The negotiations to free the jailed WTO protesters will resume at 12 noon today (Saturday, December 4). It is clear that the presence of a large number of supporters outside the jail has played and continues to play a major role in pressuring the government to provide a speedy release of our friends. It is particularly important that those of us who are trade unionists be out there, wearing Union jackets or other indications of our Union affiliation. The possibility of Union action to protest the continued jailings has been an effective pressure tool at the bargaining table. It was also a factor in getting a firm commitment from King County Executive Ron Sims that there will be no arrests of the protesters at the jail while negotiations continue. Many of the young people at the jail (and I’m sure more than a few who aren’t so young) spent the entire night last night camped out in front of the jail. I left at about 1:00 AM after we’d received a status report from the negotiating committee.
If you can possibly join us at the jail today, please be there. The jail is at 5th & James in downtown Seattle - and, hey, thanks to the WTO, there will be lots of free parking and free bus transportation.
We’re finally reclaiming our streets and our Constitution and Bill of Rights - let’s not abandon the almost 600 people who are victims of the WTO-initiated assault on our rights. As the IWW used to say about political prisoners, “they’re in there for us - we’re out here for them.”
In solidarity
Paul Bigman
