The Wall Street Journal called it the Woodstock of globalization.

I feel a certain obligation to give my perspective of Tuesday's events. With the World Trade Organization coming to Seattle, the spotlight of the international media is focused on us. Unfortunately, the conflicts between police and protestors has resulted in the media focusing on the problems caused by a few and ignoring the real issues the non-violent protestors hoped to express.

A few days ago, I wasn't sure how or if I was going to participate in the WTO protests. But then I received a glossy Sierra Club flyer for the "People's Rally & March for Fair Trade". I figured if the most conservative of the environmental groups is organizing a people's march, I wanted to see what was going to happen.

The "environmentalists" were to gather at 8:30 at Denny Park. When I arrived at 9:00 there were around 300 people there. I picked up my free "No Globalization without Representation" poster provided by the Sierra Club, heard a few speeches and reaching perhaps 500 people, we marched to Memorial Stadium where we met up with 20,000+ protestors already there. We were gathered to march downtown with police escorts. As the flyer says, "Families welcome. Rally and march fully coordinated with the City of Seattle".

It was obvious that something very significant was taking place and I knew I wanted pictures. On my way to pick up a camera, I ran into Ron Mullins passing out flyers for his run for the US Senate.

These pictures are of Tuesday's march and may seem a bit boring compared to the sight of a few thugs that took advantage of the situation. This huge march and the number of people marching to protest the WTO should have been the main news story heard from Seattle on Tuesday. The AFL-CIO was the primary sponsor of this march and a large number of Labor Unions from around the nation and the world were there. Unions included the Teamsters, the Machinests, the Longshoreman, the Teachers, the Farmers, the Service Employee's, the Steelworkers, the Air Line Pilots, and many, many more. And that includes many from Canada and representatives from countries worldwide.

Fair Trade not Free Trade

Machinists Union

GE's largest export - Jobs

As the protestors marched by I took my pictures. It took about an hour for everyone to march out of memorial stadium. Other groups were joining the march, a large student rally at the Murial Ampitheatre joined in. Groups and messages included Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, get China out of Tibet, free Leonard Peltier, Greenpeace, Radical Women, and yes, even "Ballard says No to WTO".

As I ventured for a closer look, walking through the crowd of people. I took these last two picture of the King County Sheriff's Department, holding the line on 4th Ave.

Moments after taking these pictures, after standing calmly with hundreds of other non-violent protestors, to my surprise, cans of pepper spray were being launched over my head and into the crowd. There was no order from the police to disperse, no warning that "chemical warfare" was about to be used. As far as I could tell, my presence there was absolutely 100% legal, not to mention peaceful. I am not upset at the officers that were there. I certainly would not have wanted to be in their shoes. But I question the wisdom of using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. The news reports seemed to indicate the police came in to stop the vandals, but in my particular case, I saw no vandalism occuring when the gas was launched. I was upset to see the property damage that was done, and surprised that the police were not in amongst the crowd to control it. I believe, had there been officers or other peace keepers in the crowd, they would have had the support of 99% of the protesters to stop the vandalism. In retrospect, if the protesters had been told that police would be on one side of the line and all other citizens on the other, than protest organizers could have mobilized their own security force to insure no damage was done. This is a technic that has been used successfully for years by Seattle Hempfest resulting in essentially no human or property damage after an event that annually draws over 35,000 people.

I'm sure the actions of the police and the protesters will be under scrutiny for a long time to come.

Just like the news you watch, this is only one perspective of the WTO protests. And I'm afraid at least our local news has become lost in senationalism. Our news lacks the substance necessary to disect and interpret the complexity of the protests and the police reaction to the protesters.

For more indepth coverage of the WTO on TV, check out the CBC News. The Canadians seem to take more time to interview both protesters and officials on the pros and cons of the WTO. The news format of our local media doesn't allow for the in depth coverage the subject requires. Fortunately, in this internet age, we have alternative media sources to gain more perpective on the "Battle in Seattle". But the research is up to you.

Links:

• Seattle's Independent Media Center
• Background on the WTO
• Sierra Club
• Sea Turtles