Working Group on Environmental Justice With support from the Harvard University Provost's Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration, the University Committee on Environment and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research James Hoyte and Timothy C. Weiskel                    Program Directors   http://ecojustice.net

• Selected Associated Press Coverage
• Calm has returned to the streets of Seattle following several days of sometimes violent protests during World Trade Organization talks there. Police have arrested more than 500 people after the start of the talks was disrupted by protestors who are concerned about the effect global free trade has on human rights and the environment.
• President Clinton on Wednesday continued to defend the concept of free global trade. But at the same time, he expressed respect for the non-violent people who showed up in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization.
• Lawyers representing the W.T.O. protesters accused the police of heavy-handed behavior and claimed their rights to legal representation had been violated.
• Police on Wednesday arrested dozens of demonstrators who tried to block roads in the city center. Tight security is in place for U.S. President Bill Clinton's address to the world trade talks in Seattle which have been marred by violent protests. Authorities don't want a repeat of the sort of disturbances that delayed the opening of the organization's conference.
• Police dressed in riot gear fire tear gas at protesters in an attempt to clear the streets of Seattle before President Clinton's arrival early Wednesday.
• W.T.O. Director General Mike Moore claims the Seattle conference will be a success despite the protests and rioting that erupted throughout the day on Tuesday.
• Almost 40 people have been arrested following  violent clashes between riot police and anti-capitalist demonstrators in London called to mark the opening of the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle.
• Police fired red pepper gas at protesters demonstrating against the World Trade Organization in Seattle on Tuesday. But not before the thousands of protesters had managed to achieve one of their aims — to disrupt the opening ceremonies of the 135-nation trade group. Two hours after the opening speeches were supposed to have commenced, the reception hall was largely empty.
• President Bill Clinton said he is sympathetic to the demonstrators protesting against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. He told reporters before leaving for the conference on Tuesday that labor and environmental groups have a right to be heard on trade issues.

 
• International Forum on Globalization

       Selected Coverage through WTOWatch.Org
• WTOWatch Reports on the "International Forum on Globalization" (IFG) Teach-in on "Economic Globalization and the Role of the World Trade Organization- 26 November 1999. Seattle Washington.  [Entire Program - Continuous]
• Jerry Mander
• Maude Barlow
• Susan George
• Martin Khor
• John Cavenagh
• Vandana Shiva
• Lori Wallach
• Ralph Nader . Nader addresses an audience on the subject "WTO, Corporate Control and the Ravaging of the Countryside." [Recorded 12/2/99. Running time 8 minutes.]
• Global Village or Global Pillage? A new video documentary exploring what the global economy means for ordinary people -- and how ordinary people are responding. Narrated by Edward Asner. [Running time 26 minutes.]

 
• International Forum on Globalization

       Debate in Seattle on the WTO -- Pro & Con
• A Public Debate on Globalization and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Tuesday, November 30, 7:30 PM Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle

Webcast by The Progress Project.
• WTO Debate - entire 2 hours 3 minutes
• WTO Debate Segments -  Beginning with Jerry Mander, followed by John Cavanah (anti-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  David Aaron - Undersecretary of Commerce (pro-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Vandana Shiva (anti-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Scott Miller - Proctor and Gamble (pro-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Ralph Nader (anti-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  David Arron's Response to Ralph Nader (pro-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Jagdish Bhagwati (pro-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Vandana Shiva's response to Jagdish Bhagwati (anit-WTO)
• WTO Debate Segments -  Debate Exchanges

 
• National Public Radio

       Summary Coverage and Commentary
• World Trade Organization -- At the end of a rocky, contentious and protest-filled week in Seattle, the World Trade Organization has failed to launch a new round of global trade talks. As NPR's John Ydstie reports, there was no shortage of opinions about why the talks failed. (5:30)Saturday, 4 December 1999.
• State of Seattle -- Though the "Battle of Seattle" raged on with millions of dollars in damage done to downtown Seattle and more than 500 protestors arrested, for the most part, things are beginning to return to normal. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports. (5:30). Saturday, 4 December 1999.
• Week in Review -- NPR's Senior News Analyst Dan Schorr reviews the week's news. (9:00) 

 
• WBUR - Boston

       Related Programs on The Connection
         (in reverse chronological order - Click speaker to hear program)
• After Seattle. We haven't seen political protests here on the Seattle WTO scale since the 1960s, but it's worth remembering that Woodstock signaled the end of a social movement, not the beginning.

       The real question coming out of Seattle is whether the energy and spirit of global activism will grow or dissolve. It's just possible that the activists have tasted enough blood this week to keep up the momentum. President Clinton, after all, shocked the trade world and his own negotiators last week by saying that the word on the street is important and that we should be listening to it.
       He's certainly listening. He said trade agreements should protect labour and environmental standards, and he denounced the secrecy of WTO machinations. A Clinton push for this controversial agenda would signal an important victory for NGOs in a realm previously ruled by an exclusive cabal of finance ministers. (December 6, 1999).
• The Argument For Free Trade. Outside the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle this week activists are chaining themselves together and lying down in the streets in an enormous act of civil disobedience.

       They managed to delay the opening ceremonies despite the fact that Seattle police fired red pepper gas into the crowd. They're 50,000 strong and having an effect on newspaper headlines and public consciousness, if not on the WTO. They come from all walks of life and myriad perspectives, but they're all asking one basic question: free trade at what price? (December 1, 1999).
• Era of Non-Governmental Organizations The real news of the WTO summit in Seattle this week is that NGO's have emerged as a force in global politics.

       It looks like a 60's-style street protest out there, but these rebels have research behind them, and dense networks of sponsors and kindred spirits in universities and labor unions. Fifty thousand activists from 87 countries will be trying to gum up the official meeting.
       They connect farmers from India with Mexican Zapatistas, teamsters from Tennesee, African AIDS activists, American consumer advocates, and many more. They represent a grassroots global movement to confront global money on human rights, environmental safety, economic equality, democracy and development.
       They've reset the table in Seattle. Can they create a civil world society? (November 30, 1999)
• The World Trade Organization Forget Y2K, the real action this year happens a month earlier in Seattle. That's when the World Trade Organization holds its third ministerial meeting.

       Ministers and meetings may not sound as interesting as a power grid crash, but in this so-called "Millenium Round" the WTO will start to set the agenda for the coming century - what that agenda should be, though, is a contentious question. Free traders say global commerce is the wave of the future, and Charles Derber says we need a strong WTO to regulate it.
       Activists, though, say the WTO throws environmental and human rights concerns out the window. They cite the three B's - bananas, beef and Burma - to prove it. In these three cases the WTO ruled against small farm production, forced Europe to buy hormone-fed cattle, and denied a state the right to choose its business bedfellows - all trouncing traditional ideas about sovereignty. (October 27, 1999).
 
• Living on Earth - Post Seattle Debate

Steve Curwood, host. The recent collapse of the World Trade Organization negotiations in Seattle, and the accompanying violent and nonviolent protests, mark a historic turning point in the annals of global politics. Joining me to assess the aftermath of the WTO summit are Carl Pope and Jonathan Adler. Mr. Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, went to Seattle to protest. Mr. Adler is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and a supporter of free trade. What do you think? Did these trade talks collapse of their own weight, as some have suggested?

• FreeSpeech.Org Coverage.
• The Progress Project Coverage of WTO meetings and other resources in its "Speaker Series," especially "The WTO Debate" -- the International Forum on Globaliztion debate.
• Other Resources
 
• See particularly, the web sites listed at: http://gatt.org for further resources on international trade, GATT, the WTO and Seattle.
• FAIR Coverage. From WWW.FAIR.Org -- Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting.

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