Protest Against the WTO in Seattle Essay -- World Trade Organization P

Protest Against the WTO in Seattle The people assembled in the streets of Seattle were labor unionists and environmentalists, lumber workers and forest activists, students and teachers, farmers and cheese makers, Germans and Ukrainians, Africans and Asians, North Americans and Latin Americans, gays and straights, human rights activists and animal right activists, indigenous people and white urban professionals, children and elders. Some wore business suits, some overalls, some wore sea turtle costumes, some leather and piercings, some wore almost nothing at all (Reed 2005). A very diverse group joined together in Seattle, Washington in November of 1999 to fight against the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its unfair policies. Despite the differences in nationality, race, religion, and ideals of the crowd in Seattle, tens of thousands of people formed one united front in the fight for global equality. Through a strong network of organizations, revolutionary technology, and alternate media coverage, activist s of the global justice movement banded together through diversity to form one collective identity. Although music was not an integral part of this movement, the creativity that shined in Seattle, added to this already strong feeling of unity. Without the ability of this diverse group of nations and peoples to gather on the streets of Seattle, these revolutionary protests against the World Trade Organization would not have made such an impact on the world today. Seattle was not the first place that anti-globalization ideas were voiced, but it was the first taste of how strong the forces against global imbalances really were. This protest was the first place where the ideas... ...nt Effective?. Global Governance, 10(2), 207-225. Retrieved Tuesday, October 10, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database. Parrish, Geov. 2004. â€Å"Is this what failure looks like?† Seattle Washington: Seattle Weekly Media, Retrieved October 16, 2006. Reed, T.V. 2005. The Art of Protest. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press. Schott, Jeffery. 2000. The WTO After Seattle. Washington, D.C: Institute for International Economics. Starr, Amory. 2000. Naming the Enemy- Anti-Corporate Movements Confront Globalization. New York: Zed Books Ltd. Taylor, Rupert. 2004. Creating a Better World: Interpreting Global Civil Society. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, Inc. World Socialists. 1999. â€Å"The social meaning of the anti-WTO protests in Seattle.† Seattle,Washington: World Socialists Web Site, Retrieved October 15, 2006. (www.wsws.org/articles).