I think this article should get distribution as wide as possible since it it helps explain an important part of the developing link between the student and environmental activists and the labor movement. Mike Parker
The WTO in Seattle The following report by Mike Brannan, a long-time member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) and new staff member at Teamsters Local 174, appears in the latest issue of TDU's Convoy Dispatch.
It was quite a week in Seattle one that anyone who took part in will never forget, after all how often have we literally shut down the powers of corporate greed with our voices, our solidarity and our bodies in the streets. The week of WTO was my first week in a new city working for one of the most progressive locals in the country Teamsters Local 174. In my first week on the job I was caught up in one of the largest and most effective displays of civil disobedience in at least the last 30 years in the United States.
[...]
On Friday night some Teamster co-workers and I took food and coffee to the vigil/protest for the demonstration arrest's going at the King County jail. There had been over 600 arrests during the demonstrations. We set up a table and had it stocked with food for over four hours. The people were so grateful to the Teamsters and thanked us repeatedly. It was a small but great moment like so many during the week where solidarity just ruled and I was so proud to be in the Labor Movement.
It was interesting now, to see the official Teamsters spin on WTO week. The magazine has you believe that Jim Hoffa was the center of attention. In actuality, he left town just when things were getting interesting. It was rank and file members and reform leaders who were in the streets when the going got tough. Our International or Joint Council leadership never took a position or offered to help when the rights of all citizens were being violated in the city of Seattle. Just goes to show that it will always be the movement from the bottom that will make real change in the world but you can count on guys like Hoffa to be there for the photo opp to take credit for it.
One thing I know, the people who were here felt like they were watching the birth of something new, something global, a worldwide coalition of environmental, human rights labor, religious, students and others coming together and actually caring about and supporting one another's causes. Like we all finally realized that this is what it takes to defeat the power of the corporate interests. Labor including the Teamsters, mostly in the form of rank and file members and reformers, played a big role and helped to make history in Seattle.