This included a call-up of all available regional police officers, the national guard, helicopters, armored personnel carriers, tear gas, concussion grenades, pepper spray, rubber bullets, riot gear, and most importantly, intense brutality and complete disregard for the humanity of those who chose to oppose the WTO and corporate domination. It is a tradition in American society and many others that the power given to so-called public servants is used to prop up and at times directly fight for the continued domination of a few powerful private interests. It is observed on the streets of Seattle when police riot in order to stop citizens from expressing their discontent with private power. Then it is again observed this weekend all over Seattle when the city offers free bus, train service, and parking downtown in order to encourage people to return to for the Christmas shopping season. Bus drivers and transit workers working for free is clearly a subsidy of private downtown merchants, most of whom are big corporations like McDonald's, The Gap, Nordstrom's, Starbucks, etc.
Universities are another system of private profit subsidized by public subsidy.
Public universities are increasingly becoming a subsidy for private product development and a place for the development of a corporate-oriented workforce. Our education is where the lessons of corporate domination start and they continue throughout life, sometimes in subtle, other times overtly, as in the case of Seattle. The problem is systemic. But even these incredibly violent tactics didn't stop the protests from accomplishing their objective. The WTO ministerial meeting was severely hampered by all the protests.