"Battle in Seattle" The Movie Wall Street Sharks Don't Want You To See Opens On Sept 19th

[Better Believe It]

Run time: 02:38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmQzw-O8eRY   Posted on YouTube: July 16, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 18, 2008 By DU Member: Better Believe It Views on DU: 1511

 
Hollywood made a movie the big moguls don’t want you to see—at least not in movie theaters. Instead, the big producers would love for it to go straight to DVD—maybe because the events it depicts show how union members and activists in the environmental, human rights and religious communities can successfully join together to challenge a bottom-line-only global economy.

The “Battle in Seattle,” which is being released in limited markets on Friday, tells the story of how those who came to Seattle in 1999 challenged the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial summit in Seattle, changing the course of history.

To find out what theater in your area is showing the movie, click here or call 1-866-758-1258.

http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/tickets/

---------------------------------------------------------

The movie is a full-length dramatic feature, telling the stories of a dozen fictional characters over those five days in Seattle that rocked the world. The stars include some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Andre Benjamin, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, Ray Liotta, Michelle Rodriquez and others. Although the film is not a documentary, it weaves in scenes from the actual demonstrations and features signs and actions of union members and other activists.

People around the world are protesting against a system that has no values, has no morals. It puts profit above everything else. Millions of people around the world are now saying no to that system. They are demanding another world that’s possible that includes human values: the right to work, dignity, the right to food, the right to clean water, clean air.

You have the power to ensure that a film about solidarity, the power of the individual, and a movement dedicated to global justice is seen by millions around the country.

Please read the entire article at:

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/09/16/battle-in-seattletell-hollywood-to-keep-it-in-the-movie-theaters

[Hestia]

1. Doubt it will show here in the boonies - [sigh]

the ONLY ill thing that came out Seattle in 1999, is the rise of Blackwater, free speech zones, etc. The cops have gone military since then.

[gateley]

2. I was there and I remember. And you're right. nt

[SeattleGirl]

3. I hate to sound a sour note here, but I have to say.....

I think that the MAIN instigators were the fucking "anarchists" that started defacing property, breaking windows, etc. Most of them didn't even know what they stood for. They just thought it would be fun to wreck havoc on what was going on.

I'm not saying the cops don't have some fault here; they absolutely do, because I think they used the fucking antics of the anarchists to turn on everyone who was there, the majority of whom were peaceful protesters.

It's been 9 years, but I am still angry about what they did to my city. I have lived here for nearly 30 years, and had never seen it assaulted like it was that day.

It felt as if someone had invaded my home, and completely trashed it.

I love my city, and I swear, if I ever see another fake-assed anarchist, I will personally gob-smack them from here to the state line.

[LostinRed]

4. Just saw Charlize Theron on the daily show

Movie looks great.

[Better Believe It]

5. Do You Also Support The Patriot Act?

And do you think we ought to "boycott" the movie?

It's interesting that you describe a tiny handful of protesters as the "main instigators" of the protest and let the cops off so lightly.

The cops were out of control and attack everyone, including the great majority of demonstrators who tried to exercise their right to protest government policies. And you defend the police attacks on peaceful protesters?

[PerpetuallyDazed]

6. Dude, the police love it

you know they were looking for ANY excuse to get violent. The little anarchists gave them that.

Who's saying anything about boycotting a movie??

[Better Believe It]

7. That's Better

The cops always look for an excuse for their rioting .... and if they can't find one they'll bash heads anyway!

[Hestia]

8. Exactly, but they were given a great amount of money to make sure

that Seattle never happened again. Was Miami before or after Seattle? It seemed like
Miami was after and 'they' really clamped down hard, visciously, there and the media
was nowhere to be found.

[SeattleGirl]

9. Excuse me, but did I say ANYTHING about boycotting it?

In fact, I wasn't talking about the movie; I was talking about my feelings about what happened that day, from the perspective of someone who calls Seattle home.

Your knee-jerk reaction seems typical of so many people on DU: Cops = BAD. Protesters = GOOD. Period. End of sentence.

Well, sorry, but it's not black and white. For the most part, the protesters were fabulous, and I absolutely support their right to protest government policies. I've gone to protests myself. However, do you think that the right to protest includes the "right" to destroy property? I don't. In fact, I think it defeats the purpose of the protest. People come away not remembering the message of the protest; that government policies are so often harmful to the people being governed. Instead, they walk away with scenes of violence, property destruction, etc. How does that do any good?

And as far as the cops go, I am NOT letting them off the hook. But as I said, I think the fucktard anarchists were the primary cause, or if you'd prefer, the primary excuse for the cops to do what they did. BOTH sides have responsibility in what happened. I'm not going to let those little freaks off the hook, any more than I am letting the cops off who went beyond the pale in what happened.

Oh, and no, I do not support the Patriot Act. Just because I don't want my city torn apart doesn't mean I support that piece of crap.

I don't know where you live, but if you've never had anything like this happen in your city, you can't possibly know what it was like here when that happened. So don't go telling me that I'm wrong in how I feel, or that I am supporting the violence of the cops.

[MinM]

13. "anarchists" or Agents Provocateurs?

It's been done before .. and recently:

Agents Provocateurs Deployed at SPP Summit

http://www.atlargely.com/2007/08/ils-mentent-mme.html

Mother Jones: There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole

At meetings, activists would later say, Sapone advocated taking illegal or violent action to advance the movement. She befriended a 33-year-old activist named Fran Trutt, who in November 1988 would be arrested for planting a remote-controlled pipe bomb near the parking space of US Surgical chairman Leon Hirsch. According to Trutt, on her way to carry out the bombing she lost her nerve and placed a call to Sapone, who convinced her to follow through with the plan—a fact that prompted activists to accuse Sapone of acting as an agent provocateur. (Another Perceptions International operative, Marcus Mead, drove Trutt to US Surgical on the day of the attempted bombing.)...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=printer_friendly&forum=102&topic_id=3423195

[SeattleGirl]

14. Anarchists, in this case.

Yeah, I know very well how the cops like to infiltrate protest groups and start trouble; no doubt about that.

But this is a group that I knew of before the Battle in Seattle; they are based in Eugene, Oregon, where I used to live. Primarily a bunch of younger kids (I'm in my 50's, so pardon me if I sound ageist; don't mean to), who think that stirring up trouble for a bunch of idiotic "ideals" is a totally kewal thing to do. They don't really have an actual "let's fight the corruption of government" agenda, like honest protesters do. They are just full of themselves, and think it's a kick to go around making trouble.

[avaistheone1]

16. Thanks for posting this.

This is the same stuff that was going down in the 1960s and 70s with government agent provocateurs creating problems and violence. COINTELPRO was the name of the operation.

[pnorman]

15. I was at Seattle Center that day, as part of the crowd of "official unionists".

We were all gathering for a rally at the stadium, prior to marching in an "approved" March of Unionists through downtown. I recall overhearing a nearby person relaying a message she had herd on her cell-phone: "They're gassing the people downtown, right now!" That was probably about 11 AM or earlier. I'm unable to establish a precise chronology, but it would appear that the cops were in full "Proactive Crowd Control" mode pretty early in the day, and were just WAITING for a single "provocation"! In retrospect, it would appear that we were deliberately kept in Seattle Center for at least an hour or so longer than scheduled, before being sent out in the streets.

PLEASE, don't blame the entire week's events, on the actions of a few "misguided?" anarchists! All in all, it was a GREAT week for the PEOPLE! I live in downtown Seattle (Belltown), and was able to observe much of the events from "close up".

pnorman
PS: That part about the Seattle Fire Department refusing to step in and turn the hoses on the people, is correct.

On edit: Here's a good Democracy Now! interview, about that film: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/18/battle_in_seattle_with_a_list

[SeattleGirl]

18. Oh, I'm not blaming everything on the few "misguided".

I thought that overall, before things went to hell in a handbasket, that it was a great event, a great week.

Please don't get me wrong. As I said in another post, while I do hold the cops responsible, I'm also holding the little shits responsible too. The cops were probably looking for an excuse, and the fucktards gave it to them.

[pnorman]

19. I had been making frequent postings of this "Battle in Seattle", on a listserve.

It was an "unofficial" one, and largely concerned my union. Below is what my friend and fellow union brother had posted there:

************************************************************************
Thanks for a great post, Paul!

I wish I had been there yesterday! I was hoping to see you at the Labor
Council on Wednesday. When I got there, I found the meeting cancelled, but
ran into some good brothers from the Inlandboatmen's Union, with whom I
headed down to the WTO teach-in at 1st Methodist.

Driving through downtown was WEIRD! Phalanxes of robo-cops everywhere.
Periodically we were able to see large crowds blocked by lines of cops a
block or two away. We (bunch of middle aged guys on wheels) were directed
through the downtown core without incident, and from inside the martial law
area we could see the WTO delegates going about their Christmas shopping
undisturbed by the local riff-raff. After all, the state and city put an army
at their disposal.

We had some chow with a crowd largely of Steelworkers from out of town, when
one of the IBU brothers got a call from an IBU member out at Sand Point, who
said that the 500 people arrested that morning were being held in buses at
the old Naval Station brig without food, water or access to toilet
facilities.

We organized a small trainload of bagels, bread, and water, and headed out.
Upon arrival, we found that, sure enough, the arrestees had been held on the
busses for thirteen hours, with nothing to eat or drink, or any way to
relieve themselves. We talked to the cops, who said that the arrestees
refused to be separated for "processing" (prudent!) and that they would be
fed when they did. They bluntly refused to let us pass out the food and water.

We stuck around till 1:00 AM, figuring that in the cops current mood, police
brutality was not beyond the realm of possibility, and that we should be
witnesses. About midnight, the police began moving the busses around the
building to the front door. They placed cops with rifles in a perimeter
around the busses, and proceeded to forcibly remove the demonstrators.

Unable to see or do anything, we left at that point. We know that they have
been taken to King County Jail, which has been surrounded by demonstrators
demanding their release since Thursday. Are they still there this morning,
Paul?

I got the word, late last night, that the WTO conference has ended without an
agreement!!!
Never doubt that that failure was not about specific trade or agricultural
issues. It was about exposing what these bastards are trying to do to the
clear light of day. The whole world was watching, and they COULD NOT present
us with an undemocratic fait accompli.

Any of you who saw those Asian delegates (from countries never specified) on
the news, bitching about what a disgrace it was that we could demonstate
against them with (relative) impunity, showed the true face of the WTO. In
their countries, interfere with the free movement of commodities and capital
in the name of silly ideas like labor standards, human rights and
environmental protection, and you will die, as so many have before.

This is a victory for every worker on God's green earth, brothers and
sisters, and it wasn't just our labor march (and damn sure not our nicey nice
behavior) that sent the pirates home empty handed. We made a difference, but
it was those tens of thousands of kids "pushing the envelope" that brought
the whole world to it's feet and made it take notice.

The question is, did we just "want to be heard at the table" as the media
kept saying about us, the "good" demonstrators? Or do we want to stop the
masters of the world from divvying it up with no regard for or livelihoods,
our rights, or the very air we breathe? If we are serious, we have to take
our allies where we find them.

We have given the WTO a major setback this week. We have shown that it can be
done. Now let's shut the bastards down
*******************************************************************************

pnorman

[cascadiance]

17. Anarchists is just like "Conspiracy theorists", and is a "trigger" label used against protestors...

... and others present at rallies now...

Now granted, there are some people that got out of hand, and that's not a good thing either. That happens in a lot of places, but the cops use that as an excuse to go after everyone. The cops foment this kind of behavior though when they behave like they did in St. Paul.

Look at what happened in St. Paul to I-Witness Video twice in an absurd fashion, when the cops steam-rollered over them in "preemptive" raids on "anarchists"... Numerous other rests on "anarchist" journalists there too...

http://iwitnessvideo.info/blog/109.html

St. Paul Police use bogus "hostage" claim to seek entry to I-Witness Video office

Thursday, 4 Sep 2008
by Eileen Clancy

At about 2:45 this past afternoon (Sept. 3), police wielding batons and a battering ram entered the professional office building on Selby Avenue in St. Paul where I-Witness Video is renting work space.

Geneva Finn, an attorney with the National Lawyer's Guild went to head off the police. After the police left, she made this statement at an impromptu press conference on the street:

A few minutes ago, one of our legal observers called me to the door. I saw the St. Paul police unloading a bunch of equipment from their cars and they saw me at the door. They saw me at the door, they motioned me forward. I came forward to their cars. They told me that they had reports that somebody was holding somebody hostage in the building, that there had been a kidnapping. They told me that somebody, an undercover had told them, that the anarchists were holding people hostage in our building.

I work for the NLG here, we have, we're working at one of our lawyer's offices, I said, "Is it in our law office?" They said "No, it's upstairs." They then came into the building with me, I showed them what was going on upstairs. They did a pull-up on the frame of I-Witness' door, looked in, saw that there was people in there, nobody was being held hostage. I then asked the police to leave, since no one was obviously being held hostage here, and they refused. Eventually their head sergeant came here, and decided that they could leave the building.

Anarchists taking hostages? Kidnapping?

...

[SeattleGirl]

20. Bzzzzzz! I'm sorry, but you are wrong in this instance.

I am talking about a specific group of people who have no true, good, agenda. They just want to make trouble. Believe me, not EVERY riot is started by the police.

Having said that, I know that a lot of them are.

But please, please, don't let yourself be hoodwinked by the other side either. (The "other" meaning people like the fucktard anarchists.)

I just want people to understand that, as I stated above in another post, all cops are NOT bad, and all protesters are NOT good (though I will say that the majority of the protesters in Seattle that week were indeed, good.)

[cascadiance]

21. I'm not saying that crazy anarchists or crazy conspiracy theorists don't exist...

... They do!

The point is, that you can't allow the government to use them as an excuse to go after and marginalize everyone else they label as such to stifle free speech and dissident thought. There's two really different issues here. Some of those people smashing windows in Seattle also might not have been "anarchists" either. They might have still believed in government, but were plants trying to "start trouble", for the very reason that the government will lump everyone together as I note here, and that others will swallow that line of bull too. It's been known to happen.

I'm not saying you should accept people trashing Seattle either. Heck, I'm probably very shortly going to move not far from there in Portland soon. But don't accept people all getting lumped together as "anarchists" without looking at who these groups of people committing this violence really are, not who they are labeled as such. There are other agendas at work here than the "anarchist troublemakers".

[jph wacheski]

10. Agent Provocateurs are very real,. .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

specificly;

"Three protesters in Montebello, Canada during the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America were accused of being police provocateurs on August 20, 2007, by Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The entire incident was filmed and posted on YouTube before being picked up by mainstream media. The video shows three masked men, one of whom was armed with a large rock, being confronted by peaceful protesters. One of the masked men spoke to police officers, and then all three pretended to breach the police line and were 'arrested.' Photographs revealed that their boot-tread matched that of the arresting officers. Although they at first denied that the individuals in question were agents provocateurs, the Sûreté du Québec issued a news release on August 23 admitting that the three protesters were, in fact, police officers."

This really happend,. and recently, this is not paranoia as many will tell you,. the gov. imediatly denied it however the video proved it and eventualy they admited it with out any real explination.
COINTELPRO is well documented, and I am sure many opperations of the last 8 years are not as yet reveiled,. altohugh many of us also see 9/11 and the majorty of so called 'terror' attacks as the same thing,. only on a much larger scale,. false-flag enginered events, yes used as terror, however not purpetrated my those blamed. 9/11 is the entire reason for the rise of the police state in america and around the world and the rise of milliterism and preemptive war as well,. . wake up.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. k+r, n/t

[WillyT]

12. Big K & R !!!

:kick: