RE: RAT Hello Seattle

["Sylvain, John" <jsylvain@station.sony.com>]

Well I think the whole thing is just plain wonderful. It might seem petty
and awful when you're in it and it might seem annoying that the news is
focusing on the violence but here's the point: THE MESSAGE IS GETTING
THROUGH	

What has happened in Seattle has moved globalization and trade to the center
of the nations attention. What has happened in Seattle has re-legitimized
Labor as a force to conteract Capital, over night.

What has happened in Seattle has galvanized the various and disparate
threads of liberalism and progressivism and fused them into a coherent
whole. No longer will multi-national corporations tromp along telling world
governments what to do with relative impunity. 

IT CAN NO LONGER BE TOLERATED!

>From the outside the tear gas and rubber bullets didn't just sting the eyes
and skin, they inspired those of us who have grumbled by the side of the
road as amoral multinationals destroyed our grandchildren's planet and eaten
the children of the third world. There are other things that are important
besides money. That may sound like an empty, obvious aphorism but in fact,
for the past 20-30 years the world has been opporating as if a free market
is the very best thing since sliced bread. The worth of anything is measured
in US $. CEOs justify downright evil behavior by saying "we are responsible
first and foremost to our shareholders."  NO! Stop it! Fuckers!

As artists and as liberals (I can respect all you conservative theater
artists out there but you confuse me, kinda like Gay Republicans, so I chose
to pretend you don't exist) the Battle of Seattle is a wake up call. It is
time to do something. 

I don't know what, but something.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	mkleinhans@juno.com [SMTP:mkleinhans@juno.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, December 02, 1999 6:51 AM
> To:	rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> Subject:	Re: RAT Hello Seattle
> 
> What a week!  From my point of view (living in downtown Seattle) the
> whole thing got out of hand when a parade of looters and thugs ran
> through Seattle breaking windows and stealing things from the stores. 
> (there was also a scheduled peaceful protest going on as well) On that
> day, the police didn't do much at all. (some tear gas and pepper spray to
> try and get the out of control people to go home)  Now, the whole cause
> of the WTO protestors has basically been lost, because of the crowds of
> people coming to the area who just want to fight the police.  Overnight
> the police seem to have lost all patience and are taking no small amount
> of force to get people to stay out of the area. I'm really of two minds
> about the whole thing, and honestly believe that the law enforcement has
> been simply trying to keep any more riots and damage to innocent stores
> and people from happening, but because people are so excited to have
> something new to protest every day it just keeps getting worse.  I think
> there have been over 500 arrests and as of last night there were large
> crowds in many different areas of the curfewed area (of which I LIVE!)
> Egad...I'm living in a war zone.  I just wish people would go home and
> find a better way to make their point.
> 
> 
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