On Monday, November 30th at 8pm the Civic Media Center will present a program of videos, music, poetry, and personal testimonials in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of the so-called "Battle in Seattle" protests against the World Trade Organization's ministerial meetings in Seattle, Washington in November of 1999.
The protests and direct actions against the World Trade Organization's much-heralded and extremely controversial meetings in Seattle began on November 30th, 1999. To the tens of thousands of activists from the environmental, labor, human rights and other movements that descended on Seattle to take part in the demonstrations, this day was known as "N30," and it heralded the arrival of the global "movement of movements" on North American soil.
Our program will feature video footage about the protests, the issues involved, and the organizations that came together to stage the actions, as well as testimony from Gainesville-area activists who were present in Seattle and/or involved in groups that worked on globalization issues at the time.
Discussion will focus on the history and current status of the so-called "movement of movements" that arose as activists from organizations large and small came together to collaborate--often across seemingly impossible gulfs of economic, cultural and ideological differences, and despite incredible logistical issues--and fight back in response to the process of corporate globalization and de facto rule by unelected trade officials and international organizations such as the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.