Battle in Seattle
"six lives, six battles, one city"

A new docu-drama about the protests in Seattle against the WTO talks there in 1999, providing several very interesting insights on the inside of the demonstrations (including disagreements between the non-violent majority and a violent minority), the WTO proceedings (including what amounts to sabotage to silence voices that oppose putting profit over people) and the collapse thereof, the police, and the media.

Featuring none other than our beloved Woody Harrelson as a troubled riot cop.
In the image below he is about to be "deployed" as his wife has just lost their unborn child as a result of her getting caught up in the indiscriminate violence the police was authorized to use.



"Before the demonstrations nobody knew what the WTO is.
Now still nobody knows what the WTO is but at least they know it's bad."


trailer


Interview with the director and a protest organizer, on Democracy Now:
Battle in Seattle: With A-List Cast, New Film Re-Creates Historic Protest Against WTO
September 18, 2008
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/18/battle_in_seattle_with_a_list
In November 1999, tens of thousands of global justice activists, environmentalists, union members and anti-capitalist activists helped shut down the World Trade Organization in Seattle. It was a watershed moment for the movement against corporate globalization. The story of the Seattle protests has now been turned into a fictionalized film featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. We speak to the film’s writer and director, Stuart Townsend, as well as David Solnit, one of the key organizers of the WTO protests and co-founder of the Seattle WTO People’s History Project.


http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0850253/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_in_Seattle


post scriptum:

Governments would never again be caught off guard.

Two mile exclusion zones would become normal at international meetings like the WTO and G8 summits, further restricting peoples right to dissent.

2001 (Doha, Quatar): The WTO recognizes that access to essential medicines should have primacy over commercial interests.

The WTO also agrees in Doha that they would address the needs of poorer countries.

2003 (Cancun, Mexico): Developing countries walk out after it becomes clear that the real agenda is to expand the failed WTO model.

Lee Hyung Kae, leader of the Korean Federation of Advanced Farmers Association, sacrifices himself in protest.

As the WTO floods local markets with imports, 40,000 Indian farmers commit suicide to escape their debt.

By 2007, little progress has been made concerning the WTO promises at Doha, including access to essential medicines.

Poor countries trade concerns have still not been addressed.

Millions of US jobs are offshored, wages decline, and tainted food imports soar.

But that has not stopped people from trying to make another world possible.

The battle continues.

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I haven't seen the trailer yet, will take a look later, but this is where the real problem lies; MONEY and those who own it. Oh ya, didn't anybody tell you, money doesn't belong to the people, it doesn't even belong to the government! It belongs to a privately owned corporation call The Federal Reserve (yes you heard right, privately owned). And this organization the heartless organization called the World Trade Organization, (WTO ), has been set up as the cultivating branch.

It loans money to countries that have been relieved of their colonial statues, with no safety net, so they quickly fall pray to the usurious interest rates, that they are sure not to get out from underneath for hundreds of years, unless of course things change. Now I am going to do the unspeakable; I'm going to tell you the only people who have the power to change all of this: You and me. Lets go for it. Talk it up. Don't be shy. We are all in sh*t now, we might as well do something about it...

Peace and respect for all that is peaceful and respectful...
Aad Sach Sinngh
In my view money is nothing but a convenient alternative for bartering, and the problem with money is not money itself, but rather the problem is with the financial system that has been hijacked by the same interests that dominate WTO policies.

I agree that Central Banks (among which the US Fed) play an important role in the financial system.

However, i would like to limit discussion in this thread to the topic of the film.
Hi;

Two things. Sorry, I didn't mean to mess up your thread; first: since I haven't seen the movie, I can not comment.

Second: I got the WTO (World Trade Organization) and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) mixed up, although they are very closely associated. Honour among thieves, if you will.

Ciao
That's ok.
Besides the trailer you can watch the interview with the director and a protest organizer, on Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/18/battle_in_seattle_with_a_list

And yes the WTO, IMF, World Bank are "partners in crime"; not much harm done by mixing them up :)
Thanks for your understanding. But when you look at things a bit - doesn't have to be too close - it becomes quite obvious as to what is going on in the world. It's just all about MONEY. Life, love, people, children, women, men, young men who become soldiers for nothing but the sacrafice for Satan's imps. It's all a vicious game.

It helps to know a bit about history - no you won't find this in school - then we can see more clearly.

Aad Sach
That one video, has quite a bit of information. Anyone seeing this must wonder who is running this country, and why are they running it like this??? Elitist is one thing. If they keep it up, they will find themselves alone, and probably on Mars.

Aad Sach

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