How Anti- Globalization Activism prevailed during the “Seattle Riots”

November 30, 1999 a coalition of anti- Globalization protesters gathered in Seattle to rally against the 5 day World Trade Organization Summit (Click here to read their criticisms) of world leaders in accordance to Direct Action Network's plan. This protest was depicted in most of the mass- media as a violent hypocritical assault against the city of Seattle and a failed attack on capitalism by "causists and all-purpose agitators."

The mainstream media painted the protesters in a light of destruction and disobedience, disregarding the majority of peaceful protesters and failing to recognize the true message of the movement. Most of the mainstream news was tactful in reinforcing public stereotypes of the activist, as destructive, socialist hypocrites without a clear understanding of the issues at hand.

The reality of the 5- day event was quite the contrary as the majority of protesters were comprised of national/ international NGOs, student groups, religious groups and a number of labour unions. ‘News accounts “reinforce established power structures and value hierarchies” in the process of constructing a social reality.’

The protesters were a legitimate threat to corporate America and therefore most news outlets were prompted to breakdown their public representation as to not promote support for their cause, anti- capitalism is perhaps the most feared in rhetoric in Western society.

With this being said, thanks to independent media sources like Democracy Now, activists from the riot were prompted to compile actual footage and documentation of their own accounts in regards to the riots which ultimately told a very different story than, that which was promoted by mass media outlets.

The most famous documentation turned out to be a documentary entitled “This is What Democracy Looks Like” which was posted as a free documentary online through a number of sites including YouTube. Thanks to new forms of citizen media, the activists were able to fight back and disseminate ruling- class ideology that was inherent in the mainstream coverage of the protest. Sites like YouTube and a number of Blogs covering the protest provided activists with a voice to tell their side of the story directly from the action very progressive in comparison to the Vietnam Protests.