Human Rights Watch International Film Festival - London

Trade Off (UK Premiere)
Shaya Mercer - US - 2000 - 90m - video - documentary
In English

A feisty and engrossing documentary of the five days in Seattle in November 1999 that shook the world-- when the World Trade Organization's (WTO) first meeting on American soil was shut down by tens of thousands of people who took to the streets to execute their right to fight/protest. During these five days, teamsters marched with Turtles (various environmental protection groups), senior citizens joined in song with teenagers covered in placards, Michael Moore rallied with Spearhead, and U.S. senators Paul Wellstone and Tom Hayden traded in their jackets and ties for radical black turtle neck sweaters. Violent media images of the "Battle of Seattle" captured international headlines but neglected key questions of what was at stake. The issues raised in TRADE OFF are those faced by contemporary society: the effects of global trade policy on the environment, food and agriculture, labor and human rights, and the future of democracy around the world. Shaya Mercer's inspiring film exposes -- often with quiet humour -- these now-infamous events that became the focal point for a burgeoning fair trade movement and a case study in civil disobedience seen around the world.
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