The 1999 Seattle WTO protests united ideologically diverse movements under plural justice

Evidence

I am reminded here of the news coverage surrounding the protests at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999. There, numerous groups from different contexts (labor, indigenous, environmental, north, and south) and with a variety of critiques (distribution, recognition, participation, and community functioning) came together in organizing large-scale and diverse events. Labor activists marched arm-in-arm with environmental activists dressed as sea turtles. Groups brought to the table, and to the streets, a variety of critiques of the injustices of the WTO specifically, as well as the economic model the organization represented. As I watched these events, my initial reaction was amazement that such diverse groups could plan, organize, teach, and protest together; this was a far cry from the ideological singularity defended by many protest groups in the 1960s and 1970s. And yet, watching the news coverage, commentators (when not blaming protesters for ‘rioting’) shook their heads and dismissed the protest groups for not having a single and coherent plan for global economic design; if they did not have a better, single, idea, the commentators inferred, their protest was useless and devoid of pragmatic meaning. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 611

Categorization

• XREF: Seattle 1999 as concrete case study of pluralism working at scale — usable as lecture example in Eco-Justice course. — connects to: A plural justice frame strengthens rather than dilutes movement cohesion — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 604; Seattle 1999 protests globalized critique of the Washington consensus — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 721; Global protest movements of 2011 coordinated through shared tactics against the 1 percent (+4 more)
• SHARE: Could share with a media-studies or social-movement-minded colleague who works on protest coverage.
• CANDY: Labor activists marching arm-in-arm with sea-turtle-costumed environmentalists is a vivid, tweetable image.

Broader Connections

• Seattle 1999 protests globalized critique of the Washington consensus #expands (0.92) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 721
• Transnational protest movements traded strategies and replaced pity with solidarity #corroborates (0.78)
• Global protest movements of 2011 coordinated through shared tactics against the 1 percent #qualifies (0.75)
• Collective racial subjectivity unified diverse movement demands at peak influence #corroborates (0.72) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 169
• Multicultural citizenship reconciles universal rights with minority particularistic claims #expands (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 830
• Post-1970 radical organizations of color grew from US-global racial policy linkages #expands (0.72)