[asia-apec 1356] Anti-WTO Rally Defies Permit Denial

[bayan]

NEWS FROM SEATTLE:

For more information please contact: 
Ace Saturay, telephone 721-6355 in Seattle

Anti-WTO Rally Defies Permit Denial

Seattle, Nov 30. Delegates from the International Seattle Peoples Assembly
will 
today hold a rally at Fourth and Jackson in Seattle's International before
marching down Fourth Street despite being denied a permit to march a part
of the International Day of Protest Against the WTO. A People's Permit,
signed by 
community members and participants of the People's Assembly asserting the 
basic democratic right of the People's Assembly to voice their opposition to 
the World Trade Organization, will be carried throughout the March. 

The People's Assembly will march from the International District to Fourth 
and Pine where it will join with labor and other critics of the World Trade 
Organization. 

"The World Trade Organization is the current tool used to keep wealth and 
power in the hands of a few," said Fr. Art Balagat, member of the People's 
Assembly Organizing Committee. "We see the true meaning of globalization to 
the world's people every time we pick up the newspaper -- wage cuts and job 
loss, drastically reduced budgets for social needs, and the erosion of basic 
human rights. In short, it ravages the environment, devastates countries and 
subjugates entire peoples with unequaled ruthlessness. 

"The WTO is one of imperialism's latest instruments that multinational 
corporations and imperialist states use to dictate trade policy and achieve 
economic domination. Putting an end to the high human costs of trade 
requires the advancement of people's organizations to effectively challenge, 
tear down and not simply reform these oppressive institutions," said Ace 
Saturay, convenor of the People's Assembly. "The People's Assembly
continues the tradition set in 1996 when the People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization was launched in Manila at the time of the APEC
Leaders Summit. This proud tradition of anti-imperialist defiance continues
to surge and we have brought the struggle to the "belly of the beast". The
success of our organized resistance shows there is an alternative to the
path of imperialist globalization." 

Dr. Carolina Araullo, representing BAYAN-Philippines and an international 
delegate to the People's Assembly, said, "There is a pattern of muzzling 
dissent against imperialist tools. We saw it in the Philippines, 
Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand. We weren't stopped there and we won't be 
stopped here."

Despite denial of a permit, the organizers of the People's Assembly said that 
the march and rally will go on as scheduled. Saturay said, "We will march 
peacefully, but militantly. This is not just a procession or a parade. It 
is a life and death issue that brought people to the People's Assembly to say 
'No to the oppression of our people!' and 'No to WTO!"

On November 28-29, the People's Assembly hosted a two-day gathering of 
international, national and local delegates at the Filipino Community Center 
in south Seattle. The march and rally will cap the Assembly. The delegates
have come from around the world to criticize global trade plans of the WTO
and talk about the disastrous impacts of globalization on their respective
countries, on people's lives. They all say "No to WTO!"