And What About Tomorrow? An Anarchist Response to "Battle in Seattle"

Two weeks ago I watched the opening of "Battle in Seattle" - the Hollywood film about the WTO protest - at the Neptune Theater in Seattle. I also fliered the movie-going audience with information about the PepperSpray film collective. We were at the film showing because some of the people in the collective participated in the WTO protest. It's how the film collective actually got started. Here is a pamphlet that anarchists have been passing around at the screenings too. I really liked the film and was inspired by it, but it's true that the filmmaker violence-bated the anarchists. Here is a quote from Crimethinc's Screenwreckers Guild:

"The Battle in Seattle website repeatedly belittles anarchists as a “small fringe group” who “managed to steal the show” while focusing only on anarchist participation in the black bloc. Actually, anarchists were involved in all different aspects of the WTO protests including lockdowns, making puppets and cooking for Food Not Bombs. The Direct Action Network, (the group who shaped the protests), was founded and operated based on the anarchist principles of horizontal and non-hierarchical organizing. The media’s attempts to pigeon hole anarchists as “violent” thugs was simply an effort to discredit the strength of anarchist organizing and the successes of direct action."

Pepperspray Productions is also credited in the film because some of them in Seattle organized protester extras for the film.

http://dead-city.org/whatabouttomorrow-print.pdf