WTO

[gfish]

Ten years ago today, I was woken by a procession marching past my condo down Pine Street. They had a loud drum section that was banging out a very catchy rhythm. After it had passed, I turned on NPR as was my morning habit in those days. Shortly after, as part of the national news, there was a live report with the same drum pattern audible in the background. Thus began a very odd couple of days.

I had been vaguely aware that there was going to be some protests around the WTO, but I hadn't paid much attention to it. I'm still somewhat on the fence about globalization, mostly because it just isn't my issue. The whole thing seems really boring and hyperbolic, and I'd rather focus on other things. So the scale of the protests caught me completely by surprise. That first day I biked around downtown before heading into campus, just for the experience. Watching phalanxes of riot cops moving around made me wish I had a way to blast the Imperial Theme while following them around. (Maybe it's best that I couldn't.) I was in the student shop later that day, and the shopmaster Russ was comparing Seattle police tactics to those of the Berkeley cops of his youth. It was a very interesting day, all around.

And after that... well, I thought I'd seen it and I could safely ignore it for the rest of the week. Until the rioting started that night. Including all the damage downtown, which we later saw had happened right in front of cops who hadn't stopped it even after the other protesters had begged them to. (Though the footage of some jackass "anarchist" throwing bags of coffee beans out the window of a Starbucks really is priceless. The people must control the means of caffeination!) That's when the cops forced everyone -- including this destructive fringe -- back up Pine into my neighborhood. And the next morning, the mayor declared "free speech zones". Woah, woah, woah. So while I hadn't really cared before, now I did.

The second night spinnerin_ftw and I were out with the people protesting along Broadway. That was the night I realized I have very poor tactical instincts, which was a cruel blow after a childhood spent idolizing Ender's Game. We had an idea that the police were massing for an assault on the protesters, then massing at the Broadway and Pine intersection. So I went up on the grassy hill next to SCCC for a better view. Which put us right between the protesters and the police massing along Harvard. When the assault started, they were firing teargas and flashbangs over our heads. We couldn't go towards the protesters, as they were now panicking and that's where the giant clouds of teargas was. We couldn't go to the sides, as there is a building and a drop on either side. Our only option was to the head down the hill towards the cops, who were now brandishing rifles (I don't remember if these were just teargas launchers or what) at us. Ever try to run away from teargas while also move slowly so as not to look threatening? It's a hard balance to strike. They let us through, and we ran down Harvard. At this point the teargas was really affecting us. We took turns forcing our eyes open and leading the other one another couple of meters. neuro42 lived just down the block, and we took refuge there, surprising him and gement. He almost didn't answer the door, hearing frantic knocking during a riot. Lessons: don't stand between riot cops and the riot. Also: teargas is debilitating because of the tears, not the irritation to your throat. A pair of swim goggles would be fine, and they're a lot easier to acquire/hide than a gas mask.

The next night there was another big protest on Broadway, but the cops left it alone this time. It started with a big rally at SCCC, where some ridiculous organizers insisted that everyone who wanted to could get up and suggest what we do. I remember one saying we needed to tell the cops that they weren't welcome on Capital Hill anymore, and that we were self-policing now. Half of them seemed to think this was actually the beginning of a socialist revolution. spinnerin_ftw and I hung out in the back and traded snarky comments with a cynical Seattle Times photographer who was covering the event. He complained that none of his pictures would get used since no one was getting teargassed.

There was another big march the day after that, but it had pretty much fizzled out at that point. And that was my personal experience with "the battle in Seattle". I don't particularly want to go through anything like that again, but I'm glad I did once.

Comments

[gfish.livejournal.com]

We *were* protesters, more or less, at that point. They really just wanted to break up the protest, so they were happy enough to let us run away. Had we been wearing gas masks or something they would have stopped us to confiscate them.