<nettime> Re: Lessons from Seattle

[Evan Henshaw-Plath <evan@Protest.Net>]

I think you're right, the real battle is in the minds of the apathetic and
apolitical masses. We can only efficiently reach them through the media. 
The problem is that the same mass media which focused on the vandalism,
will never focus on presenting our message. Corporate and proto-corporate
media have as much interest in the advancing of the WTO's goals as
industrial giants.  Because of this we can not expect to be anything but
demonized by the corporate media. It is only though building our own
independent democratic media that we can expect to talk about the issues. 

The Indy Media Center, www.indymedia.org, played an important roll in    
creating a media which will represent our views. Single action media as   
well as sustained anti-commercial news from groups such as the Direct 
Action Media Network, damn.tao.ca, are starting to build this new media. 
This is an important component in extending the successes that came out of
the N30 protests.

I don't think we should or could contain the vandalism in Seattle by
force. There were people who tried to physically stop the vandalism, they
tried to turn the perpetrators in to the cops, and failed to help the
situation. If we are going to reject property damage as being outside the
range of acceptable non-violent direct action then we need to do it
through the power of our argument, not our fists. 

The vandalism was picked up by the corporate media and used to attack and
discredit the anti-wto cause. If there hadn't been vandalism they would
have attempted to dismiss the protests some other way. We never even had
the potential of getting our critique of corporate globalization in to the
corporate media. It just wasn't going to happen. 

In Solidarity,
Rabble-Rouser


> Charles Wrote:
> 
> Your letter describing how you organized for the Seattle protest was most
> impressive.  You have clearly developed a mechanism that can be useful in
> future events.  But with all  your planning and foresight you failed to
> take account of a crucial factor, and in consequence, as you recognize,
> you lost the battle for the media, which is the most important battle of
> all.
> 
> You should have realized -- and you should realize in the future -- that
> provocateurs will be present at any such protest. They may be (as was
> apparently the case in Seattle) extremists who want to force the
> authorities into repressive acts in order to bring out the underlying
> oppressiveness of the system.  Or they may be hirelings of the system
> itself, put there specifically to discredit your group.  They will usually
> be few in number but they will engage in destructive acts designed to
> attract the attention of the media.  You should counter their efforts by
> training a selected group of young activists to move swiftly to surround
> them, isolate them, curtail their violence and -- if appropriate -- turn
> them over to the authorities on the scene.  This will virtually force the
> media to recognize the orderly, non-violent and self-disciplined nature of
> your protest and will greatly increase its resonance.  Viewers
> undistracted by apparent misdeeds by your group will be more likely to
> listen to your arguments -- and to observe and condemn any violence the
> authorities may employ to suppress them.
> 
>  
>   -   Charles   -
> 
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