In 1999 the World Trade Organization ministerial meetings were held in Seattle, where a wide array of activists and organizers gathered to protest the WTO’s efforts to roll back environmental standards, worker rights, and the autonomy of developing nations. After months of organizing and coalition-building, over 50,000 protesters took to the streets and, on November 30, 1999, brought the conference to a halt.

Protests against the 1999 World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, Seattle. Source: Public domain

As Democracy Now! reports,

Grassroots organizers successfully blocked world leaders, government trade ministers, and corporate executives from meeting to sign a global trade deal that many called deeply undemocratic, harmful to workers’ rights, the environment and indigenous peoples globally. On November 30, 1999, activists formed a human chain around the Seattle convention center and shut down the city’s downtown. Police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the mostly peaceful crowd. The protests went on for five days and resulted in 600 arrests and in the eventual collapse of the talks, as well as the resignation of Seattle’s police chief.

Police pepper spray nonviolence protesters during WTO protests in Seattle. Source: Public domain

While nonviolent protesters were met with extreme violence by the police, the 1999 WTO protests served as a springboard for further anti-globalization protests of the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and the IMF in 2000 and 2001.

In 2019, to commemorate 20 years since the “Battle of Seattle,” Democracy Now! interviewed Vandana Shiva and Lori Wallach, both of whom participated in the historic WTO protests. Watch the interview below.

Additional Resources

“How the Battle in Seattle Changed Everything” by David Moberg (In These Times)

“50,000 Protesters, Tear Gas — and Madeleine Albright Trapped in Her Hotel: How the 1999 WTO Protests Changed Seattle” by Jim Brunner (Seattle Times)

“The Power is Running: A Memoir of N30: Shutting Down the WTO Summit in Seattle, 1999” by Crimethinc

25 Fun or Otherwise Lesser-Known Facts to Mark the 25th Anniversary of the WTO Protests in Seattle by gabriel sayegh

Also, watch Breaking the Spell, an hour-long documentary that was filmed on the streets of Seattle during the protests. Watch the full documentary below.