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Title: The Battle in Seattle: The Story Behind and Beyond the Wto Demonstrations by Janet Thomas ISBN: 1-55591-108-0 Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: What Was At Stake In Seattle And Beyond?
Comment: To the surprise and amazement of most Americans, the events of November 1999 in Seattle came like a lightning bolt out of nowhere. Since the electronic media had done little to inform the average TV viewer of what the World Trade Organization (WTO) was, or what they would be trying to accomplish in their convention in Seattle, no one understood or appreciated the collection of concerns, misgivings, and grievances the protestors were there to use in way of ammunition for making the WTO stand up and take notice. Within a few days, we were all holding our breath.
Not since the heady days of the 1960s, or on a smaller scale, the No-Nukes movement of the late 1970s had such passion, conviction, or energy been thrust into the equation of public politics than was done over that short period of time in Seattle. And here to give us a up-close and personal description as well as a cogent interpretation of those days of confrontation is author Janet Thomas, who, by taking a participant-observer role, attempts to describe, from inside the ranks of the protestors, who they are and why they are confronting the WTO and the forces of economic globalization it represents.
This is a hardly an objective, dispassionate, or even look at the events that transpired over the spate of several days in and around Seattle . Yet in its urgency, passion, and position-taking the reader comes to understand, at least from the myriad of organizations participating in the demonstrations, the reasons for their activities. Given the media's proclivities to dismissing any such protest as the work of mindless anarchists or social, political, and economic trouble-makers, this more introspective approach is a breath of fresh air. Thomas describes the reasoning of the protestors in terms of their concerns for the social, economic, and political costs associated with globalism. As happened with Chicago in 1968, the forces of the organized society seem to all accrue to those in power such as the WWTO, and the citizens are left to explain their actions and their motives between the margins, since the media is seemingly uninterested in their politics or their issues. All the media wanted to concentrate on was the violence, which makes great TV, and requires little explanation.
Thus, by giving voice to the myriad of different organizations involved in the demonstrations, Thomas helps the reader to understand their motives in performing such acts of civil disobedience as well as the issues themselves much better. In this she performs a yeoman service to the general public, who certainly needs to understand the particulars of the issues much better if they are to ever appreciate the terrible danger organizations like the WTO potentially represent. Anyone interested in the ways in which economic globalism works, and the ways in which we each can act to constrain, block, or modify their efforts to encroach on our liberties should read this interesting and well-written book. Enjoy!
Rating: 5
Summary: All the news the media didn't let us see
Comment: Informative detail of just what the agenda of the Seattle and later, the Ottawa protestors wish to accomplish. The TV news doesn't tell us about WTO rules supercedeing laws enacted in Massachusetts. The TV news does not tell the story of the prison-factories in El Salvador. The TV news avoids telling us about the man that makes $104,000 per hour while his Haitian workers make 13 cents per hour. Janet Thomas does. And she also tells us why the TV news skips the real story, because it is controlled by the same people.
While the TV news avoids the story of thousands of peaceful demonstrators attempting to make sure sovereignty and democracy survive the WTO, it concentrates on a handful of violent demonstrators who get out of hand. Janet Thomas tells the story straight.
Rating: 5
Summary: The truth behind the media's version of WTO protests
Comment: The truth is hard to take when you realize you are part of a system that does not serve the basic needs of so many around the globe. This book seeks to go beyond the media's focus on a small number of anarchistic acts in Seattle's WTO week. It both reveals and explores in depth the real issues at the base of this 50,000 person protest. Thomas' approach is both scholarly and undogmatic. Individual sketches serve to break down denial in readers such as myself, readers who start out not really wanting to hear the truth. The bonus: at the end, you are not left feeling hopeless. Thomas has compiled a rich and extensive list of resources to further research the information and ideas expressed in her book. If you are interested in learning about world economic justice, read this book.
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