There will be giant marching "revolutionary puppets" and daring climbers hanging huge banners from bridges and skyscrapers. Singing leftist grandmothers known as the "Raging Grannies" are coming from Canada. Right-wing anti-Castro Cubans are flying in from Miami. Zapotec Indians from southern Mexico will be here and there is also talk of a procession of farmers on tractors. Some demonstrators have vowed to stop the meeting, called to debate an agenda for a new round of multilateral trade talks next year, and to "shut down Seattle." Trade unionists, environmentalists, farmers, consumers, human and animal rights activists, peace advocates, artists and anarchists all plan to stage rallies, marches, prayer services, alternative conferences, street theater, blockades and counter-demonstrations. While the WTOwill have its defenders on the street, most protesters coming to Seattle want to to express their opposition to a range of WTO policies. Organised labour faults the 135-member Geneva-based body for encouraging big companies to abandon jobs at home for countries where worker rights are non-existent and salaries low. Anti-WTO ecologists say the organisation, acting in the name of trade liberalisation, seeks to weaken environmental and food security standards.

More theoretical opponents challenge the notion that the free flow of capital and commerce around the world creates jobs and raises living standards. They say globalisation instead exacerbates economic inequalities and increases human misery.

For months now, the Ruckus Society of Berkeley, California has been training activists in non-violent disruption, teaching its adherents how to scale buildings, deal with nervous police and provide meaningful soundbites for reporters. "When looking around the world from Chiapas to Europe," said David Solnit, anorganizer for a group called Art and Revolution, "the most powerful movements are using culture to come up with new forms of resistance." A parade led by Teamsters Union Chief James Hoffa Jr and the AFL-CIO labour confederation will be the largest event.

Organisers hope that up to 50,000 workers and families will take part. Longshoremen and other unions are planning their own mobilisations. The Steelworkers' Union has reserved 1,000 hotel rooms in the area. Cuban President Fidel Castro is meanwhile reported to be considering making an appearance in Seattle. While his visit has yet to be confirmed, arrangements have been made for him to speak at the University of Washington if he shows up. If he does, "I'll bring 40, 50 folks down to march against the murderer," vowed Seattle businessman and Republican Party activist Brad Cloven. Liberal Christian groups backing the Jubilee 2000 movement, which wants Congress to forgive the debts of the most impoverished countries, expect thousands to hold hands in a humanchain around the gala WTO opening event.

To counter Jubilee 2000, conservative Christians from Working Families for Free Trade are planning a rally featuring Randy Tate, lobbyist for the powerful Christian Coalition, on the eve of the WTO opening. Students from all over the United States, led by the Boston-based Center for Campus Organizing, will join "hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands" of counterparts coming from Canada.