Seattle + 10

From photographer George Hickey on the tenth anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests:

I see the WTO as basically a protesters vs cops event. The cops being there to protect the interests of corporate power. The protesters attempting to make their views known and compel the corporate media to broadcast them. (One local TV station KOMO actually refused to cover the event; not wanting to give the “rioters” publicity.) On Dec 1, after the riots of Nov 30th the city declared a no-protest zone in downtown Seattle opening the area only to shoppers and employees. Activists wearing anti-WTO buttons or carrying signs were arrested. One of these photos is on police hauling away protesters in Metro buses (photo #4).

A few years later the arrested protesters won a monetary award from the city for those arrests violating their free speech rights. It’s been reported that when the streets were blocked with tens of thousands of protesters and Secretary of State Albright couldn’t leave her hotel and Clinton was due in town that night that the Mayor ordered the fire department to go into the streets and turn fire hoses on the protesters but the Fire Department refused to do it.

Regarding the photo of the cop pepper spraying me in the face, a couple years later the city paid me a substantial settlement for that assault on me.

Tomorrow is 10th Anniversary of the N30 WTO Protest in Seattle by Lefty Coaster/DKos

No ‘Turnaround’ in WTO 10 Years After Seattle Protests/In These Times

Seattle + 10 People’s Summit

From Seattle to Detroit: 10 Lessons for Movement Building on the 10th Anniversary of the WTO Shutdown/ZNet

Revisiting No Logo, Ten Years Later/Naomi Klein