[asia-apec 1364] The Ruckus in Seattle: Eye Witness as Opposed to TV/News Junk

[tpl at cheerful.com]

Please circulate to your networks.

Sent:       Wednesday, December 01, 1999 11:11 AM
Subject:    The Ruckus in Seattle - eye witness as opposed to TV/News JUNK

Hi Friends and Strangers, it's said that one of the great benefits of the
Internet is that we can communicate directly with one another; and exchange
information that our media don't necessarily think we should bother our
pretty little heads about. I'm writing this to a diverse group of people,
most of whom exchange great jokes and worthy sayings (the former more than
the latter!) with each other. I'm hoping that some of you will send this out
over your own networks; so that a more balanced picture of what happened in
Seattle yesterday will reach real people. I'm not trying to tell you what to
think, I assume that some have one opinion, others another, about the WTO,
demonstrators, police actions, and so on and so fifth. I just want as many
people as possible to base those opinions on a resemblance to what happened
* not what we were being spoon fed by the suits and hairdos on TV. I
understand, incidentally, that national press and even international press,
did a much more even handed job of reporting than did the Seattle hairdos.
The lopsided information I saw on Seattle television and in the Seattle
Times was 10 times more scary than what was going on in the streets!

Here is what I saw in person: a march of between 40,000 and 50,000 people -
every possible skin hue, every conceivable race, ages between early 20s and
late 60s, fat, thin, and in between, from all over the U.S. I saw Women of
Steel - women steelworkers from Boulder, CO next to the association of
airline pilots. I saw tool and die workers walking next to the association
of professional engineers; well, you get the picture. Thousands of diverse
people together in good fellowship, wanting to have a voice in an
organization (WTO) that is trying to exclude them. 

Being in the middle of this group was simply amazing. While many of these
people feel strongly enough about the issue to have come by bus from far
away to be heard, I saw no anger expressed. No hint of violent behavior. I
saw positive statements: "If it doesn't work for working families, it
doesn't work" was the most common placard being held. I saw smiling faces
and camaraderie.

If you think, as I do, that this group is a true cross section of the people
in this country, you must be as impressed as I am. It was beyond words
inspiring. Imagine my amazement when I went home, hoping to see pictures of
the march on television, when this march was not shown on any of the local
television stations! I switched channels and followed the news for some time
(I heard one 2 second reference to it.) How can this immense show of people
not be news? I eagerly opened the Seattle Times hoping for some pictures of
this incredible event. Not a one! It simply boggled my mind.

What was being shown? Tear gas, people blocking intersections, and looters
that had no connection to the protest at all. However, it was when I saw the
news broadcasts this morning that I really knew I had to write this.
According to all the Seattle TV news stations, police presence had become
more aggressive because of the "looting and violence of some of the
protesters last night." Absolutely unbelievable -- and I mean that literally!

Here are a couple of scenes that were shown on TV, given to you raw, before
the news people started rewriting history-and this involves now not the
union protesters, but the people who were on the street getting up close and
personal:
Early on in the day, at an intersection a couple of blocks from the session
location, was shown. The intersection was at the bottom of a hill, with
heavy police presence, and many protesters at both top and bottom. Some
protesters on top of the hill had started rolling barrels down the hill.
Another protester went up the hill and talked to those people, and asked
them to stop. They did. No tear gas was needed, no police action-the
peaceful protesters were keeping their own people in line.

No matter how hard the press tried, they were unable to show violence of any
kind instituted by the protesters. The delegates joined arms, and formed a
cordon, and some got up on top of buses that had been ringed around the
Paramount Theater, but no one had a weapon of any sort, and the only punches
thrown were by a delegate! Also, another delegate brandished a gun at the
protesters. Whether you think the protesters were right or wrong in general,
it's important to know that they did behave nonviolently.

Another scene shown live on local TV, which was later narrated in a very
different way: A small group of young men dressed in black, with hoods and
masks began breaking windows and spraying graffiti. There was one newswoman,
from KIRO, on the scene with a cameraman, and she reported on this and
followed them as the action was happening. She reported that the protesters
were actually yelling at the vandals and trying to get them to stop. At one
place the protesters formed a cordon and tried to prevent vandalism by this
group. As it happened, there were no police in the area. Later reports of
this event left out the attempts of the protesters to stop the vandalism.
Today, reports of this event claim that vandalism was done by part of the
protest group!

Another report: later in the evening King TV was showing looters and vandals
running around the streets -- a young, probably 14-16 year old guy, who
clearly wouldn't know a political or social issue if it were being pounded
into his head with a two by four, was shown running down the street with a
big grin on his face; after heaving rocks through windows. Jean Ennerson,
veteran Seattle anchorwoman, announced that there was a protester who was
showing no remorse. This was such a palpable falsehood that her co-anchor,
to do him justice, came on soon after and pointed out that the looting and
vandalism was being done by people taking advantage of the situation, not
by protesters.

As to the police - I wouldn't have wanted their job, any of them, and am not
going to do any second guessing here. I do think, however, that in the
pursuit of something sensational, anything sensational, they were treated
somewhat unfairly by the press. One delegate to WTO complained about the
police and said they should have been more aggressive. This delegate was
from a country where it would have been business as usual to call out tanks
and guns with bullets (not rubber) and use them liberally. He clearly didn't
think the police here have a grip on how to keep order. Which is one reason
so many people are protesting the WTO!

The police did appear to be trying as much as possible to let things happen
as long as they were peaceful -- although they did not allow delegates to be
physically kept out of the building. They seemed to be acting with restraint
through most of the day, although there would be a strong contingent that
disagree with me on this. However, unlike what one newswoman on KIRO claimed,
this was definitely nothing like Chicago in 1968. No heads were beaten with
clubs, although it seemed as though pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber
bullets were being slung around pretty liberally.

. . .

Okay, I'll let go of this; having hopefully set a bit of the record straight
for some people. If you feel like it, I would appreciate you passing this
along your own networks. Thanks. Yours for some small bit of the truth
trickling down to us regular folks.

Terry McCormick
mailto:TJmcweiss at aol.com