WTO Protest, Oct. 30, 2002, by Neil McCormick

From MemoryArchive

Who: Neil McCormick
What: WTO Protest
When: Oct 30, 2002
Where: Seattle

I went to Seattle to the WTO protest, and it was cold and raining. In Seattle, they have a statue, "The Hammering Man," as a tribute to union workers. Paul Welstone was right there with us, giving us a rousing speech under "The Hammering Man." He was speaking against corporate takeover of the world and exploiting cheap labor. He was getting all wet, but he warmed us all up, and he told us to keep fighting. And we did it, we shut 'em down. We were nonviolent, of course. I don't know how we're going to replace him. The current administration in Washington wants to get rid of him and that tells me they are anti-worker. We've lost the greatest advocate for working people in Minnesota. It saddens me to the nth degree--all the work he's done and all the volunteers that have worked so hard with him, and it's over.