-----Original Message----- From: Susan Hunt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 7:12 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Today's Times on WTO Protests FYI. -- Susan Hunt THE TEXT OF FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS: > Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 01:24:28 -0400 > From: Mike Dolan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Today's Times > > 1678 words about the Mobilization against Corporate Globalization in the > venerable NYT. > > October 13, 1999 > New York Times > > For Seattle, Triumph and Protest > By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK > > EATTLE -- When Seattle beat 40 other U.S. cities early this year for the > right to be the host of a meeting of the world's governing trade > organization, local leaders were exultant. Here in what is often called the > most trade-dependent region of the nation, they said the conference would be > a chance to showcase Seattle as a world-class center of high-tech innovation > and a friend to global trade. > > All that may still happen when 5,000 delegates and dignitaries from 134 > nations -- including President Clinton -- gather to start a new round of > global trade negotiations here in November. Those negotiations will > encompass some of the most politically sensitive issues facing the world's > trading nations, including rules on agriculture and new technologies. But it > is increasingly clear that the largest free-trade meeting ever held in this > country has also become a giant protest magnet for a broad array of > environmental, labor and other groups that say the trade body is a handmaid > to corporate interests whose authority should be sharply curtailed. > > Three hundred groups are vowing to bring 50,000 people or more to downtown > Seattle to picket, demonstrate, hold teach-ins and cause general disruption > during the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 meeting that could turn the city's streets into a > carnival of protest and, perhaps, a morass of gridlock. > > It is a sign of how crucial trade issues have become to average people that > a meeting once might have excited only policy experts now has drawn the > attention of a cross-section of America that includes farmers, fishermen and > assembly-line workers. > > The W.T.O. has already been entangled in spats over items that include > Caribbean-grown bananas, hormone-fed beef from the United States, gas > refined in Venezuela and Japanese imported liquor. > > Even more contentious issues loom: over loss of price supports for American > farmers and over rulings about what kinds of genetically modified foods > countries can offer to consumers on supermarket shelves. > > Underlying all the individual issues is a fundamental disagreement about the > proper role of the trade organization. Proponents say it serves a crucial > role in bolstering the world economy by tearing down trade barriers all over > the globe. But opponents believe that the W.T.O. is using its power as an > arbiter in trade disputes to systematically undermine laws passed by various > countries to promote health, food safety, environmental protection and > better working conditions. > > It is from those diverse concerns that a vigorous protest movement has > emerged. Just how extensive or disruptive any protests will be is difficult > to gauge, partly because even the groups themselves, more than 300 at latest > count, are not exactly of one mind. Some say they have no plans to be unduly > raucous and simply want their perspective to be heard by the trade > negotiators, while others are boasting that their goal is to bring the city > to a standstill with guerrilla-like tactics like scaling skyscrapers to > unfurl huge banners, lying in the street to stop traffic or chaining > themselves to buildings and trees. > > But the city is already budgeting $6 million for a major security operation > and Mayor Paul Schell, noting the potential for disruption, has taken to > joking: "I'm hoping for rain, frankly." While Seattle is indeed likely to > get some rain at that time of year, it may not dampen the fervency of the > protesters. > > "I'm in the camp that wants to shut the W.T.O. down," explained John > Sellers, director of the Ruckus Society of Berkeley, Calif., which recently > helped to lead what was called a "Globalize This!" training session for > protesters at a farm near the Cascade Mountains, outside Seattle. > > "I think this is the largest gathering of unaccountable corporate power that > has ever occurred on this planet, and it should be stopped," said Sellers, > who described his group as "open to work with anyone who is working for > progressive social change on the left side of the spectrum." > > In some ways, the protesters have already scored important victories and in > Seattle, a city with a long history of union activity and a decidedly > favorable bent toward environmental causes, they are clearly generating some > sympathy. The local King County Council, for instance, recently haggled over > and nearly failed to approve wording for a routine resolution of welcome to > the W.T.O. delegates. > > "I was thrilled when Seattle was selected," said Michael Dolan, a field > organizer for the protesters, who is deputy director of the Global Trade > Watch program of Public Citizen, a group founded by Ralph Nader. "It's > almost like they're giving us home-field advantage. There are great labor > unions here, great labor energy, all these environmentalists." > > The protesters have commanded the attention of local news organizations and, > in what was clearly a bid to defuse some of the potential for conflict, the > Clinton administration has taken the unusual step of pressing the W.T.O.'s > leaders to hold a one-day meeting just before the conference gets under way > to listen to the protester's concerns. The president also plans to send > several members of his cabinet to Seattle in the weeks before the conference > to talk up the benefits of free trade. > > The new director-general of the Geneva-based trade body, former New Zealand > Prime Minister Mike Moore, was in Seattle earlier this month and used a > forum at the University of Washington to concede that the trade body had not > done an adequate job of explaining its mission to the public. > > "I thought the case had been made," Moore said. "But I guess we have to back > up the truck and explain how we got here. We've never reached out." > > Advocates for the five-year-old trade organization and the 1948 framework > pact that preceded it, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as > GATT, say it is helping to bolster the world economy and lift workers out of > poverty by bringing down barriers to trade all over the globe. > > But opponents believe the W.T.O. is using its power as an arbiter to > systematically undermine laws passed by various countries to promote health, > food safety, environmental protection and better working conditions. > > In just one such case, several Asian nations won a preliminary ruling from > the trade organization last year after they charged that the U.S. laws > intended to protect sea turtles from shrimpers' nets unfairly blocked their > exports to U.S. markets. The protesters also say a ruling in favor of > Venezuelan gas exporters had the effect of weakening anti-pollution laws in > the United States. > > "The record of the W.T.O. speaks for itself," said Jeremy Madsen, an > organizer with the Citizens Trade Campaign, a coalition of dozens of groups > opposed to the W.T.O.. "It's not something that is beneficial for workers, > it's not beneficial for the environment. It has an atrocious impact on > everyone but the elite, the very wealthy." > > Business groups, clearly alarmed at the attention the protesters have > already generated here, plan to organize their own campaign to promote the > benefits of free trade. However, as a spokesman for one such group said, > they do not exactly plan to rappel down the Space Needle to explain their > point of view and therefore may not draw as much attention. > > "I think the story in terms of media coverage is that we do pretty well in > print, but we lose big-time on the pictures," said Scott Miller, a lobbyist > with Procter & Gamble who is chairman of the United States Alliance for > Trade Expansion, a group backed by business and based in Washington, D.C. > "That will continue to be the dynamic." > > Some opponents of the trade organization say the organization has adopted > secretive operating rules that are practically forcing critics into public > protests. Even when Moore came to Seattle on his scouting trip, he was met > with protesters who carried signs that said "Stop child labor now" and "No > globalization without representation." > > "There isn't all that much left, really, because the system is so closed," > said Patti Goldman, managing lawyer of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, > an environmental group. "It isn't democratic. There's no participation > process for the public to play a role. That is a fundamental problem." > > Schell, among others, is clearly walking a bit of a political tightrope, but > he says he simply wants to make sure that the city is a good host to both > those attending the trade conference and those who come here to protest it. > > "I've been on the other side of the picket lines, and so have a lot of > people here," the mayor said in an interview. "They need to be heard. > Seattle likes hosting these kinds of things. We see ourselves as an open > city, a center for creative debate. > > "Now," he added, "one of the things I'm going to try to convey to the > protesters is that they are more likely to be effective if they find the > right ways to be heard. People listen better when they're not being shouted > at." > > Madsen of the Citizens Trade Campaign said the protests would be respectful. > > "The intention of everyone involved is to have a very peaceful event, or > series of events, that really speak to the issues," he said. "The goal is > not really to disrupt the city per se. Traffic probably is going to get > clogged, it's going to be hard to get downtown. But a lot of that won't have > anything to do with us, it will have to do with security perimeters set up > by the police, the FBI. The potential for real catastrophe is being greatly > exaggerated." > > But with such a widespread call to protest, and with some groups already > vowing disruption, the potential is certainly there, said Walt Crowley, a > local author and director of a Web site of Seattle history, historylink.org. > > "Clearly the labor movement, the environmental movement, and other interest > groups have legitimate concerns and even grievances with the W.T.O.," said > Crowley. > > "They're trying to reform a process and the structures for guiding > international trade, they're not trying to blow them up," he said. "But they > kind of have a protest going on with festival seating, which means you > really have no control over who's sitting next to you. And I think there's > some anxiety that the theatrics of protest are going to eclipse the > content." > > >
