Readers Weigh In on WTO
ED NOTE: Our WTO coverage has drawn an unusually strong response from readers. The MoJo Wire is hosting this space for letters concerning the ministerial and the protests. Something to say?Talk to us.
Terry Gabriel
The Vietnam era was a watershed time for change. The protests against our involvement were ineffective until two things occurred. The first was that "middle America's" sons started coming home in body bags. The other significant occurrence was the veterans themselves. As time passed from 1965, more and more of them were disillusioned by what they had seen and done in Vietnam to the extent that they started agreeing with and joining the protesters' organizations. They also formed one of their own: Vietnam Veterans Against The War. These forces eventually forced the United States government to change its policy toward Vietnam in fundamental ways. The same "sea change" of social attitudes is going to have to happen regarding the WTO and our efforts to change American attitudes toward it. Until some "veterans" of the corporate evils in the name of fair and global trade come forward and insert themselves into the fight against this body, there will be no progress. The protesters were depicted by the WTO media lackeys as a bunch of freaked out radicals. Right now, middle America is winning in every way because of globalization. WalMarts are bursting at the seams with cheap goods, trailer house manufacturers are selling their answer to the housing shortage as fast as they can be built, tobacco exports are at record highs: all is right with the world and Americans are happy. Until some thing or idea can get through to these people that "now" is not "forever," there is no hope of changing the fundamental attitudes of those who are needed to "man the barricades" against this monster.
Peijin Chen I was pleasantly surprised during the Seattle protests by the numbers of young people that showed up. I hope this undercuts the "apathetic youth" stereotype. However, what bothers me about activism is that much of it revolves around chanting pithy slogans and raising triumphant fists of refusal in the air. Globalization is an incredibly complex phenomenon that deserves serious study, and not just by those who support or oppose it: no one's life will remain untouched by it, so it behooves us all to learn about it. We need to penetrate the "globalization mystique" whereby globalization "occurs" at a remote, abstract level. I hope that our generation does not limit its purview to decrying the excesses of globalization, but can instead develops a more utopian strain of thinking. Movements seldom move without visionaries.
Thomas Dunne
The recent clashes between protesters and police outside the World Trade Organization's summit in Seattle has drawn the public's attention and will hopefully cause it to question the dubious goals of this multi-national corporate behemoth. It is unfortunate that the media focused so extensively on the negative aspects of the WTO opposition. Tens of thousands protested peacefully in the hope of exposing the WTO to a public largely unaware of how powerful this organization has become. Since 1995 the WTO has actively pursued an agenda of corporate world domination. Its vision is one of global trade free of any regulation, and without regard for human rights, labor rights, or environmental concerns. The sovereignty of member nations would be superceded by the profit-driven interests of multi-national corporations. Free trade has already undermined the social and economic stability in this country as the 1990s has produced a stock market that has risen exponentially, creating vast wealth for a priveleged few at the expense of those who have lost famiy-supporting jobs at companies (Master Lock, Rockwell/Allen Bradley for example) that have relocated production to Mexico and other third world nations. |
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