The Battle of Seattle
Alec Hageman
BIS 331 A
Professor Gustafson
Living Memory Project
7/29/2025
Abstract
The Battle of Seattle or the WTO protests of 1999 occurred as tens of thousands of people flooded downtown Seattle. They were part of major unions and other environmental and social justice groups. They were protesting the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of that year which prioritized globalization and some to extent deregulation, and the standardization of looser of labor laws. This is important to explore because it is a big event that is relatively unknown and undiscussed; it is also important to reflect on as a critical juncture of leftist protests against global neo-liberalization; and media was used by some to depict and twist the perception and memory of this event. In this essay there will be an interview with Susan Peterson, a King County resident and someone who worked in the central business district of Seattle at the time and had some limited in person experience. I will ask here about where she heard about it, how perspective on the event both in person and via the news of the time. In this 1,000-word essay which is accompanied by a work-cited page I will investigate these events.
The 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests—also known as The Battle of Seattle—is an important point in history. It was a shift in the police response to protests leading to greater militarization in the years to come. It was also an early example of online organization by various groups. This essay will interrogate the connection between the media’s portrayal of the event and the sentiment that the protests were more violent than they really were.
On November 30th, 1999, tens of thousands of protesters descended upon downtown Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference taking place in the convention center. This was a diverse group of people that were protesting everything from wildlife protection—some were dressed up as turtles—to labor rights and trade liberalization, all of which were under threat by what might be agreed upon at the conference. Despite being largely non-violent over 500 protesters were arrested (McFarlane 2003). Interviewed for this article is Susan Peterson who not only was witness to the news of WTO protest but also worked in the downtown and saw some of it in-person from her office.
This media bias can be seen in the earliest articles. For example in the BBC article by Paul Reynolds (1999), the first few paragraphs focus solely on the damage and militarized response:
An American city - and one which prides itself on its liberal lifestyle - is under a state of "civil emergency", with a night curfew in the downtown area around the Convention Centre where the WTO delegates meet.
The concrete bunker that is the Centre is guarded day and night by riot police and the national guard. The streets around are almost deserted of ordinary people. Roadblocks control the entry points.
The shops are boarded up… This is Fort Seattle.
Here the author focuses on the ‘civil emergency’ and the curfew. Later they mention the ‘concrete bunker’ of the centre is being guarded and that the streets are deserted of ‘ordinary people.’ Later the article does provide a balanced outlook of the events but it is the first impression this article provides to the reader which may distort their worldview into the protests being more violent than they really are. Another article by the Guardian is titled: “State of emergency in Seattle.” This title further distorts the truth and focuses on emergency and brings focus to the few militant protesters.
Seattle authorities declared a state of emergency and called out National Guard troops after the first day of the World Trade Organisation was disrupted by anti-free trade activists…
Police fired tear gas and red pepper spray at roving bands of protesters throughout the day and well into the night. The goal after dark appeared to be clearing out a huge safety zone around the WTO sites and the hotel where the US president was staying.
The article dives directly into the state of emergency and the deployment of National Guard troops. Very soon later they point out the tear gas and pepper spray used and the fact that they were clearing out a ‘safety zone’. All of which implies a particular violence set about by the protesters. As can be seen in both articles is the portrayal of an elevated response and in the Guardian article there is not anything given to the experiences of protestors or their demeanor in the protests further strengthening the story around the police and National Guard response.
Susan Peterson was there for those four days of the conference and protests. She worked on Union Street, just a few hundred feet from the convention center. She didn’t know about the protests until she saw them from her office building. When she got home what she saw on tv was different than what she saw in person,
There was definitely a focus on the… more violent activities that, um, were going on. Um, or maybe I should say the response to the violent activities. Um, I remember seeing a lot of shots of, uh, the police, um, doing crowd control by shooting off, um, tear gas canisters and the tear gas floating around…
This distortion is in opposition to what she saw on the ground:
I walked out of my building and the protests were going on, as I said, about half a block, and I walked through the plaza, skirting the area where the protests were, uh, which was not difficult. It was very easy for somebody who wasn't involved. To just walk through and not feel in danger or. Um, as if I was going to be sucked into any riot or anything like that, I smelled the tear gas. But it was distant enough that it didn't bother me.
The interview with her is insightful. While the news, especially the TV news as can be seen in how the Kiro 7 documentary entitled " Four Days in Seattle The 1999 WTO Riots” which focuses immediately on protesters lighting things on fire and smashing windows: ‘…the sound of anarchy’ (0:29, KIRO). Whereas in Mrs. Peterson’s personal experience it was significantly more subdued than it was portrayed in the media which clearly shows the news outlets distortion of the story and alteration to the collective memory of the event.
The news shapes our views of the world. As this country becomes more politically divided and protests become more common it grows increasingly important to critically analyze the news we consume. News outlets are increasingly owned by corporations tied to powerful oligarchs which further distorts our outlook on why people are protesting and if they are peaceful or just violent rabble (Vinton). So, it is in our best interests to check multiple sources and be wary as we struggle to stay informed in this modern age especially when it shapes our memories of the past.
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