Chris Dixon writes "
The Battle of Seattle: The New Challenge to Capitalist Globalization
Edited by Eddie Yuen, George Katsiaficas, and Daniel Burton Rose
Review by Chris Dixon
Since the WTO protests of 1999, there have been countless articles and books
purporting to "document" and "explain" the so-called "anti-globalization movement."
Plenty of academics, journalists, and NGO directors have capitalized on this
opportunity; indeed, more than a few have launched their careers with it. But
out of all the reams of commentary, very little is useful for those of us on
the ground as we work to broaden grassroots resistance, link movements, and
build anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist alternatives. Accurate, relevant documentation
and sharp analysis are hard to come by, particularly in books.
Enter The Battle of Seattle (Soft Skull, 2001). Bringing together
contributions from some fifty radicals stretching around the globe, this book
is a welcome breath of fresh air. Although it is dated by its obvious composition
before the events of September 11, 2001, the vibrancy and the lessons are even
more necessary and relevant today. As Eddie Yuen explains in the Introduction,
"one of the goals of this volume is to open up a dialogue between militants
and the broader movement, rather than denying that articulate militant voices
exist, as other collections have done." This it does, in a thankfully nondogmatic
way.
The lucidity of many of the authors is in fact striking, as is the richness
of their discussion of capitalist globalization and the movements that resist
it. Rather than relying on the vagueness of the term "globalization," for instance,
many situate it within a nexus of structural oppression woven together by capitalism,
racism, colonialism, patriarchy, imperialism, and authoritarianism, among others.
I suspect this clarity comes, in part, from the fact that most of the contributors
to this book are grounded in the movements that they write about.
Particularly exemplary is Stephanie Guilloud, who offers us a deeply reflective
glimpse into the radical organizing leading to Seattle, complete with its glaring
weaknesses. Like me, she was a co-founding organizer of what came to be known
as the Direct Action Network. After the WTO protests, she left that organization,
like a number of us, exhilarated yet disenchanted with the intransigence of
white radicals unwilling to confront privilege, build ties to local communities,
and acknowledge "invisible hierarchies" based on race, gender, age, and experience.
Her voice is compelling: "the spirit of Seattle should guide us, but with a
realistic understanding of what it was and what it lacked."
The Battle of Seattle obviously embraces this approach, for among
the most compelling features of this collection is the way in which it debunks
major myths of the Seattle mobilization. For one, it disputes exactly how representative
and victorious the protests were, asking with Elizabeth Martinez, "Where was
the color in Seattle?" In this regard, contributions from Guilloud, Kristine
Wong, Andrew Hsiao, and Juan Gonzalez are particularly important. "To be a genuine
victory," notes Wong, a Seattle environmental justice organizer, "the protests
would have to broaden and unite existing grassroots movements, not recreate
the oppressive structures they attempt to replace."
These concerns are vital, especially in a social climate of intensified repression
as war continues, criminalization of communities of color and dissidents expands,
and the US government cranks down the screws of domestic structural adjustment.
Race and racism, in particular, have been clear fissures within US (and Canadian)
anti-globalization and anti-war mobilizations. Another contributor, L.A. Kauffman,
puts it pointedly, asking "whether this predominantly white movement will make
the connections between global corporate power and the criminal injustice system
here at home, and whether it will build productive alliances with movements
of color, directly confronting institutionalized racism in the United States."
The success and growth of US and Canadian movements resisting capitalist globalization,
racism, and war will depend on just these kinds of connections and alliances.
As well as laudably tackling the thorny issue of race, The Battle of
Seattle also adeptly moves beyond the tactical mythologies of the WTO
protests. To their credit, contributors largely abandon the simplistic dichotomies
and name-calling that have erupted in "nonviolence" versus "violence" debates.
Indeed, this book is unique in that it provides critical space for open discussion
of black blocs and the very relevant history of the German Autonomen, neither
fetishizing nor demonizing them. Likewise, this volume includes some provocative
material from Ya Basta!, the Italian organization known for its (not unproblematic)
efforts to chart a new tactical path, its flair for colorful confrontation,
and its incisive analysis of the relationship between the mobility of capital
and the enforced immobility of people. Longtime nonviolent direct action organizer
George Lakey also contributes his own strategic recommendations for "how to
make our protests more powerful."
The insight in this discussion is less in unequivocal answers and more in modeling
honest dialogue. Many of the authors clearly favor tactical diversity. In the
influential words of George Katsiaficas, "Diversity of tactics, organizations
and beliefs is one of the great strengths of autonomous social movements." However,
instead of reducing the scope of analysis to street tactics as many accounts
do, there is far more nuanced reference to strategy in this book. Andrew Hsiao
importantly frames the question of tactics in terms of who is excluded: "direct-action
tactics have a different meaning in communities where many are undocumented
or already have a perilous relationship with the police." Rachel Neumann, for
her part, insists that we must acknowledge the place of rage, stressing that
it is "dishonest not to talk about the intangibles: the feeling in the air and
the smiles on people's faces as the Nike sign was being dismantled in Seattle."
The real beauty here, specific to an extensive anthology like this one, is in
presenting questions of tactics in a multifaceted way. The challenge is to bring
these kinds of strategic considerations and this unique multi-perspective approach
into everyday organizing.
The Battle of Seattle has much more to offer as well. Sure to
be controversial is reprinted work from Eric Krebbers and Merijn Schoenmaker
of De Fabel van de Illegaal, a Dutch anti-racist group. They critically probe
collusion with right-wing forces under the "anti-globalization" banner and highlight
some of the major weaknesses in the build-up to Seattle. James Davis, meanwhile,
offers a trenchant critique of NGOs in an essay tellingly titled "This is What
Bureaucracy Looks Like." Charting the rise of NGOs (the "new social workers"
as he calls them) with the ascendancy of the neoliberal project, he reminds
us, "the ideal for capitalism would be to create and co-opt a 'responsible'
leadership who could then negotiate on behalf of the hordes and diffuse the
movement while recuperating it."
In addition to these and other contributions, The Battle of Seattle
includes already widely-circulated articles from Naomi Klein, Liza Featherstone,
Jaggi Singh, Noam Chomsky, John Zerzan, and others. At times, these reprints
can lend the impression that one is simply re-reading highlights from the last
few years, especially when combined with the unfortunate brevity of some of
the newer, original pieces. But altogether, the breadth and diversity of materials
here is definitely a strength. And it is nicely punctuated by firsthand accounts
from Seattle, D.C., Prague, Genoa, and Cancun, as well as exhaustive run-downs
of mobilizations throughout the world on international days of action.
Perhaps what this book offers more than anything else is much-needed context,
both international and historical, for what happened in Seattle and what has
developed since then. Dispensing with "origins" myths of a movement magically
catalyzed outside the WTO Ministerial, George Katsiaficas, James Davis and Paul
Rowley, Kristine Wong, and others paint a picture of steadily expanding resistance
in the global South as well as among communities of color and low-income communities
in the North. Similarly, Barbara Epstein, L.A. Kauffman, and David Kubrin explore
some of the critical, often unacknowledged, movement antecedents in the United
States. In effect, they help us demystify the past so as to better act in the
present.
Illustrated with fantastic artwork and photos of mobilizations worldwide, The
Battle of Seattle raises key issues of the moment: multiracial organizing
and alliance-building, honest discussion of tactical diversity, wariness of
rightwing forces and co-optation, and much more. As well, it properly locates
recent upsurges on the global stage, where they belong, rather than divided
by the borders of nation-states. With urgency and vitality, this collection
exhibits the very best of the latest wave of resistance--the courage, the critique,
and the commitment.
"
