The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a battlefield than for the controversial trade issues that were discussed. As the protestors grabbed the media's attention, the ministerial talks produced nothing significant. But the 'demonstrations' were poorly masked. Despite their diatribe against capitalism and the sundry other causes they supported, it soon became apparent that most of the 'protests' would only beef up the cause of the powerful North. And the noise they created almost managed to subvert the genuine concerns of developing countries. Had it not been for a rift between the US and the European Union, the interests of the South would have faded into insignificance. Ultimately, everybody was a loser in Seattle.