Salon.com > L.A. Kauffman

Who were those masked anarchists in Seattle?

Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:00:00 +0000

In the week since the dramatic World Trade Organization protests, in which a massive nonviolent blockade was overshadowed by attacks on stores like Niketown, Starbucks and the Gap, the media reporting about the activism has been as confusing as some of the protests themselves.

Most reports simply labelled the rioters "anarchists," missing the fact that many among the peaceful blockaders consider themselves anarchists, too. And news organizations have repeatedly named anarchist writer John Zerzan as the rioters' guru, vastly overstating his influence. By far the most important influence has been the tempestuous forest activism that has taken place in the Eugene, Ore., area over the last four years.

Attempting to clear up misconceptions about the WTO rioting, one collective involved in it felt moved to issue a statement, the "N30 Black Bloc Communique," in order "to diffuse some of the aura of mystery that surrounds the black bloc and make some of its motivations more transparent, since our masks cannot be."

A no-win situation

Thu, 02 Dec 1999 17:00:00 +0000

Tuesday's World Trade Organization riot can be summed up by the story of Craig Webster, a friend I know from activist circles in New York. First he was shot with rubber bullets when police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Union Street, and he has nasty welts to show for it. Then later in the day, he was slugged in the jaw by a rioter, while he and some other nonviolent activists tried to prevent the Niketown store from being looted.

Craig's bad luck encapsulated the experience of nonviolent protesters who came to Seattle to focus world attention on WTO -- they got upstaged by violent anarchists and attacked by police, who did nothing until late in the day to stop the rioting. While peaceful protesters vastly outnumbered the hooligans, there were 300 to 400 hardcore anarchists intent on clashing with police, most with scarves over their faces, some carrying hammers, crowbars and spray paint in their bags.

On Wednesday, police arrested more than 300 people, most of them non-violent demonstrators, in a change of tactics designed to clear the streets for President Clinton's visit. Wednesday night, police used tear gas again, to disperse a crowd that began to gather downtown.

The whole world is watching

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 14:00:00 +0000

When the World Trade Organization begins its meetings Tuesday, the massive and well-organized protests by the AFL-CIO and environmental groups may not be center stage. Using a wide array of direct-action tactics, hundreds, maybe thousands of activists are planning to literally shut Seattle down, blockading streets all around the convention center.

For a week now, a group called the Direct Action Network (DAN) has been training protesters in a sprawling warehouse just east of downtown. Activists are learning not only basic principles of nonviolent protest, which have been standard preparation for civil disobedience since the anti-nuclear campaigns of the mid-1970s. Many are also being trained in elaborate "lockdown" techniques pioneered by Earth First! and animal-rights groups, in which protesters use bicycle locks and other equipment to create immovable human barricades that are difficult and time-consuming to dismantle.