Showdown in Seattle: Five Days that Shook the WTO

"There's only one thing the ruling class interests have ever wanted, and that's everything." Welcome to Seattle, November 1999, when the World Trade Organization held a rare meeting on American soil. The conference was meant to celebrate international trade and prosperity, but a coalition of neo-hippies, anarchists, environmentalists, and members of old guard labor crashed the party. Activists took to the streets, protesting such diverse issues as sweatshops, destruction of the rainforests, forgiveness of Third World debt, and WTO's alleged eagerness to trash trade barriers in the name of globalization and at the expense of workers. Showdown in Seattle: Five Days that Shook the WTO presents five short films on the efforts to shut down the WTO meeting in Seattle. Segments tend to repeat points, decrying police violence, the dangers of globalism, and big media's alleged slant in favor of international corporations. Not surprisingly, there is absolutely no attempt to achieve any kind of balance here (one member leaving a WTO meeting tries to present his side, but the guerilla journalist pursues him so doggedly you end up feeling sorry for the guy). What does comes through is the feeling that the average worker is losing control over his life and destiny, while supranational corporations rake in record profits. While both repetitive and one-sided, this program does serve as a measure of the current frustration felt by those left out of today's wave of prosperity, and is therefore an optional purchase for larger collections. [Note: this video is also being sold to individuals for $50.] Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)