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11-19-09 -- No end in sight for housing defaults, employers may not have free reign over your at-work emailing, and why you should leave the red and green sweater at home for this year's holiday party.

Up-to-the-minute news from around the world

Up-to-the-minute news from around the world

"Showdown in Seattle, 5 Days That Shook the WTO" part 2, Nov 30, 99 It was the opening day of the official proceedings. Activists were way better organized, and got up earlier than authorities had expected. Using multiple tactics, including the blockading of the streets leading to the meetings, activists managed to do what they had promised to do, which is keep the meetings from happening. Longshoremen shut down every port on the west coast, Seattle cab drivers went on strike, activists held their blockades and barricades, and 50,000 union members marched into the city center, hard hats, steel toed boots and all. Beyond physically stopping the meetings, the coalition which formed to stop the "Millennium Round" of the WTO scored a BIG political victory by putting the WTO and the problems with it in the minds of people and by really boosting and linking movements around the world. Watching this footage, which was captured and edited in the thick of the "Battle of Seattle" is fascinating, because 10 years later we know how the story turned out, and that the effort was way more successful than even the activists understood at the moment. The stories of how US Secretary of State Madaline Albright was stuck in her hotel room and couldn't get to the sites of the WTO meetings were not known to demonstrators on the ground. The stories of how the protests outside embolded Third World delegates inside the Ministerial meetings only came out later. The video coverage of that day, contained in part two of the 5 segments is remarkable for how similar it is to ANY large demonstration, and shows, in a way, how "mountaintop" moments are made. Indymedia Presents #371 features part 2 of the 5 parts series made 10 years ago in occupied Seattle. Part 3 will be in our next episode, #372, and so on.

Part 1 of "SHOWDOWN IN SEATTLE, 5 Days That Shook the WTO" (Nov 29, 1999) Ten years ago the WTO came to Seattle, the only American city with a statue of Lenin, and got run out of town. It was a moment legends are made of, but it was real life. Sixty thousand protesters, all in one way or another saying "shut it down," para-trouped in behind corporate lines, regrouping into alliances and affinity groups. They formed the legions of a political army, with all the division of labor any other army would have. It was "People, United," and they would NOT be defeated. They DID shut it down, physically and politically, internally, and perhaps eternally. The people stood up, not in some Obama music video, but in real life. Diversity of tactics and timing allowed the action to go on all week, and our side--people's army that it was--didn't abandon our casualties. In the end, the WTO, in disarray, asked the City of Seattle if they could please extend their stay by a day or so. The City said "No, leave as scheduled," and firmly ran them out of town. One good thing that came out of those times was the birth of the Seattle Indymedia Center (IMC). Before 1999 there was much less thought about going to the Internet to follow an event like a political uprising. The IMC cobbled together servers galore and a phat pipeline to the web. Even if Corporate America had wanted to cover the story of the opponents to the WTO, they couldn't have done so well. CBS or NBC might have one camera on the ground, and that most likely in with the dignitaries, but every gang and gaggle of activists likely included somebody who recorded it or reported it. Citizen journalism was alive, and even Corporate News turned to the IMC website for accurate reporting. An ad-hoc collaboration of some pre-existing video groups under the auspices of the IMC, gathered this footage and produced a daily video in a series called "Showdown in Seattle, 5 Days that Shook the WTO." Indymedia Presents #370, is Part 1 of that original series, produced Nov 29, 1999, a day of banner drops, debt drop, and raindrops, with a big show that night in the Seattle Center. Episode #371 of Indymedia Presents will be the second part in the 5-part series, and so on. We hope these original episodes can be useful in providing some deeper understanding of the issues, many of which have become mainstream, hidden in a sound-bite mention of the 10th anniversary of those days of action. In these 5 shows we can see a victory for the people and for people?s media. It was messy, but the WTO is still in shambles, while the IMC, with its collaborative model, went viral.

It was Wednesday, day 3 of WTO week in Seattle, and day 2 of the Ministerial meetings. Tuesday had been a disaster for the authorities on every level, as wave after wave of activists poured into the town like the Seattle rain that poured from the skies. The WTO had been shut down before it could even open and by Tuesday evening the National Guard had been called out, a large area in downtown Seattle had been designated a political free-fire zone, and public opinion had swung heavily against the WTO. Wednesday morning the world wondered whether things would settle down or what would happen next. One of the great strengths of the anti-WTO protests in Seattle in late 1999 was what later became known as "diversity of tactics." Different groups had taken different parts of the week to stage their activities, so that the movement always had fresh forces and a new focus to keep the pressure up. On Wednesday the Steelworkers held a permitted rally down on the waterfront. Other activists gathered in the Westlake area of downtown to challenge the legitimacy of the hastily declared "no-protest zone." Episode 3 of the 5-part "Showdown in Seattle" series is entitled "Occupied Seattle." It takes up the street battles of the day, but beyond that it brings to the screen a group little mentioned by most documentaries of the protests, the Filipino community. One of the contingents, numbering in the thousands, that marched in its own march into downtown Seattle on Tuesday was organized by a coalition of Filipino groups. They understood and were there to protest the effects of "neoliberalism" which is the term for what the WTO represents. Indymedia Presents #372 contains the third of five episodes of "SHOWDOWN IN SEATTLE" produced at the Seattle Indymedia Center during the week of protests. IP #370 was episode 1, IP #371 contained episode 2. We will soon post the final 2 episodes as IP #373 & 374. For a good but short definition of "neoliberalism" see www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376 Here's the short course: Economic liberalism is different from the political liberalism most Americans associate with the left. Conservative politicians who say they hate "liberals" -- meaning the political type -- have no real problem with economic liberalism, including neoliberalism. The main points of neo-liberalism include: 1. THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating "free" enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers' rights. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. 2. CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply -- again in the name of reducing government's role. Of course, they don't oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business. 3. DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminish profits, including protecting the environment and safety on the job. 4. PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. 5. ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or "COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as "lazy."

IBM is working on an artificial brain they think they'll have done by 2019. And we figure once that happens, the robots will rise and we will become your pets. And like cats we'll think that we're in charge. In other news, Modern Warfare 2 beats Harry Potter to a pulp, and Verizon and AT Map for That campaign goes to court today http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2009-11-18-att18_ST_N.htm Did feds uncover most successful Web scam ever? http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10399880-93.html T-Mobile says workers sold customer data http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10400213-245.html Microsoft: mobile apps aren t important http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/17/ms.ozzie.claims.mobile.apps.secondary/ Ordnance Survey maps to go online http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8366190.stm No More Yahoo Go for TV http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/18/yahoo_go_gone/ Computing rivaling human brain may be ready by 2019 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10400362-52.html VOICE MAIL Tone on MW2 Ben the Canadian gets pushy E-MAIL Hey Buzz crew.. Your discussion of social viewing on NBC.com s Communicator, had me yelling at my Zune HD, yes it looked wierd. Anyway, I was yelling because I do this on CBS.com now. CBS.com has watch and chat rooms on the site, in flash! I have some old college roommates and we are all NCIS, so when NCIS is showing in one of the rooms we make a point to head in to it, and chat about it. We like it! Last thing, about Rupert and paying for news, does he intend on putting his Cable news sites behind a pay wall? If not then this plan of his won t effect me since I get most of my news from the website of his cable channels..Although i do pay for the Wall Steet Journal online since it's cheaper than the Kindle edition of it. Love the Show, Stephen Charlotte, Nc PS Love my Sprint 4G! ********** Hey Buzz crew, Haven t listened to Ep. 1108 yet, so you may have reported on this already, but the town of Coshocton, Ohio has their Wifi back: http://consumerist.com/5407138/free-muni-wifi-back-after-mpaa-shut-it-down-for-1-download Consumerist links to this story: http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20091117/NEWS01/911170301/1002/Downtown-Wi-Fi-connection-back-on FYI: the town name is pronounced Cah shock ton. Keep on keepin on. Tim Dublin, OH. ********** Hi all in Buzzington, Several days ago you reported on that 60 minutes story about hackers taking down the Brazilian power grid. This report was later proven to be false. Well, maybe they were just telling the truth ahead of time. According to Slashdot, a group of hackers were inspired by the 60minute story and actually did hack into the Brazilian power operator using an SQL injection. It s times like these when I wonder if the world wouldn t be a better place if we all just kept our mouths shut. Love the show, JoshuaCaleb P.S. Don t know if caught my mention of it in the chat room yesterday Tom, but I finally got Digital City to introduce themselves .halfway through the show. ********** Hey Buzz Crew, I m writing regarding episode 1107 where Molly said she would be willing to pay for a great newspaper aggregatation service. I remember hearing about such a thing a couple of months ago at a site called pressdisplay.com . They have newspapers from all over the world including (for Tom) the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post and hundreds of others. Also, they have different subscription plans ranging from a pay as you read option to a monthly unlimited option. Just wanted to shed some light on this service for those who want to read the newspaper online. Love, the, show! Miguel in San Francisco. PS:They have a mobile site to access your subscriptions on your smartphone.

The original Obama Girl video - seen over 100 million times around the world!

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