<nettime> Seattle Dec. 1

["cisler" <cisler@pobox.com>]

Seattle, December 1 
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The groups that are still in the streets have been successful in
attracting the sustained attention of visually-oriented media.
What they hunger for is not the quiet, reasonable ambiance of  the
myriad meetings now underway. The cameras need movement, and the
tape recorders need shouts and the sound of concussion grenades
going off. So they are out on the streets accompanying the folks
who were emboldened by their success in forcing the cancellation
of meetings, of preventing the Secretary of State from reaching
her destination, of causing the police to mis-calculate.

Law enforcement had been training for much of the year, but they
underestimated the potential for violence. Some people I spoke
with believed that organized labor had made a deal with the
Clinton Administration to keep all their faithful in the stadium
all morning on Nov. 30, while the police handled the early
marchers from PGA, various anarchist conclaves, and some younger
people who were clearly out for confrontation.   

The newspapers indicate the police are being criticized for being
too lenient and too harsh. During the second day it seemed there
were more police from other jurisdictions, and they seemed armed
with more plastic restraining devices, and the SWAT (special
weapons and tactics) teams bristled with all sorts of armaments:
shiny aluminum tubes about the size of a fine Habanos cigar, fat
concussion grenades, the ever popular tear gas and dispensers of
pepper spray. 

I don't know how popular pepper spray is outside of North America.
Many places have banned people from carrying it, but quite a few
women own a small canister in spite of the law. I spoke with a
young woman from British Columbia who used to have it. She tested
it, and it blew back in her face.  It is EXTREMELY painful.  It is
being used more freely by the government in the street battles
here. Live television footage focused on police running from one
citizen/demonstrator to another and spraying them, even if they
were just standing in a doorway.

Police have been seizing cell phones from the sit-in protestors,
and they have been preventing bicycle messengers from approaching
hot areas.  In effect, they have been trying to degrade the
communications flow of the organized protesters.  

Another difference on December 1 was the presence of National
Guard troops. They were in cammies and carried smooth natural wood
batons about one meter long.  This is in contrast to the Darth
Vader school of street military couture which favors black
everything: boots, shin guards, pants, poncho, helmet, dark face
shield, with brushed aluminum accents on the various projectiles
carried around the warrior's mid-section.  I did notice that all
police have very legible ID numbers on their helmets and last
names on their badges. 

I had no credentials but wanted to go to meetings on TRIPS
(trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) and
electronic commerce. These were supposed to be open meetings in
the Madison hotel, the nexus for a lot of NGO activity. I had
written to Jamie Love who works for Ralph Nader, and he said,
"Just come on down."  However, security was very tight.  I
brandished my printout from the www.agitprop.org/artandrevolution
web calendar, which showed the meeting was to be held at 10 a.m.
It took some social engineering to get in the door, which probably
would not have worked if I had been young and dressed for street
action.  I gave up my driver's license in order to get a temporary
badge from the credentials table.  I signed a form where I
promised to turn in the badge within 60 minutes of the end of the
meeting or lose privileges for any further meetings.  The badges
were not to be used for any OTHER meetings in the same building. 

Most of the NGOs had placed propaganda and position statement on
several large tables. Doing a quick scan for more interesting
titles I grabbed enough to fill my pack. Some of the publications
were lavish. World Vision and the World Council of Churches must
have paid a couple of dollars each for their books. Most were
modest two color newsletters. 

>From 10-12 the TRIPS meeting run by Medecins san Frontieres
(sorry, I can't figure out how to add the accents on this
particular computer), Jamie Love of the Consumer Project on
Technology (CPT), Health Action International, and Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy. Webcasting and archiving online by
tappedinto.com of Nashville, Tennessee.  Most of the discourse was
carried by Love, Carlos Correa, U. of Buenos Aires, Rep. Sherrod
Brown, a democratic congressman from Ohio,  Richard Wilder of the
World Intellectual Property Organization, and folks from M.sans F. 

There was a long discussion about access to drugs (the legal,
expensive kind) by countries that cannot afford the expensive
licenses and dosage costs being tolerated in more developed
countries.  This includes drugs for AIDS, meningitis, and more
basic drugs.  Countries like Thailand and South Africa are being
pressured into doing away with compulsory license requirement for
large drug firms that want to do business in those countries
(Thailand yielded to U.S. pressure; South Africa has not).  It was
a rather narrow and arcane discussion for some of us new to the
topic, but it made me realize that decisions about intellectual
property can lead to a better life or the death of those who can't
afford certain medical treatment.  We also touched on intellectual
property and databases, but people were more interested in
biopiracy, the practice of taking local resources for use in a
commercial drug (without adequate compensation to the country or
people in who's land the raw materials were discovered.)  Ralph
Nader talked about patents and the need to change the length of
patents. As technology changes more rapidly the live of patents
are being extended instead of shortened. The morning meeting
attracted about 90 people in a room for 50.

The afternoon was very different. The meeting was not
well-publicized and only 8 of us met to discuss Internet issues.
Trades, tariffs, ICANN, digital signatures, and U.S. business
process patents.  Most people knew nothing about ICANN or the
other issues. Love gave good explanations of the current
controversies, and I thought that in a couple of years the WTO
would be re-named the W.E-T.O because of the increase in
electronic trade. Most countries and many regions in
industrialized nations are not ready for the effects of
e-commerce.  Its mounting effects will overlay on top of all the
other contentious issues that are being chewed on here in Seattle.
The complex issue of jurisdiction in cyberspace is a topic few
people are thinking about, but it is critical to begin doing so,
given the importance many people place on traditional sovereign
governments what they can tax or regulate.

In the late afternoon I turned in my badge, stepped through the
phalanx of cops and went out on the street. More police, few
demonstrators, but much more maneuvering of troops and a much more
aggressive attitude in dealing with the public.  After a short
time at an indigenous environmental group meeting, I began walking
north on Broadway. A helicopter was about 300 meters overhead,
beaming a strong light on the street about one kilometer ahead of
me. I was tired and just wanted to catch a bus home.  On the bus
stops I saw posters for "Defiance Festival, 7 p.m. Denny &
Broadway. December 1).  That's where I was headed.

At the intersection a good deal of paper trash had been burned but
was extinguished before the fire department arrived. Two SWAT
vehicles were moving to a side street as about 300 demonstrators
gathered. In the crafts stores, taquerias, and fine restaurants
people went on consuming, as the chants grew louder and the small
crowd slowly moved down Broadway. Traffic was snarled, and some
drivers were not amused.  A couple of demonstrators passed out
paper napkins from a restaurant (in case of tear gas). Nice
gesture but not very effective.  A hundred or so people looked on
as the activists moved toward town. I walked about 5 kilometers
home because the bus service was blocked where I was, and the
curfew prevented me from crossing to another area.

Thursday: Food and farming.

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