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TechnoratiWTO Reduced to Semblance of Democracy
It's been nine years since the Battle in Seattle and the WTO demonstrations that rocked the free trade movement to its core. What transpired on the streets inspired the WTO's marginalized smaller countries to stand up and speak out for their own economic rights. As a result, it is no longer an organization in which a few wealthy countries make all the decisions in their own interests. The WTO has been reduced to a semblance of democracy.
In 1999, more than 60,000 people were on the streets of WTO Seattle to fight for economic transparency, for fairness and for doing the "right thing" for the future of both people and planet. As the current global financial meltdown takes its toll, the relationship between then and now is evident: Greed is no good and does no good.
The corporate culture that distorted, manipulated and shamelessly profiteered from the aberrant system it created is now taking down the middle class. All the issues raised in 1999 are now creating awareness in the media, panic at the tables of power in Washington, D.C., and nightmares on Wall Street. Too bad it took so long. If the insights, instincts and information of civil society in WTO Seattle had been attended to in 1999, perhaps 2009 would not be looming as a year of global financial catastrophe.
The world that was out on the streets of WTO Seattle was speaking to the fundamental issues of human rights and human decency, concepts painfully lacking in financial bottom-line scheming. Struggling farmers came from as far away as Africa, Japan and South America because they wanted the freedom to own their own seeds and grow food for their families. They were protesting the corporate policies that forced them to raise profit-driven crops that replaced sustainable, life-giving agriculture.
The streets of WTO Seattle gave voice to union members -- from teachers and airline pilots to ferry workers and longshoremen -- who wanted fair wages, health care and a stake in the future of the companies in which they worked. There was an unlikely collusion of historical adversaries in industry and the environment joining together in an outspoken claim to economic and environmental justice. WTO Seattle brought together hundreds of nonprofit organizations long familiar with the struggles of the multitudes around the world who own neither stock portfolio nor computer.
And there was a massive influx of educators, policymakers and committed activists from all over the world giving workshops and presentations.
Within the midst of all this readily available information, the national media gave nearly all its attention to a few broken windows and one burning garbage can. Civil society was calling out for restoring global economic justice, questioning values, examining systems and acknowledging the interdependence at large that prescribes our world.
But there were very few journalists in the mainstream media who researched the issues behind the demonstrations. The esteemed New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an article titled, "Senseless in Seattle" in which he described the demonstrations as "a Noah's Ark of flat-earth advocates, protectionist trade unions and yuppies looking for their 1960's fix ..."
In recent years, Friedman went off around the world to learn a thing or two. It seems to have rescued him from his own Noah's Ark of corporate provincialism. It's too bad that he, and so many other journalists like him, didn't pay attention when it mattered. If they had, they might even have seen Barack Obama coming.
It was young people who sat down in the streets of Seattle and kept the interests of the corporate elite from taking over the WTO table. They are the ones who got beat up and pepper-sprayed, wrongfully arrested and who fought for years in the courts to see justice prevail. We all know about the judgments and settlements made in favor of the demonstrators. It turns out they weren't terrorists after all; their rights were violated.
It's the same passionately committed youth movement that mobilized to elect the first black president of the United States. The underlying cause remains the same: Corporate profits should not come at the expense of life. When it does, the social infrastructure of society is shredded.
Someone once said that capitalism destroyed communism and now it's destroying democracy. It doesn't have to. In its beginnings, capitalism was locally and regionally based and invested. People knew who the boss was. These days, the boss is an offshore "it" with all the rights of a human being that just happen to override all the rights of real human beings. The truth is: Companies and corporations with values and policies that serve employees and community do not have to give up profits in order to do so. They simply have to give up mindless and soulless greed.
In 1999, that's what WTO Seattle was all about. And that's what it's still all about. Thanks to everyone who showed up on the streets of WTO Seattle wearing their values, principles, generosity and knowledge on their sleeves. The world needs you now more than ever.
18 Comments so far
Show AllWhat is needed is a central clearing house where all progressives can exchange ideas. Single-issue platforms are not enough because all progressive issues are interconnected. The network that developed to help elect Obama could spearhead real change by agreeing to concentrate on issues that will resonate with the wider populace.
In the meantime, support - and invest in - your local farmers and artisans. Keep money local.
"they might even have seen Barack Obama coming."
Barak Rubinomics Obama? They saw him coming, and bet $300M on it.
Seattle deserves credit for changing WTO. I think Seattle also deserves credit for launching the massive anti-war rallies of 2003. Obama did not ride the anti greed wave of Seattle. He rode the indirect anti-war wave of Seattle.
“Greed is no good and does no good”. "They simply have to give up mindless and soulless greed." The article implies that this needs to happen somehow voluntarily. That if we just had some stronger cultural bias against greed, we'd solve that particular problem. Ridiculous. Two points in this regard:
1 -- A system was concocted in which unbridled greed was allowed to run rampant, and lo and behold, unbridled greed ran rampant. It is idiocy to suppose that ANY system that does not curb this kind of greed, through regulations with real teeth as well as social expectations and sanctions, will ever see this sort of greed held in check.
2 -- Greed has many manifestations. As a progressive, I am one of the greediest people I know. I consider that progressive policies ARE quite greedy, although I would dub it "enlightened greed". Why do I advocate for a fair distribution of income and wealth? That health care is a basic human right? For a healthy environment? For sustainable living habits? Because that's the kind of society I personally want to live in. Even if I get to be one of the "haves" under the current regime (which I most certainly am), this is not the kind of society I want to live in. It turns my stomach. It is terrifically myopic, a burn-the-seed-corn strategy that strips hope from our future prospects. A squandering of nature's bounty as well as human capacity on a massive scale. An impoverished culture of acquisition that yields a throng of depressed, screen-addled marketing targets cohabitating with countless "have nots" lacking the basic wherewithal to live life with dignity. I say what we need is MORE greed – greed informed by perspective and a vision of a better way to live for all of us. So let’s worry less about greed per se and more about idiotic ideologies such as “the church of the invisible hand”.
Interesting reflection on "greed." To me greed is unconsciousness. When we wake up to the profound nature of our interdependence--with one another, the sentient world, and everything else that is alive in nature, we enter into the kingdom of life. It is place full of both grief and joy. Greed comes out of avoiding this experience. It comes from hoarding that which we think will make us happy. Sometimes we hoard our opinions--as well as our "stuff." And in order to do so without guilt or regret, we put lots of energy into controlling the perspective we have on the world. Greed means hoarding our perspective. "An impoverished culture of acquisition," is a very painful, debilitating culture in which to live. It means we are losing out on a full, meaningful and generative experience of life. And until, as a culture and as individuals, we can, as William Blake says, "kiss the joy as it flies," rather than hoarding what we have--be it mirth or money--we won't be inclined to come to consciousness.
There are signs of it, however. The election of Barack Obama is a joyful thing. For sure it's given me back some courage. And I think that's the real gift that joy brings--courage to do what we can to keep joy going--alive and on the wing--for everyone. If there is any one thing that this current complexity in the financial market illustrates--it's that hoarding secret systems that grow money for money's sake suck all the joy out of the world. For everyone.
Janet,
I believe your definition of greed is more closely aligned with "immediate gratification". My definition is "grabbing for yourself without regard to the consequences for others". If your greediness blows up in your face (such as the recent financial crisis, environmental destruction of your own life support system, etc), then is greed the crux of the problem, or is it stupidity? I believe it is the latter. I don't think that any particular amount of compassion for others is necessary for one to conclude that a just, sustainable society is far preferable on all fronts to the one we have now, even for those who appear to be benefitting from the current system.
Sioux Rose
CHARAT & JANET: Wonderful, enlightened posts. I salute you in spirit & sisterhood. Often on CD I point out the bloated allotments to military and militaristic initiatives and chart these under "Mars rules." Your share the wealth/share the joy/live together peacefully suggestions fall under a more sound VENUS RULES. Thanks for sharing them! Peace be with you.
How about changing things so that the power shifts back to the people:
http://www.thoughts.com/RedNeckPossie/blog/a-way-to-give-power-back-to-the-people-184665/
Great article Janet Thomas. I participated in the WTO demonstrations, the activists were educated, the media didn't have a clue. It was as much a failure of the main stream media as in the precious months before the invasion of Iraq.
What Obama has done now is to jolt the American imagination. The American people need to make it their dreams of hope, not Obama's. With increasing empty bellies, fewer good jobs, empty portfolios and a greater social awareness, now is the time to have millions of people take to the streets to protest the greed of corporate capitalism. Janet Thomas, how can we get it going?
The rich ruling 1% need their cages badly shaken, not by the new Obama Administration, because the real "powers that be" will not let it happen, but by the American people. This is the most opportune time for radical social change since the great depression. Radical social change cannot be left on Obama's shoulders because he cannot do it alone.
You ask: "How can we get it going?"
I've wondered about this a lot. Being on the streets of WTO was such a fundamentally hopeful thing. Then the media either neglected or distorted all the issues. Followed by 9/11 and the Patriot Act that effectively shut down in fear pretty much everyone's inclination towards any public displays of protest of ant sort. Then the unfolding Bush regime took the wind out of our sails, the hope out of our lives, and the courage out of our actions. Only now, with the election of Obama, do i sense a shift in the tides of paralysis and despair.
What do we do now?
I think working to rescind corporate personhood is critically important & it's happening in parts of the country. Becoming, and staying, aware of the ways in which our lives are served by those in other countries is another motivating experience. It makes us conscious of the real cost of living. Changing free trade agreements to free & fair trade agreements that serve workers and farmers--all the way along the "food chain" from farm and factory to consumer--is a critical thing. So is becoming familiar with the historical and human stories behind poverty around the world in order to combat the statistical, objectifying and numbing infomation of mainstream media.
Organizationally, I don't know how this happens. WTO Seattle was an alchemy of activism fueled by very specific causes and passions that found themselves under the same N30 umbrella. The incentives to show up were as diverse as it gets--but the underlying motvation was a simple yearning for fairness and for the preservation of the integrity of individual, culture and community. The event honored everyone differently. But it symbolized a unity of spirit. It felt like everyone wanted the best thing for everyone else--no matter what it was. Because what everyone wanted was the simple right to human rights and human dignity in a human world.
It takes a lot of commitment to open up heart & mind to one another in such a way. The WTO gave us all something to unite behind in opposition. What can we unite behind in support? A global day of reckoning in which civil society the world over takes to the streets in support and celebration of one another?
Sign me up.
The more they merge, the more powerful they get, the less democracy there is, unless We the People Inc. become the richest, most powerful for profit corporation to which all others have to turn for leasing our publicly owned resources.
Crooked, polluting, socially irresponsible corporations and banks need not apply.
Nothing is going to change. The BIGS are destroying what left of the middle class . They like having a huge underclass starving and begging. They on the other hand can be seen daily on Bloomberg news pontificating about PAIN we need PAIN and we need more FEAR it's all good so WE the WINNERS can have MORE! Nothing new here folks move along.... it's all about them as usual.
According to his own statements during the campaign against McCain pushing biofuels appears to be on Obama's plate.
Let us hope that he changes his priorties when things are made clear. The Farm lobby is still powerful though.
All thats being said here is that we have been sold business's perversion of capitalism using the term "Globalism." Using it to sell their program of destroying borders and deregulating trade so they could maxamize their profits, minimize their taxes and get the cheapest labor possible while avoiding any future costs for medeical or retirement.
Sioux Rose
Hey, Thomas, we agree on something! Happy holidays.
The WTO WB mega development models like mass monoculture of soy, sugar cane for biofuels is being debunked by research from all over the world.
GM and mass monoculture does not contribute to combating global warming/climate change. The EU has baked off on its 10% biofuel goal for one reason. It is not what it has claimed to be. The export scale of biofuel development is one of the worst boondoggles in human history. Models are being developed for small scale local/regional balances.
Natural Resources Research: it takes 7,000 liters of water to grow 12 kilos of cane to make one liter of ethanol. Each liter of ethanol generates 10-13 liters of contaminated residual water - vinegar. Much of the residual leeches into subsoil, groundwater and aquafers. This is apart from agrotoxins, herbicides and saturation of soils with nitrogenous fertilizers. Slave labor, population displacement...
A Time magazine article April 14, 2008 call it a myth developed from research that seemed to think biofuels were cultivated at the pump.
Excellent comment on the lie of Bio Fuels.
Instead of showing up at protests alone, why not take your pols at the districts where it counts? Other than Dennis Kucinich, I don't see a whole lot of pols pushing to cancel NAFTA, CAFTA, and the rest of the "free" trade scams.