One of the more memorable demonstrations in recent memory hijacked the streets of Seattle at lunch hour on Monday, May 19. A "human needs, not corporate greed" procession, with giant puppets, theatre pieces, stiltwalkers, a dance ensemble, music, and more, took a two-mile tour through the city's business district, stopping at a number of businesses and offices that exemplify the worst of corporate greed turned public policy. The acts and props were the product of some 200 people at the previous weekend's "Art and Revolution" workshops and trainings, held in rural Arlington.

The spectacle and fun of the parade were certainly eye-catching, and the joyous, party atmosphere was a welcome contrast to too many activist events. ("Whadda we want? Attention! When do we want it? Soon! Please?") But the real strength of the project was that it was, literally, a demonstration: showing, to the public, a vision of community, of spirit, of affirmation of life over profits, through the art people made and the contagious fun that usurped a business district lunch hour.

While A&R looks like it'll become an annual event, some folks have also talked about bringing this sort of energy and creativity (and mayhem!) to local issues more regularly. If you're interested, contact A&R through Geov at ETS!: (206) 547-0952.

If you weren't there Monday, you can still take the walking tour. Here's a rundown--by no means comprehensive--of downtown's worst, many of which have been written up in past issues of ETS!. Plus, local groups (where relevant) working on the issues:

FAO Schwartz: (6th & Pike) The giant bear violates the no-sitting-on- sidewalks law.

NikeTown: (6th & Pike) Everything vile about image-dependent companies. Sweatshops abroad, selling impossible (and impossibly expensive) dreams to inner city youth in the U.S. Also notorious for black spokespeople and lily-white upper management. East Timor Action Network: 322-1645.

Fifth Avenue Theatre: (5th between Union & University) Site of a heated strike by the Musicians' Union last winter. Management brought in scabs to try to bust the union, and didn't succeed--this time.

Eddie Bauer: (5th & University) One of several locally-based businesses using prison labor. (Microsoft is another.) Instead of Third World sweats with low, non-union wages and brutal working conditions, they go to Monroe to get low, non-union wages and brutal working conditions.

Union Bank of California: (910 4th St.) Owned wholly by Mitsubishi, largest exporter of Northwest logs, notorious for rainforest destruction, willingness to support brutal regimes in Asia, and target of a huge sexual harassment lawsuit in Illinois. Rainforest Action Group: 540-9402.

Plum Creek Timber Co.: (999 3rd St.) Clearcutter of that 50% of Washington not raped by Weyerhaueser. Particularly notable for a pending land swap for public land, giving back in exchange less valuable land that was originally stolen from the public in violation of 19th Century land trust legislation. Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project: 545-3734.

Starbucks: (999 3rd St.) Kills beans like McDonalds kills cows. Agreed two years ago to a Code of Conduct so that its Third World coffee growers would adhere to minimal standards for treating labor. Starbucks got tons of good PR, but has refused to even monitor--let alone enforce--those standards. Works hard to drive independent coffee stands out of business. GUASO (Guatemala solidarity): 781-9653.

Mann Hotel: (3rd & Union) The owner, Rick Yoder, purchased this wrecked building in Jan. 1996 next door to a hotel where the city and service agencies had agreed to build a public hygiene facility that could be used by the homeless. Yoder got the Downtown Seattle Ass'n to yelp that if the homeless could actually pee legally it would drive him out of business. After a $350,000 bribe from DSA, the city obligingly killed funding for the hygiene facility. Low Income Housing Institute: 447-9935.

McDonalds "Restaurants": (3rd & Pine) Heart disease, cholesterol, kid- poisoning, grain-eating, methane-producing, rainforest-killing, cow-killing cattle ranching, persecution of McVegan defendants in England, purveyors of all things Ugly American around the globe, a celebration of pre-fab life and low-paying workplaces, and the first McJob of a frighteningly high percentage of U.S. workers. An avowed enemy of life and creativity.

Borders' Bookstore: (4th & Pine) Fired a union organizer in Philadelphia, and has intimidated and silenced unionizing employees at several stores across the country. IWW: 516-0483.

The Disney Store: (4th & Pine) Happily, Disney has been publicly supportive of lesbians and gays. But...one of the handful of companies that's built a stranglehold on culture and news in this country through its purchasing of major companies in all facets of media. Disney also uses sweatshop labor in Haiti, Thailand, and Vietnam; gets massive corporate welfare; and is hated in much of the world as a symbol of cultural imperialism. Many "Disney classics" teach kids our culture's most offensive sexist and racist stereotypes. And Walt was a fascist, too.

The Gap: (4th & Pine) Another notorious sweatshopper. A landmark Code of Conduct agreement signed last fall after activist pressure has, once again, not yet been adequately enforced. CISPES (El Salvador solidarity): 325- 5494.

Nordstrom's: (5th & Pine) This famous, locally-owned department store makes huge profits across the country by squeezing concessions from cities. In Seattle, the deals include city gifts of a parking garage and a $24 million HUD loan when the city named an entire block in the heart of the city's glitzy retail core as somehow being "blighted"--qualifying it for fed money that should have gone to low-income housing. Also targetted for racist practices by local African-Americans. Black Dollar Days Task Force: 323- 0534.