MAYOR PAUL SCHELL
City of Seattle
Clinton himself was very gracious. When he arrived he said to me, “There’s an old saying in Arkansas”—which is an old saying everywhere. “Be careful what you wish for.”
JIM PUGEL
Seattle Police
For at least six months we’d worked with Vinny O’Brien, a great guy, who was directly reporting to [AFL-CIO president] John Sweeney, on how to get the labor march bused in, trained in, flown in from all over the nation.
Some local unions wanted to march on Union Street, being that they’re unions. The Secret Service and State Department said, “No, that’s right in front of the convention center, and we need a standoff buffer.” The captain for traffic and I went back and forth on how to negotiate this. We came to, Hey, we’ll rename Pine Street “Union Way” for the day. The mayor’s office said, “No, that takes an ordinance from the City Council.” We said it was just symbolic. Lo and behold, we woke up Tuesday and the Department of Transportation had taken down all the “Pine Street” signs and put up “Union Way.”
The march was going to come down Fourth Avenue, go eastbound on Pine/Union Way, then return to Seattle Center.
But then all hell broke loose. There was dissension between the national union and some of the locals. Workers at the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Spokane had been locked out for months. They were rightly upset. Their union, the steelworkers, and some others went the other way. And it was too bad because so much work went into that march, a lot of thoughtfulness.
MAYOR PAUL SCHELL
City of Seattle
I was sitting with [Governor] Gary Locke at the time of the labor march, and we were considering calling out the National Guard. We didn’t really want to do it because it costs money, and I had second thoughts because before the event it might have been thought of as provocative and trampling on people’s free speech.
If the labor marchers had gone back as promised we might not have had to—but a few broke away, and that made it almost impossible for our police to operate. We had the challenge of getting our delegates to the meeting place so they felt secure and working with the protesters so they could have their say. It was a balancing of public safety and free speech.
But when Pugel said we had to have the National Guard, that was enough for me.
JOHN SELLERS
Ruckus Society
The labor thing was very important—they spontaneously broke through their own lines and defied their own marshals to come and support us.
But the heart of the WTO shutdown was the 5,000 to 7,000 people who were really the human barrier to the convention center. It was really mind-blowing to us how close the Seattle Police Department set their perimeter to the center itself. Thirteen key intersections had to be locked down. Seven or eight were locked down by mass numbers of people, and five or six around the backside, to the east, were locked down more by device blockades—fewer people using lockboxes and chains to hold a larger ground.
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Published: November 2009
Lots of insight in this entertaining story. Good job Eric and team!
You captured the inside story better than most other story I’ve seen. Pretty good ten years after the fact!
Maybe readers will be moved to learn more about how corporate dominated globalism is negatively affecting all of our lives. The corporate dominated WTO is still promoting its agenda of profits over people. These policies are largely responsible for the current global economic crisis that is still unfolding.
Fortunately, a growing world-wide grassroots movement is still at work promoting sustainable economics, democracy, and justice. That movement expressed itself in Seattle ten years ago, however imperfectly. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all in debt to a relatively small group of people who worked together to change the trajectory of history.
Great work, thanks.
600 people were arrested and jailed during WTO; how many were convicted?
zbz
“we are all in debt to a relatively small group of people”
yes, yes you are — to the same globalist financiers who funded the protestors through foundations only so they could be hung out to dry afterwards as the globalization juggernaut became further insulated. See Soros, George: Open Society.
Good reporting!
I was in the streets that entire week, and the only violence I personally witnessed was from the police. I encourage everyone who cares about what really happened in Seattle that week to read David and Rebecca Solnit’s book which is just days from being released: “The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle”. David was one of many early visionaries in making this event such a huge success.
I’m also thrilled that the ex-police-chief ended up working for the reform of marijuana laws. The existing laws are a disgrace in this so-called democratic society.
Thanks again, Eric Scigliano!
I was in the streets that entire week, and the only violence I personally witnessed was from the police. I encourage everyone who cares about what really happened in Seattle that week to read David and Rebecca Solnit’s book which is just days from being released: “The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle”. David was one of many early visionaries in making this event such a huge success.
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Got some great information here. I think that if more people thought about it that way, theyd have a better time understanding the issue. Your view is definitely something Id like to see more of. Thanks for this blog. Its fantastic and so is what youve got to say.You make a great point.
More than 20 years and we are in the same point, maybe worst in term of unequality of tradings between reach & poors. The crisis haven’t changed the rules…
I’ve seen. Pretty good ten years after the fact!