Voices From Seattle

No surprise that Friday's The Message from Seattle column drew some heat here. But as happened after Columbine last year, the resulting testimony and e-mail - about Seattle (and Slashdot, too, which has become a model for some of the protester's software) - was powerful. Here are some of those perspectives, and a bonus -- you can listen to the riots in realtime with WinAmp:

On the Web, other people's eloquent testimony and experiences can often reach you quickly and freely and in better words than yours. It happened to me last year after the Columbine tragedy, and it's happening now after the WTO protests in Seattle.

When I wrote last Friday's column, "The Message from Seattle," I understood it would generate some heat on Slashdot. As is often the case, the sometimes thoughtful, frequently hostile criticism seemed to focus in the public Threads and the real discussion came via e-mail - the virtual realities of Slashdot.

Many of my e-mailers were disappointed that so many Slashdot readers contemptuously dismissed or, in their minds, completely misunderstood, the significance of Seattle, and accepted media stereotypes of the demonstrations as mostly the work of violent anarchists and radicals.

In fact, as almost everyone who was actually in Seattle reports, only a tiny fraction of the protests were violent and an equally small percentage of the protesters were in any sense of the term anarchistic. Clearly, smashing windows and terrifying people is a dumb way to spread a message, and this was condemned instantly by almost everybody. That's an easy issue. But the windows lost in Seattle and the residents, politicians and bureaucrats who felt intimidated or inconvenienced are besides the much larger point.

Gathering publicly to curb abuses of power, and to call attention to important social problems and potential injustices is in the best, not worst, traditions of democracy (it was the way modern democracy came about). The Seattle protests were also partly a consequence of the free and communicative bottom-up politics the Internet fosters.

The distorted coverage represents the way modern media work. Not only is most of journalism controlled - in many cases, literally owned -- by the very same kind of corporations the protesters in Seattle were targeting, but journalists can't resist covering public events in terms of their most extreme and controversial elements.

It's much simpler and more entertaining -- thus more profitable -- to focus on anarchy and violence than on these new and complex issues: regulation of emerging technologies, corporatization, the globalization of business, the exploitation of foreign labor, and the impact on all of the above on freedom, human rights and the environment. Journalists working for Disney, Microsoft, News America Corp., Viacom, GE, Time-Warner, Westinghouse -- these companies now own most major American print and broadcast outlets -- are hardly likely to ask tough questions about the nature of out-of-control corporatism.

For decades, the media has joined politicians and many educators in an ugly, continuing campaign -- sometimes America seems to detest its own offspring -- against the young and their culture: rock and roll, hip-hop, raves, music, movies, TV, video and computer games, and the geeks and nerds building the Net and the Web. Kids are continuously portrayed in various ways as dumb, dangerous, thieving, helpless, slothful, addicted or apathetic. In schools across America, kids who dress differently, act differently, spend too much time in "unconventional" activities like gaming or programming, or who speak their minds too openly are ostracized, placed on computerized lists as potentially dangerous, forced into counseling, sent home, suspended, or in a handful of cases, even jailed as potential terrorists.

Yet when thousands of people, many of them young, defy these witless stereotypes and travel across the country at their own expense to raise valid, long-overdue questions about morality, technology, the nature of work and the environment, they're branded thugs and anarchists. It's a wonder more of them aren't.

Thus the print and broadcast media brought us the parade of teenagers in ski-masks talking anarchy from secret locations in Seattle, as if this were the big news out of the WTO. These portrayals completely skewed the discussion of Seattle, and gave lazy, distracted and diffident people a good way to ignore or condemn it.

If it weren't so sad, it would have been funny. It didn't seem to occur to the "anarchists" - most of them, it turns out, nice (and at the moment, quite pleased with themselves) kids living around the University of Washington -- or the journalists covering them, that actual anarchists don't give interviews to the New York Times or go live on the "Today Show."

This coverage - and the often unthinking responses like some of those who posted on Slashdot Friday - obscured the nearly unprecedented gathering of so many diverse groups and interests. It's hard to recall an American political protest that represented so many different ideas, from so many different parts of the political spectrum. This Techno-Idealism is an offshoot of the way the Net works to move ideas around and connect people, cutting across narrow notions of ideology as being only to the "left" or "right." In fact (see below), open source software designed for Slashdot has become the model for many of the protest's organizers, coders contributing from different parts of the world.

Most of the people in Seattle were not only responsible - many tried to stop the window-busting -- but patriotic and idealistic. The protesters know that something important happened there last week.

Many e-mailers asked about this site. Slashdot is as diverse and tough-to-categorize as the protesters themselves. Intelligent and thoughtful lurkers abound, even dominate, whether they agree with opinions expressed or not.

The irony is that the people on Slashdot - even the most bellicose -- are building the very technology that is making this new kind of politics possible.

So here are excerpts from a very small handful of the hundreds of messages I received over the weekend that tell the story of Seattle the way it should be told - thanks to the Net, from people who were there.

---

From: Lonnie Princehouse To: [e-mail] Subject: Re: The Message from Seattle Date: Sat, Dec 4, 1999, 7:28 AM

---

Dear JonKatz,

It is hard to say which is stronger- my appreciation of your article on Seattle's WTO clash, or my disappointment with the reaction of Slashdot's readers as a whole. It seems as though the mass media has missed the point of the protest entirely- the TV stations focus on "anarchists" (read: opportunists) smashing the windows of stores and looting, and on police "heroically" fighting back the evil crowds of *gasp*... protestors, most of whom, when interviewed, turn out to be complete idiots or fringe radicals. Sadly, it appears that this is the impression which most /. readers have come off with.

I was there. The protestors were extremely well organized. They were prepared. They were well-educated on the WTO. They were Teamsters, hippies, university students, Microsoft employees, steelworkers, union leaders, professors, lawyers, doctors, retirees, airline pilots, engineers, 30,000 - 50,000 people strong. And what we see on the news is a handful of idiot anarchists that decide to trash the place and provoke the police to attack thousands of non-violent protestors?

And so, you see, I am thankful for your article, which gave much more credit to the intelligence of the protestors than the mainstream media has done. There is a camraderie in Seattle now; I get on the bus, and everyone talks about the protests. Strangers from all walks of life and occupations are suddenly friends by association and common ordeal.

Perhaps it is this unity that will ultimately come out of the "Battle of Seattle" (is it really a battle if one side doesn't fight back?)- the unity of the have-nots of all political standings and situations against the elite and the mega-corporations. Let us hope so.

Lonnie Princehouse

(Slashdot: snark23)

[e-mail]

Senior, Applied & Mathematical Sciences

---

From: "Mack Hooper"

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Response to your article on the Seattle riots

Date: Fri, Dec 3, 1999, 4:33 PM

Jon, I believe you hit the nail right on the head in your article. The media fails to realize how strongly we, as citizens, feel about issues like this, despite their best efforts to sway our opinions.

Media has fallen prey to big business, and I feel that true journalism today is almost impossible to find, save outside the mainstream media. I never have taken the opportunity to read the book, yet I remember a fabulous quote from the movie "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas". In one of the retrospective moments of the movie, Hunter Thompson, as played by Johnny Depp, is looking out the window and talking about the counterculture movement of the 60s and 70s. He says something about how he could see where the wave fell short, that this movement had so much momentum, then just died. I wish I remembered the quote, but it holds quite true. For a movement that stood for so much good, it is sad that it failed. Perhaps failed is the wrong word. With such lofty goals I can see why they fell short perhaps, but they made quite a difference, as we talk about that group to this day.

I am only 18, yet for many years have had strong political beliefs. I attribute it to my mom being a hippie at one point, and encouraging me to read and learn.

I for one am proud of what is happening on Seattle. It is certainly a shame that some protesters have resorted to violence, but I am proud that there are still people in this country who can feel so strongly about their beliefs to go out there risking life and limb to stand up for what they believe in. I find it quite amusing that the media seems to think that these protesters are, as you so succinctly put it, "a wanna-be-like-the-60's generation that has no real knowledge of global politics or indigenous social issues to call its own."

Drifting back to counter-culture movements, I am a music lover at heart, and I frequently attend parties that are better know as "raves." I often hesitate to use the word, as raves have been made out but mainstream media as nothing but gatherings for thousands of hedonistic drug-influenced teens.

When you are part of the scene, you realize how truly beautiful it is. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, coming together at an event for no reason other than a common love of music. Yet we always under attack by journalists and politicians alike. Why do they feel compelled to "protect us from ourselves"?

Why do they attack a group that embraces ideals of peace and love, much as hippies did? What is it that they fear?

Now to get to the point. The people who I meet and socialize with from these events are some of the more politically aware young adults I know. Most are about my age or slightly older, 18-25 or so. When you are subject to as much bad press as we are, you tend to be more aware of what is going on. I live in Orlando myself, but in Gainesville there is currently legislation pending to adopt the anti-rave bill there as well (Gainesville originally opted out of it). So many college students and other like-minded young adults there are banding together. We are going to city council meetings, voicing our opinions, signing petitions, registering people to vote.

I am doing my best to make sure that the people I know and love know exactly what is going on. I am on several rave-related mailing lists... This one [my column on Seattle] I felt especially compelled to post. I don't think many people realize how grand a scale this protest is on. They aren't just protesting the WTO, they are protesting the dehumanization of corporate America. For once we are standing up and not taking it any more. We aren't going to line the pockets of the rich at the expense of the greater good.

Peace,

Mack Hooper

---

From: Jason

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Stay strong!!

Date: Fri, Dec 3, 1999, 6:08 PM

---

I've been taking gas since Tuesday, every day, at the front, and I have been out until 2am chasing the out-of-control military out of my neighborhood (Capitol Hill). Gung-ho riot police storm through the streets like an invasion from Star Wars, shouting at everyone, charging at individuals, shooting and spraying people for no reason at all, concussion grenades every 30 seconds or so, gassing everyone,a lot of bystanders, a squad even chased me into a parking lot, but it happened to be the parking lot to my apartment so I had my key and got inside before they caught me (I slammed the steel door *hard*, then they came around the front but we closed it in time and ran).

This is a very black and white issue, with non-violent protestors having gas, grenades, and chemical pellets lobbed at us. The destruction of property is highly overrated, just an excuse for the police to run wild. The police are just harassing people to be macho, they were out of control but we overwhelmed them and finally chased them out. It's mostly over now except for the jail protests, to get our people out.

As for anarchy, Seattle is very far left, we have a lot of anarchists, but they're pretty non-violent, well intentioned, easy to get along with. Essentially they are seeking solutions not through politics but through voluntary and spontaneous cooperation of the people. The war against corporatism has a lot of support, fewer and fewer people still believe the myths of they were raised with, times are really changing, the consciousness of the world is really changing, almost like we wake up out of a trance.

-- Jason K in Seattle

---

From:

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Fwd: [planningandstrategy] Terra (fwd)

Date: Sat, Dec 4, 1999, 12:58 PM

From: Ben Siegel

Subject: [planningandstrategy] Terra.

My friend, Terra Lawson-Remer, was still in prison [in Seattle] as of approximately 10:30am PST. She told me that she personally was doing okay, but that she was outraged at the way she and her fellow prisoners have been treated. Not only have they been held for two nights in jail without being arraigned, but they have largely been forced to sleep in cold, damp jail cells without any type of blankets, pillows, etc. Additionally, most people have not been allowed to see lawyers, and when interviewed with police they have been told that if they continue to ask for legal representation their phone privileges will be taken away. During interviewed sessions prisoners have also been physically abused.

Terra is asking that local STARC [an anti-corporate, anti-sweatshop group] chapters do what they can to help the political prisoners be released as soon as possible. This means holding solidarity actions tonight or tomorrow and/or calling local Seattle officials to ask for their release (see info below).

Again, I would like to repeat that Terra seems to be holding up fine. However, it is outrageous that she and the others have been treating in the manner that they have. So please do what you can to pressure the Seattle PD for their release.

Please make a phone call to Mayor Schell's office and the office of Washington Governor Gary Locke, demanding the immediate release of all nonviolent protesters currently being detained for excercising their 1st Amendment rights of free speech and peacable assembly.

Also demand that all charges be dropped, as these protesters were nonviolent people of conscience taking a stand against lobbyists for corporate criminals.

(Sunday, Siegel wrote: I would just like to let you know that Terra has been released ... so it isn't necessary to ask people to press for her release. However, if people want to ask me about STARC then they should feel free to email me: [e-mail].

---

From: Matthew Arnison Matthew Arnison. To: [e-mail] Subject: WTO and the indymedia.org Date: Mon, Dec 6, 1999, 2:10 AM

Hi jon,

I hope you've checked out http://www.indymedia.org - an independent media website about the Seattle protests, created by 400 activist journalists. The publishing system is open to all, and is Multimedia, we have collected several hundred stories, including dozens each of audio clips, videos and images. We want to further improve the software to include an audience rating system, and maybe an audience editing system, inspired by Slashdot. we reckon it's a groundbreaking part of the protest. And in an echo of the global nature of the street protests, the software behind the site is a global collaboration. i'm one of the coders, and i'm in Sydney, Australia. and of course, the publishing system is all free software: linux, php, postgresql, and the actual web php scripts we used are themselves a free software project (active.org.au/source/ has an earlier version).

cheers, Matthew.

---

From: "Chaim Krause" Subject: Listen to the riots in realtime with WinAmp Date: Wed, Dec 1, 1999, 5:02 PM

Enjoy

http://www.elsewhere.org/wto/