By: The Nightly Crew

8/8/2023

Sunday July 30, hundreds gathered in Seattle to protest the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministerial Meetings from July 29 to August 21. The protesters, forming the Pacific Northwest People Over Profit Coalition, came from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. They stood up against imperialist governments and exploitative corporations, demanding APEC out of Seattle and the US out of Asia Pacific. 

APEC is a multilateral organization of corporations and governments formed in 1989. It has met yearly since 1994, and has faced protests each year, including some which have fully blocked the meetings from happening. This is not for nothing—trade deals forwarded by APEC such as KORUS and NAFTA (now USCMA) have increased prices for necessary goods, pushed millions to migrate from their home countries, and increased rural poverty—all while profiting US corporations. This years’ APEC meetings carry foreboding messages, threatening to greenwash the operations of multinational corporations and further exploit women under the guise of increasing women's participation in the workforce. 

In particular, governments and corporations within APEC will be negotiating the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework at the same time as they meet for APEC. IPEF’s four pillars (trade, supply chains, clean economy, and anti corruption) reveal its true intentions—to exert US control over Asia Pacific while decreasing barriers for big business, to increase surveillance of workers and further automatize jobs, to increase extraction of raw materials while greenwashing operations, and to enforce neoliberal policy and control. Further, IPEF stands as part of the US build up to nuclear war against China. 

The PNW POP Coalition, though, is fighting back. The coalition will be present “to ensure demands for worker-centered, climate-friendly trade policies are in the public spotlight.” Its member organizations, sponsors, and endorsers—of which there are over 30—cross a wide array of sectors and are concerned with varied issues. These include climate change, workers rights, education, migration, and more. Their unity is in their opposition to neoliberal policies which harm people worldwide. Every day, students face higher tuition, workers feel the weight of low wages, and migrants are dehumanized when forced to leave their home countries. So last weekend PNW POP hosted hundreds in Seattle to stand up against APEC. 

Saturday July 29 featured an all-day People’s Summit located on UW’s campus, in which students, workers, activists, and community members gathered to discuss and learn about the effects of APEC. Workshops led by community groups dove into corporate fishing, environmental racism, nuclear energy, clowning, and of course, trade justice. The summit also featured keynote speeches from Eni Lestari (International Migrant’s Alliance) and Katie Comfort (International Women's Alliance). “Eni Lestari’s speech really tied things together—the world economic system, its effects on people worldwide, and the necessity of our fight against it,” said one anonymous worker who attended on Saturday.