And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: 'FESTIVAL OF RESISTANCE' - USA Today
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 15:10:25 -0700
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: ACTIVISTS READY FOR 'FESTIVAL OF RESISTANCE' - USA Today
USA Today September 15, 1999
ACTIVISTS READY FOR 'FESTIVAL OF RESISTANCE'
Protesters plan to disrupt WTO talks
By James Cox, USA TODAY
It promises to be a "festival of resistance" against the evils of
corporate "conquistadors," activists say.
Little noticed by the public, the upcoming World Trade
Organization summit has energized protesters around the world -
from indigenous tribes to longshoremen - like few events before.
Opposition forces are descending on Seattle from places as far-
flung as Togo and Finland to express outrage at the excesses of
globalization and, if possible, prevent world leaders, bureaucrats
and corporate executives from meeting to talk about expanded
trade.
"Globalization is so out of control," says Dave Solnit of Art and
Revolution, a group specializing in political theater and dance.
"This is one of those critical times like there were in the civil
rights and anti-war movements when regular people have to take a
stand."
The Nov. 30 gathering will be an eclectic party. President
Clinton will host other world leaders, along with 5,000 delegates
from more than 150 countries. Cuba's Fidel Castro, himself a foe
of free trade and capitalism, is among the WTO's invitees.
Boeing CEO Phil Condit and Microsoft's Bill Gates are heading
the Seattle Host Organization. Big business is sponsoring dozens
of events and receptions.
But the Seattle police also expect tens of thousands of
anarchists, greens, peasants, union members, consumer advocates,
Christian groups, AIDS activists, biotechnology opponents and
others who defy description.
Activists, noting that the Northwest is a hotbed of social causes,
can barely contain their glee.
"They're bringing the largest corporate junket of the millennium
to our home court," says John Sellers, director of the Ruckus
Society. "I would have had it in Houston. It's not a very forgiving
place to be an activist."
Even official Seattle is not entirely open armed. The
Metropolitan King County Council struggled recently to come up
with a lukewarm welcome resolution. The city and county councils
have passed resolutions declaring themselves "MAI Free Zones" -
off-limits to trade pacts known as Multilateral Agreements on
Investment. MAIs, which govern foreign investment, are on the
WTO agenda for Seattle.
'Shut down this town'
The Clinton administration and the Geneva-based WTO picked
Seattle, a port city where one in three jobs are dependent on
imports and exports, to showcase the benefits of free trade.
But the city's many bridges, bodies of water and already
congested freeways could leave it vulnerable.
"There's going to be a wide range of rowdiness. Some people
are going to try to shut down this town," says Mike Dolan,
organizer for Public Citizen, Ralph Nader's consumer group.
Many of the protesters are trained in "urban climbing"
techniques enabling them to scale buildings and bridges to unfurl
banners. Greenpeace activists prevented trawlers from heading out
to Puget Sound by dangling themselves from Seattle's Aurora
Bridge in 1997.
Local police are brushing up on VIP protection, crowd control
and traffic procedures. "I don't think you can make ironclad
guarantees you'll be able to keep people off buildings and
bridges. We're not going to lock the city down," says Capt.
Brent Wingstrand of the Seattle Police Department.
Since the end of the Cold War, liberalized trade rules and
technological advances have made the world's economies more
closely intertwined.
Foes blame trade liberalization for exploiting workers and the
environment in Third World countries and draining jobs from
developed nations. They criticize the 134-nation WTO for
conducting business behind closed doors.
The WTO argues that the trading system it oversees promotes
peace, raises incomes and living standards, provides more consumer
choices and reduces the influence of special interests.
"In the absence of global conflict between 'isms,' some people
have chosen to focus their fury on globalism," WTO chief Michael
Moore said recently. "The WTO has become a target for abuse."
But many business leaders blame themselves for the public's
apathy toward and ignorance about trade.
"Our tendency has been to talk about trade sporadically and in
an incomplete manner," says Scott Miller, a Procter & Gamble
lobbyist who chairs a business alliance called U.S. Trade.
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Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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