40,000 March in Seattle
It was not business as usual for the World Trade Organization when unionists, students,environment-alists, family farmers and religious leaders filled Seattle streets on November 30.
SEATTLE
The picket sign read, “Clean, green and fair,” and it summed up the reason some 40,000 protesters came here to speak out against the secret agreements developed by the corporate-controlled World Trade Organization.
Founded specifically to promote the free flow of trade with as little interference as possible, the WTO does not consider how its decisions affect workers and/or the environment.
In its five-year existence, the WTO has moved quickly and ruthlessly to remove what it sees as barriers to trade: said France cannot ban the killer asbestos; made the United States change Clean Air Act regulations on gasoline contaminants; and ruled against U.S. “dolphin-safe” tuna certification.
Labor, environmentalists, family farmers and religious leaders demanded open discussion on issues and core labor standards: abolishing child and slave labor, nondiscrimination in employment and the right to belong to a union.
“We’re here to change the system: the market system, the profit system,” AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee told the crowds at the pre-march rally. “Here we stand on the streets of America, and we say to our corporate leaders, ‘Shame on you!’”
MONTHS OF PLANNING.
In the months leading up to the “Battle in Seattle,”AFSCME and many other unions had worked steadily to educate members on the issues and build participation. They succeeded.
AFSCME’s public service and health care members came from all across the country to march alongside steelworkers, longshore workers, auto workers, teamsters of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, and young environmentalists dressed as sea turtles and butterflies.
Carol Romero drove up from Oregon to attend her first rally. “I came to feel the energy of this many people that all have the same purpose: to stop the World Trade Organization and keep our jobs here,” said the Local 189 (Council 75) member. “I look at it as taking care of ourselves first.”
GETTING RESULTS. The WTO’s cavalier dismissal of the marchers and their message backfired. Protesters closed down the city and stopped the gala opening day ceremonies. And they opened up the debate.
The delegates from 135 nations found they could not ignore the issues that had been raised. By the week’s end, the talks collapsed.
And, although the media seemed to confuse the message of peaceful protest with the lawlessness of a few, millions who had never heard of the WTO now know what it is. They also know it is a source of danger for their jobs and their families. The secret meetings are a thing of the past.
“You are the people; you are the power,” McEntee told the marchers. They showed that power in Seattle.
By Susan Ellen Holleran
