Beth Goldstein
>Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:42:35 -0500
>From: TJ Vona-Pergola <bg21127 at binghamton.edu>
>Subject: WTO Protests
>
>I thought you all might be interested in this firsthand account of the
>protests in Seattle. This is a friend of mine that I have known since 8th
>grade. He is a carpenter living in Livingston, Montana. I was very
>excited to hear from him after returning from Seattle. He gave me
>permission to forward this to you all, but please don't e-mail him directly
>as he doesn't want to receive e-mail from lots of people he doesn't know
>(other people have asked to forward his account of the protests as well).
>
>Joe
>
>
>>Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 17:52:21 -0700 (MST)
>>From: Drotos & Poinsette <derekndawn at mcn.net>
>>To: Dan Battaglia <raven_coyote at hotmail.com>,
>> Joe and Tina Vona-Pergola <bg21127 at binghamton.edu>,
>> Mike Povilus <czerwona at excite.com>,
>> Professor Joe Pergola <joe at philosophers.net>
>>Subject: WTO Protests
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>
>>
>>A first-hand account, all of it true:
>>
>>November 30. The mass action began at 6:00am, starting out at two
>>locations: Victor Steinbrook Park (where my group was organizing) and
>>Seattle Community College. I was a part of a group of about twenty others
>>whose job it was to "keep the peace" and direct the march through the city
>>on orders from a tactical group. The festive parade wound its way through
>>downtown Seattle, occupying streets and intersections as it went. By
>>9:00am we had gone as far as we could, cut off by riot lines in many
>>locations and a city bus blockade near the Paramount Theater. At roughly
>>10:00am there had, as yet, been no tear gas or pepper spray used against
>>us. There were bystanders still shopping at the stores throughout the
>>downtown, walking around with their plastic bags as if nothing was
>>happening.
>>
>>I believe it was at the intersection of Union and 5th that we negotiated
>>with a sergeant to back up his riot line, and when they did so we sat down
>>on the street to occupy the space, leaving a buffer zone of a good twenty
>>feet between us. At this point in time we held virtually EVERY
>>intersection in downtown Seattle. Soon, a police captain with a bullhorn
>>came up behind his soldiers and said, "We must clear this intersection.
>>Please clear the intersection." They wanted to get a line of busses
>>through to transport WTO delegates. We didn't budge and filled the street
>>with bodies, most of us sitting down, and myself, mostly by chance,
>>sitting front and center. (Incidentally, we DID let school busses and
>>emergency vehicles pass, despite what the police are claiming.)
>>
>>A few minutes passed and then the cops donned their gas masks. (Picture:
>>an ordered line of faceless riot cops in full battle armor, helmets and
>>gas masks, wielding four-foot hardwood cudgels.) We protestors got out
>>our bandannas, soaked them with water, and tied them around our faces. I
>>was able to help the guy next to me get ready, as I think he was even more
>>frightened than me. I had been preparing for this for a few days, but I
>>don't think this poor guy had any training or experience whatsoever. The
>>cops began moving toward us in this very intimidating robotic stutter-step
>>march, stomping heavy armored boots on our recently freed pavement, and
>>thrusting their batons in unison. Stomp-stomp, stomp-stomp, stomp-stomp.
>>We chanted, "The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!"
>>
>>The riot-line stopped a few feet in front of me, nobody moved and we
>>changed our chant: "No violence! No violence! No violence!" A cop
>>appeared from behind the line with what looked like a fire extinguisher
>>and before I could react he shot a blast of pepper gas into my eyes from
>>two feet away. The gas was still cold from its decompression. I couldn't
>>see very much but I heard people screaming and scattering all around me as
>>the officer let loose on us with the chemical weapon. I just sat
>>cross-legged and didn't move as the capsicum slowly worked itself into my
>>mucous membranes and wrought its havoc. I could open my eyes a tiny bit
>>to see a large armored black boot stomping the asphalt inches before my
>>crossed shins. Stomp "MOVE!"... Stomp "MOVE!"
>>
>>I raised both arms above my head with the two-finger peace sign, hoping
>>that he would just arrest me and not lay into me with the riot baton.
>>This stand-off lasted for probably a minute, and I really don't know what
>>everyone else was doing around me. A reporter finally ran up to me and
>>stuck a microphone in my face. "How do you feel?" he said. I looked at
>>him through a haze of stinging pain and said, into the mic, "Like SHIT!"
>>He went and got a medic. (We protestors had organized our own medical
>>teams; there would be no ambulances.)
>>
>>The medic came up yelling, "Medic! I'm a medic!" so that the cops wouldn't
>>beat all hell out of him. He approached me and tried to flush my eyes
>>with saline solution. An officer ran up and knocked the solution out of
>>his hand, and so I had to be led away from the line to be treated in a
>>makeshift triage area in the alcove of a store entrance. (The medics that
>>treated me were both from Montana--Bozeman and Missoula.) As they cleaned
>>the spray off my face and neck and tried to flush my eyes (the pain was
>>only increasing with each passing second) I could hear the tear gas and
>>concussion grenades being fired very near-by, and the screams and fearful
>>yells of fleeing demonstrators. My mucous glands were going nuts, the
>>snot poured out of my nose, tasting a bit like Cajun food, and I couldn't
>>open my eyes for a long time, perhaps fifteen minutes or even longer.
>>The tear gas was beginning to get thick and people everywhere were
>>coughing and spitting.
>>
>>I recovered enough to stand up, and I happened to be near a business woman
>>type (in shiny brown hiking boots, no less) who was railing against us
>>unruly protestors to a small audience of coworkers. I turned and
>>confronted her (this sort of thing is very much not in my character, and I
>>think I may have been suffering from mild shock). "What's with the stupid
>>masks and bandannas?" she said to her cohorts. "They're fucking
>>tear-gassing us!" I yelled at her. And yada yada, exchanged insults... I
>>regained my composure and walked away. Another reporter approached me and
>>wanted to put me on some sort of live web-broadcast, but I just didn't
>>have my head together yet and so I declined, wasn't really interested
>>anyway. A photographer took my picture; I saw in the mirrored glass of a
>>bank window that my face was bright red and my eyes swollen badly. My
>>clothing reeked of the pepper gas.
>>
>>The police took the intersection in that assault (fifteen more to go), and
>>things quieted a little. I walked around to clear my head, talked to some
>>of our communications people. The cops had jammed our CB's and raided our
>>communications center, and we were relying on a few digital radios and
>>cell phones. I gathered that we were in contact with the mayor's office,
>>negotiating, etc. Other than that, I didn't really know what was going
>>on, but we all expected the police to continue with the chemical weapons
>>attacks until they finally cleared the streets. It was now 11:00am.
>>
>>I wandered from blockade to blockade. People were drumming and dancing,
>>painting murals on big sheets of plywood while surrounded by rings of
>>"locked down" demonstrators, a garbage truck was hijacked (without
>>violence), floats and inflatable whales were used as barricades, etc etc.
>>(We used what they call "lock boxes" to make it extremely difficult for
>>the cops to break our lines and blockades.) And with all of this going on
>>all over the city, and thousands of people participating, I saw not a
>>single violent incident anywhere within the crowds of protestors. I saw
>>only one window get broken, for the wholesale property damage would not
>>begin until the big police attacks at nightfall.
>>
>>I came to another stand-off with a formation of riot cops and joined the
>>protest lines (I think it was Union and 6th). Young anarchists were
>>filling the intersection behind us with overturned dumpsters and standing
>>on top of them and jumping up and down. "Who are you protecting! Who are
>>you protecting!" we yelled at the line of foot soldiers backed by a line
>>of mounted police and an armored vehicle topped by a cop with a
>>rubber-pellet gun.
>>
>>The police put on their masks... A horn sounded and we were pepper
>>gassed, followed immediately by tear gas and concussion grenades and
>>rubber bullets. The instinct was to run, but we were able to quell that
>>tendency, and we walked away calmly as they fired gas canisters spewing
>>five-inch flames at our backs. Many people were hit by the live
>>canisters, and I was very nearly so (at some other locations they also
>>fired rubber bullets into the backs of retreating demonstrators). Those
>>protestors that wore gas masks and gloves picked up the canisters and
>>hurled them back at the approaching riot cops. The police stopped and
>>formed a line, and we immediately filled in the space and held our ground.
>>
>>This scene was repeated all over downtown for the next ten hours or so.
>>The police had to fight for every inch until they finally pushed the
>>remaining protestors over the interstate and out of downtown Seattle.
>>Incidentally, I wasn't around for the final series of assaults at dusk,
>>having left the area a couple of hours before. We had succeeded in
>>SHUTTING DOWN THE WTO!, and most of us non-violent types declared victory
>>and left the area to the anarchists to make their statement. (Which,
>>though I was working as a "peacekeeper" or "peace police" as the
>>anarchists called us, I do not necessarily disagree with using property
>>damage as a protest tactic, and I did not try to stop them, focusing
>>instead on preventing fights and stampedes and getting people to sit down
>>at the blockades. Don't believe what you hear in the media; the property
>>damage was for the most part directed and organized and not simply
>>"senseless". I do not deny that there were thugs who joined in the fun,
>>especially later on, but these were a very tiny minority. And the looters
>>don't even deserve mention.)
>>
>>It was all so amazing, and empowering: the days of training and
>>preparation culminating in this wildly successful demonstration. It was
>>"true democracy" (anarchy) in action. We organized the entire occupation
>>in a matter of a few days--and always through consensus, with no
>>sanctioned leaders (there were some "natural" leaders, of course). And
>>for an entire working day a few thousand of us took over the streets of a
>>major city and declared it liberated. We, The People, stood up to our
>>oppressors and took back what is naturally ours!
>>
>>
>>From the front lines,
>>
>> .Derek.
>>
>> !Viva la libertad!
>>
"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused"
---Elvis Costello
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