Jan 16, 2023
Protestors hang a flag from a construction crane in downtown Seattle in protest of the 1999 World Trade Organization conference. Reuters
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Protestors hang a flag from a construction crane in downtown Seattle in protest of the 1999 World Trade Organization conference. Reuters
This is a document published by the Seattle Police Department after the events of the WTO Seattle Protests of 1999. These protests spanned for weeks, and became well-known in history for the police brutality that occurred on the streets of Downtown Seattle to the protestors. This report is the information SPD released afterwards, detailing the people jailed, ammunition used, etc. Highly criticized for being a short document despite the protests being weeks long
“It would be easy and self-serving to list the numerous factors that made the WTO Conference a very difficult assignment for the Department and conclude that it was a “mission impossible.” But this report must not be regarded as an assembly of self-serving defenses; rather, it is intended to be a professional, candid, and sometimes painful review of the facts, to learn how we can do a better job in the future.”
Seattle . Police Department. (2000). The Seattle Police Department after action report : World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference Seattle, Washington November 29-December 3, 1999. Seattle, Wash.: The Dept.
Full Text Available via UW: https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/kjtuig/CP71102954770001451
Not Available in HathiTrust
“Each affinity group varied in size, maybe ten to twenty people on average. Each group was made up of people who were committed to staying together, looking out for each other – it’s a group of people who establish high relational trust before they go protest together. It has a couple of functions. One, you do your best to always stick with those people; you’re not alone in a crowd, which can be really scary and, in some cases, dangerous. Usually, affinity groups will negotiate before they protest and find alignment about what kind of experience they are hoping to have. An affinity group might be like, “We are all planning to bring our children, snacks, water bottles and if it gets crazy, we’re all out right away.” Another affinity group might say, “We’re open to getting arrested today. If that happens, we’ve got someone at home, we all have that phone number on our arms and we have a plan so that if we end up in jail, we can communicate that to people we care about. We have time off from our jobs figured out in advance.” Another affinity group might say, “We are planning to lock out necks to this bridge with a bike lock and we are not leaving until they saw it off.” Within the affinity group, depending on what you’re planning to do, there are really specific roles. There will be one person responsible for keeping an eye on health and safety for the group. Someone will talk to the media.” – Nina Narelle (as quoted in One Week to Change the World: An Oral History of the 1999 WTO Protests by DW Gibson)
“Seattle ‘99″
I’ve been working on a boardgame of the Seattle 1999 WTO Protests.
Owing to my chronic illness, I probably won’t have it ready by the 30th. I definitely won’t have the historical notes ready by then.
Sunil Yapa’s debut novel, Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, is a fantastic look at the differences in how people perceive the world, and how they deal with the existence of suffering. Set in the Seattle during the World Trade Organization protest in 1999, the novel weave several different stories together beautifully. Victor is a nineteen-year-old who ran away from home and his Chief of Police father after the death of his mother. King and John Henry are protesters preaching nonviolent protest trying to stop the meetings that will establish ‘free trade’ policies across the world, arguing instead for ‘fair trade.’
Book 103 in the Year in 100 Books Project
The best thing about college is getting shown video clips where people use "fucking" every other word.
Seattle, 1999
Images flash - a blur of faces
imprinted on my eyes, my soul.
Wails and chants break through -
interrupting my quiet assent.
Stinging eyes, bruised hopes -
they do not stop. Injustice
does not stop. Solidarity -
their only promise against abuse.
10 years pass - here am I.
Sitting, watching their struggle.
It is not over - it must continue
with me, my words, my actions.