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  Resisting Globalization: Notes on the Seattle Uprising

  Steven Pfaff

  "The world seems to have been startled by recent events in Seattle. Between November 29th and December 3rd the city was gripped by unexpectedly powerful protests against the World Trade Organization meeting in the city. By now the conflict and chaos into which the conference descended - both in the streets outside the Washington State Convention Center and within it - are widely acknowledged. Not only did the WTO fail to agree upon an agenda for the next round of international trade liberalization and left the city in frustration, but Seattle presented a picture of urban protest rarely seen since the days of the Vietnam war. Images of Seattle Police, King County Sheriffs, State Troopers and National Guardsmen dressed in riot gear, helmets and gas masks firing tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets into the ranks of largely peaceful - if uncooperative - protesters flashed around the world. WTO delegates expressed anger and befuddlement at the disruption these noisy exercises in democracy were generating, while editorials in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal railed against the 'Seattle zanies,' anarchists, later-day hippies, and other allegedly misinformed opponents of free trade that were spoiling the important work of the organization."