The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as the WTO's favoring of corporate interests over social and environmental concerns.

The Washington Council of Churches organized “Hands Around the WTO” as part of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition campaign, an international movement calling for the cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. On November 29, thousands of people holding hands encircled the Exhibition Center where delegates were enjoying a welcoming reception.

Here, members of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition Northwest march near the Washington Convention Center in the rain. People in the streets chanted, “We’re here, we’re wet – cancel the debt!”

Caption information source: "Forgive big debts of worthy nations," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 30, 1999, p. A22