Anti-WTO organizers say they want to stress issues, not confrontation

The "N30" anti-World Trade Organization demonstrations this week will seek to educate the public about issues that were overshadowed by the violence of last year's protests, Seattle organizers said.

Dale Hodges, who coordinated a series of press conferences Tuesday, said the WTO's "built-in" agenda often puts corporate priorities ahead of public interests.

"This event was planned because conversations begun last year need to continue -- without the distraction of police tear gas," he said. "Issues of globalization and how they affect trade, international farming and local cultures are not complex."

Echoing the statements of many of the speakers Tuesday, Hodges added: "The true issues around WTO and globalization are, in fact, devastating."

One of the speakers expressed concern that the organization's policies supersede national sovereignty.

"The events in Seattle of December 1999 put a bright spotlight on the World Trade Organization, its inner secretive workings and its record, which reveals that nations no longer have the sovereign right to make laws," said Sally Soriano, a self-professed WTO analyst.

"Now farmers in Europe, filmmakers in Canada, medical workers in South Africa and Mayan Indians in Chiapas all have very compelling reasons to build their own resistance to the WTO, and to connect up across borders in a new alliance for civil society."

Soriano said it was time to renew criticisms of the organization because "this system is not democratic and doesn't belong in democratic countries around the world."

Among other concerns, the speakers objected to the WTO's agriculture agenda, particularly its favorable stance on biotechnology.

"It's a mistake to focus our energy and resources exclusively on developing a global food system that has proved to be economically ineffective for farmers and consumers," said Zachary Lyons, director of the Washington State Farmers Market Association.

The activists will conduct public rallies tomorrow and Friday, the latter culminating in a mass filing of "claims for damages" at the city clerk's office for injuries suffered when protests at last year's WTO conference escalated into violence.

As many as 50,000 people protested the WTO last year. Violence by a few sparked confrontations with police that left parts of downtown in shambles. Some 500 people were arrested and property damage was estimated in the millions.

"This time we come together to hold our local government accountable," said Erica Kay of the Community Action Network. "They brutalized people. They arrested them. But more importantly, they intimidated them and they made them afraid."

Kay said lawyers sympathetic to the activists' cause will help claimants fill out the appropriate paperwork at a meeting slated for tonight.

A rally is scheduled for 3 p.m. tomorrow at Westlake Park downtown. The event, featuring food and music, is expected to last two hours.

At 11:15 a.m. Friday, a rally will be conducted at the corner of Third Avenue and Yesler Way, followed by the mass filing of claims at the Municipal Building on Fourth Avenue at noon.

"We may follow up with individual lawsuits, if that is necessary," Kay said.

Protester Scott McClay, who participated in a solidarity march with steelworkers on Dec. 1, 1999, said he and others were attacked outside the designated "no-protest zone."

"I was at Second and Stewart, on the sidewalk, and rounded the corner to head south on Second, when the armored car pulled into the intersection and without warning opened fire with a concussion grenade and rubber bullets," he said.

"I was hit four times in the back of the legs, suffering painful bruises. I also suffered from mild exposure to tear gas. Most importantly, these actions severely infringed my rights to free speech and assembly."

McClay said the march was "entirely peaceful" and that officers gave no indication they would open fire. He said he is not seeking personal gain through the filing.

"I am interested in holding the city accountable," he said.

Organizers of this year's rallies said they did not know how many people would attend. Police officials said they will be vigilant and plan mass arrests if protesters assemble unlawfully.