The world was shocked to see more than 50,000 people converge on Seattle in November 1999 to protest the policies of a then little-known institution called the World Trade Organization. Pundits and ordinary citizens wondered, "Who are these people?" What are they so angry about, and what do they want?
Since then, the protests and the enthusiasm for the cause has quickly multiplied. In their fascinating narrative of a growing movement, Kevin Danaher and Jason Mark answer those questions by showing how the Seattle protests and subsequent mass demonstrations against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are the dramatic result of a full decade of growing agitation over corporate sponsored globalization. From uncovering major retailers' links to sweatshop abuses and revealing the deception of American tobacco companies, to questioning corporations' ties to repressive dictators, shaming food processors into selling dolphin-safe tuna, and demanding that businesses stop destroying old growth forests, citizens have become far more aggressive in directly challenging corporate behavior. As a September 2000 poll by BusinessWeek found, 72 percent of Americans feel that corporations have too much power. Written by two activists who are constantly in the eye of this storm, Insurrection charts the growth of this dissatisfaction, and gives us a glimpse of where this movement might be headed.