On November 30^th it will have been 10 years since the Battle of Seattle. Back then over 50,000 protesters blocked World Trade Organization talks. A global justice movement was growing that said they had had enough of environmental devastation, consumerism, poverty, unfair trade, the outsourcing of jobs, downsizing, etc. At the heart of the movement was the quest to take back control of democracy from corporations. What is the Battle of Seattle’s legacy?

Two events killed the movement. First was 9/11. This event shifted the focus from global justice to war. The US government also used the power and fear of 9/11 to smoke out dissent. People were scared to protest.

The final nail in the coffin in the movement was the Iraq War. In March of 2003, the world witnessed the largest world protest in history. Millions protested around the world to speak out against the US invasion of Iraq. In Calgary there were 10,000 who came out in protest, an unimaginable number of people for Calgary. The US invaded anyway. Instead of the peace protests getting larger like they did against the Vietnam War, they peaked at the beginning and then collapsed. For example in Calgary, in April of 2003 only 200 came out in protest.

There were a couple of other reasons the movement faded. Many in the movement were the product of the late 1980s and early 1990s recession. They were angry. Their families had been devastated by the recession. Many students graduating university were unable to find decent paying jobs.

By 1999 though, casino capitalism was at its height. The stock market (especially dot.com stocks) was skyrocketing, jobs were plentiful, and the money was a flowing. With this, young people were opting to join the job market rather than helping the movement grow further.

To add insult to injury, many of those protesting eventually ‘grew up’ and got a job (sometimes even a corporate one), and moved to the suburbs with the kids and the mini-van in tow. They did it cool, for they had tattoos to prove it. Just like the 1960s movement, the global justice movement in the 1990s was co-opted and many became what they previously hated. Mind you, many of those who kept on fighting are battling depression and are hallow shells of their former selves.

Noami Klein’s book ‘No Logo’ captured the beliefs and protests of this movement. It is also the tenth anniversary of ‘No Logo’ too. For someone like myself who was immersed in mainstream culture with a feeling that something was wrong, but couldn’t verbalize it, ‘No Logo’ was a Godsend.

This book in particular broke down the power of advertising. Corporate advertisers, like they did with the 1960s movement, co-opted the 1990s movement. The book ‘Rebel Sell’, written by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, encapsulated this. It was not a revolutionary statement, but just cool to wear a Che Guevara T-Shirt. Even Blockbuster had an advertisement showing disgruntled customers marching down the street protesting late fees.

Sadly the only real result that came out of the 1990s movement here in North America was greenwashing. Corporate social responsibility and green products are still all the rage. Unfortunately though, debt filled, mindless, and destructive consumerism keeps on chugging. You just feel better about it now. As Naomi Klein said recently though, you can’t shop your way out of this problem.

Capitalism has adapted and held onto its power. The result is that democracy is as powerless as ten years ago. This is even after the most recent financial meltdown. Citizens are still comfortably numb.

With global warming and peak oil, our world is going to be considerably altered in the next two decades. Will citizens rise up and democratically create a sustainable and more equitable society or will we stand by and let corporations take us over the cliff? How many more chances do we have left?