WSCRC Executive Director Nor Coquillard recently participated in a panel conversation that was recorded for a Podcast episode of Crosscut Talks. The panel was convened to talk about the aborted WTO Ministerial Session in 1999 and whether the issues raised by the protestors of ’99 are still valid today.
The panel was broken into three parts. The first section took a historical look at the events surrounding the WTO Protests, including footage from the documentary “This Is What Democracy Looks Like”. The moderator, Knute Berger, then led a discussion with Norm Stamper, the chief of the Seattle Police in 1999 and John Sellers who was the leader of the protestors.
In the next section, Nikkita Oliver, community organizer, former mayoral candidate, educator and attorney and Nor talked about the issues of today including globalization and they discussed whether protests are an effective tactic for pushing policy changes.
To conclude the evening, Edgar Villanueva, an expert on social justice philanthropy, talked about economic equity and how social philanthropy can help to right some of history’s past transgressions.
A few of the panellists pushed back against large corporations and globalization to which Nor countered by noting how many people who had been lifted out of poverty due to the impacts of globalization citing China as an example.
The podcast will be available for listening in about a week’s time.
