Who's Streets? Their Streets!

World Trade Organization and its Allies:

World Trade Organization: The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international, intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade. The WTO was founded in 1995 and 123 nations originally made it up. It is the largest intentional economic organization in the world. The WTO deals with regulation of trade in goods, services, and intellectual property between participating countries. Once these policies are determined, they are approved by representatives from respective countries and taken back to their home countries for their national assemblies and parliaments to vote upon¹.
Seattle Police Department/Washington State Patrol/Washington National Guard: The police department of the city of Seattle and the other state security apparatuses. Responsible for being the direct line of defense for delegates attending the World Trade Organization meeting at the Convention Center on November 30th, they were also tasked with maintaining law and order during the protests that occurred that day as well. The actions that were taken by higher command as well as individual officers are summarized in the After Action Report that was released following the event².
City of Seattle (Government): The city government was headed by Mayor Paul Schell who was an ally of the progressive Democrats, many of whom found themselves allied with the AFL-CIO. The main goals of the Schell administration was the keep the city under control during the conference and assure the delegates safety while not suppressing the free speech of protesters. This came as a major challenge, especially after most control was relinquished to the police and state security apparatuses after a state of emergency was declared and the decision was made to make protest illegal in the areas surrounding the conference center³.

Opponents of the World Trade Organization:

Direct Action Network: A loosely assembled network of environmental and human rights organizations from the surrounding area that made it a goal to shut down or otherwise interrupt the World Trade Organization conference. Formed earlier that year, the network decided to use the mostly non-violent tactic of blockading the convention center, however individuals acted on their own in the face of police repression. The organizers made use of cellphones, portable computers, PalmPilots and hand held radios to coordinate tactics and movement throughout the protest, making it some of the first incorporation of technology into a protest in US history⁴.
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations: The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union and the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of fifty six separate unions. Formed in 1955 from an active merger of the AFL and CIO which opperated independently since the turn of the 20th Century, the organization fosters activism and political involvement from workers in their represented unions. The main goal of the organization was to sway public policy during the conference⁵.
Black Bloc: A group of protesters who's preferred tactic of disruption during the protests was direction action through property destruction. Their views and goals are more clearly laid out in the N30 Black Bloc Comminque released after the event⁶.

¹ - Cockburn, Alexander, and Jeffrey St. Clair. Five days that shook the world: seattle and beyond. London: Verso, 2001. pg 9

² - Seattle Police Department: The Seattle Police Department After Action Report: World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference Seattle, Washington November 29 – December 3, 1999.

³ - Cockburn, Alexander, and Jeffrey St. Clair. Five days that shook the world: seattle and beyond. London: Verso, 2001. pg 9 pg. 23

⁴ - Ibid, pg 14

⁵ - Arquilla, John and David Ronfeldt. Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2001. pg 3

⁶ - ACME Anarchist Collective, N30 Black Block Comunique, ACME Anarchist Collective Publishing, Eugene, Oregon, 10:48am Sat Dec 4 1999