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We Should Be There Right Now, But We're Writing These Dumb Headlines Instead

In one of the largest protests in recent history, tens of thousands are taking to the streets of Seattle today to demonstrate against the World Trade Organization, which officially launches four days of trade talks today. Some 2,000 protestors marched through downtown yesterday to proclaim their view that the WTO and its free trade policies […]

What the demonstrators are fighting for

SEATTLE, Wash. In the USA today, according to USA Today, the holiday shopping season opened with a 6.4 percent jump in sales from last year. The Labor Department reported that personal income rose at the fastest pace in more than five years last month. Donald Trump vowed to spend $100 million of his own money […]

Raj Patel, anti-WTO activist

Raj Patel has worked for both the WTO and World Bank, and is currently active in campaigns against them. He is based in Ithaca, N.Y., where he is a Ph.D. student at Cornell University and a co-editor of the Voice of the Turtle. Monday, 29 Nov 1999 SEATTLE, Wash. Seattle is a beautiful city, nestled […]

The Battle in Seattle

Last month The Economist ran a frustrated editorial wondering why environmental groups would picket the upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle. The headline read “Why Greens Should Love Trade.” Actually greens see no particular reason either to love or hate trade. They don’t share the religious beliefs of economists, who love trade as […]

Who Am I? And What Am I Fueling Here?

Where to go for the word on the WTO

216.122.30.133/wto This exhaustive calendar lists all the action in Seattle. www.worldtradeobserver.org The World Trade Observer provides daily coverage of the events in Seattle and includes magazine-style articles, as well as a very good list of links to other news resources. www.tidepool.org/id.wto.html Tidepool’s WTO coverage includes well-organized links to news articles and other online resources. thenation.com/1999/991206.shtml […]

Giving Unfair Trade a Shake

Delegates to the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle will be met by as many as 50,000 protesters from all around the world. WTO advocates seek to dismiss the protestors as anti-trade extremists who want to turn back the clock on human progress. In truth, the vast majority of the protestors will be coming from […]

There's a Place in France Where the Mad Protestors Dance

Some 5,000 environmentalists, farmers, and other French citizens marched through Paris on Saturday to demand that the World Trade Organization put people before profits at its ministerial meeting that begins in Seattle tomorrow. Activists in Seattle have already picked up the torch and begun demonstrating, holding rallies, and attending teach-ins. More than 50,000 protestors are […]

Whales Get a Really, Really, Really Big Sanctuary

France, Italy, and Monaco on Thursday created the first whale sanctuary north of the equator, an area in the Mediterranean Sea twice the size of Switzerland. Thirteen cetacean species live in the area for some portion of the year, including fin, pilot, and sperm whales and four dolphin species. The three nations signed a treaty […]

Dry Me a River

More than half of the world’s major rivers are polluted or are going dry, according to the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century, which is meeting at The Hague, Netherlands. The degradation of waterways and surrounding river basins threatens the health and livelihoods of people who depend on rivers for drinking water, irrigation, […]