What a week, again. On Monday, Port Commission President Pat Davis received the World Affairs Councils "1999 World Citizen Award" for her leadership in bringing the WTO here. And Police Chief Norm Stamper disclosed he would resign, sort-of-but-not-really because of the mess the week before. He should have made the announcement at the banquet. They could have given him an award too.
As it was, folks outside SPD started missing Stamper very much, lauding his sensitivity to the community, and, maybe, imagining how things could have gone much worse under a tough "cops cop." LAs Daryl Gates didnt prepare any better for the King-verdict riots thereand dozens died. Would you rather have had Gates and Rudy Giuliani in charge, rather than the feckless Stamper and Schell?
Packing em in
A few years ago, the writer Jonathan Kozol packed the downtown librarys meager "auditorium" well past the fire code. How could the City Council not expect an even bigger turn-out for last Wednesdays hearing on police and protests, which ran eight hours? But Council President Sue Donaldson (who promptly scheduled another round at a much-bigger Seattle Center hall) says the thought hardly occurred, and she expected most protesters would have left town by now. And indeed, its human nature not to prepare for unprecedented situations, even when warnedsomething to remember while weighing Schells muck-up of WTO contingencies.
Anarchist re-branding
Should Schell follow Stamper and fall on his sword? Donaldsons not eager to push him: "Im not big on asking for resignations. Theres an issue of institutional stability here. Its a lonely job, and I cant stand in his shoes."
But if this cosmopolitan mayor resigns, after inviting the whole world here to visit, it would be more proof that what goes around comes aroundjust not in the direction you expect. The last time I recall the downtown streets shutting down, while thousands raised an even noisier ruckus, was with City Halls blessingfor the grand opening of the nth Planet Hollywood. Thence came Nike Town, Gameworks, Pacific Place, and the $70-million parking garagethe downtown revival that was the great triumph of Schells predecessor, Norm Rice.
But this malled-over downtown, with its civility laws and glitzy generic chains, was a main target of both the vandals two weeks ago and the plaintive testifiers last week. One young woman said protesting showed her how the homeless felt: "The message was, unless we come to spend money and keep our mouths shut, stay away from downtown." I remembered when the giant bronze F.A.O. Schwartz teddy bear briefly became riot centralwith the anarchist "A" brand sprayed over "F" in "F.A.O."
Two magic words
"Free speech" and "accountability" have been the sacred slogans of the anti-WTO protests/riots and their investigative aftermath. But many of the free-speech stalwarts at last Wednesdays hearing tried to shout down anyone who dissented in the least from their brief against the cops and other authorities. Among the few who dissented anyway were a lone cop and a young guy named Chris Martin who should know about downtown graffiti; his job is cleaning it up. (Plenty of overtime.) Martin tried to give a nuanced, temperate account of the melee, noting, "There was definitely excessive force," but also thanking the police for generally doing their best. "Sit down and shut up!" one free-speecher shouted. "Speaking for the silent majority of Seattle" Martin started to reply, but that drew even bigger jeers from those who remembered when Richard Nixon patented the phrase.
Martin seemed too young to remember Nixon, but hed stumbled on an important point. Three decades back, anarchic antiwar protesters and pranksters like (I confess) me so affrighted that silent majority that it elected Nixon and his goons on a law-and-order platform. Consider what reaction you want to stir before you act. Can you say "Mayor Sidran"?
Accountability, the other magic word, is lately being held up against the police, but its also a key element of civil disobedience: You raise sympathy and expose an unjust law or system by defying it and taking the consequences. Instead, arrested protesters refused to give their names and gummed up the legal works, while their comrades mobbed the jail entrance demanding their release. Some (and not just the Eugene window-smashers) masked their faces. One musician I recognized even wore a green bandanna at the hearing "because," he declared, "I dont want my face logged at the local or federal police departments. Believe me, if you remembered McCarthyism, youd understand." In fact, he and I are both too young to remember it. But as those who do tell it, McCarthy and his fellow witch-hunters rampaged freely for a few years because so few dared stand up and be counted against them.
"Accountability" doesnt come cheap. If youre going to demand it, youd better practice it.
The anarchists media kit
But if you also practice dignity and restraint, dont expect to get the more than a passing media glance. Even though it called them "cheerful," this paper cheer-led relentlessly for street blockages and other forceful actions. TV and press passed quickly over the massive Tuesday labor march. They virtually ignored the equally peaceful (and remarkable) Jubilee 2000 chain around the Kingdome, and more big labor rallies later in the week. And six years ago, when greens did protest peacefully outside the APEC ministerial, The Seattle Times sneeringly dismissed them as ineffectual "bleeding hearts looking for a new cause to back," whom President Clinton and Mayor Rice didnt even notice.
