wfn.org | Message overrides rubber bullets at WTO event in Seattle

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Dec. 1, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{648}

NOTE: This report is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS story #649.

By United Methodist News Service

Pamela Sparr had to avoid tear gas and rubber bullets shot by Seattle police
to reach her hotel after attending a Nov. 30 event related to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) meeting.

But Sparr, an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, was less concerned about her safety than the possibility
that sporadic outbreaks of violence and the police response would receive
more attention than the concerns about WTO policies and procedures.

The excitement, she said, is in finding such diverse groups of people -
ranging from Korean farmers to women from Finland to labor union members to
clergypersons - "out in such cooperative force in terms of showing their
concern about the WTO." Sparr spoke with United Methodist News Service in a
Dec. 1 telephone interview.

In a Nov. 30 statement, the United Methodist Boards of Global Ministries and
Church and Society expressed a chief concern that "current multilateral
trade and investment agreements promote profits over the well-being of
people and the planet." (See UMNS story #649.)

According to the New York Times, representatives of more than 500
organizations arrived in Seattle in late November to protest WTO policies
and conduct weeklong rallies, information sessions, discussions and marches.
Some also had vowed to disrupt the meeting of the WTO, a 135-nation
Geneva-based trade group.

"The weekend was a series of teach-ins on the issues related to the WTO and
also on alternative policies and programs that a variety of NGOs
(nongovernmental organizations) are either advocating for or are engaging in
already," Sparr said.

The protesters represented a wide range of concerns, many of which centered
on the plight of the poor and environmental issues.

Demonstrators did prevent U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and
other speakers from reaching the WTO opening ceremonies on Nov. 30. Sparr
said she was not certain why police started dispensing tear gas during a
morning march she participated in that day because she had not witnessed any
violence nor heard of any violent incidents.

Later in the day, the situation grew more serious, and Sparr left a meeting
early, around 6 p.m., in order to reach her hotel before a curfew was
imposed. Noticing police in full riot gear, she said she asked a policewoman
where it would be safe to walk. Before the woman could answer, a nearby
policeman warned Sparr to leave immediately.

As she turned to go, the officers started throwing tear gas canisters into
the area where a few protesters were walking by or standing with signs. "We
all started running ... then the rubber bullets started," she recalled.

"The street had no violence. There was not even a crowd," Sparr said. She
believes the police "just over-reacted," she said.

To escape the gas and bullets, she ducked into an alley and then made her
way to her hotel.

The tension was in direct contrast to the night before. "There was a very
peaceful march on Monday evening regarding Jubilee 2000," Sparr said.
"(First) United Methodist Church was packed to over-capacity."

An estimated 30,000 people participated in the march, according to the
Jubilee 2000 organization, though other sources put the figure lower, at
15,000. The march was organized to call on the International Monetary Fund,
the World Bank and wealthy creditor governments to cancel the debts owed to
them by the world's poorest countries.

Sharon Maeda, a Board of Global Ministries executive, reported that the
rally at First Church drew Christians of all denominations as well as
Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Native American leaders. The two
hours of speeches, prayer, song and dance included a rendition of "This
Little Light of Mine" by Sweet Honey In The Rock, a musical group, and a
speech by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). 

After the rally, participants and crowds waiting outside church marched
nearly a mile down Fifth Avenue to the exhibition hall where the WTO
delegates were having their opening reception. United Methodist Bishop Elias
Galvan of Seattle was among the marchers. As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney,
an invited guest at the reception, delivered the Jubilee 2000 message to the
WTO delegates inside, the marchers formed a human chain around the hall and
adjoining stadium complex. 

Jubilee 2000 has called on WTO delegates to use their influence to secure
their governments' support for debt cancellation. Without debt relief, the
poor countries will never have an equal place in negotiations on global
economic issues, the organization has said.
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United Methodist News Service
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