THE WTO -- Crunch time?(1999 World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, WA)

To Seattle!

By the time you read this, the 'protest of the century' will be in full swing

It's enough to scare the pants off Seattle's trade-pushers. Early this month, hundreds of non-governmental organisations and tens of thousands of individuals will gather in the city for the biggest ever protest against global free trade. The demonstration, timed to coincide with the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) third ministerial meeting, is being described as "the Protest of the Century."

Groups of every persuasion are planning to descend on Seattle between November 29th and December 3rd. American steelworkers, Greenpeace campaigners, students, Mexican sweatshop workers, Indian farmers... they'll all be there. And on the fringes of the meeting, the International Forum on Globalisation (IFG) will be holding an alternative two-day teach-in. The list of speakers at their event includes Maude Barlow, Susan George, Martin Khor, Walden Bello, Helena NorbergHodge, Vandana Shiva, Jeremy Rifkin, Anita Roddick, Andrew Kimbrell, Owens Wiwa, and a great many more.

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