Action is always better than hope
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Keeping with the time honored tradition of Face-to-Face February, I'd like to remind you of the time activists made global headlines by essentially shutting down the meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in late 1999. Not online petitions or Facebook chatter, we're talking about humans in the streets demonstrating solidarity and collective power. Created in 1995, the WTO is a bonanza for corporate profit that slipped in under the public radar. But when the truth about the WTO eventually became more widely know, the only vote left was by raising hell. The organization's decision to hold its annual meeting in Seattle provided activists with the stage they needed to be heard by millions.
It wasn't perfect or anything even close. Different factions within the protesters feuded over goals, issues, and tactics. Even the mainstream media recognized that paradox, with the Los Angeles Times stating: "Leaders of the peaceful demonstrations have lashed out at the anarchists, accusing them of undermining their anti-globalism message by breaking windows and destroying property. The anarchists in turn accused the Seattle protesters of protecting the same private-property interests that the WTO represents."
Infighting and compromises aside, those five days in Seattle injected American dissidents into an internationalist movement. In their book, 5 Days That Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond, Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn declared that the "street warriors" who were "initially shunned and denounced by respectable 'inside strategists,' scorned by the press, gassed and bloodied by the cops and national guard" were able to: shut down the opening ceremony; prevent President Bill Clinton from addressing the WTO delegates; get the corporate press to actually mention police brutality, and force the cancellation of closing ceremonies.
Chuck Munson of Infoshop has listed the many accomplishments of the movement, post-Seattle. These include:
-The international Indymedia network
- The return of a direct action, confrontational style of protest
-Putting organizations like the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund under the microscope
- Inspiring millions across the globe to put their passions into action
Munson also listed, "establishing the Internet as an activist's most valuable tool of communication." In other words, it's not either/or. All forms of dissent can be useful but without direct human contact, direct human action becomes less likely to happen.
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3 Steps Toward Face-to-Face Activism
-Connect with local activist groups
-Start a conversation with your neighbor
- Work together with your new comrades to plan protests, demonstrations, and more
