AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, live coverage of the Battle in Seattle. And the major showdown took place yesterday. We will see what happens today. I’m Amy Goodman, joined by my co-host, Juan González. We have been broadcasting throughout the week, as you’ve listened in the broadcast today to tear gas canisters and rubber bullets being shot by police yesterday at a crowd of tens of thousands of demonstrators protesting the World Trade Organization.

The protesters, who included more than 20,000 union members, plus environmental, human rights, health and other activists, shut down the city of Seattle and forced the WTO to cancel its opening ceremony. As one activist put it, if almost nobody had heard of the WTO before yesterday, the whole world now knows of the existence of this top-secret organization, regarded by many as the world’s most powerful.

The trade group, which has 130 delegations from member countries here in Seattle, was to begin meetings aimed at launching a new round of world trade negotiations to reduce tariffs in areas ranging from agriculture to telecommunications to steel production. The protesters say they’ve been left with no other way of calling attention to their demands, but to shut down the WTO’s first day of meetings, after the world body had left out civil society from its secretive decision-making process. Ordinary citizens, they say, should have a say in their key decisions affecting their everyday lives, such as food safety, labor rights and environmental protection.

Juan, we and the Democracy Now! team spread out all over the city, and it was an amazing sight to see.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, Amy, it was a remarkable and historic day. And actually, there were, as we have been trying to make clear, various demonstrations and various stages of the protests that occurred yesterday. And, of course, now, unfortunately, what most of the American people are seeing is the tail end of that remarkable day, and the images that are being broadcast on national television now are of looters, who — and there was certainly a degree of looting, sporadic looting, that occurred late in the evening of the day. But throughout the day, there were enormous protests. I would say that it broke down, basically, into an initial direct action, civil disobedience by many, many thousands of young people, to a very traditional but large and influential march of labor unions, and then to, as the evening came on and as the police increasingly resorted to tear gas, quite considerable anarchy on the streets of Seattle late at night. And that’s when opportunists and anarchists and others took advantage of the situation to mar what was otherwise a tremendous, tremendous day and a historical day.

AMY GOODMAN: Juan, you wrote a piece that is appearing in today’s New York Daily News about the events of yesterday, and I was wondering if you can read from it today.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I’m going to read a little bit of it. It starts out: “A new generation of rebels came of age in America yesterday. Thousands of young people paralyzed this city’s downtown and delayed the opening ceremony of the World Trade Organization meeting in a stunning protest that harkened back to the great civil rights marches of the 1960s.

“Oh sure, there was a huge demonstration by the country’s labor unions in the afternoon, but it was those fresh-faced kids from colleges, like Duke and Michigan and Humboldt and Berkeley, who made history yesterday.

“They came to this city, sat down in the streets and refused to leave. Even when the cops doused them with tear gas and fired rubber bullets at them, the kids kept coming back.

“For one glorious day, downtown Seattle belonged to them, as police opted against mass arrests. There was even a carnival atmosphere as one contingent of female protesters at one point danced topless in the streets.

“Corporate chieftains and government bureaucrats, who had come here to haggle about the rules of making money in the New World Order were turned into a side show.

“For President Clinton, who is due in town today, it was an enormous embarrassment. Thousands of organization delegates from around the world, many of them prominent industrialists and top ministers, found it impossible to reach the Paramount Theater for the opening event, as protesters blocked the main streets.”

And I try to go on talking about what happened, and throughout—

AMY GOODMAN: Keep reading. I’m enjoying it.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, I’ll read the rest of it. And it says, “Tom Moore was standing in the middle of Fifth Ave., looking ecstatic. He works in a Seattle photo studio but took the day off to protest. ’I’ve been tear-gassed three times today,’ Moore said, 'but I'm not going anywhere. This is about the environment, human rights and fairness. The WTO has to hear us.’

“Throughout most of the day, the protesters were peaceful, but you always have knuckleheads and self-styled anarchists determined to stir up trouble. A few in ski masks shattered the windows of a Starbucks and a bank.

“We hear so much these days about college kids eager to become the next Bill Gates, but few of us have noticed a gathering movement in our universities. It started a few years ago with students protesting corporate sponsorships of their sports teams by firms like Nike. It mushroomed into a movement against child labor and sweatshops around the world.

“That movement came together yesterday in what has been dubbed the Battle in Seattle. These are young people outraged by what some American companies are doing overseas. They worry about the destruction of the environment, about troubling experiments in genetic engineering, about human rights in the Third World. If you listen to them, you realize many are articulate, intelligent and deeply concerned about the future of our planet and how Wall Street’s relentless search for profit is damaging our society.

“Clinton will try to salvage this mess today. He is expected to come here and admit that the WTO must be more public in its dealings. He is expected to tell the businessmen who dominate the organization that they must recognize the rights of workers to unionize and of countries to protect their environment.

“This is something Clinton’s aides have paid little attention to in the past, but labor unions Al Gore needs to win the presidency next year are pressing hard. The unions did not participate in the civil disobedience, but they weren’t unhappy about what happened here.

“This is not the Vietnam era, when labor unions, environmentalists and college students found themselves on different sides. The WTO brought them all together. Seattle jolted corporate boardrooms around the world, and the kids led the way.”

AMY GOODMAN: And that’s Juan’s piece in today’s New York Daily News, a very good description of what happened yesterday.

Juan, it truly was remarkable to see this city shut down, the largest export city in the country, the city that is the home of Starbucks and Boeing and Microsoft. In fact, last night, despite these protests, there was a gala event for the delegates, though I can’t imagine they were feeling too gay last night. Some showed up to a dinner that was sponsored by the CEO of Boeing, as well as the CEO of Microsoft. And this should come as no surprise, since the World Trade Organization itself seems to be sponsored by the corporations.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, you know, it was amazing. I got into the Paramount in the morning for an hour or so as the few delegates that managed to get through the crowds of young people were waiting for the events to start. And it was as if you were on a totally different planet, because many of these delegates — and you must understand, it’s not just the government delegates who come to the WTO. Each government chooses leaders from their own countries, and most of these are top industrialists.

So, you have — it was an amazing sight. For instance, I saw the the chief executive of the Australian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry standing on a street corner with another major Australian capitalist arguing with these kids, because they couldn’t get in, over what the importance of the WTO was. And so, you found these people who otherwise would never have had any contact with each other suddenly confronting each other and having to defend their positions.

And as I sat with a Chinese American businessman who advises many corporations doing business in China, and the top reporter for the Bangalore Economic Times, which is supposedly the second-largest financial newspaper in the world, and I told them, “Fellas, I don’t think anything is going to happen here this morning.” And sure enough, after two hours of everyone waiting for Charlene Barshefsky and Michael Moore and the others to address the opening event — 

AMY GOODMAN: The director-general of the World Trade Organization.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Right. They began to realize that, for this day, at least, something else had changed their agenda.

AMY GOODMAN: And we should say, we will see what happens today with President Clinton arriving in the dead of night from Los Angeles, arriving at — well, it’s also important to note the name of the airport — Boeing Airport, coming into Seattle. He’ll have a lot to say and have to answer for today as he comes into Seattle. It’s also important to note that these men, Director-General Michael Moore of the World Trade Organization and President Clinton, seem very much on the defensive, President Clinton because he’s got campaigns that he’s responsible for, like his longtime supporter Al Gore, running for president, when he has tens of thousands of union members out on the streets, he has to listen. He has to do something about this, if nothing else, because it’s an election year.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, there are some who speculate that if these kinds of protests continue, that the World Trade Organization will soon have to become a chameleon, and it’ll have to be changed into something else, because as of — as the way it’s functioning now, because it’s tremendous discontent even among the nations, for instance, India, which is the largest member of the World Trade Organization, gets no respect, and not even consulted in many of the major decisions by the more powerful economies. So I think the internal contradictions of the World Trade Organization and the growing public awareness against it may actually scuttle it, or has the potential to scuttle it, as a scheme for organizing the new world order.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, The Seattle Times reported late last night that of 3,000 delegates expected for yesterday’s meeting, 200 seats, possibly, were filled. But of the people who got in, it’s quite amazing to note that Medea Benjamin and Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange made their way in, after protesting outside, and took to the stage. We are going to get in touch with Medea this week. She is here. We talked to her quite frequently during the day on her cellphone. She was hurt as she was arrested. But they got to the microphone, and they listed the demands of the anti-World Trade Organization activists, the demands to include issues of labor rights, human rights, environmental rights and so much more, that people around this city have been speaking out about in the last week.

And we have to include Seattle itself, because thousands of workers also did not go to work yesterday. They didn’t deliver the mail. They didn’t go to the ports. They didn’t go downtown to their jobs, because they were in solidarity with the World Trade Organization activists that had come. In fact, not just in Seattle, but in Portland, the longshoremen didn’t work for hours, and in California, as well. This solidarity is being shown around the world, as we heard in reports from London and Paris and all over France. This is a remarkable movement at the end of the millennium.

And today, we’re going to bring you the sounds of yesterday. When we come back, we’ll bring you the sounds collected by the Democracy Now! team, that fanned out through the city yesterday. It’s rough. We were out through the night. But it will give you a sense of what took place yesterday and what we may be seeing more of in these days to come. You’re listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! We’ll bring you that chronology of yesterday’s momentous events after we return from the 60-second break. Please stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, The Exception to the Rulers, as we broadcast live from Seattle. I’m Amy Goodman, here with Juan González. And with the entire Democracy Now! team, we fanned out through the city yesterday with our producers, María Carrión and David Love, our technical director, Errol Maitland, our reporter in the street, Jeremy Scahill. These are some of the sounds that we heard.

OFFICER CURTIS: Officer Curtis of the Seattle Police Department. I am now issuing a public safety order to disperse from this area. Your conduct is in violation of the state and city law, and your failure to leave the area now will subject you arrest for disorderly conduct and riot.

PROTESTERS: We don’t have a voice! We don’t have a seat! Listen to the voices of the people on the street! We don’t have a voice! We don’t have a seat! Listen to the voices of the people on the street! We don’t have a voice! We don’t have a seat! Listen to the voices of the people on the street! We don’t have a voice! We don’t have a seat! Listen to the voices of the people on the street! We don’t have a voice! We don’t have a seat! Listen to the voices of the people on the street!

GLOBAL PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL PARTICIPANT: We, the undersigned participants in the Global People’s Tribunal on Corporate Crimes Against Humanity, hereby issue this citizens’ arrest warrant for the trade ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — for their role as accomplices after the fact in the commission of crimes against humanity by some of the world’s leading corporations. The human rights and environmental records of five of these corporations have been examined by this tribunal, constituted as a grand jury, and indictments issued, based upon probable cause that they have committed such crimes defined under international and Canadian law as meaning murder, extermination, deportation, persecution or any other inhumane act or omission that is committed against any civilian population or any identified persons, and that constitutes a contravention of customary international law or conventional international law or is criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations. The evidence submitted to this tribunal on these five corporations — Cargill, The Gap, Shell, Union Carbide, Unocal — and other corporations, as well, like Weyerhaeuser, repeatedly reflected the existence of an agency relationship between major corporations and their home country governments, in which country governments’ policies and actions have projected and advanced the interests of these corporations, even and often at the expense of violations of internationally recognized human rights and environmental standards. These interests have been protected and advanced by the international trade and investment regime established and being extended by the World Trade Organization, hence the issuing of this citizens’ arrest warrant for the trade representatives of the G7 governments as the principal officials of those governments responsible for structuring and operations of the WTO. Executed this 29th day of November, 1999, by the following — and there’s a long list of names, including U.S. attorneys and representatives from various countries around the world.

OFFICER CURTIS: Ladies and gentlemen, I am Officer Curtis of the Seattle Police Department. I am now issuing a public safety order to disperse from this area. Your conduct is in violation of the state and city law, and your failure to leave the area now will subject you arrest for disorderly conduct and riot.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Come on, Amy. Heads up.

AMY GOODMAN: Oh, there. You can hear. Just one sec. Here, let me — 

PROTESTERS: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!

JEREMY SCAHILL: The tear gas is so heavy.

AMY GOODMAN: Whoa!

JEREMY SCAHILL: There are explosions going off.

PROTESTERS: Shame! Shame!

JEREMY SCAHILL: We’re looking at just a big white haze, smoke.

AMY GOODMAN: Whoa! Move! Move! Move! Whoa!

JEREMY SCAHILL: Explosions are happening all over.

AMY GOODMAN: Whoa! Get away from the glass! Get away from the glass!

JEREMY SCAHILL: Go! Go! Go! Amy! María!

DAVID McGRAW: My name is David McGraw, M-C-G-R-A-W. I live in South Seattle. I was part of a protest earlier this morning at around 10:00 at 6th and Pine near the Sheraton Hotel. There were about 150 or 200 people who were protesting nonviolently. It was a completely peaceful protest. People were chanting and whatnot. There was very, very mild antagonism on the cops who were present. But with very little warning whatsoever, maybe about 30 seconds, they fired at us point-blank range with what were either rubber bullets or little pepper spray bullets or something to that effect. There were people sitting on the ground. The police stood directly over them and fired right into them. I saw people shot point-blank range in their face and in their chest. I myself was shot in the back of my legs and in my back. And —

AMY GOODMAN: What happened after?

DAVID McGRAW: At the same time as that we were being shot, they were pepper-spraying us directly in our face and tear-gassing us. They continued to shoot us and tear-gas us until we moved out of the intersection, at which time they moved probably about 15 delegates through the intersection. Directly after that, once I recovered from the pepper spray and the tear gas, I saw a woman hit directly in the face with a baton. The whole right side of her face was cracked and bloody. But there was no provocation. There was no violence preceding that incident whatsoever. The protest had been completely peaceful, until the police decided that they needed to clear the intersection.

GLOBAL EXCHANGE MEMBER: Well, we have four people from Global Exchange that are working with the peace teams, peacekeepers that encourage other people to not be violent, and if they see any unruly behavior, to try to calm people down. And they were over at the difficult section over at 6th and Pike. And, you know, as you know, everyone was sort of sitting on the ground, holding a position and being very peaceful. And at that point, the police decided that they wanted to take the street away from the very peaceful protesters, and they threw tear gas at them. At that point, several people got up. They were really nervous. They were kind of freaking out. They were very — in a lot of pain from the tear gas. And so, two of our friends at that point had gotten maced. And then, our other colleague, Leila Salazar, had picked up the megaphone to try to get people to calm down, to say, “Please be quiet. Don’t run. It’s very important not to run, not to be agitated.” And the police came up and pepper-sprayed her in the face while she was saying, “We are a nonviolent group. We are a peaceful organization.” And then, her boyfriend Brian got shot with a rubber bullet that put a hole in his chin, and it goes straight through to his teeth, and then knocked out a retainer that he’s had cemented into his mouth for about six years, but he has a hole right through. And he said he was shot from about 50 feet away. And he — there was other people who were shot at, like, point blank. So, that was a real clear example of, in the midst of a scene where the people were sitting down and maintaining a very actively, very — a, you know, very focused nonviolence, person actually saying, “We need to be nonviolent here,” that they were attacked.

AMY GOODMAN: Where are they staying today?

RIVA ENTEEN: I’m Riva Enteen with the National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco. The Seattle Guild legal team has written a letter to the mayor condemning the use of rubber bullets in the situation, and they’re looking at the possibility of going for injunctive relief, because it’s an inappropriate use of force, basically. I mean, there was a tactical decision made, it appears, to use tear gas and mace and rubber bullets instead of arresting people for blocking.

AMY GOODMAN: The police deny that they’ve used rubber bullets.

RIVA ENTEEN: I have one in my pocket, and I can show it to you. And I heard that they have denied it on CNN, but there’s two sizes, actually. I have a smaller one in my pocket, and the legal team has a larger one in their office. And it’s telling that they’re denying it. I mean, either their police are so out of control that they don’t know what they’re doing, or they’re trying to cover it up because they know it’s inappropriate.

AMY GOODMAN: Who’s gotten hurt? Lieutenant Sanford, the person with the orange gun, that’s rubber bullets?

LT. SANFORD: I have to be honest. I don’t know what’s in it. I would have to ask him specifically.

AMY GOODMAN: Could you ask him?

LT. SANFORD: I could. It’s probably either chemical agents or rubber bullets, something like that.

AMY GOODMAN: Could you ask? Just wanted to know what it is.

LT. SANFORD: Sure.

AMY GOODMAN: Thanks.

POLICE OFFICER: Let’s have you scoot back. Scoot back, please.

AMY GOODMAN: Yeah.

POLICE OFFICER: Scoot back, please.

AMY GOODMAN: He just said that he was going to ask about the gun. Lieutenant Sanford said — you said you were going to ask about what was in the gun.

LT. SANFORD: It has a whole variety of things that go in it.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean, could it have chemical agents and rubber bullets together?

LT. SANFORD: Absolutely.

AMY GOODMAN: Oh, so they shoot out together?

LT. SANFORD: Yes, they can.

PROTESTER 1: All I’ve heard is that the news media reported that the event was shut down for the day. But sources on the inside who are — who have delegate membership have reported that at 3:00 the meetings will continue, although the opening ceremony has been abandoned completely.

PROTESTER 2: Hold the line over here! They’re trying to restart the meeting at 3:00. They’re trying to restart the meeting at 3:00. Hold the line over here! Hold the line over here!

PROTESTER 3: Come on, you guys! They’re trying to restart the meeting!

PROTESTER 2: They’re trying to restart the meeting at 3:00. Hold the line over here! Nonviolent protesters over here! Nonviolent resisters, affinity groups over here! They’re trying to restart the meeting at 3:00.

AMY GOODMAN: I think we should go over.

PROTESTER 4: We’re keeping the delegates out of the building, denying them access to the meetings.

PROTESTER 5: One of the delegates pulled a gun on us and had his trigger on the — or, his finger on the trigger. You know? And I’m — we’re sitting there trying to hold his arm back. What’s up with that? But that’s how they want to play it? That’s the way we’ll play it.

AMY GOODMAN: What happened then?

PROTESTER 5: We all grabbed his arm. We’re sitting there trying to hold him back. We didn’t know who he was going after.

PROTESTER 6: The cops decided to beat us and let him through.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, what happened?

PROTESTER 5: We just — they started spraying tear gas at us in our faces and — or mace. And then, we didn’t — we just dispersed. You know, it’s like, then he disappeared off behind the cops’ line.

AMY GOODMAN: Where was he? Exactly where?

PROTESTER 5: Exactly where you’re standing, actually. Right here.

PROTESTER 6: Right here, exactly where you are.

PROTESTER 5: Right where you’re at. There was two of them, not just one. There was two of them. One of them pulled his gun out and is holding it and, you know, pointing it at the crowd, or holding it up.

RAVI: I am not — I’m not a delegate. I represent a neutral organization to help the countries, the developing countries.

PROTESTER 7: Then you can help the countries by staying right out here with us.

HALEY JONES: You can sit down with us!

RAVI: No, but the —

PROTESTER 7: Shut the WTO down!

RAVI: They will go on.

PROTESTER 7: Stay here with us.

RAVI: They will go on regardless.

PROTESTER 7: You know what? We’re turning them away. They’re not getting in. We’re turning them away. Stay here with us.

RAVI: It’s better — 

PROTESTER 7: This is where it counts.

RAVI: It’s better to — it’s better to join there and —

HALEY JONES: Yeah, can I tell you something? Let me tell you something. If you go up there, and it comes push to shove, our kids are going to get beaten. Please go away. Please don’t hurt our kids.

RAVI: My intention is not to hurt —

HALEY JONES: I know. I know.

RAVI: — you or your kids.

HALEY JONES: Then you need to turn around. Everybody else has done it. You don’t need to feel a coward. You feel need to feel a brave man for turning around. Please, because the cops will come forward, and these kids aren’t moving.

PROTESTER 8: That’s the truth. They’re not.

HALEY JONES: They’re not. And everybody has listened to that plea.

PROTESTER 8: They’re not moving.

HALEY JONES: Please, sir.

RAVI: You know, you have a point to make. You’re making your point.

HALEY JONES: They’re not going to let you go through, and it may get violent.

RAVI: But we need to also — 

HALEY JONES: Yeah, well.

RAVI: — help the countries in the best way we can.

HALEY JONES: Yes, yeah, but we’re not going to argue that.

RAVI: So, you’re making your point.

HALEY JONES: If you want to argue the WTO with me, darling, I’ll bury you with it. Right now I’m concerned with your safety. And I’m concerned with your safety, so you need to be back.

PROTESTER 9: We’re not letting you through!

HALEY JONES: They won’t let you through. And all you’re going to do is get them to move up forward, we’ll move back, and there’ll be a clash. What is your name, sir? My name is Haley Jones. What is your name?

RAVI: Mine is Ravi.

HALEY JONES: Ravi, I don’t want to call the newspaper and say it all started because of Ravi. I really don’t.

RAVI: You know —

HALEY JONES: Please, sir. Please, sir.

RAVI: Listen to me.

HALEY JONES: My kids, these are our kids.

RAVI: No, no.

HALEY JONES: And they’re going to get battered because you’re going to try to get through. These people aren’t going to let you get through.

PROTESTER 9: We’re not going to let you through here.

HALEY JONES: They’re not going to let you, sir. And the cops will move up, and there will be violence, Ravi. Come on.

PROTESTER 10: It’s all right. He’s not going anywhere.

HALEY JONES: Please.

AMY GOODMAN: Can I ask what organization you’re with?

RAVI: No, I work with the U.N.

HALEY JONES: Oh, then, you’ve been there before, so you know that the best possible course right now is —

RAVI: I’m here to help the developing countries.

HALEY JONES: Yes, then —

PROTESTER 9: Then, stay here with us! Stay outside with us! Wait guard with us!

HALEY JONES: Then, sit down with us.

RAVI: They need my help there.

HALEY JONES: No.

PROTESTER 9: That helps!

PROTESTER 10: Why don’t you sit with us?

RAVI: No, no. You are doing what you have to — 

PROTESTER 9: Sit with us. Stay with us. Be here.

RAVI: I have to do it the best way I can.

PROTESTER 9: We are the people. You stay with us.

HALEY JONES: We can’t let you through. I’m sorry, darling. And if it starts a big fight, I’m sorry for that.

RAVI: No, no, no.

PROTESTER 10: You’ve got a good heart, sir.

HALEY JONES: You got a good heart. But you know what? The best thing you can do with that good heart is to turn back, because these kids aren’t going to. The cops are going to see it. The cops are going to move forward, and there’s going to be violence.

RAVI: Let me tell you — let me tell you, I have — I have — well, not participated, but dealt with — with demonstrations like this.

PROTESTER 10: There’s no alternative, no matter — 

HALEY JONES: Oh, I know that, sir.

RAVI: And I come from a country which is — which innovated —

HALEY JONES: Gandhi.

RAVI: Yes.

HALEY JONES: Yes, we’re all Gandhis here. We ain’t gonna move, baby.

RAVI: Yeah.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Hey, what’s that you’re holding in your hand?

PROTESTER 11: It’s the W from Niketown, the corporate whore!

JEREMY SCAHILL: How did you get that W?

PROTESTER 11: Well, I took a couple of my mates, and they lifted me up, and I stripped it from the exploited, stupid building it was built on.

PROTESTER 12: And we helped hold him up! Whoo!

AMY GOODMAN: Excuse me, can I ask you guys? What have you got there?

PROTESTER 13: These are letters from the Niketown sign, because Niketown is a huge supporter of the WTO, and we are not, in any way.

AMY GOODMAN: What’s your name?

PROTESTER 13: I don’t want to give my name out.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you from Seattle?

PROTESTER 13: Yes, I am.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of the sort of the motto of the nonviolent protesters, that they won’t destroy property?

PROTESTER 13: Yeah, well, sometimes you got to take matters in your own hands. It’s just not getting anywhere, this peaceful crap. I won’t swear, if this for the radio or whatnot.

AMY GOODMAN: What is it that you don’t like about Nike?

PROTESTER 13: Just the fact that it’s a huge funder the WTO, and the fact of free trade and everything, and they’re just taking that away from all the other countries. And that’s just a load of crap.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, a huge funder of the WTO?

PROTESTER 13: Well, it’s been proven that Nike has just funded the WTO in ways beyond every other corporation, just like all the major corporations have, like Gap and Adidas and Mattel have all gotten together, and they’ve pooled their money and funded the WTO, as we know.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean, for the event happening here in Seattle?

PROTESTER 13: Not just that, for everything in general.

PROTESTER 14: The meeting is going to focus on that versus the issues that are ahead. And it’s just — and maybe those people have a legitimate anger toward corporations, or maybe they’re just rabble-rousers, you know, here to express whatever.

PROTESTER 15: They were both up there.

PROTESTER 14: It’s stupid.

PROTESTER 15: They were both up there.

PROTESTER 14: I don’t know. I don’t — I think some of the anti-WTO graffiti’s all right. I mean, it’s — when you have no other voice, I mean, the street is your voice. It’s where you speak, where you can say what you wish to say.

PROTESTER 16: Yeah, but that can easily also be perverted by the media, too, you know? Because you look at that, the media is going to concentrate on that.

PROTESTER 14: Yeah, they won’t —

AMY GOODMAN: What is the “that” that you’re talking about? These are
radio listeners, so they can’t see it.

PROTESTER 16: Oh, these are radio — oh, yeah. The dismantling of Nike’s whatever that is.

AMY GOODMAN: Sign?

PROTESTER 16: Sign, up on top of the door. It’s bad image, too, because what we’re here for is not about ripping the town apart. It’s not. It’s about — 

PROTESTER 14: Not at all.

PROTESTER 16: It’s about getting the idea out that the WTO needs to be shut down. And with corporate media, that sort of stuff is stuff that they focus on.

PROTESTER 14: Exactly.

PROTESTER 16: And, you know, like, the fact that I’m wearing Nike shoes, I — 

PROTESTER 14: It’s because you don’t have other options.

PROTESTER 16: You know, it’s — you don’t have other —

PROTESTER 14: I mean, what other options do you have for shoes or clothing? You have a monopoly, a corporate monopoly, on goods and services, living in the city. I mean, you can’t — 

PROTESTER 16: Yeah.

PROTESTER 14: — make a choice to have alternatives.

PROTESTER 16: That’s what this is here for.

PROTESTER 14: You’re not — you’re not going to be — I mean, if you want to make your own shoes out of burlap or something, sure. But, you know, your only vote, really, with corporations is your money, your dollar. And it’s hard to, you know, find legitimate, convenient alternatives. So I guess it’s a matter of convenience.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Are you guys from Seattle?

PROTESTER 14: Give me convenience or give me death. Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: What did you say?

PROTESTER 14: Give me convenience or give me death. It’s an old Dead Kennedys album.

JEREMY SCAHILL: What do you think of this, what they did tonight?

PROTESTER 17: I’m from Los Angeles. I did this back in ’92.

PROTESTER 18: You’re used to it.

PROTESTER 17: I’m used to this.

JEREMY SCAHILL: How does what you’ve seen in Seattle compare to Los Angeles in 1992?

PROTESTER 17: I think this is much greater here in Seattle than it was in Los Angeles, because Los Angeles, it was a racial thing. This here, this here is a politician — politics involved here. And I think the people are tired of getting pushed aside, and, you know, I think they finally stood up for what they believed in and made a statement here today. I think it worked. I think it’s working.

JEREMY SCAHILL: You ever listen to KPFK?

PROTESTERS: Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent protest! Nonviolent protest!

ROBERT COLLIER: My name is Rob Collier. I’m a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. I was on Union Way, a street here in downtown, and a number — there was a large crowd of demonstrators, and a couple black sort of jumpsuited, bandanaed protesters bashed in the window of a Starbucks, and then one of them jumped inside, went over to the door, front door, opened the door and screamed, “Starbucks is open for business,” clearly hoping that the crowd would rush in and sack the place. But the crowd did the opposite and started arguing with him and saying, “Shut the door. No violence.” And, in fact, they shut the door. And there was a big argument over whether or not to shut the door, but they shut the door. And a number of people stood outside, in effect, guarding Starbucks to keep it from being looted.

AMY GOODMAN: And you are listening to a medley of sounds from the streets of Seattle yesterday in this Battle of Seattle. When we return, we’ll go back to the protests of the day, hear the explosions that took place. It was explosions of the sound of tear gas being shot out of guns by police. You’ll hear the protesters regrouping, and you’ll hear from other people throughout the day who took the streets of Seattle to close down the World Trade Organization. You are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! We’ll be back in a minute.

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AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, Resistance Radio. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González and the whole Democracy Now! team, who fanned out through the streets yesterday during this day of siege in the city of Seattle, as tens of thousands of activists took to the streets, labor activists led by the AFL-CIO and the steelworkers’ union, environmental and human rights activists, farmers from around the world, small business people, doctors and health professionals, who see the World Trade Organization, as it is constituted today, as a threat to the lives of people and countries around the world. We continue with Battle in Seattle.

SANTA CLAUSES: WTO! Ho ho! WTO!

AMY GOODMAN: Hi. What are Santa Clauses doing here?

SANTA CLAUS 1: We’re the ministers from the North Pole. Yes, and we’re here to get a seat at the table. But they won’t to let us in the building there, so we’re going to sit down here until they do.

SANTA CLAUS 2: They don’t like how we do free trade.

SANTA CLAUS 1: Yeah.

SANTA CLAUS 2: They don’t like our idea of free trade.

AMY GOODMAN: What is that?

SANTA CLAUS 2: Every — no price for products. Free.

SANTA CLAUS 3: And then, we also treat our elves with respect and dignity, and that they work in decent — have decent work conditions, no sweatshops, no hard labor.

SANTA CLAUS 1: And 11 months vacation out of the year.

SANTA CLAUS 3: Yes.

SANTA CLAUS 1: So, yeah, maternity leave, the whole deal. They got it all.

SANTA CLAUS 3: Yes.

SANTA CLAUS 1: Yeah.

SANTA CLAUS 3: We also have universal elf care to take care of them. And we just — we look — we protect our employees and the environment at the same time.

AMY GOODMAN: What’s the sign?

SANTA CLAUS 1: That’s right. There’s no — I’m sorry? No, go ahead.

AMY GOODMAN: What’s the sign you’re carrying?

SANTA CLAUS 1: Well, it’s just a warning. You know, at this time of year, people tend to buy too many things. And, you know, the Earth just can’t take it. We all have to step back and make our lives more simple, community spiritual values. You don’t need to buy things for Christmas.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what does it say, for our listeners who can’t see it?

SANTA CLAUS 1: It says “Bye,” B-Y-E, painted over the picture of the Earth, and it says “Buy,” B-Y-E — B-U-Y.

SANTA CLAUSES: Ho ho ho! No WTO! Ho ho ho! No WTO!

PROTESTER 19: Who am I? I’m just a world citizen concerned about the fact that we have a bunch of organizations that are being put into place and have no accountability to the people of the countries where they are. They don’t — they are not even — how do you say?

AMY GOODMAN: Accountable?

PROTESTER 19: Accountable to the United Nations. You know, the thing is so blatant that they are accountable to nobody.

AMY GOODMAN: Where are you from?

PROTESTER 19: I’m an African woman born in Brazil, Canadian citizen that lives in Germany.

AMY GOODMAN: Where are you from, and what’s the sign you’re holding?

PROTESTER 20: We’re from — we’re from France. The sign is for the Peasant Confederation. This is the spokesperson, François Dufour. And the sign says that the WTO has to be subjected to human rights. It’s got to apply human rights. It shouldn’t be above human rights.

PROTESTERS: Power! Union! Power! Union! Power! Union! Power! Union! Power! Union! Power!

PROTESTER 21: Let’s go right on through! We’re not — we’re not being mean. We’re not killing nobody. We’re not beating no — breaking no windows.

PROTESTER 22: Welcome. Right on! Welcome. I’m glad you’re all here.

PROTESTER 23: Hey, keep the cameras down.

PROTESTER 24: Keep your windows down.

PROTESTER 25: Right on!

PROTESTER 21: We’re just honest, hard-working, just plain, hard-working people.

PROTESTER 26: We built this city!

PROTESTER 25: That’s right.

PROTESTER 26: We built this city! We want our rights!

PROTESTER 21: My brothers have built that building right there!

PROTESTER 25: That’s right. We’re just trying to feed our families.

PROTESTER 26: The same as you guys are.

PROTESTER 25: That’s right. And we want to keep our unions strong.

PROTESTER 26: And we want to build it with our steel, with our people, with our powers, with the people that we have in it today! We need these people to stand up for the rights of everybody here!

PROTESTER 25: That’s right. And our kids want these jobs. They want these jobs that put food on the table.

PROTESTER 27: Here they come. If it wasn’t for the union, we wouldn’t have nothing, people. Power to the people!

PROTESTERS: Power! Union! Power! Union! Power! Union! Power!

PROTESTER 27: We’re going to get tear-gassed.

PERRY HICKS: I’m Perry Hicks, and Teamsters Local 174.

AMY GOODMAN: From where?

PERRY HICKS: Seattle, right here, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Why are you standing out here?

PERRY HICKS: With the protest out here, against WTO.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you do here in Seattle?

PERRY HICKS: What I do, I’m a garbage collector, U.S. Disposal, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And what does garbage disposal and your job have to do with the World Trade Organization?

PERRY HICKS: Well, actually, as far as the World Trade Organization, the garbage has nothing to do with it, because we’re contracted with the city, OK, to do our job. But you see, I am against WTO, period, because of what’s happening worldwide, the way WTO is treating other countries and the people themselves, because of the environment, not paying people fair wages, the laws as far as the way they’re treating the people. That’s what all this is for.

AMY GOODMAN: Has Seattle seen anything like this?

PERRY HICKS: Never, never. This is the first time that all these people are against this. WTO will not come back here again. No, never. No.

AMY GOODMAN: Can I ask something that I’ve been wondering all day? What is that gun?

PATROL OFFICER: Just distributes gas.

AMY GOODMAN: Does it also do the rubber bullets?

PATROL OFFICER: It can, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: OK. Do you do the rubber bullets and the gas together?

PATROL OFFICER: It depends on the situation.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you do it today?

PATROL OFFICER: No, I haven’t shot anything today.

AMY GOODMAN: Have you shot gas today?

PATROL OFFICER: No, I haven’t deployed any rounds.

AMY GOODMAN: What is it called?

PATROL OFFICER: This is a DefTech.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s called a?

PATROL OFFICER: DefTech 37 millimeter.

AMY GOODMAN: So, it can shoot tear gas.

PATROL OFFICER: Yeah. I’m not sure who you are.

AMY GOODMAN: I’m with Pacifica Radio from New York, doing a national radio show.

PATROL OFFICER: Yeah, you could look it up on the internet and get all the information you need from DefTech Corporation, Defensive Technologies. They’re also owned by Armor Technologies. You call them up. You get all the specs if you want. I prefer not to release that information.

AMY GOODMAN: OK. So, it’s gas, but it can also do gas and rubber bullets.

PATROL OFFICER: There’s a variety of munitions that it can deploy. Like I said, you could contact the manufacturer, and they can give you all that information.

AMY GOODMAN: OK. So, you’re Washington State Patrol, so not Seattle police?

PATROL OFFICER: Correct.

AMY GOODMAN: How many police and patrol are out here? I’m with Pacifica Radio in New York.

OFFICER CURTIS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Officer Curtis of the Seattle Police Department. I am now issuing a public safety order to disperse from this area. Your conduct is in violation of the state and city law, and your failure to leave the area now will subject you arrest for disorderly conduct and riot.

PROTESTER 28: Up one block, we’ve got them breaking into another building.

PROTESTER 29: What building?

PROTESTER 28: It’s RadioShack.

PROTESTER 30: You can’t blame the protesters for this, for this broken window or this, the action that took place here. They weren’t — 

AMY GOODMAN: What is this place?

PROTESTER 30: They weren’t — this is a RadioShack.

AMY GOODMAN: And what happened to RadioShack?

PROTESTER 30: Three of the — about 30 of the local thugs who hang out on this corner up here by the bank every night saw that there was nobody around, decided that they wanted to break into the RadioShack, came over here, kicked the window in, went inside the RadioShack, and all of them grabbed something, and then came back out, and they all headed south.

PROTESTER 31: This is what they used to break in.

PROTESTER 30: No, they used their foot. I watched them break it.

PROTESTER 31: Oh, we heard them. We were — 

PROTESTER 32: I mean, you know, I kind of stuttered. But actually, I’m kind of appalled at the outcome of everything. It started off as a peaceful protest, and then it kind of got into something outlandish. I guess the cops weren’t used to handling such a — you know, such some theatrics such as these. So things got out of hand. They started using rubber bullets, tear gas. Everybody got into a frenzy. And I don’t know where this crazy idea of looting came from. This isn’t like a L.A. riot where someone was beaten, and that caused for some intervention. This is supposed to be a political stand. And I think they took it way out of hand. And as you can look over here to the left, you see someone presently looting RadioShack, to no avail. The police aren’t here. It’s just kind of — it’s kind of off the hook. So, it started off good, but I think it kind of ended on a down note. But the people will resist the WTO, regardless of the things that goes on by the minor number of hoodlums that go inside RadioShack. So, things like that are just kind of ticking me off. But, overall, I think it was a good, positive stand, nonviolence by the people.

AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to the Battle in Seattle, live coverage from Seattle, the day that labor, environmental, human rights activists laid siege to a city. I’m Amy Goodman, here with Juan González. A special thanks to our team that fanned out around the city as tens of thousands of activists stopped the World Trade Organization from holding a successful first day in this Washington state city. Juan?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, Amy, I think it’s important to reiterate what the last person we had there on tape was saying, that across the country many Americans today will be seeing largely footage, televised footage, of looting. And there’s no doubt that late into the night there was some looting that broke out, but it was by a very, very small number of people who were actually part of the protest, and then it was also by young thugs and hoodlums from right here in Seattle who were drawn to the event late at night and took advantage of the situation to attempt to, you know, as I called it during the L.A. riot, have a 100% sale day by attacking some of these stores. But largely, throughout the day, the protesters attempted to maintain a peaceful civil disobedience, as little violence as possible. And it was remarkable.

I have to say that also, that by and large, having covered many of these events over the decades, that the Seattle — the individual Seattle policemen were remarkably restrained. Now, they had orders, clearly. They didn’t — they had orders not to arrest people, because — I suspect this might have even come all the way from the White House, that there were — that no one wanted huge numbers of people in jail and the courts clogged up. So they had orders to use their bullets, those rubber bullets, which were
the most terrible part of this, and to use tear gas, but largely they were fairly disciplined. I’ve seen many occasions in New York City and in other cities where police lose control, charge into crowds and start beating people senseless. There were, to my knowledge, no serious injuries that occurred, very few arrests, considering the number of people that were involved.

But clearly, the Seattle authorities were not prepared. I spoke to many Seattle people who said, “We never expected this many people. We never expected this thing to get so out of control.” Because, as always, the authorities, not just in this city, but across the nation, fail to understand how deeply many Americans and many people around the world resent the growing power that corporations have over their lives and the growing power that they have over the future of nations. And I think that this was the first international protest that has come together to raise the threats of the new world order that has evolved after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the changes in the socialist bloc.

AMY GOODMAN: And it very clearly has broken down left-right barriers, divisions, because this is the very issue that people who are progressive in this country and, I guess, people, you could say, who are on the right in this country have all often expressed great concern about, is this idea of authorities that supersede the powers in — within your own borders to make decisions.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes. And amazingly, one of the people being interviewed repeatedly yesterday by CNN and other national news media was Pat Buchanan, and he was defending the protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization for his own particular protectionist and chauvinist views.

AMY GOODMAN: And just to underscore what Juan was saying, and that is the issue of how disciplined and really well organized, though decentralized, the groups were yesterday. They operated in affinity groups, like we saw 20 years ago in the anti-nuclear movement. They operated often by consensus. We were following a group that the police opened tear gas fire on, but they had told the police that they had reached consensus that they would be leaving and that they would leave peacefully. They said they would clear the way for police to deal with looters, if they were going to places like Niketown, where there was a lot of antagonism. But even with all of that antagonism, when people saw that there were some who were going to break windows or loot stores, they would shout, “This is a peaceful protest.” They would lock arms, as we heard in the piece from the San Francisco Chronicle reporter, standing at the Starbucks store when someone broke in, you know, the typical, hooded completely, and then opened the door and said, “We’re open for business.” People said, “No.” They locked arms. They didn’t let people go into the store. And there was a real concerted effort by the overwhelming majority. And for those that say this was just a violent protest that marred everything that the anti-World Trade Organization activists seemed to say they stood for, they weren’t in the streets to see that level of restraint.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I’d also add that that very structure that they adopted, that the young people adopted, of the individual, decentralized affinity groups, unfortunately, that — in chaotic situations, that can also break down and allow for individuals who are opposed to the overall thrust of the group to take advantage. Of course, this has always been the big conflict between the organizations that young people develop and the organizations of labor. Labor unions always want organized, disciplined, controlled activities, because they feel that that avoids the kinds of problems that occurred late last night. And so there are always these tensions in terms of tactical approaches by organized labor and other kinds of civic protest groups.

AMY GOODMAN: But as to who provided the pretext for the police to finally move in, just after the mayor announced that there would be curfew at 7:00 and a state of emergency, Juan, as you were walking up to the area where we were, which was on the frontline, you saw a group of thugs start to attack people.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Oh, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: And we saw them jump protesters. These were not people who were part of the group.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Right. They just charged into the group and began to physically attack a lot of the protesters, creating a disturbance, which then was immediately followed by tear gas from the police.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to go out with the theme of yesterday’s protest, and that was the idea that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. You have been listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, produced by María Carrión and David Love; our reporter in the street, Jeremy Scahill; our technical director, Errol Maitland; with engineering help from Mark Torres. Our website is www.democracynow.org. It’s a new website, and you can get all sorts of links to the multimedia coverage of this event at the grassroots level, like www.indymedia.org, where hundreds of media activists have fanned out and are not having their coverage mediated by the corporate press. You are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, live from Seattle. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.