Searching for 1999 Seattle WTO protest info for an article I'm writing

[lynnertic]

Hi,

JUST FOR FUN I write a weekly column on my blog called "The Friday Protest Song" and this week I featured Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's OHIO, written by Neil Young.

I wrote about the audio recording that Alan Canforna released this month, giving an order to fire. I went on to describe current episodes of police brutality and excessive use of force against unarmed/peaceful protesters.

I'm looking for the last bits of information to link to, that would support and expand upon statements in my article, because I'm that much of a noodge.

It's at http://www.lynnernet.com/collette -- all I need is a link to (1) a timeline of the 1999 WTO protests and subsequent civil lawsuit (if it's around) and (2) a YouTube/Google Video documentary I once saw which showed the Seattle police illegally targeting and videotaping protesters.

Any help would be appreciated! I've included my essay below:

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: Ohio
May 18, 2007 on 10:44 pm | In Friday Protest Songs | No Comments

The Friday Protest Song for May 18, 2007
Kent State University, May 4, 1970: “Right Here! Get Set! Point! Fire!”

(Alan Canfora waves a black flag as he faces the men who will shoot him) Neil Young wrote Ohio in 1970 after seeing photographs of the Kent State massacre in Life magazine, weeks after members of the Ohio National Guard fired upon a lawful and peaceful anti-war demonstration.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded the song live and Atlantic records rushed its release as a single. On the single’s cover was reprinted a section of the United States Bill of Rights that guarantees the right of people to peacefully assemble.

(Ohio single reprinted Bill of Rights) Despite being banned by AM radio at the time for its criticism of the Nixon administration, Neil Young’s condemnation and controlled rage became a call to action. Ohio explained to the country’s youth exactly what was at stake for them: not only did they need to fear being drafted and killed in Vietnam, but they had to fear for their lives at home, as well. This song helped galvanize the counter-cultural movement, and set up Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as spokespeople for the entire boomer generation.

Guardsmen were brought to trial in 1974 and acquitted of all charges by a judge, not a jury. 37 years after the shooting, survivor Alan Canfora released a copy of a recording that he says captured an order to fire. You can listen to it yourself, here. (mp3 - you may want to save to your hard drive first). I hear it.

The original reel-to-reel tape recording was made by classmate Terry Strube, who keeps it in a safe-deposit box. It is the only known uninterrupted recording of all 13 seconds of gunfire, where Guardsmen fired 67 shots upon fellow countrymen, killing four and injuring nine. Some of the students were not protesters, but caught in crossfire while walking to class.

Americans haven’t learned the lessons we should have learned from Kent State. Our police forces are still allowed to brutalize civilians with little or no ramifications. Just this month, on May 1, 2007, the Los Angeles police department “roughed up, to put it mildly” participants of a demonstration calling for immigration reform as well as the press covering the demonstration. In November 2006 UCLA guards repeatedly tasered a student (warning! this is very difficult to watch!) who refused to produce ID on command, in front of his classmates, who did little more than pull their cameraphones out to record the event. The immediate response from UCLA was to produce their policy which stated that guards had permission to taser students engaging in passive resistance. Earlier this year the City of Seattle was found guilty and penalized $1M in a class action lawsuit brought by a group of protesters victimized by police during a 1999 WTO demonstration.

It’s time to remember our rights and band together to stand up for them. Lyrics and audio are available after the jump.

Continue reading Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: Ohio…