Unions should remember union values
Re: “Anti-Globalization, Pro-Peace?”
10/25/01
If unions want a society that favors discourse and long-term problem solving, they are going to end up in the anti-corporate globalization/peace camp again. It is too bad that labor unions have distanced themselves from socialist principles so much that they are not helping lead the peace movement. I think it is a clear sign that at least the upper tiers of organized labor do not really stand for a better, more equally-organized society.
Nate Swenson
Define the movement
Re: “Anti-Globalization, Pro-Peace?”
10/25/01
I have immediate sympathies for anything remotely concerned with equality, the environment, and all that great stuff. I understand that the anti-globalization movement is in part about protecting the rights of workers from capitalist exploitation. I also understand the concern that corporations have too much control in world politics.
But I’m missing something in the big picture that justifies the use of violence and disruption to get the message across. So when I read about “anti-globalization” I really wonder if it’s a completely inadequate term describing (as you noted) highly divergent organizations with different values working on similar goals.
So maybe that is where an explanation would help: What is the political paradigm behind some of the more violent groups, and what are their ultimate aims?
Right now I’m a liberal in the uncomfortable position of not being able to whole-heartedly embrace the anti-globalization movement because I’m not sure exactly what I’m embracing.
Sheila Wright
Fight now, make peace after
Re: “Anti-Globalization, Pro-Peace?”
10/25/01
I think America is justified in crushing the movement and people who attacked NY and DC. But after that, our interventionism should be significantly reduced. America is the cop of the world. I was very distressed by our bombing of Belgrade and our facile dismissal of collateral damage. I hope the young people of today will find a better way to stay “engaged” in world affairs than preceeding generations have.
Ron Carpenter
The day the movement died
Re: “Anti-Globalization, Pro-Peace?”
10/25/01
September 11 will be remembered as the day your anti-capitalist movement died. The college kids who protested in Seattle made me realize that America had not had a real crisis in a long time. People actually thought businesses were the enemy. Now most Americans recognize that we do have a real enemy — people who want us dead. The explosions and fires of September 11 shed light on the shallow ideals represented by the protesters of the WTO.
Trade is not the problem. Globalization is not the problem. Hate and violence are the problems, and your movement hates profits, and destroys businesses. But the young people of America now see we have a true enemy.
Lee Stephenson
No point to make
Re: “Anti-Globalization, Pro-Peace?”
10/25/01
What’s your point? What is it about you liberals that think that there is no such thing as evil in the world? These people are scum and their hatred is born out of jealousy and laziness. You have no answers except that the US should reexamine its policies.
John Gostkowski
US corporations out of Afghanistan
Re: “Pipe Dreams”
10/25/01
US corporations should stay out of Afghanistan. If Dubya and his ilk are successful in overthrowing the Taliban (one of their primary objectives), we should also avoid involvement in the internal politics of Afghanistan. How many times must we be burned by ‘blowback’ before we stop making idiotic policy errors?
K.S. Ainsworth
