In the aftermath of the shutdown , however , various NGO spokespeople associated with Seattle DAN claimed that the riotous aspect of the WTO protests was counterproductive and undemocratic . They also asserted that it was only an insignificantly small group from Eugene , Oregon that engaged in property destruction . Medea Benjamin told '' The New York Times '' that " These anarchists should have been arrested , " while Lori Wallach of Public Citizen stated that she had instructed Teamsters to assault black bloc participants . In response , a group of scholar-activists including Christian Parenti , Robin Hahnel , and George Katsiaficas signed an open letter denouncing the " tide of reaction " that the NGO sector was organizing against militant protesters . " Those who belittle and distance themselves from the actions of ‘ the Anarchists from Eugene ’ have either ignored or simply did not realize the level of contributions anarchists — black-clad and otherwise — made towards bringing the November 30th Festival of Resistance into reality . " They also asserted that the established left , by advocating violence against certain protesters in order to protect corporate property , was fostering " an uncritical acceptance of the dominant value system of American consumer society : private property has a higher value than life . " In her own response to the controversy , Barbara Ehrenreich decried the NGO leaders as " hypocrites , " and wrote that nonviolent activists ought to be " treating the young rock-throwers like sisters and brothers in the struggle . " The author-activist also criticized the dominant nonviolent paradigm as " absurdly ritualized , " as well as elitist for presuming to reject any protester who had n’t gone through nonviolence training " for hours or even days . " Ehrenreich concluded : " The people at Direct Action Network , Global Exchange , and other groups were smart enough to comprehend the workings of the WTO , IMF , and World Bank . Now it 's time for them to figure out how large numbers of people can protest the international capitalist cabal without getting clobbered — or trashed by their fellow demonstrators — in the process . " The solution to Ehrenreich ’s impasse was the growing acceptance of diversity of tactics in the anti-globalization movement . The first major indication was in April 2000 , when the NGO coalition involved in demonstrations against the World Bank in Washington DC resisted calls by the media to denounce protesters who did not practice strict nonviolence . Spokesperson Nadine Bloch told the press that : " What there was among the protesters in Seattle was alternative tactics . Property destruction is something done to things , not to people . I do n‘t think that property destruction in the context of this Washington protest would be something very constructive . But when we look at what happened in Seattle , we have to say that all of that contributed to the media coverage we got , including those who you might say pushed the envelope . " In the lead up to the protests for the 2001 Free Trade Area of the Americas ( FTAA ) summit in Quebec City , a major direct action organization known as SalAMI suffered a mass defection due to its intolerance of diversity of tactics . Numerous participants ( including Jaggi Singh ) criticized SalAMI for its " dogmatism on nonviolence " as well as perceived hierarchies within the organization . Out of this schism emerged le Convergence des luttes Anti-Capitalistes ( CLAC ) . CLAC 's " Basis of Unity " stated : " Respecting a diversity of tactics , the CLAC supports the use of a variety of creative initiatives , ranging from popular education to direct action . " The anti-FTAA demonstrations were massive , involving sixty thousand people at its peak , and received largely positive media coverage , even as they included widespread clashes with police and destruction of government property . Cindy Milstein observed that CLACs success in Quebec City sprang from using a broad repertoire that encompassed community organizing , international outreach and forceful confrontation ( CLAC continue to be active in Quebec to this day , and composed part of the radical flank of the successful tuition-freeze protests of 2012 )
2001 Free Trade Area of the Americas
3rd Summit of the Americas
Diversity of tactics