The Battle in Seattle, 22 Years Later

This week is the 22nd anniversary of the direct action shutdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle. In late 1999, while trade ministers, corporate lobbyists and a certain Arkansas born president were meeting to create a new era for the global corporate economy.

Outside the meetings, tens of thousands gathered to voice a united “NO” to their machinations.

Organized by a scrappy group with the Direct Action Network, that united voice disrupted the meetings to the point where the governmental and corporate leadership were unable to meet and the meetings were SHUT DOWN. This mass action launched an anti-corporate globalization moment that challenged the narrative and legitimacy of the neo-liberal capitalist economy.

In the latest episode of the Green and Red Podcast, we talk with three core organizers with the Direct Action Network to Stop Corporate Globalization — Nancy Haque, Stephanie Guilloud and David Solnit — to get an inside story to the planning and organizing of the actions and their reflections 22 years later.

This is an important story of resistance and facing down corporate behemoths.