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: did not get to meet silently. And then I don't 176 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: think people probably got too much sleep that night because 177 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: the next day the shutdown began. But you know what 178 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: comes before the shutdown. Actually, there probably wasn't a lot 179 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: of advertising in the radical media at the time. This 180 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: was probably the most advertising adverse group of radicals in history. Honestly, 181 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: that was their whole thing. They did not like this. 182 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: One of the main magazines we all read was Adbusters. Anyway, 183 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: that's not the current era, because I like feeding my dog. 184 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: Here's ads and we're back. So they were going to 185 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: shut down the WTO through direct action, and the way 186 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: they did it was somewhat simple and very very effective. 187 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: The fundamental building block of most direct action groups, especially 188 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: in horizontal movements, is the affinity group. These are tight 189 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: knit groups of friends, usually five to fifteen people, who 190 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: make decisions by consensus amongst one another and are willing 191 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,040 Speaker 1: to take risks together. This model, as I understand it, 192 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: has roots going back to the anarchist organizing in Spain 193 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties leading up to and during the 194 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: Spanish Civil War. The affinity group model is very good 195 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: for decentralized direct actions. You gather representatives from each affinity 196 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: group into a spokes council and they can make plans together. 197 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: The organizing for n thirty, as the day of action 198 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: was called November thirtieth, was intentionally completely transparent. They didn't 199 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: like post meeting notes to the Internet. I mean, actually 200 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: they might have, but I'm not aware of it. But 201 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: they were not trying to hide what they were doing. 202 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: They would say, you know, plug into the following framework. 203 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: This is the framework we're currently deciding on it. This 204 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: is how it's going. They announced months ahead of time 205 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: exactly how they were going to shut down the WTO. 206 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: Here are the seven principles they worked with, because again 207 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: I think that people should know how stuff gets done. 208 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: And I am paraphrasing these seven principles from the organizer 209 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: and writer David Solnett, who has his own biases, but 210 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: so does everyone one clear what and why logic to 211 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: quote the Direct Action Network quote, we are planning a 212 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: large scale, well organized, high visibility action to shut down 213 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: the World Trade Organization on Tuesday, November thirtieth. The World 214 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: Trade Organization has no right to make undemocratic, unaccountable, destructive 215 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: decisions about our lives, our communities, and the earth. We 216 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: will non violently and creatively block them from meeting. So 217 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: very clear about the what and why. Two broadly publicized. 218 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: They set up a website, They printed one hundred thousand 219 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: colored postcards. They emailed every email list of every organization. 220 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: They had a road show people they showed people how 221 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: to plug in three mass training and mass organization, and 222 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: thousands of people from all sorts of activist spheres went 223 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:16,479 Speaker 1: to direct action trainings. Four decentralization. There were some core principles, 224 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: but things were organized by affinity groups coming together to 225 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: form clusters so they were able to make decisions spontaneously 226 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: and quickly, and arresting organizers wasn't going to stop shit. 227 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: Five Action agreements. They agreed that people would be nonviolent 228 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: and not do property destruction. Six open organizing. By organizing openly, 229 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: you're actually much more resistant against infiltration and stuff because 230 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: when things aren't secret, when the secrets get out, that's 231 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: not a problem because you knew the secrets were going 232 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: to get out, and yeah, if plans get leaked in 233 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: their public whatever. Seven Media and framing. There was a 234 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: lot of work done talking to medio using very specific framing. 235 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: To be honest, the media didn't really use the framing 236 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: they suggested, and I don't know how effective this particular 237 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: one was, but so it goes they did do a 238 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: lot of their own medium, so maybe that was effective. 239 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: Those are the seven principles. They did all this organizing 240 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: in the open, and what they did is they divided 241 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: the area that they wanted to shut down into thirteen 242 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: pie slices, and an affinity groups joined clusters, which are 243 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: larger organizing groups, and each cluster took one of the 244 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,199 Speaker 1: pie slices. So like you and your seven friends might 245 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: agree to join some like lockdown intersection alongside four other 246 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: affinity groups, for example, exactly how you all behaved would 247 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: be up to your affinity group and your cluster, and 248 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: you would democratically determine how your actions would work in 249 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: conjunction with other people's actions, for example. And I am 250 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: definitely using this example because I think it's a funny name. 251 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: A cluster that called itself Flaming Dildos agreed to shut 252 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: down the spot right next to the Inner State that 253 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: ran underneath the convention center. Overall, the direct action protesters 254 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: were young. According to David Solnett, they were quote students, 255 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: Earth firsters and young people who really went out there 256 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,199 Speaker 1: in the front, but not exclusively. There were significant numbers 257 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: of middle aged people and a few old folks. No 258 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: one was sure what would happen. They spent like six 259 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: months planning this thing, and they had their very specific 260 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: plan about what they were going to do, and they'd 261 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: spent all this effort and they had no idea what 262 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: was going to happen. They figured they would disrupt things. 263 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: They also figured they'd probably get mass arrested pretty quickly 264 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: and the WTO meetings would continue. But these actions were 265 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: more than disruptive. The World Trade Organization wasn't even able 266 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: to hold its opening ceremonies because at seven am or so, 267 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: people went to the convention center and started blockading intersections 268 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: and all the entrances to the building. They put up 269 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: a fifty foot tripod with someone locked at the top. 270 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: They would drag cement barrels. When I say drag, they 271 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: were probably on dollies. I don't actually know, but that's 272 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: the way that I would whatever. I've moved to cement 273 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: barrel and I did it on a fucking dolly. It's 274 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: the only time sealed toed boots ever came into I 275 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: wore steal too boots every day of my life in 276 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: my twenties, and one time it was really useful anyway. Whatever, 277 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 1: So they would drag cement barrels into the street that 278 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: people then like, it's a barrel full of cement with 279 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: like a pipe running through it, with like a piece 280 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: of rebar in the pipe, so that if you put 281 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: a carabiner on a chain around your wrist. You can 282 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: reach in and clip the carabiner to the rebar in 283 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: the center of the thing. And now you can't get out, 284 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: or rather now people can't get you out. I mean 285 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: they can torture you and try and get you too. 286 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: Just what they're going to do spoiler alert. But anyway, 287 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: it's an activist staple. There was also people dragging dumpsters 288 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: into the street. There were cars that were turned into 289 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: lock boxes. There were giant puppets everywhere. There was a 290 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: human chain around the convention. They blocked off parking garages, hotels, 291 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: and underground tunnels. Delegates for the wto wearing ID tags 292 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: that said delegate were chased off. Cops tell delegates they 293 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: can't help them. Like the delegates to go out and 294 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: be like, hey, how do I get in? The cops like, 295 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: I don't think you can, buddy. The Secretary of State 296 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 1: of the United States, Madeline Albright, was trapped in her 297 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: hotel by the protests and the governor can't mobilize enough 298 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: forces to get her out. The protesters have planned three waves. 299 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: The most arrestable affinity groups go out first. Arrestable means 300 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: like you're kind of planning to get arrested, or you're 301 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: very willing to get arrested. The arrestable affinity groups go 302 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: first to lockdown, and then a second wave was to 303 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: arrive to support these lockdowns just by being present and 304 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: clogging up the streets with numbers. The third wave was 305 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: the People's Assembly, which was basically more NGO type groups, 306 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: non governmental organization type groups that picked direct action support 307 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 1: over the Big Labor March. The Big Labor March was 308 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: happening elsewhere, and it was pretty much designed not to 309 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: interfere directly the Big Labor March, though it did require 310 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: a decent number of police, which meant fewer police were 311 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: available to stop the action. And like best as I 312 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: can tell, you're talking about this massive disparity. You're talking 313 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: about about four hundred police officers to police this entire 314 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: like thousands and thousands of people strong direct action, which 315 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,439 Speaker 1: is wasn't enough police. Well, it depends on what your 316 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 1: goals are. I'm not in favor of the police in 317 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: this particular context, but from the police's point of view, 318 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: it was not enough police. And then the police, well 319 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: before anyone started breaking shit, hours beforehand, police just fucking 320 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:38,360 Speaker 1: went wild on people. Why this happened? At least one 321 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: conjecture about why this has happened in a report that's 322 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: in the show notes, that was quoted in a Crime 323 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: Think article, Why this happened is actually sort of interesting, 324 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: but not as interesting as these deals. And Rebecca, so, 325 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: policing in the US and presumably everywhere has always been 326 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: pretty massively and not just in a like Margaret doesn't 327 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: like the concept of police in prison sort of way, 328 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: but in a way in which police have been tied 329 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: into organized crime in various ways in various places since 330 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: more or less the beginning of modern policing. Corruption isn't 331 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: always even throughout the ranks, and Seattle had this famously 332 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,959 Speaker 1: corrupt police department in the sixties and seventies, but by 333 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine it was led by people who are 334 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: trying to reform out that corruption, and a lot of 335 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:32,440 Speaker 1: the crooked cops didn't want to get reformed. Specifically, they 336 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: wanted to embarrass the police chief. While the city had 337 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: been saying it was going to respect free speech and 338 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: be a bit hands off during the protests, you know, 339 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: only arrest people who like breached a certain perimeter and 340 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,679 Speaker 1: try not to arrest on violent people. The rank and 341 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: file police were spreading the word that protesters are basically 342 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: there to try and kill them, Like they were like, 343 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: we think five or six of us are going to 344 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: die tomorrow, you know. And they complained about how the 345 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: brass wanted to be too soft on the protesters. They 346 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: also figured if they could turn the whole thing into 347 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: a riot, it would embarrass the hell out of the 348 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: mayor and the chief of police, and so the police 349 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: had every reason to start shit. Basically. That is one 350 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: way it has been presented by someone who was actually 351 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: there and involved in organizing. I also have this suspicion 352 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:20,320 Speaker 1: that it's like like cops are more violent when they're outnumbered. 353 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: Cops are more violent when they are trying to be 354 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: in control of a situation that they don't have absolute control, 355 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: like when you have a protest. That's just more about 356 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: like kettling and containment. It's because the police just wildly 357 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 1: outnumber everyone. Whatever. When the opening ceremonies to the wto 358 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 1: are canceled, the cops start some shit. They fire tear 359 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 1: gas into the crowd of people locked down in the streets. 360 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: They open up with pepper spray canisters like the fire 361 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: extinguisher style ones. They open up with baton rounds which 362 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: are shot out of basically grenade launchers. And what's funny 363 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: about all this now is like, yeah, of course the 364 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: cops did that living in twenty twenty five, or you 365 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: might be living in the future in the United States, Like, 366 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: of course the cops are like pepper spray is their 367 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: middle name, but they don't like it as much as 368 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: hitting people with stuff more directly. This wasn't the usual 369 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: thing in nineteen ninety nine. For all of this to happen, 370 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: This was shocking to people. And they're doing this everywhere 371 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,199 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine at these protests, the cops are 372 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: just attacking people everywhere, but they can't stop all the 373 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,439 Speaker 1: protests because the lockdowns are now supported by this like 374 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: mass number of kind of rowdy crowd that is like 375 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: down for direct action, even if they're not like the 376 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: black block or whatever. In most of the accounts of 377 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: Seattle that I've read written by organizers, you've got the 378 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: kind of like good and noble nonviolent direct actionists who 379 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: kind of take the abuse from the police. And then 380 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: you've got the black block that's a totally separate entity 381 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 1: and like ne'er the Twains shall meet. Based on first 382 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: hand accounts, I suspect that this isn't the case universally. 383 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: The non violent blockaders confronted by police violence, they stand 384 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,640 Speaker 1: up to that more their supporters right the lockdown people 385 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 1: are locked down, but they're not just like, oh, you're 386 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: HEARDing me. This sucks. People block the streets with dumpsters, 387 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,199 Speaker 1: They throw rocks and bottles at the cops, and some 388 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: of them cheer when they hear about the arrival of 389 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 1: the black block, which now because that was their agreement 390 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: is that they would wait and only go do their 391 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,400 Speaker 1: shit if the police attacked. Now they're doing their shit. 392 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: The one hundred to two hundred people are now running 393 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: rampage through the downtown shopping district, attacking the symbols of 394 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,440 Speaker 1: capital directly. The block armed with hammers and crowbars and 395 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,439 Speaker 1: spray paint, broke a lot of windows at Nike stores 396 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: and Starbucks and shit like that, and by most of 397 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: the narratives, I was able to find some unaffiliated local 398 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: youth took advantage of the situation to do some light looting. 399 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: There wasn't exactly complete solidarity between the block and the 400 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: DAN protesters, and one report says they engaged in light scuffling, 401 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: which was probably people yelling like, we're not violent at 402 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: the Black Block and the Black Block being like, yeah, 403 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: we don't care, and then just I don't know, to 404 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 1: round out the image of everything that's happening, you've got 405 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: the Infernal Noise Brigade. I love the Infernal Noise Brigade. 406 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: I don't know what group to lump them in with. 407 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: They probably organize their DAN I don't know, but they're 408 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: kind of Black Block, but they're they're not DAN. They're 409 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: not the Black Block. They are the Infernal Noise Brigade. 410 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: The Turn of the Millennium's most influential radical marching band. 411 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: This is a marching band wearing all black gas masks 412 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: with black and green flags that they use which is 413 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: probably a reference to green anarchism, but with black and 414 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: green flags that they use for semaphore communication, like like 415 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:33,960 Speaker 1: literally they coordinate as a block where they're like, now 416 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: we're moving this way, and you can tell because the 417 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 1: flags are doing this, and they know what they're doing 418 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 1: in the middle of these riots, and they play this 419 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 1: almost industrial music on their marching band instruments so in 420 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,479 Speaker 1: all of this, the outnumbered police are rioting, but they 421 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: aren't regaining control of the streets because protesters are moving 422 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: more quickly than the police. People who are locked down 423 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: are attacked but not arrested, since there's no way to 424 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: get them out. This has been presented in a couple 425 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: different ways. I believe the version of the story where 426 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: it wasn't that the city was like, no, don't arrest anyone, 427 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: although the city had been like, try to be hands off, 428 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: but rather the police were so outnumbered and so strategically 429 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: outmatched that they couldn't really arrest people that day, because 430 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: how the hell would you get someone out if you 431 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: arrested them. And then, on top of it all, the 432 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,919 Speaker 1: twenty thousand person labor march hit down town, and the 433 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 1: police let that happen because supposedly, again there's so many 434 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: accounts of all of this, it has been conjectured that 435 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: the police wanted this more moderate march to come through 436 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: because they figured it would like kind of overwhelm the 437 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: radicals and take them away from the blockades. Basically, the 438 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: opposite happened. The rank and file of the union were 439 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: much more radical than their leaders, and they bolstered the protests. 440 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: By one pm, the National Guard was called up and 441 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,159 Speaker 1: cops were driving hundreds of miles at top speed to 442 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: reach the city. It's a big state, Washington, and so 443 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 1: like Washington State police were like driving four hundred miles 444 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: or whatever. Soon enough, the city was basically out of 445 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: tear gas. Supposedly they only ordered about a quarter of 446 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: what they should have. Again, these are the sorts of 447 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: problems that that's not true. I guess sometimes the state 448 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: runs out of tear gas still. But a state of 449 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: emergency was declared. Gas masks were confiscated, a curfew was imposed, 450 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: protest signs were stolen, and then kind of as the 451 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: evening went on, many people started getting arrested, including local 452 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: residents on their own stoops asking police what the hell 453 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: was going on. As night fell, protesters set a bonfire 454 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: and in an intersection and held it. I've seen this 455 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: played up as a bonfire and downplayed as a lightly 456 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: smoking dumpster. Every story, everyone has a story to tell. 457 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: Everyone wants to be like, no, we were totally peaceful, 458 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: and other people want to be like, we fucking ran 459 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: those streets. The protesters largely left of their own volition, 460 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: their work done that first day. The next day things 461 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: turned around. This is also a very common thing at 462 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: multi day protests, as the first day the protesters have 463 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: a certain advantage as the police are sort of caught 464 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,880 Speaker 1: off guard, and then the second day the police are 465 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: real mad that they got caught off guard and they 466 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: get a little wilder, just bad, because they were already 467 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: pretty wild that first day. The next day, a martial 468 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,680 Speaker 1: law model was in place. There was a no protest 469 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: zone being enforced, a civil emergency had been declared, and 470 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: basically you could just get arrested if they didn't like 471 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: the look of you. It was the next day that 472 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: people were mass arrested, starting at seven point thirty in 473 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 1: the morning. They targeted anyone they assumed as a ring leader, 474 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: which isn't a particularly effective strategy against horizontal protests. Still, 475 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: they couldn't arrest enough people. People clogged the streets and 476 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:47,479 Speaker 1: blockaded downtown Seattle, and by day three the police ran 477 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: out of transportation to get protesters out, partly because the 478 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,400 Speaker 1: protesters would refuse to leave the buses that they were on, 479 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: and they would also they would fuck up their own 480 00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:00,680 Speaker 1: booking by not giving their names, not carrying ID Basically, 481 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: protesters agreed ahead of time to do something called jail 482 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,199 Speaker 1: solidarity if they were arrested. This is a tactic I've 483 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: had some success with myself. Everyone agrees that if they 484 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: are arrested, they will refused to identify themselves, and they 485 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: also agree to other conditions depending on you all agree 486 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: ahead of time to what your conditions are. But you 487 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: might be like, we're not going to walk on your 488 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: own power. We're going to make them drag all hundreds 489 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 1: of us, or we're going to like smudge our fingerprints 490 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,479 Speaker 1: or make funny faces when they photograph us. This chokes 491 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: up the jail bureaucracy rather quickly, making it harder for 492 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: the police to determine who was arrested where, doing what, 493 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: and making it much harder to single out individuals for 494 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: elevated charges. Often, when everyone in a mass arrest does 495 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: jail solidarity, every single person walks out of jail a 496 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 1: few days later without any charges. The time I did it, 497 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: we all agreed to not give our names until certain 498 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: conditions were met, like we wanted group trials, we want 499 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: a pre trial release, and they couldn't separate us within 500 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: the jails, And in the end they got so sick 501 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 1: of us, they just let the lot of us out 502 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: without any charges, and most people didn't even go to 503 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: an arraignment check. She is funny because then I was like, 504 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: I was never actually like booked at all. I was 505 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: just kind of held in a cell. There's not really 506 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: a lot of legal things to say about that. Also, 507 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: the other thing is that usually then after these mass arrests, 508 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: people successfully sue, and a lot of movement infrastructure is 509 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: built from suing the cities for violating their rights. Meanwhile, 510 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: back to Seattle, they were coordinating with a dedicated legal 511 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: team that worked from the outside to help get everyone out. 512 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: Protesters sang on the buses and they fed each other 513 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: with snacks from their bags. Presumably the people who were 514 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: doing the feeding were the people able to get out 515 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: of their plastic cuffs. More than four hundred cases were 516 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,679 Speaker 1: dropped by the city when the city couldn't figure out 517 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: who had been arrested when, and for two days, protesters 518 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: camped outside the jail, and eventually the legal support team 519 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: came to an agreement with the city and protesters began 520 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: to identify themselves. Basically, they're like, all right, our conditions 521 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,120 Speaker 1: have been met, will give our aims now. Folks got 522 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: out soon enough and by January ninety percent of the 523 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,159 Speaker 1: cases were dropped. The police chief and several other highatt 524 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: police officials resigned after all of this. Meanwhile, there were 525 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: solidarity marches all over the world. They were thousands strong 526 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: in India because it was France and the French love 527 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: and excuse to riot. Seventy five thousand people in eighty 528 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:26,400 Speaker 1: cities were marching. There was like hundreds of miners fighting cops. 529 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: There was a street party in Times Square. Some people 530 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 1: like overturned a cop car in London. After all of 531 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: the protests in Seattle, the media worked overtime to discredit 532 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: the protesters. They did this by focusing on the actions 533 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 1: of about forty black block vandals and ignoring about forty 534 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: thousand other people. Yet, despite all the negative coverage that 535 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: these protests got, when BusinessWeek ran a poll in January 536 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: two thousand, month or so later, they found that fifty 537 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: two percent of Americans were empathetic with the protesters. And 538 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,040 Speaker 1: I would like to remind everyone again, much like the 539 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: burning down of the police precinct in the twenty twenty Uprising, 540 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: those are higher numbers than what presidents get during elections. 541 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: The World Trade Organization is never really recovered from this 542 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,719 Speaker 1: disastrous meeting. Unfortunately, I only have so much time in 543 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: my life, and in my week I focused on the 544 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: protests and the protest impact on the World Trade Organization. 545 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: I'm hoping as I continue to talk about the ultra 546 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: globalization movement, I can also talk about the way that 547 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: the meetings broke down internally as people felt disrespected from 548 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: developing nations and things like that. I don't know as 549 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: much about that right now to include it with detail, 550 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: but yeah, the World Trade Organization has never really recovered. 551 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: They've continued to meet, and they've continued to run a 552 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: foul of protesters, and the ultra globalization movement was just 553 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: getting started. But that's a story for another day. I 554 00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: want to end with some excerpts from a memoir about 555 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: Seattle written by an anonymous participant. This was published by 556 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: Crime Think. If you want to look in our sources 557 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: quote seeing each other there we discovered we were part 558 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: of a worldwide movement. This infused us with an incredible 559 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: momentum and sense of purpose. Suddenly we knew we were 560 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,719 Speaker 1: going to change the world, and we had a model 561 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: for how to do so. The events of that one 562 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: week in Seattle were more real to us than all 563 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: the years that had led up to them, even for 564 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: those of us who were not there. And then that 565 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: same person wrote another bit. And this is the bit 566 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: I'm going to close on. It's a little bit of 567 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: a long quote. It is fucking worth it quote. I 568 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: can't do it. I can't tell you what it felt 569 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 1: like any more than a bird could tell me what 570 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: it feels like to fly. I can tell you my story, 571 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: but it's only my head talking. My heart can't write, 572 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: and my guts don't have lips. I cannot truly explain 573 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: how it felt to taste X in every breath as 574 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: the invisible forces of privilege and coercive power finally lost control. 575 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: How it felt to stare down the world's most ruinous 576 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 1: and abusive bullies and watch them blink. How it felt 577 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: to fall in love with tens of thousands of people 578 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: at once, to not know what would happen next, to 579 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: become dangerous. And that is a tragedy that haunts me 580 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: as I write every one of these words, because if 581 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: somehow I could share with you what it felt like 582 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: for ten days in Seattle, you would never settle for 583 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: anything less again. You would kick in your TV, run 584 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: outside buck naked, tear up the freeway with your bare hands, 585 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: flip tanks upside down, and dance with panda bears through 586 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: the streets. The barbarians would emerge from exile to knock 587 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: down Heaven's door, and the dead would rise up from 588 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: their coffins and cubicles. And once you got a taste 589 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: of the sublime joy of reclaiming control of your life 590 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: and your world, of regaining your lost kinship with a 591 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: human community of which you are an integral component, of 592 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: realizing your wildest dreams and desires, you would do whatever 593 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 1: it takes to make it happen again. And I like 594 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: that for a lot of reasons. I like even that 595 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: they say this was more real to us than all 596 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: the years that led up to them, even for those 597 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: of us who were not there. I wasn't there in Seattle. 598 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: I joined this movement in two thousand and two after 599 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: people said it was done and dying and there was 600 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: only the tiniest remnants left, and that those tiny remnants 601 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: that were left completely upended my life. I dropped out 602 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: of college and I traveled to every protest I could. 603 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: In some ways, I was chasing that high, that feeling 604 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: of being in community with strangers, accomplishing something real in 605 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 1: a way that so much of what happens in our 606 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: lives doesn't feel real, and you don't even know that 607 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: it doesn't feel real until you feel reality. And that's 608 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: not to say that like protests is the only thing 609 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: and that's the only way to feel it at all. 610 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: It's I mean, you know, like psychologically it could be 611 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: like peak experiences or peak experiences you can get them 612 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: at a fucking anime convention, but like there's still something 613 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:29,600 Speaker 1: to it. And then I was wildly sad about it 614 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: as the movement fell apart, and I felt we had 615 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: accomplished nothing. And then I read an essay. I'm sure 616 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about this a bunch more times 617 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: in this series. I read an essay by David graeber 618 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: rest in piece called the Shock of Victory about how 619 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: protesters and activists and anarchists don't know when we've won, 620 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: and it talked about the ways in which these protests, 621 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 1: the alter globalization movement defeated the neoliberal consensus, even if 622 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: most of the meetings that we went to. We didn't 623 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: shut down our short term goal. We didn't usually accomplish 624 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: our long term goal of recreating society and having a 625 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:09,440 Speaker 1: social revolution we didn't accomplish. But our medium term goals 626 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: of destroying the neoliberal agenda we accomplished. Not me, right, 627 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: not me as a character in a movie of it, right, 628 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:24,919 Speaker 1: but as part of this global movement of largely led 629 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 1: by and done by people in the quote unquote global 630 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:36,799 Speaker 1: South to stop their countries from being completely gutted. And 631 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: you know, we didn't completely stop destruction, but we stopped 632 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: so much of it. I'm gonna take that with me 633 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: to my grave. Anyway. The Overly Earnest Hour with Margaret 634 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: Kiljoy is done. If you want more overly earnest stuff, 635 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 1: I have a substack that you can subscribe to for 636 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 1: free or if you pay me more. You can read 637 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: more personal anecdotes, including act If you go back in archives, 638 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: there's a lot of me writing about that period of 639 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: my life, my early twenties, my late teens and early 640 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: twenties and what it felt like to be a squad 641 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,799 Speaker 1: protester or whatever. And also, okay, my latest book, The 642 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 1: Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice is three interconnected short stories, 643 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: and most of them are much more about magic in 644 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: a more direct way where there's like demons and stuff involved. 645 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,719 Speaker 1: But one of the stories is about falling in love 646 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,240 Speaker 1: at a demonstration like this, in this case the Miami 647 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: demonstrations of twenty twenty three. So I don't know. You 648 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,720 Speaker 1: can read that book, or you can play the tabletop 649 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: roleplaying game Defenders of the Wild, which is also a 650 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,359 Speaker 1: board game. But there's also a role playing game book 651 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 1: and I helped write that. And I will talk to 652 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: you all next week. I might be talking about this 653 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,799 Speaker 1: stuff more. I might take a break and talk about 654 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 1: something else for a while. We'll see. By everyone, Cool 655 00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of pool 656 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,839 Speaker 1: Zone Me. For more podcasts and cool Zone media, visit 657 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: our website goalzonemedia dot com, or check us out on 658 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,080 Speaker 1: the five or radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 659 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: get your podcasts.