Gallery Guide for "Globalize THIS! International Graphics of Resistance"

              16 | P a g e
The WTO holds meetings at least once every two years, and its Third Conference was held in
November 1999, in Seattle. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people gathered in the pouring rain to
protest the unfairness of the WTO’s free trade policies. The demonstrators included human
rights groups, students, environmental groups, religious leaders, labor rights activists and
others wanting fairer trade with less exploitation. While the majority were non‐violent, a small
group started some violence and looting that caused the Seattle police and National Guard to
declare a state of emergency. This led to the issuing of curfews, arrests, tear‐gassing, pepper
spraying and even shooting stun grenades and rubber bullets at innocent, non‐violent
protesters. Over 600 people were arrested. The following week, the Seattle Chief of Police
resigned. On January 30, 2007, a federal jury found that the city of Seattle had violated
protesters' Fourth Amendment constitutional rights by arresting them without probable cause
or hard evidence.
Prior to the "Battle of Seattle," there was almost no mention of "anti‐globalization" in the U.S.
media, and the protests are seen as having forced the media to report on why anybody would
oppose the WTO. Similar tactics, on the part of both police and protesters, were repeated at
subsequent meetings of the WTO, IMF/World Bank, Free Trade Area of the Americas, and other
international organizations, as well as at the 2000 and 2008 Democratic and Republican
National Conventions in the U.S. To ensure that the next WTO conference would not be
disrupted, it was held in Doha, Qatar in 2001. In March 2012, the Obama administration
announced that the May 2012 G‐8 conference would not be held in Chicago as planned, but at
Camp David. Many in the press believe that this decision was made to avoid potential protests
by the Occupy movement.
56
No WTO! Troops Home Now!
Mona Caron
Jason Justice
Direct Action to Stop the War
Offset, 2003 / Oakland, California
The solidarity protest announced in this poster was held in Richmond, California, to coincide
with the 5th WTO Conference in Cancun, Mexico, starting the next day. During the WTO's
opening day, a South Korean farmer, Kun Hai Lee, committed ritual suicide to protest the
organization's agricultural policies. Witnesses said Lee stood in front of police lines, declared
that "the WTO kills farmers," and then slashed himself to death with a blade. His suicide came
on South Korea's Day of the Dead.
57
Forge the Resistance
Leon Kuhn
Digital Print, 2009 / London, United Kingdom
Note that this poster demands OCCUPY more than two years before the Occupy Movement
began.
58
Stand with Wisconsin
Wisconsin AFL‐CIO
Offset, 2011 / Wisconsin
In February 2011, the Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, launched