The Battle in Seattle: The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations - Softcover

Thomas, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555911080 ISBN 13: 9781555911089

Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing, 2000

Synopsis

The story behind and beyond the WTO demonstrations.

About this title

Review:

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman memorably described the tens of thousands of activists who surfaced in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization in November and December of 1999 as "A Noah's ark of flat-earth advocates, protectionist trade unions, and yuppies looking for their 1960s fix." Janet Thomas is an authentic voice of that movement, and she's confident enough in her views to cite Friedman, and then cast him aside: "The dominant media is entirely a voice for corporate interests." The Battle in Seattle is intended to inspire members of the burgeoning movement who took Seattle by surprise and now seem to show up at every city holding international trade talks to register their disapproval.

Thomas was a participant in the protests and has a wonderful story to tell: "WTO week in Seattle was a global tailspin at the end of the century." Much of her account is impressionistic and written in the first person, but she also attempts to provide an overview of the controversy and explain why it matters. "There was shocking violence perpetrated against peaceful protesters, against unwitting city residents simply doing what they do every day, against demonstrators trying to get home and ordinary citizens trying to get to work, against the unruly and the otherwise," she writes. Thomas is opinionated and never shy about her anticorporate stance: "It's a corporate illness that pervades our culture, and we're all part of the equation." Readers of The Nation and Mother Jones surely will enjoy The Battle in Seattle. Thomas's convictions may represent a growing force as the United States and the rest of the world wrestles with globalization. As the author says in the final words of her book, "Stay tuned." --John J. Miller

About the Author:

Janet Thomas was born in Wales and lived in Montreal and Vancouver, Canada, before moving to Seattle when she was sixteen. She has lived within ferry range of Seattle for more than 30 years. The former editor of Spa magazine, Janet has written a book on hostel travel, now lives on San Juan Island in Washington.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1555911080
• ISBN 13: 9781555911089
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240