ABSTRACT
ON NOVEMBER 30, 1999, SOME 50,000 people converged on the rainsoaked streets of Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization (WTO). The organization’s critics represented a wide range of public interest groups, including the bulk of the American progressive movement. Among the demonstrators’ ranks were trade unionists, environmentalists, human rights activists, farmers, animal rights groups, priests and Buddhist monks, and longtime consumer advocates. Veteran activists as well as neophyte protesters marched in the streets. The demonstrators came from as many as 100 different countries. Together, this unlikely coalition of forces was about to make history.
