As the two police officers dragged my wife, Medea Benjamin, out the front doors of the Seattle Convention Center, I was stumbling along right behind them with an officer on either side of me vice-gripping my arms. We had taken the stage at the opening session of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle on November 30, 1999, and the authorities didn't like the appeal we were making for more diverse representation in international trade negotiations.
As the police were dragging Medea through the temporary metal detector arches she stuck out her feet and hooked the large metal structure, tipping it over, with parts breaking off, cables snapping, and sparks flying. Because I was laughing hysterically one of the cops holding me asked gruffly: "What are you laughing at?" I replied: "That's my wife; you guys only have to deal with her for a few minutes, I have to live with her." One of the cops holding me laughed a big belly laugh; the other one said sternly, "that's not funny." I thought it was hilarious.
A hallmark of the Global Exchange style of activism is that we believe in having fun while saving humanity from itself.
So we spent the past 20 yeas creating Reality Tours that take people to over 30 destinations around the world to meet the grassroots groups that are changing the world from the bottom up. We opened Fair Trade stores (six physical stores and one online store) so people here could buy products made by people who just want to earn a fair wage for their beautiful products. We organized pressure campaigns to force Nike to improve the working conditions of their workers; we pressured Starbucks and Proctor and Gamble to purchase Fair Trade Certified coffee beans; and we sued 25 clothing companies for their sweatshop practices in Saipan, winning more than $20 million for workers who had been cheated out of their overtime pay.
We organized events such as the Green Festivals (with Co-op America) so thousands of people could have a fun time learning about the green economy. We have launched a Green Alternatives program that is 1) developing an Environmental Service Learning program with San Francisco high schools, 2) working with City College of San Francisco to develop their green career offerings, and 3) bringing together local youth organizations to create a Youth Unity network.
The people in power want us to believe there is a "them" out there trying to hurt us. But we believe there is no them; just us. And if you say the words "just us" over and over, it starts to sound like "justice." A human orientation of "just us" leads to a politics of justice.
