Eyewitness account of seattle

Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1999 01:10:14 PST

 

okay everyone, i'll try to make this coherent, but it's been a really long

two days and tomorrow promises to be pretty crazy as well.

 

i'd like to write more about the entire experience but right now i'll give

you the shortened i need to sleep or i will die version, up-to-minute police

state siege class war version. check out whatever news you can about seattle.

british seems to be pretty good. there is tons of alternative documentation,

live internet feeds, etc.

 

the real deal: as i write this riot squads and the national guard are

shooting cs gas (tear gas), concussion grenades, rubber bullets, pepper

spray (from cannons and directly into faces), using long batons, boots, etc.

against peaceful protesters, shoppers, workers, and anyone else they come

across.

 

yesterday (november 30), what seems to be at least 100,000 people took to

the streets of seattle for non-violent protest, civil disobedience, direct

action, and also fucking shit up. riot cops (armor, carrying rifles, pepper

spray, tear gas cannisters, helmets) gassed people sitting on the ground and

dancing in front of them at 9:30 am. the next time i was gassed, again

sitting non-violently (and backed up by the Infernal Noise Brigade,

(including Jessicka!!) a marching band of anarchists in matching band

outfits, fuzzy hats, and gas masks with flag twirlers, a drum corps, and

others, marching and standing in formation, as we waited to get gassed!!!!

holy inspiration!!!!), as we dispersed they shot the tear gas ahead of us up

the block, in front of us, trapping people in alleys. by 3pm, after the

United Steel Workers and IWW decided to break from the humongous (and only

permit granted, cop escorted) march and head straight into the heart of

things and got into a face off with cops, there were many people in town who

had not recieved any civil disobedience or non-violent protest training, and

had no experience int his sort of thing, and had no idea what was going on,

had arrived.

 

this face off led to confrontation (another attack from cops), this led to a

huge standoff at 5pm (again, the Infernal Noise Brigade marched right up in

front, this time blockaded with burning dumpsters, in front of the riot

squads and 'the peacemaker', an armored artillery cop vehicle). more people

were out in the streets, checking things out, pissed at the cops. they

fired gas, concussion grenades, rubber bullets constantly. (during this

whole time i was helping to keep the crowds from not panicking, moving

slowly and not trampling one another, helping to treat injured people). It

was about this time that the rioting really broke loose, and i will stress

that if it was mindless, it was still in response to cop brutality and

aggression, curfew was declared, and the cops started to drive people out of

downtown (which meant marching on us, firing tear gas constantly as we

dispersed). they followed far beyond the perimeter they declared, at least

two miles out of downtown into a neighborhood which then responded in kind

as best they could. this fighting kept on until am hours.

 

is this readable at all? sorry. i've been gassed more times than i can

count now, sprayed with pepper spray, seen children, old women, and anyone

else you can imagine, brutalized. a girl shot between the eyes with a

rubber bullet. people lying on the ground losing consciousness in clouds of

gas, running blind and vomiting if they can.

 

today has continued beyond that, with the declaring of martial law, police

chief refusing to comment when asked if gas and bullets are being used,

claiming that all explosions (the concussion grenades which are fired in

rapid succession into crowds) are pipe bombs thrown by demonstrators. the

police declared a NO Protest zone in the core of downtown (a clear violation

of first amendment rights, as if that is the only violation occurring), a

permiter which you would be arrested if crossing into and suspected of being

a protester, not a business worker showing ID. By this early afternoon,

they went outside of that zone, way beyond it, firing gas and grenades and

rubber bullets into crowds, protests, driving us into an outdoor market and

gassing the market (all businesses were open, people on the streets

shopping, lunch break, going home, etc.). Then columns of riots squads

began to occupy streets, beating people, etc. (assume that that is

constant), herding people to the waterfront. There has not been a curfew

imposed in seattle since WWII, and martial law was last declared in 1919. I

got out of downtown after sundown, up to safe space, and then hours later

the cops came and invaded, layed siege to the same neighborhood they had

come to the night before and are still in as far as i know, right now.

 

okay, that's the horror stories, but only a fraction of it. The solidarity

here has been amazing, steelworkers supporting ecology activists supporting

anarchists, on and on. lots of citizens completely in aggreement and

completely disgusted by the police state actions. The space that is being

used by Direct ACtion Networks (major organizers of protests, including Art

and Rev[olution], Reclaim the streets, F[ood] N[ot] B[ombs], etc.) is an

amazing hub. The few days before this civil war erupted, they held workshops

on legal rights, non-violence training, cd, ...). There are over 500

people in jail, practicing disobediance and jail solidarity there,

although their legal rights are being severly abused as well. Supposedly

jails are full, which is why the cops have become so much more brutal, as

they have no where to put us. But, yesterday they arrested almost no one

at all, and when asked why not, the chief replied "you can't just arrest

people for nothing." Oh, but you can brutalize them into submission (well, so

you think, fuckers). Fuck.

 

So, do not believe whatever mainstream media bullshit you see. This has

been by far and large completely non-violent, no-confrontation protest.

there was some destruction, and what some would call deserving busnisses

were targeted for the main part (starbucks, nike, gap,etc.). in my

experience, almost all destruction came in response to police attacks on

non-violent protestors (not to mention the young black kids taking to the

streets after years of police attacks). This is an all-out war at this

point, and it is amazing to me that in the face of body armor, batons,

grenades, gas, pepperspray, rifles, and what is pretty much a tank, we are

defending ourselves with only wetted bandanas, swim goggles (if you're

luckY), baking soda and water solutions, and solidarity. I am writing to

you from a militarized zone where they are laying siege to entire

neighborhoods in the name of "restoring peace", a peace that exists save for

the violence they bring. For every news segment showing "the anarchists in

black" smashing windows, how about us anarchists giving medical aid and

helping to keep order in the streets while under attack? again, the

organizing is amazing, medical and communication teams, daily meals, jail

solidarity. It's amazing to see all the red/black flags and neckerchiefs

flying everywhere.

 

Please pass this on to everyone you know and get the word out. Spread the

truth.

 

Love and Struggle,

john

---

BACK

HOME OIKOS

MIND-ING ECOLOGY

ECOLOGY OF MIND