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>"Millenium Round" of the WTO under fire
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> > ... from both left and right > by Alain Kessi > > > When in May last year the World Trade Organization organized its second > Ministerial Conference in Geneva eight thousand people took to the > streets in Geneva, and tens of thousands world-wide in decentralized > actions in order to protest against the power relations that the WTO > helps imposing.[1] Some of the strategists of deregulation seem to be > shaking with the shock. When on 23 September of the same year UN > representatives and top managers of corporations met at the Geneva > Business Dialogue, Helmut Maucher - President of the ICC-WBO > (International Chamber of Commerce / World Business Organization) and > Chairman of the Board of Nestlé -, who had called the meeting, felt > obliged to castigate the protests - whose organizers "would do well to > seek legitimacy" - and call on the state governments to fulfil their > policing duties. > > Now it seems like things might get even better in Seattle where from 30 > November to 3 December the third Ministerial Conference is going to take > place. Already in the preparation phase the WTO is struggling with > problems of legitimacy. "All you have to do is read the newspaper to > know that the anti-WTO forces have been more effective, thus far, than > we have," laments Scot Montrey, spokesman for the U.S. Alliance for > Trade Expansion, a US coordination of large corporations.[2] Michael > Dolan, who is coorganizing the protests and is a deputy director of > Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a group founded by Ralph Nader, > rejoices: "I was thrilled when Seattle was selected," said. "It's almost > like they're giving us home-field advantage."[3] > > A whole range of activities are planned around the Ministerial > Conference by radical left and progressive grassroots groups, NGOs and > trade unions: from street theater and actions of civil disobedience all > the way to large demonstrations. Kept at a distance by the > aforementioned organizers, but nevertheless quite present in the weeks > leading up to the protests are extreme-right Republicans as well as > conservative environmental organizations with essentialist lines of > argument like the Sierra Club. While the Republicans demand - just like > the radical left - that the US government leave the WTO, the Sierra Club > wants - like the established leftist NGOs - that "civil society", > meaning themselves, be given a place in the decision-making process of > the WTO. > > The blurring of the difference between left-wing and right-wing > approaches is especially visible in Seattle. The city council has > declared a MAI-free zone (MAI - Multilateral Agreement on Investment) on > the city territory. The symbolic anti-globalization measure was proposed > by Brian Derdowski, Republican member of the King County council, where > another such zone has been implemented.[4] > > On a US-wide level John Talbott, spokesperson for the Reform Party, does > not see much difference between Ralph Nader on the left and Pat Buchanan > on the right when they talk about globalization, and proposes that a new > party be created that is neither right nor left, but created to > represent the hard-working average American. In this he closes his eyes > on Pat Buchanan's racist, sexist and homophobic attitude. The latter's > right-wing "producerist"[5] populism refers to a hard-working productive > middle class and working class being squeezed from above and below by > "lazy social parasites".[6] > > What has gone awry, if one of the greatest leftist mobilizations of the > past years - the one against "free" trade, against "globalization", > against "transnational corporations" and especially against the MAI - is > so attractive for right-wing conservative groups? > > In June 1999 the Dutch antiracist group De Fabel van de illegaal, whose > work had greatly contributed to building a strong movement against the > MAI, decided to leave the campaigns against "free trade". "After taking > a closer look we concluded that to take 'free trade' as a primary target > is not a logical choice based on a radical Left analysis, but instead > comes more from a New Right analysis," the group explained in an open > letter in September 1999. A year before that already, in October 1998, > they had published a first discussion paper: "With 'New Right' against > Globalization?"[7] They followed it up with a series of articles dealing > with the weaknesses of the discourse on "globalization" and "free trade" > as well as with people serving as intermediaries between left-wing and > right-wing activists and groups. > > In his analysis of the crisis of antiracism, Pierre-André Taguieff > describes the appropriation of leftist discourses by the neoracists as > retorsion (not in the sense of revenge, but in a slightly less common > French meaning of the use of an argument against its author)[8] This > raises the question of when a leftist discourse is open to retorsion. Or > the other way around: How would a discourse have to be structured so > that it would not serve right-wing propaganda. I would like to take a > look at five characteristics which make discourses suitable for > retorsion: a simplistic analysis of capitalism linked to an uncritical > attitude towards the national (social) state, emotionalizing, a > conspiracy theorist approach, and speaking of modernity destroying > "nature". > > The discourse on globalization fits so well into right-wing racist > rhetoric because it blames an international capital not tied to a > geographical location, for the economic and social difficulties. The > simplistic analysis overlooks the role of the local capital in the > process of accumulation and exploitation and thus allows the demand to > protect the latter against the international financial capital, which is > artificially separated from the "productive capital". Karl A. > Schachtschneider, who together with others has filed a court action > against the Monetary Union with the Federal Constitutional Court of > Germany in Karlsruhe, warns in the far-right newspaper Junge Freiheit: > "We will be pushed further into globalization. This will serve as the > big excuse for the social tensions. We have to compete with slave > labor."[9] > > Those who, like parts of the anti-MAI campaign, or like those Trotskyist > and other old leftist theoreticians writing in Le Monde Diplomatique, > defend the social state are especially prone to national-chauvinist > retorsion. Since they describe the object of their desire as outside > history and independent from colonialism and the conditions of the > Keynesian era, they do not seem to notice that the nation-state by no > means withers away with deregulation. They also close their eyes to the > fact that it is national state governments who drive the deregulation > ahead - and hope thereby to create an advantage for their respective > nation-state.[10] > > The imperialist nation-state serves as a door-opener for corporations as > governments exert diplomatic and military pressure on dependent > governments. Representatives of the large US corporations and the US > diplomacy for instance work hand in hand in developing and securing the > access to new investment zones. In this field of interconnections the > efforts of some US corporations serve other US corporations as well. In > order to do justice to this interconnectedness between corporation and > "their" government, critical observers have in the past few years come > to replace the delocalized term of multinational corporation by the > transnational corporation which is rooted in one country and extends its > activities from there beyond the state boundaries (transnationally). > > The discourse on globalization easily fits in conspiracy theories. These > already appear in the cliché of the disinterest in politics on the level > of the nation-state - "Those guys in Berne/Berlin/Vienna do what they > want anyway." Beyond the boundaries of the nation-state, as the distance > to the relevant decision-making bodies becomes greater, the propensity > to see conspiracies really breaks out. > > It is not any longer the processes of production and of capital > accumulation that are at the center of the attention, but clubs of > influential men (and some women) who negotiate among themselves the > future of the world behind closed doors. The outrage about the initially > secret negotiations at the OECD played an essential role in the > mobilization against the MAI. Since in this reading the actors of > "globalization" are so powerful and their business so mysterious, it is > hardly possible to oppose any resistance to them. Thus the work of the > conspiracy theorists limits itself to the missionary "enlightment" about > the dangers of the "New World Order" (a term that finds itself reified > in the abbreviation NWO used on web sites drawn to conspiracy > theories[11]), the Bilderberg meetings[12] or the World Economic > Forum[13]. > > A substantial part of even the leftist variants of the discourse on > "globalization" work through emotionalizing, calling upon fears about > the threat on one's livelihood represented by "multinational > corporations". This is very pronounced in the struggles against Monsanto > and other gene technological corporations, for instance. Such > emotionalizing distracts from societal analyses and makes people > receptive for other emotionalized discourses - including those from the > right-wing. > > In parts of the ecological left the perceived threat on their > livelihoods is not seen so much as a power relation between social > groups, but as the destruction of "Mother Earth" by a "modern world" > gone astray. Traditionally leftist ideas about self-management and > autonomy get mixed with discourses on regionalism which tend towards > racism, and leftist criticism of technology receives support from > essentialist and fascistoid discourses about living in harmony with > "nature", "according to the natural social laws of Gaia" (to quote > Edward Goldsmith[14], the founder and chief editor of "The Ecologist", a > newspaper that is widely read internationally, also by leftists). > > Retorsion can, if we take those criteria into account, be made much more > difficult. In the preparations for the Innercity Action Week in Germany > in June 1997, many activists acquired the requisite know-how for > analyses of the world market, of the competition between economic > locations and the myths of globalization which would not so easily yield > to retorsion. The close look at local consequences of global processes, > the analysis well rooted in the material, and especially the connection > made with a critical assessment of "public space" including the > mechanisms of its racist regulation, are hard to integrate into a > right-wing discourse. > > During the preparations for the protests in Seattle, right-left overlaps > were repeatedly brought up. One of the grassroots networks involved, the > PGA (Peoples' Global Action against "free" trade and the WTO[15]), > decided at its second conference in Bangalore, India, in August to > direct its struggle no longer against "free" trade, but against > capitalism. But the preparations for Seattle also made it clear that for > a massive mobilization, a broad alliance was possible and desirable. The > more radical groups and activists seem to have succeeded in the time > before the actions to set forth their criticism of attitudes prone to > retorsion to a wider audience. Especially the caravans inspired by the > PGA[16], with their numerous stops, actions and events on the way to > Seattle offer plenty of opportunities to approach people who have not so > far been internationally networked, and to build up a reliable network > in the USA also. > > 1 Reports can be found in the PGA Bulletin No. 2, > <http://www.agp.org/agp/en/PGAInfos/bulletin2/bulletin2b.html>. > > 2 Michael Paulson: Business Leaders Fight Back Against Anti-WTO Forces. > In: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 24 September 1999. > <http://www.seattle-pi.com/business/wto24.shtml>. > > 3 Sam Howe Verhovek: For Seattle, Triumph and Protest. In: New York > Times, 13 October 1999. <http://www.corpwatch.org/5-seattle.html>. > > 4 Geov Parrish: Shutting down Seattle. In: Seattle Weekly, 19-25 August > 1999. > <http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/9933/features-parrish.shtml>. > > 5 For a critical description, cf. > <http://www.publiceye.org/pra/tooclose/producerism.html>. > > 6 Chip Berlet: Beware Right Wing Anti-Globalism. Political Research > Associates, October 1999. <http://www.corpwatch.com/5-antiglobal.html>. > > 7 This and other articles about right-wing influences on leftist > campaigns can be found on <http://www.savanne.ch/right-left.html>. > > 8 Taguieff, Pierre-André: Die ideologischen Metamorphosen des Rassismus > und die Krise des Antirassismus (The Ideological Metamorphoses of Racism > and the Crisis of Antiracism). In: Bielefeld, Uli (Hg.): Das Eigene und > das Fremde. Neuer Rassismus in der alten Welt? Hamburg 1991. pp. 221-268 > (The Self and the Other. New Racism in the Old World?). Cf. also > Schönberger, Klaus: Überlegungen zur Retorsion der Sozialen Frage, > AZ-Seminar in Pesina (6.9.-13.9.1997) (Reflections on the Retorsion of > the Social Question); as well as Terkessidis, Mark: Kulturkampf. Volk, > Nation, der Westen und die Neue Rechte. Köln 1995, pp. 67 ff > (Kulturkampf. People, Nation, the West and the New Right). > > 9 Stein, Dieter: Es geht um die Freiheit der Völker. Die Euro-Klage: > Karl A. Schachtschneider zum juristischen Kampf gegen die Währungsunion, > in: Junge Freiheit 4/98 (This Is About the Freedom of the Peoples. The > Euro Court Action: Karl A. Schachtschneider About the Juridical Struggle > Against the Monetary Union). Cf. also Jungle World 98, Issues 04, 05 und > 14. > > 10 For a rebuttal of the myth of the state that abolishes itself through > the MAI negotiations, cf. Peter Decker: Verkehrte Aufregung über das MAI > - Die Staaten verschärfen ihre Standortkonkurrenz ... und Linke sorgen > sich um das Überleben des Nationalstaates, Junge Welt, 29. April 1998, > <http://www.jungewelt.de/1998/04-29/014.htm> (False Exasperation About > the MAI - The States Increase Their Competition Between Economic > Locations ... and the Left Are Worried About the Survival of the > Nation-State). More generally on the changed role of a still strong > nation-state, Joachim Hirsch: Vom Sicherheitsstaat zum nationalen > Wettbewerbsstaat, ID-Verlag, Berlin 1998 (From the Security State to the > National Competition State). > > 11 Examples abound, cf. for instance <http://www.truthinmedia.org/>. > > 12 A potpourri containing partly probably historical descriptions, > partly imaginative conspiracy theories can be found on > <http://www.bilderberg.org>. The entire world elite is said to meet > annually in the Bilderberg group in order to decide on the future of > humanity. > > 13 See the official web pages of the World Economic Forum on > <http://www.weforum.org/>. Besides the annual meetings in Davos, a > number of regional meetings take place, like the one about Eastern > Europe (in Salzburg, Austria) or about South-East Asia (Beijing and > Shanghai). > > 14 Krebbers, Eric (De Fabel van de illegaal): Goldsmith and his Gaian > hierarchy, > <http://www.savanne.ch/right-left-materials/gaian-hierarchy.html>. Gaia > is the personified Earth in the Greek mythology (Theogony according to > Hesiodos) and serves as a symbol to conservative environmental > movements. > > 15 Cf. <http://www.agp.org>. > > 16 Cf. for the trans-US caravan <http://www.agp.org/agp/UScaravan>, for > the Canadian caravan <http://www.wtocaravan.org/>. > > > > > > ******** > ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** > News about and of interest to anarchists > ****** > COMMANDS: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > REPLIES: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > HELP: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ > INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org > |
