During the second week of September, delegates from across the globe descended on Cancún, Mexico, to take part in the fifth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
At the same time, thousands of uninvited guests also flocked to Cancún to demonstrate against global capitalism and the alleged corporate bias of the WTO. The protesters on the street were, for the most part, prevented from coming anywhere near the convention center—several steel-mesh barricades, hundreds of Mexican federal police, and a few naval destroyers made sure of that. Nevertheless, the protesters still managed to put on a wide variety of alternative events, including a campesino (farmworker) forum and a fair trade conference. And a few activists even managed to slip inside the Zone and inject their message of defiance into the ministerial chambers.
Dustin Ross and Victor Tan Chen of In The Fray magazine were in Cancún to report on the alternatives alive on the street and in the convention halls. What follows is a visual essay of photographs from many of these events.
Characters
September 9
Catwoman dances at the march.
A drummer from the Infernal Noise Brigade, a Seattle-based activist group.
Keith McHenry, the cofounder of Food Not Bombs, marches against the WTO. Food Not Bombs shares free vegetarian food with hungry people and protests war and poverty throughout the world.
A student marches as part of the Orange Bloc. Activists at the Cancún demonstrations were organized into different contingents (Orange, Violet, and White). The Orange Bloc engaged in the most confrontational tactics, creating a barrier at the front of the march and meeting the police in their riot gear head-on.
A protestor calls for peace.
A Mexican protester speaks to the crowd.
Mexican students, members of the Orange Bloc, wait for the march to begin.
Across from the barricades, a protester perched on top of a fountain waves a flag of the former Soviet Union.
A trombonist from Seattle’s Infernal Noise Brigade.
The T-shirt speaks for itself.
Marching
Protesters and journalists climb onto the fallen security fence. Activists ripped down the fence using thick ropes and the muscles of an army of volunteers. September 13. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
Thousands of protestors gather in front of the security fence. After several days of demonstrations, Mexican police moved the fence about a hundred yards down the road from its earlier location—the site of the suicide of South Korean farmer Lee Kyung-hae. September 13. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
A view of the oncoming march. September 9.
Painted Statements
Translation: “Free trade.” September 9.
A protester paints “No OMC,” Spanish for “No WTO.” (The World Trade Organization is known to Spanish speakers as the Organización Mundial del Comercio.) September 9.
A disturbing banner hangs at the entrance to the campesino forum, which was held during the week of the WTO ministerial conference. Campesinos (farmworkers) from all over Latin America traveled to Cancún to be part of this alternative gathering. September 9.
“Puppetistas”—activists skilled in the art of puppets—created larger-than-life renditions of Mayan gods. This imposing figure is Chac, the god of rain. September 10. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
Celebrations
Protesters raise their fists in solidarity. Posing as tourists, this group of about eighty activists slipped past the barricades and then staged a sit-down protest in the street alongside Cancún’s convention center, where the WTO talks were being held. September 12. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
On the morning of September 8, a particularly uninhibited group of demonstrators gathered at Playa Langosta (Lobster Beach) and used their bodies to show their disapproval of the WTO.
Jeff, a naked protester from Boston, said the group wanted to show the world that they “feel strongly about global issues but want to have fun as well.”
Some demonstrators engaged in celebratory forms of protest. Here a stilt walker dances to the beat of a drum troop that joined the march. September 9.
Security Fence
September 9
A protester climbs the security fence to hang his banner.
Security Forces
A protester lectures police through the security fence. September 9.
Thousands of Mexican federal police were on hand to keep protestors away from the WTO conference. September 13. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
A skewed view of the security perimeter. September 9.
Another view of the snaking security fence. September 9.
Memorial
September 13
South Korean protestors prepare to set fire to an effigy of the WTO. Photo by Victor Tan Chen
A memorial erected in honor of Lee Kyung-hae, a South Korean farmer who committed suicide in front of the Cancún barricades as an act of political protest. Lee and other protesters alleged that the WTO’s approach to agriculture was “killing small farmers.” Photo by Victor Tan Chen
Campesino Forum
September 8
A family at the campesino forum relaxes during a lull in the sessions.
A child at the campesino forum.
A delegate at the campesino forum grabs a bag of water. Temperatures reached the high 90s during the conference.
On Thursday, August 14, starting at 4:10 p.m., twenty-one power plants in the Northeast and Midwest shut down in a span of three minutes. Energy grids quickly dried up, computer screens shut off, and lights fizzled as millions of Americans suddenly found themselves without power.
This collection of photographs documents a seven-hour, six-mile walk home from 60th Street in Manhattan to Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.
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