Historic protest against global capitalism. We will speak to two of the leading critics of the wto Vandana Shiva and lori wallach who appeared together on democracy now 20 years ago in seattle. The wto constraints every country government about literally the level of food safety it can provide its public. The secrecy through which the wto was born and the fact that most parliaments had no idea what is the content of this treaty u until months after it d been ratified and signed. Amy plus, we look at the 20th anniversary of the birth of the indymedia move which grew out of the seattle wto protest. To find her own way to get our message out. We hope the information that has been presented you by the alalternative media is one that you will learn. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On capitol hill, the House Judiciary Committee will begin impeachment hearings next week into whether President Trump withheld military aid from ukraine to pressure ukraine to investigate his political rivals, joe biden, and his son hunter. The New York Times reports President Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint about his july 25 phone call with the ukrainian president and that congress had been informed when trump decided to unfreeze the withheld 391 million in military aid. An office of management and budget official testified to the House Intelligence Committee that two of his colleagues quit after expressing concerns and frustration about trumps decision to withhold the aid. And an anonymous Senior Trump Administration official, who has blasted the administration, said t they wod rereve themselves before the 2020 election. The official is the author of a book a warning and a viral New York Times oped. In colombia, antigovernment protesters have called for another National Strike today after talks between a protest committee and rightwing president ivan duque failed. Massive protests have rocked colombia for six straight days. Last week, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets for the largest National Strike colombia has seen in decades. Four people have been killed so far,r, including 18yearold stududent dilan cruzuz, who wast in the head by a police projectile. In chile, president sebastian pin your has sent a bill that would allow military troops to be deployed to the streets of chile amid ongoing antiausteririty demonstrations. This comes as Human Rights Watch has condemned polilice and military brutality against antigovernment protesters. At least 26 people have died in the protests so far. This is Human Rights Watch americas director jose miguel jose miguel vivanco. There are hundreds of worrying reports of excessive reports on the streets and abuse of detainees such as brutal beatings andexual abususe that cannot be left unpunisheded and should be quickly and vigorously investigated by the judicial authorities. Amy in bolivia, the Interamerican Commission on human rights says an independent commission should investigate possible humanan rights abuses against promorales protesters following the military ouster of longtime president evo morales. At least 33 people have been killed since the protests began and the military has carried out at least two massacres against morales indigenous supporters. Secretary ofof state mike pompeo has cacalled on egypt to respect freedom of the press, only days after Egyptian Security forces raided the cairo office of egypts last independent news outlet mada masr and detained staff members, who have now been released. As part of our Strategic Partnership with egypt, we continue to raise the importance forortance universal freedoms and the need for a robust, civil society. We call on the Egyptian Government to respect freedom of the press and release journalists detained in a raid last week and. Amy to see our full interview with mada masr reporter and longtime democracy now correspondent sharif abdel kouddous, go to democracy now. Org. In iran, videos of the iranian Security Forces violence against protesters are emerging online, as iran has partially restored Internet Access, which was almost entirely blocked for over a week. Amnesty International Says over 100 people were killed in the crackdown against demonstrations sparked by a sharp rise in gas prices earlier this month. U. S. Sanctctions against iran he contributed to the economic crisis. Iranian officials now say Internet Access in t the country could be curtailed indefinitely. British labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has again condemned antisemitism after britains chief rabbi accused corbyn and his labor party of antisemitism ahead of National Elections on december 12. , the very clear and testament to some is completely wrong ur society. We made it clear that antisemitism is unacceptable in any form in our party or our society. And did indeed offered sympathies and apologies to those that had suffered. Amy other british rabbis have disagreed with britains chief rabbi and have expressed support for Jeremy Corbyn. Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of britain has accused the conservative party of allowing islamophobia to fester. Boris johnson has previously written that he believed islamophobia is natural. Jeremy c corbyn also says hes obtained documents that reveal Britains National healtlth service could be up for sale in a postbrexit trade deal with ththe united statetes. In texas, at least three people have been hospitalized after a Chemical Plant exploded in port neches, outside houston. The cause ofof the explosion at the Texas PetroleumChemical Plant has not t t been determined. Meanwhile, an uncontrolled wildfire outside Santa Barbara in california has burned more than 4300 acres. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate. And the new York City Council has passed legislation that would make new york the first major American City to ban most flavored ecigarettes. This is new York City Councilmember mark levine. The slow pace at which this country has responded to the team vaping epidemic has been an epic failure. We did nothing as these sleek new devices with an intense dose of nicotine started to hit the s startedas shelves philip witith every fruity, min, candy flavor y you can think o. Flflavors that are clearly appealing to kids. Juu orlothing when other Company Started to market on social media with stylish uling people promoting ju as a cool lifestyle choice. Amy new yorks move came after President Trump reversed course and refused to sign a memo banning most flavored vaping products. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im Juan Gonzalez. Welcome to all of ouour listenes and viewers from around the country and around the world. Today we spend the hour looking back at the battle of seattle. Together, weand can and did shut down the wto juan 20 years ago this week, tens of thousands of activists gathered in seattle, washington, to shut down a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization. Grassroots organizers successfully blocked world leaders, government trade ministers, and Corporate Executives from meeting to sign a global trade deal that many called deeply undemocratic, harmful to workers rights, the environment, and Indigenous People globally. On november 30, 1999, activists formed a human chain around the Seattle Convention center and shut down the citys downtown. Amy Police Responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the mostly peaceful crowd. The protests went on for five days, resulted in over 600 arrests and in the eventual collapse of the talks, as well as the resignation of seattles police chief. The protests were documented in the film this is what democracy looks like. You have people here from all over. You have labor, environmentalists, teachers, children, coalitions between people of color in mainstream white americans. You have middleclass, working poor, poor you have everybody out here because this hurts people. This is bad for people. It is bad for our jobs here and the people over there. Amy in the documentary this is what democracy looks like, organizers hop hopkins and rice bakeryeboah talked about the brutality protesters faced in the streets of seattle. There was so much fear coming out of tuesday. We have been shot at. We have been gassed. People have been beaten and shot. People did not expect that going into tuesday. Pepeople had to recommit themselves and reaffirm their position. That night we ended up meeting upup on the corner of broadway and john and decided about what we could do the next day. The next day we would meet up at 6 30 at the park and try to take back the city. We started to weave our way through the route, the roadblocks they set up. I looked around and if you people were afraid. At that point i said, that is not fear in your gut or throat, that is your first taste of freedom. People were coming out of nowhere. From theke the scene Michael Jackson video thriller. We went from just a few people to 100 people, 150 people. I dont know where all of these people came from. I think the cops were totally surprised by that. Juan democracy now was in the streets of seattle 20 years ago. During one broadcast, we spoke to two of the leading critics of the wto the indian physicist and activist Vandana Shiva and lori wallach of public citizen. The wto constrains every country government about literally the level of food safety it can provide its public or whether or not farmers can have access to seed, whether or not workers can be safe from asbestos. Actually, the secrecy through which wto was born is apparent in the fact that most parliaments had no idea what is the content of this treaty until months after it had been ratified and signed in mayor cache marakesha. Abouto sits in judgment the implementation of the rules and rights the inquisition. Amy youre listetening to pacifica radios democracy now broadcdcting live e from seaeat. Amy that was Vandana Shiva and lori wallach on democracy now onh Juan Gonzalez and i november 29, 1999, during our live broadcast from the wto the basement of the First United Church during the wto protests. They are joining us again today. Lori wallach is with us from washington, d. C. , and Vandana Shiva is joining us from rome, italy. Welcome back to democracy now in the streets of seattle 20 years ago. Can you explain why, what was happening, and then take us through to today . Close the wto announced it wawas having itsts minisisterial in te u. S. And we knew it was critical fofor people around the world to see their protest against wto and africa, latin america, asia, europe, anand in the u. S. Also. We did not want this onesizefitsall corporate rule. So ass soon as we heard it was seseattle,e, we starte organizi. We opened an office in seattle in march of 1999. And the goal was both to stop the planned wto expansion and also to signal to the whole world the u. S. Was in this fight with everyone else. We need to diffeferent rulules r ththe globalal economy. We need a different rules for the global economy. Juan few people in the world at therd of the wto in the time. Tell us how you came to be in seattle in november of 1999. I was in seattle as part of the International Forum on globalization, the ifg, which brought together all of us who are questioning the precursor of cashto before the mara agreement was signed. Gatt because of the corporations that mentioned it first in the meeting in 1997 in geneva and in a result outside geneva. And they were talking about patenting seeds and left, and International Treaty which would make it a requirement for all countries to patent seeds, and would make it illegal for farmers to save seeds, and this freetrade agreement is what they were going to work on and they talk about five corporations controlling food and health by the year 2000. That conversation of 1987 started me on the path of saving seed, working with my government to not allow patenting of seats, working with ambassadors to not allow trips to be designed like monsanto had designed it where they said we were the patient that must petition and position allinone. Because i come from india, to colonize the country, east India Company was created. The first freetrade agreement was not nafta or wto. The first freetrade government was the east india, the. So we were very familiar with the use of socalled free trade and having become free after famine killed 60 million people, we did not want to be recolonized again. I am so happy that for that period, former prime minister, former ambassador, joined us as the Peoples Campaign against wto and we passed laws in that window that defended the sovereignty of the seed, the sovereign entity farmers. But as the corporate rule continued, the monopoly on seeds continued. We have lost 400,000 farmers because of debt. A billion people are hungry. When you introduce the protest going on in chile in columbia and other parts of the world, i actually see the process of today in every part of the world as a continuation of the fight against neoliberalism, fight against austerity, a right against the permanence of structural adjustment which is what freetrade is about. It has given us the control of the Poison Cartel over our seed and food. It has given us the billionaires bill gates is a child of wto. He got rules written so he would not have to pay taxes in transporter transfer. Jeff bezos shipping goods around and pay no taxes anywhere. These tririllionaires are childn of the wto rules. We said we are writing other rules. Movements have written other rules. Another world is possible. We are making up at the brutality and limitless greed of the handful of corporations and billionaires is now really reaching genocidal limits. So 20 years after s seattle, we need to make a commitment that in the next 10 years, we have really got to change those rules and get rid of the ruler billionaires. Amy i want to go to Michael Moore, the o oscarwinning filmmaker did not win an oscar at the time speaking to a reporter in the middle of a crowd during the wto demonstrations. This really was not organized or anyleaders group. It was organized by monsanto. It was organized by exxon, general motors, and all the greedy bastards who have spent the last decades trying to make as much money [cheers] ont g go blaming any violence anyone here. The violence is taking place in the companies that have enacted their violence against these people. Amy that is Michael Moore back in the end of november 1999. Juan, you and i were covering this for democracy now in the streets. , that point in this week and holding a big forum, the peoples form called media and resistance, 20 years after seattle at university of pennsylvania, rutgers, and democracy now help to sponsor. You talked about here you are working for this major new york newspaper, the new york daily news, but it was democracy now that brought you out there. Juan because thehe paper did nt want to pay my expenses to go out there and they did not even really know what the wto was about. I sure them it was going to be big and even bill clinton was going, so it was worthwhile amy he had to come in the middle of the night because of the mass protest. Madeleine albright to the secretary of state, could not get out of her hotel room because of the tear gas coming under her door. But if you could read your column since the daily news did not stop calalling you o one you got therere. Juan once the city was paralyzed, they wanted to hear as much as i could write. This was the beginning of the column i wrote on december 1, baptism by tear gas for americans to dance. I wrote a new generation of rebels came of age in america yesterday. Thousands of young people paralyzed this citys downtown, delayed the Opening Ceremony of the World Trade Organization meeting, and a stunning protest that harken back to the great civil rights marches of the 1960s. December 3 i wrote going it did not matter to these diehard kids the city had been turned into an armed camp and was firmly under the control of an army of cops, state troopers, National Guard. They had been studying stunningly successful in giving a black i into an obscure organization and had alerted millions of americans to the enormous power the wto wields in the world and turn it into a household name. As i said, most people did not even know about the wto before these protests occurred. You cameana shiva, from india to be part of the protest, but you did not really know the level of protest. T. You had already been laying a foundation with