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CANADIAN COMMUNISTS JOIN ANTI-WTO PROTESTS
(This article is from the Jan. 1-15/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
People's Voice editor Kimball Cariou was in Seattle Nov. 30, together with his family. This is his account of the "last protest of the century."
Dozens of People's Voice readers made the trip to Seattle for the huge labour-environmentalist rally on Nov. 30. Most of us drove or took the bus from British Columbia, but others came from as far away as Toronto. Like a powerful political magnet, the WTO protest drew activists and concerned people from hundreds and thousands of kilometres away.
The night before the rally, after dealing with a flat tire, we arrived in Seattle. Along with a young communist from Minnesota, we were billeted near downtown, at the home of Lilian, a 91-year old comrade. Arising before dawn, all of us were on the bus by 7 a.m. to our various starting points. Lilian got off at a community centre in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood to join other seniors preparing for the rally and march, while Jane, James and I went on Memorial Stadium, near the Space Needle.
The excitement was felt even at the bus stops, as protesters shared the sense of expectation. Many got off near the WTO meeting, linking up with direct action groups to block streets and entrances around the summit. Within a few hours, we heard the first reports that police were tear-gassing those protesters. We also learned that longshore workers had shut down every port along the US west coast in a stunning political action against the WTO.
Our job was to meet comrades from the Communist Party USA, to help pass out some 10,000 copies of their paper, the People's Weekly World. It looked like a daunting challenge in the cool, drizzling weather, but the bright colours and bold headline on the PWW front page ("From Ohio to Seattle, workers fight WTO") made it easy. First a few at a time, then dozens and hundreds of people entered the stadium, grabbing copies of the paper to read before the rally. Busload after busload of trade unionists and activists in other movements piled out, with a heartening number telling us, "I already subscribe," or "I hand out the paper every Friday at the local shipyards."
Before long, we were joined by a vanload of Canadian comrades from the Lower Mainland area, bringing hundreds of copies of People's Voice to distribute to the forty buses coming from Vancouver.
The rally kicked off at 10 a.m., with a musical set by Sweet Honey in the Rock, the progressive gospel group from Atlanta. The stands of Memorial Stadium quickly filled to near its capacity of 20,000, with thousands more arrayed on the playing field. A special section of the stadium was set aside for Canadians, allowing us to greet friends from many past struggles as they filed in to hear the speeches.
Before the rally finished, thousands of other participants were eagerly lining up outside, ready to hit the streets. Knowing that the direct action groups had already set back the WTO timetable, we were all anxious to join the fray. The logistics of organizing tens of thousands of demonstrators slowed things down, but by one o'clock we were on the move, waving to Seattle residents crowded on the sidewalks as we headed downtown.
The march itself was an awe-inspiring show of unity, an incredible gathering of trade unionists, environmentalists, Indigenous peoples, women, students, farmers, and many, many other people determined to help block the corporate agenda. The "official" chant of "fix it or nix it" was frequently followed by others chanting "hey, hey, ho, ho, the WTO has got to go!"
An hour later, nearing the area of police attacks against demonstrators, marchers had to decide whether to keep to the official route back to the stadium, or veer off to join those blocking the streets around the WTO venues. Many had to return to catch buses back to their home cities and towns, but thousands of other marchers stayed downtown, including Communist Party of Canada members with our banner.
Among the labour contingents were the Sheet Metal Workers, highly visible with their union's picket signs. These workers briefly held up the march to conduct a spirited democratic debate on which way to go, eventually voting to stay with the protesters confronting police lines.
By that time (around 2 pm) it was obvious to the world that this was no ordinary protest. The stench of pepper spray lingered in the air, and phalanxes of cops were lined up in full riot gear and gas masks for the next round. We saw just a couple of broken windows, including the famous Starbucks location, but banks and other businesses were busy boarding up their storefronts. It was apparent that a major police assault would begin soon, but the huge crowds of protesters were determined to hold their ground.
For the next hour, we walked around the area, speaking to many people who had been there all day. Unanimously, they condemned the cops for using brutal force against non-violent demonstrators. The spirit of mass democratic resistance which marked the next several days in Seattle was already vibrant and powerful in the streets.
Rather than face tear gas, batons and rubber bullets, we moved out of the area by 3 pm, eventually finding a bus back to our car. Some exits to the I-5 highway to Vancouver were blocked off by police, and radio stations reported that police attacks had indeed begun again downtown. A curfew was ordered for 7 pm. The massive repression of civil rights and democratic freedoms in Seattle was well underway.
Over the next few days, Seattle TV stations featured hours of live broadcasts of the struggle. Time after time, thousands of brave souls defied official edicts banning protests around the WTO, with nearly 600 arrested. Police tear gassed and clubbed residents of the Capitol Hill area, well outside the so-called "no protest zone," sparking a huge wave of public anger. By Dec. 7, Seattle's police chief resigned, and the mayor may soon follow suit.
The WTO summit itself collapsed within days of the Nov. 30 demonstrations, with negotiators from other countries accusing the US of trying to force the terms of an agreement down their throats.
Did our "people's power" protests kill the summit, or was it doomed by inter-imperialist rivalries? Each factor played its role, but nobody can deny that in Seattle, the organized working class, the environmental movements, and other popular forces became powers to be reckoned with as the 21st century dawns. With the people's movements gear up for the next trade liberalisation meeting in Geneva, it is obvious that the world will never again be a quiet "gated community" for the transnational corporations.
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