"For many, the 21st Century began on Nov. 30, 1999, in Seattle, with the massive resistance to the WTO. One of the major issues in the coming century will be the nature of globalization: will it be a WTO-style globalization dominated by the corporate search for profits, or a people- centered globalization of democracy and human rights."

tactic: Promote and hype events incl their locations on websites but only release time and date in email to secure email lists and, at the last minute, to USEnet and listserv.
min. 3 pages per site: goals, bios, programming content
min. 3 graphics: logo, flyer, motto sticker. Facilitate printing these from the web page.


tactic: Have video cameras & foldup tables ready outside jailhouse to document arrested protesters' narratives immediately after release.


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The lack of hierarchy is ostentatious. The protesters have no leaders. They join small 'affinity groups'. Despite this, the events are well organised. Possible activities include colourful puppets, street theatre, catchy slogans and lots of noise, and for some (to quote the S26 site) 'pickets, occupations of offices, blockades and shutdowns, appropriating and disposing of luxury consumer goods, sabotaging, wrecking or interfering with capitalist infrastructure, [and] appropriating capitalist wealth and returning it to the working people'. The immediate aim is to shut down, or at least badly disrupt, the meetings of the global elite. Afterwards, the movement evaporates into cyberspace.
Seattle saw both the birth and, to date, the high point of this new mode of activism. There had been isolated days of anti-corporate protest before, notably in Britain, but the disruption of the WTO gathering, amid street scenes reminiscent of the 1960s, confirmed Seattle's standing as the birthplace of the 'backlash against globalisation'.
Onward & eastward   If the protest websites and the elite's contingency planners can be believed, Prague may not be far behind. Organised almost exclusively by European activists, the Ruckus Society and other veterans of America's protests do not plan to attend, demos there could prove more disruptive and more violent than anything so far. There will be around 18,000 delegates, financiers and assorted hangers-on; the Czech interior ministry is expecting some 20,000-25,000 protesters (other estimates say 5,000-10,000). Many would-be protesters have already been denied entry at the border.
Even so, this could be the biggest invasion of foreigners since the Russian army arrived in 1968. All these elitists and anti-elitists will be crammed together into Prague's warren of narrow winding streets, a tricky situation for the authorities. The Czech police have been co-operating with the FBI and the British police. Not noted for restraint, they are inexperienced at dealing peacefully with large-scale protest. Some errant officers have reportedly sent death threats to protest organisers. Meanwhile, some of the organising websites sound an ominous note. One of them, promises a 'mass working-class protest', dismissing Seattle as a 'passive ideological showpiece'. Neo-Nazi skinheads may turn up as well, to fight on one side or the other.

Russia to discuss WTO entry with U.S. in July   7.7.01   Reuters ROME   Russia will use a visit of senior U.S. officials to Moscow later this month to seek the backing of the United States in its drive to speed up accession to the World Trade Organization, a Russian government official told Reuters on Saturday. Russia, which has identified quick and smooth entry to the multilateral trading system a priority this year, is trying to secure support of the world's richest countries after the protracted talks stalled last week over additional requirements put forward by the WTO. "We hope the problem will be resolved after the U.S. top officials' visit to Russia," said a source at the Russian delegation, invited to attend Saturday's meeting in Rome of finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations. ¹ He said U.S. Treasury Sec. Paul O'Neill, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are expected to visit Russia at the end of July and Moscow aimed to put the WTO accession issue high on the talks agenda.   [ Why not R.Armitage ? ] Russian Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin discussed the WTO with O'Neill on Saturday. "O'Neill has supported Russia's drive to join the WTO as soon as possible," the source said. Kudrin also said on Friday that Italian officials supported Russia's request for a transitional period needed to adjust legislation to the international standards. Moscow was upset by what it called an indefinite delay in talks, prompted last week by the WTO's fresh demand that Russia should adjust all its legislation to WTO standards before further talks could proceed. Russia says it needs a long transitional period to bring its foreign trade laws up to the world standards but argues this should not hinder accession to the WTO because other countries, which have recently joined the WTO, had been given such chance. Russia put a bid to become part of the WTO in 1993 and hoped for quick accession. President Vladimir Putin said in an April that joining the WTO was a top priority for his administration, and set the end of 2001 as the deadline for joining the club.

World Bank president praises Putin ¹   7.8.01   AP ST. PETERSBURG   The president of the World Bank praised President Vladimir Putin's promises of economic and legal reform but said the changes should benefit everyone, not just the elite. Arriving in St. Petersburg on Sunday, James Wolfensohn told reporters that the bank "fully backs what Putin is doing to transform Russia into a very serious competitive state.'' Later, at the opening of an international conference on court reform, he said he was "impressed with how elegantly and vigorously Putin was talking about the importance of judicial questions.'' Putin has pledged sweeping reform of Russia's cumbersome and often corrupt judicial system, which remains largely unchanged since the Soviet era. Bills introducing jury trials and requiring court orders for arrests are working their way through parliament, but it will take years for some of the changes to take hold. Wolfensohn said the overall goal of reforms, judicial or otherwise, should be to improve the standard of living of all Russians. "The question of poverty is not just a question of money, it's a question that gets to the very rights of people,'' he told the conference in the czarist-era Tavrichesky Palace. He said St. Petersburg was an appropriate choice for the conference because it held Russia's first parliament, before the Bolshevik Revolution, and Russia's first jury trial. The deputy chief of staff of Russia's presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, delivered a greeting from Putin and urged efforts toward developing an independent judiciary. About 400 people, including justice ministers, judges and parliament members, were expected to attend the conference. Wolfensohn arrived Sunday for a six-day visit that will include talks on World Bank projects in Russia, including education reform and upgrading heating, water and sewage systems. On Monday, he will travel to Moscow to meet with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Later he is to meet with Central Bank chief Viktor Gerashchenko and Economic and Trade Minister German Gref, among other officials. The World Bank, among Russia's most eager lenders, has launched 49 projects in Russia since 1992 worth a total of $11 billion. The bank was the first to offer money to Russia after Putin's election last year.

Withdrawing U.S. approval from agreement establishing World Trade Organization
6.21.00   Rep. Cynthia McKinney 4th Dist. GA (D) U.S. House of Representatives

Mr. Speaker, developing countries were sold a bill of goods, but so were we. Corporations, with the help of the WTO, have forced workers throughout the world into a deadly game of chicken. The WTO should protect basic social services and prioritize human rights and the environment in an environment that is democratic and transparent. Instead, it hurts the poor, benefits the rich at the expense of us all, and it does it in secret and in back rooms.
Mr. Speaker, this is no way to build a new world order. We need to put our money where our professed values are: fair trade, democracy, respect for workers, sensible environmental standards, and allowing poor countries to grow. Mr. Speaker, I have introduced the Corporate Code of Conduct Act because I do not think that freedom, equality, human dignity and human rights are for sale. Unfortunately, the folks at WTO do not agree. They have unleashed unbridled corporate excess on all of us. The current system is wrong and in need of a serious fix.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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