Message overrides rubber bullets at WTO event in Seattle

Pamela Sparr had to avoid tear gas and rubber bullets shot by Seattle police to reach her hotel after attending a Nov. 30 event related to the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting.

But Sparr, an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, was less concerned about her safety than the possibility that sporadic outbreaks of violence and the police response would receive more attention than the concerns about WTO policies and procedures.

The excitement, she said, is in finding such diverse groups of people - ranging from Korean farmers to women from Finland to labor union members to clergypersons - "out in such cooperative force in terms of showing their concern about the WTO."  Sparr spoke with United Methodist News Service in a Dec. 1 telephone interview.

In a Nov. 30 statement, the United Methodist Boards of Global Ministries and Church and Society expressed a chief concern that"current multilateral trade and investment agreements promote profits over the well-being of people and the planet."

According to the New York Times, representatives of more than 500 organizations arrived in Seattle in late November to protest WTO policies and conduct weeklong rallies, information sessions, discussions and marches.   Some also had vowed to disrupt the meeting of the WTO, a 135-nation Geneva-based trade group.

"The weekend was a series of teach-ins on the issues related to the WTO and also on alternative policies and programs that a variety of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) are either advocating for or are engaging in already," Sparr said.

The protesters represented a wide range of concerns, many of which centered on the plight of the poor and environmental issues.

Demonstrators did prevent U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and other speakers from reaching the WTO opening ceremonies on Nov. 30.  Sparr said she was not certain why police started dispensing tear gas during a morning march she participated in that day because she had not witnessed any violence nor heard of any violent incidents.

Later in the day, the situation grew more serious, and Sparr left a meeting early, around 6 p.m., in order to reach her hotel before a curfew was imposed.  Noticing police in full riot gear, she said she asked a policewoman where it would be safe to walk.  Before the woman could answer, a nearby policeman warned Sparr to leave immediately.

As she turned to go, the officers started throwing tear gas canisters into the area where a few protesters were walking by or standing with signs. "We all started running ... then the rubber bullets started," she recalled.

"The street had no violence. There was not even a crowd," Sparr said. She believes the police "just over-reacted," she said.

To escape the gas and bullets, she ducked into an alley and then made her way to her hotel.

The tension was in direct contrast to the night before.  "There was a very peaceful march on Monday evening regarding Jubilee 2000," Sparr said. "(First) United Methodist Church was packed to over-capacity."

An estimated 30,000 people participated in the march, according to the Jubilee 2000 organization, though other sources put the figure lower, at 15,000.  The march was organized to call on the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and wealthy creditor governments to cancel the debts owed to them by the world's poorest countries.

Sharon Maeda, a Board of Global Ministries executive, reported that the rally at First Church drew Christians of all denominations as well as Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Native American leaders.  The two hours of speeches, prayer, song and dance included a rendition of "  This Little Light of Mine" by Sweet Honey In The Rock, a musical group, and a speech by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

After the rally, participants and crowds waiting outside church marched nearly a mile down Fifth Avenue to the exhibition hall where the WTO delegates were having their opening reception.  United Methodist Bishop Elias Galvan of Seattle was among the marchers.  As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, an invited guest at the reception, delivered the Jubilee 2000 message to the WTO delegates inside, the marchers formed a human chain around the hall and adjoining stadium complex.

Jubilee 2000 has called on WTO delegates to use their influence to secure their governments' support for debt cancellation.  Without debt relief, the poor countries will never have an equal place in negotiations on global economic issues, the organization has said.