November 29, 2019: In remembrance of tomorrow's 20th Anniversary of the "Battle in Seattle" protest against the World Trade Organization, the following is a re-publish of a SO'W post I wrote a few years ago, sans edits but for a typo or two and a few minor updates for clarification:
The "Battle in Seattle," as the protests were dubbed by the media:
World Trade Organization (WTO), ministerial meeting, Seattle, Washington, USA, the universe; Nov 30, 1999; Pluto-Chiron midpoint = Sun 7Sag59/ASC = sunrise 7:40:54 am pst; Mc 2Lib08; Moon @16Vir13 in 9th house (criticism by The People); in 8th house is North Node @5Leo38 (so USA was in process of a Nodal Return when associations are formed; US has a Nodal Half-Return coming up in April 2009. Wish The Dragon would gobble itself all up and leave innocent people alone.)
A Great Conjunction occurred one month later on Dec 30, 1999:
Heralding the New Millennium were several cosmic happenings including a Pluto and Chiron Conjunction, with the pair's blended energies signifying plutocracy, oppression, primal violence, corporatism, colonialism, racism, fascism, totalitarianism, communism, Marxism, commercialism, statism, and other -isms that most folks would prefer to stay away from. Their conjunction perfected at 12 Sagittarius, the natal Ascendant in our nation's 5:09/10 pm LMT chart of July 4, 1776). In other words, American Plutocracy. (Note that in 2019 the 1999 conjunction of the Plutocracy pair remains in force.)
And naturally, we were and are reminded of Stalin's equation: corporatism + statism = fascism. Yeah. The world is having occasion to recognize the devouring monster once again.
Plus, the 4 to 9 degree area of the Gem-Sag polarity is no picnic for they are 'nuclear degrees' with '5Sag' being a degree of flight (Devore). President Bill Clinton flew in to the city (in the middle of the night of Nov 30 - Dec 1) after being assured that his precious caboose would be kept safe from all harm.
During the Nov - Dec 1999 protests in Seattle, the midpoint of Saturn-Pluto (hardship; cruelty; loss; violence) was sitting astride US natal Moon (the people; the public; publicity) so:
Saturn-Pluto = Moon: cold feelings; abstemiousness; giving up giving; renunciation; melancholy; the tragic destiny of a woman (Tyl; Ebertin). Add, strong control over people's habits (Munkasey). That day, Sun and Pluto were also conjunct suggesting a craving for rulership, striving for power, and the power of attainment (Ebertin).
And for harsh Saturn-Pluto I would add: control (Saturn) by police state (Pluto) crushes the people (protesters and others caught up in the crowds) and the exploitation of Third World people and countries which continues today as resource plunderers and vultures with the aid of their handmaiden politicians take their profits and ignore the needs of their people.
Now perhaps you know that Stuart Townsend wrote and directed the film, 'Battle in Seattle' and though I'm no movie critic, I believe the film is worth watching especially if you're like me and want to know more of Seattle and the worldwide protests (as something like 30 cities around the globe protested in solidarity!) while 600+ of our guys and gals sat in jail nursing their police-state injuries. From 2008, here's a very interesting interview with Stuart Townsend concerning the event and his film documenting it.
Well, it would be no surprise to me to find out one day that the group that smashed windows and turned the protests violent (thus giving Seattle's major an excuse for ordering police tactics such as tear gas, head-bashing, and arrests) were plants to make sure things did go violent - as a way of diffusing criticism against the WTO policies, and to push through their plans for a fancy conference about which one of the characters in the film said, "The conference is doomed to success."
Did a real person say that? I don't know, but it did remind me of the keywords for asteroid Atlantis: abuse of power; a sense of doom. And note that on November 30, 1999, transiting Atlantis was Rx @26Can13--opposing US natal Pluto Rx (27Cap32) and hanging around with our natal Mercury Rx @25Cancer--Mercury the trader and negotiator, powerful Pluto the spy and hidden hand, so basically Atlantis activated America's bossy, surveillance-prone Mercury-Pluto opposition across the security axis of Cancer-Capricorn.
Seems to me there was a sense of doom (for the disenfranchised, and for the 'new world order' which we watch forming now with the current economic 'meltdown'...it was always in their 'cards' at our expense, never theirs); and abuses of power ran rampant in 1999 over anyone who stood in the way both inside the Paramount Theater and out on the streets for Internet connections created a group of protesters numbering the tens of thousands--and got them coordinated into the streets of Seattle.
So it's about time I re-watched the film and returned to studying Nov 30 - Dec 4, 1999's charts for those five days that rocked the world, and I hope nothing's been said here that would dissuade you from viewing this socially important film if you're yet to do so.
Real footage was intertwined with movie scenes and remember a catch phrase of the day that,
The Whole World Is Watching.
The Whole World Is Watching.
The Whole World Is Watching.