Making Other Worlds Possible: The Battle in Seattle in World-Historical Context

Abstract

The protests against neoliberal globalization at the 1999 ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization were significant because they represented the first large-scale resistance gaining wide visibility among a global public. The fact that the WTO ministerial was taking place in "the belly of the beast" increased its visibility and significance. It was far from the first mass protest against globalized capitalism, and it wasn't the most global in its representation. Nevertheless, it disrupted the idea that "there is no alternative" to the neoliberal agenda, encouraged dissent from governments in the global South, and created space for critical debates about the downsides of economic globalization. For the global left, it helped focus energy and inspire hope for a different kind of globalization. Seattle thus launched a movement-building process that gave birth to the World Social Forums, which in turn advanced new movement relationships and organizing that continue today. This article describes initiatives that have developed in the wake of the Battle in Seattle, illustrating how that protest episode contributed to ongoing movement learning and mobilization that fuels popular efforts to make other worlds possible. Preface/StandpointThe following account of the global justice movement is shaped by my social position, experiences, and analyses I've been able to develop through engagement with other participants, observers, and analysts. I'm a veteran of the Battle in Seattle and other protests at sites of global trade negotiations in Prague, Quebec City, and Washington DC, where I participated in street protests as well as many convenings of activist groups to develop analyses of globalization and refine the tactics and strategies of the movement. The rapid sequencing of protests meant that I encountered some of the same organizations, networks, and strategies and witnessed the learning that happened as activists discussed ideas about strategy and vision and confronted their many differences. By early 2001, these conversations led to an emerging consensus that mass protests at the sites of inter-state negotiations was not productive or sustainable, and that our movements needed a new approach if we were to sustain the momentum the Seattle protest helped launch.It was then that the call for participation in the World Social Forum meeting in Porto Alegre captured the imaginations of many thousands of global justice activists and provided a space for movement-building as well as resistance to neoliberal globalization. We were not merely protesting the global capitalist project. We were gathering to change the conversation and focus our energies on the projects and organizing work we knew was necessary not just to stop the destructive forces of capitalism, but to enable the birth of a unified movement for a different global system. Participants saw a direct link with Seattle's verbalization of a global "No" to the neoliberal project. The WSFs became a space for movements to articulate alternatives. That the first...

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