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The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle

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Published to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Seattle, this exciting new book from AK Press celebrates that amazing victory while reflecting on its lessons. Profusely illustrated with dramatic black-and-white photos and inspiring artwork, this is a truly fantastic anthology of essays by global justice activists. It begins with a wonderful introduction by the brilliant Indian activist Anuradha Mittal. From there, the next essay is by David Solnit and discusses the making of the Hollywood star-studded docu-drama and box office flop "Battle In Seattle" and how he and other activists struggled unsuccessfully with the film's director, Stuart Townsend, to make the film a more accurate depiction of what really transpired that exhilirating week in Seattle. In this essay, David Solnit does an excellent job debunking many of the most damaging corporate AND movement myths about Seattle, while making the case that those who make history must bear the ultimate responsibilty of preserving it. The next essay is written by his sister, Rebecca Solnit, and recounts her battle with the New York Times after the 2004 RNC protests and shows how the mainstream media's ongoing misrepresentation of the Seattle protests continues to threaten the anti-corporate globalization movement. From there, the book continues with an awesome essay by Chris Dixon giving a day-by-day account of that week in Seattle. If you were there, this essay will surely bring back a lot of powerful memories and emotions, and if you were not there, it will no doubt encourage you to participate in the next big anti-capitalist mobilization. Finally, the book concludes with a reprint of the original 1999 Direct Action Network's "Call to Action" broadsheet by Stephanie Guilloud, Chris Borte, and Chris Dixon. Though the corporate media claims that the global justice movement has been defeated, recent events in Pittsburgh and Copenhagen prove otherwise. As this superb little book explains, the movement didn't begin in Seattle and it certainly didn't end there either.