Seattle should be proud of historical riots
Thank you for providing a balanced view in The Seattle Times reviews at the 10th anniversary of the WTO conference in Seattle [“10 years after the Battle in Seattle, an evolving national policy on trade,” Opinion, Gary Locke guest commentary, Nov. 29].
Too often the events have been portrayed as a few out-of-town anarchists took over the city. The vast majority of people protesting in the streets — I was one of them — had very real concerns about the anti-democratic WTO, a shadowy world government if there ever was one. The WTO was designed to benefit corporations, not people — even the WTO’s leader admitted that much in your article.
The Seattle protests started a worldwide discussion about trade and whom it should benefit. Seattle should be proud to have started this discussion.
— Jan Heine, Seattle
When will we start listening to the protesters?
Jon Talton’s column “Battle of Seattle protesters proved right” [Business, Nov. 30] is thought-provoking. Many other large protest movements of recent years have proved to be right, too, though initially discredited by the media and much of the mainstream.
Remember the civil-rights demonstrations? The anti-Vietnam War marchers? The anti-nuclear protesters? The grass-roots anti-poverty movement? The environmental groups that have been warning for years about global warming and depletion of irreplaceable resources?
There is much to learn from those with the gumption to speak out against injustice and inequity even if it isn’t popular to do so.
Will we ever learn to listen to them?
— Sarah Johnson, Kirkland
Seattle: a city of complete mismanagement?
It’s clear after reading Lynda V. Mapes 10-year anniversary article on the WTO protests that she needs to get out from behind her keyboard and actually talk with real Seattleites [“Five days that jolted Seattle,” Seattletimes.com, Local News, Nov. 29].
Real Seattleites have always wanted their streets plowed and basic city services met. Sadly, Seattle got hijacked years ago by elites obsessed with making Seattle a world-class city at all costs.
Of course, who determines what world class is and what benefits accrue from that magical status are mysteries that no one has ever got around to explaining. Judging from what’s going on in Seattle, world class to them seems to be an antonym to words like competence and livability. As a result, we get the WTO disaster, last winter’s failure and Boeing moving out.
Only an idiot would be shocked that over a decades worth of complete mismanagement is finally bearing bitter fruit. I’ve given up hope that Seattle is going to get better before it gets much worse. Want things to get better, Seattle? Ignore Paris and New York City, and worry instead about Phinney Ridge and Columbia City.
— Tim Mahoney, Bellingham
An Aussie’s take on WTO; memorial should be as loud as Pearl Jam
I visited Seattle this year for one week. One of my goals was to visit where the 1999 WTO protests took place. I knew of many other places to visit in Seattle and Washington state, but for people from outside the U.S., this is one of the things for which Seattle is known.
A friend took me to the Convention Center and I was disappointed — but not too surprised — that there is no monument to the momentous events that took place 10 years ago. It is poignant to reflect on those events after living through the continuing global financial crisis. There were many disparate groups and reasons that coalesced in Seattle, but most were protesting against the unfounded faith in free markets, against casino capitalism, for transparency in the operations of corporations and for a more equitable international financial system.
I hope the people of Seattle who did not understand the reasons for the 1999 protests at the time have joined the dots between now and then, since they and billions of others have felt the impacts of lack of regulation, bad policies and greed. If those messages from 1999 had been listened to and acted on, we could be living in a very different world today.
For these reasons, it is time that a permanent memorial is built in Seattle to explain what the purpose of the WTO meeting had been, discuss what the protesters were railing against, and to consider how those in authority escalated the tension through disproportionate violence and illogical decisions.
The memorial doesn’t need to be as high as the Space Needle, or as sublime as the Experience Music Project. But it does need to speak out as loudly as Pearl Jam. And if it doesn’t, the decision to not commemorate the protests will be even fishier than Pike Place.
— Jeremy Tarbox, Australia
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