Georgia Pacific's steam towers gleam only a few blocks away, creating puffs of smoke in an otherwise cloudless sky. Children are awed and slightly frightened by the giant puppets representing the major players in the World Trade Organization's conference in Seattle.
People swarm to learn the art of non-violent protesting.
The Art and Revolution troupe, a group of traveling protestors sponsored by two non-profit environmental organizations The Direct Action Network Against Corporate Globalization and Global Exchange recently gathered at Bellingham's Farmers Market to spread its knowledge about the WTO and its passion for fighting it through street performance. The group is touring from Vancouver, British Columbia to Santa Cruz. We want to take theater out of the theaters and activism out of the boring, stuffy meeting rooms. One skeleton-faced puppet is dressed in black with a machete in its hand. Another represents the WTO as a gigantic white male with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, as he prepares to eat the earth held prisoner on his stomach.