As many of you know I live in Seattle.
As many of you know the WTO is in Seattle.
As many of you know the WTO Protests got a bit out of hand in Seattle.
What most of you don’t know is my office is in the middle of it all. Its right next to the buildings where the conference is taking place. So I’m a little worried for my safety. But it looks pretty calm so far!
The question is: The media and people around here kinda run the gamut from the police were too lenient to they were like nazi stormtroopers. I personally feel they handled an impossible situation as well as anyone could.
So whatcha think?
-Frankie
I’m not a shrimp, I’m a King Prawn.
-Pepe the Prawn
I think the poilce are acting they way they need to in the name of public safety. They didn’t start teargassing people until the crowd grew violent. ANyone who feels violence will get your “labor demands” hear more effectively is just a juvinile looking for a reason to break things.
BTW Frankie… good luck… i live in redmond, you can come hide here.
How do you like that! And without so much as a “Kiss my foot” or “Have an apple”!
I was watching some of it on t.v. the other night… it was the first day I believe. I think I would have taken a few days vacation rather than have to battle through the crowds. It looked like quite the meeting of the minds down there.
What floor do you work on? Why not pour some boiling oil out your window onto them. Don’t worry, the mob will get the joke. Wasn’t it fun throwing ice cubes out the motel room window as a kid? Relive your youth.
I lived through the Rodney King riots – they broke windows and otherwise caused destruction to the building I worked in. It was freaky. I stayed home for three or four days – I highly recommend it!
Can someone explain exactly what they’re rioting about?
There are a lot of issues that people are pissed at. If I have my facts right, the WTO can overturn any law we make if they deem it bad for competition. But what is good for competition isn’t always good for the planet. So we pass a clean air bill and some country that doesn’t want to pay to sell clean gasoline says they can’t compete here because of it, the law goes. Jello Biafra did a long rant about it last time I saw him, but that was a while ago. Anyways, a lot of them were there because all their dirty hippie buddies were there too protesting their own little hippie agendas… at least I don’t think that the WTO has the power to free Mumia Abu Jamal.
http://www.madpoet.com
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
I live just south of Seattle and was intrigued by the different coverage offered by the local stations and CNN. Obviously, CNN is only gonna show the good stuff: the tear gas, the fires, etc. However, their reports made it seem like armageddon was here. The local TV showed the true story, which was cops standing 12-hour shifts and listening to nonstop taunting, and yet not reacting unless threatened. I think they did a phenomenal job, considering how unprepared they were for the size of the demonstration.
As the General Secretary(or is it secretary general) of the WTO said yesterday. It is a consensus organization. Basically the WTO can say yes that high tariff law is bad for trade. But unless the country repeals it there is nothing the WTO can do. They can also ask the other member nations to boycott the offender but basically you need to get 300+ countries to agree with you.
Basically the other main beefs I heard were:
-How can our workers compete with workers getting paid pennies on the dollar. The WTO should make sure that everyone gets a fair wage. Good Point (but it’s been made for a hundred years)
-The WTO should put pressure on developing countries to utilize environmental controls to save the enironment. Also a good point (unfortunately it would be detrimental to the developing nations)
-and then basically “Corporations suck”
The protesters we pretty well behaved. But there were also alot of people who just liked to cause trouble. And they had no beef just loved to cause trouble.
-Frankie
I’m not a shrimp, I’m a King Prawn.
-Pepe the Prawn
Just to update everyone.
It seems to have calmed down a bit near me. I didn’t have to show ID to three sets of cops and building security to get into work. So I guess we are almost safe. Thanks for thinking of me gang!
-Frankie
I’m not a shrimp, I’m a King Prawn.
-Pepe the Prawn
My sister lives in the Seattle area - she said it was kind of funny because at one point, there was a French farmer protesting MacDonald’s genetically-engineered food, telling everyone there that “it’s no good, and to go throw it in the ocean” and just down the street Greenpeace people of some sort were protesting because . . . people were throwing too much trash into the ocean.
I think I’d like to see a sort of left-wing liberal cause cage match; only a few million dollars to get, all of it going to the (cause of the) last man or womyn standing. It’d probably be funnier than impressive; Birkenstocks, baggy clothing and long hair are not recommended fighting attire. - MC
I was interested to see all the coalition work going on. It’s not often you see Greenpeace aligned with big labour aligned with fair trade aligned with Pat Buchanan. Misery does seem to acquaint a man or womyn with strange bedfellows.
I was distressed when I heard on CBC that the centre of the city was turned into a police state and even non-violent protesters were being arrested, the same day that Clinton said they were welcome. Par for the course, I suppose.
I was also interested to note that labour rights were on the WTO agenda. Well, that’s useful information for next time. To get the undemocratic, not-responsible-to-the-people organization to actually listen to the people, all you have to do is get 30,000 of your closest friends, storm the city, and get on the evening news as far as Canada. Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.