Norman Solomon
SEATTLE
— After enjoying a free ride in American news media for many years, the World
Trade Organization just hit a brick wall. The credit should go to a vast array
of civic activists — represented by tens of thousands of protesters from every
continent who took to the streets here with determined nonviolence.
The
WTO has been fully accustomed to operating with scant media scrutiny in this
country. Even for alert consumers of mainstream news, the WTO was apt to seem
distant, aloof and fully protected from the intervention of mere mortals. No
more.
By
the time President Clinton arrived in Seattle on Wednesday for the WTO summit,
it was clear that mere mortals have thrown themselves onto the gears of global
trade designed by the rich and powerful. The Oz-like curtain shielding the
operators of corporate machinery had gone up in smoke — symbolized by the tear
gas and pepper spray wafting over the city.
This
month began with the acrid smell of illusions turning to ash. For the general
public, the WTO will never again be able to claim automatic legitimacy. And
while the hotshots running the WTO lose momentum, the parallel activities of
global loan sharks like the International Monetary Fund are also sliding into
further disrepute.
The
peaceful marchers in downtown Seattle compelled media attention because they
were so clearly and deeply rooted in communities across North America and every
other continent. Formerly isolated from each other, advocates for diverse
interests — the environment and labor rights, for instance — are finding
common cause.
At
a union-sponsored demonstration that stretched for many blocks, amid protesters
dressed as sea turtles (endangered by WTO edicts), I saw a sign that captured
the moment: "Turtles and Teamsters — United At Last."
Over
the years, news coverage has been stuck in a default position, routine and
implicit: When government leaders and top corporate officials reach agreement on
economic rules for the planet to live (and die) by, those rules are basically
sound. Kindred elites arrived in Seattle hoping for a celebratory event.
Instead, resistance spoiled their party.
Guardians
of the WTO’s image got a break when a small group of hoodlums went on a
window-smashing spree and drew appreciable media attention. It’s easy enough for
TV cameras to videotape scenes of random violence in a shopping district. A much
more difficult task would be to cover the institutionalized violence that is a
quiet part of daily life.
While
Western banks collect huge interest on loans to poor countries, the suffering —
and the links between wealth and poverty — go largely unreported. That’s how
20,000 children worldwide continue to die each day from preventable diseases.
The
chain of events that led to a virtual military lockdown of Seattle’s core
business district at midweek was set in motion by wide opposition to the WTO in
many societies around the globe. Now, the battle of Seattle has torn off the
WTO’s happy-face stickers.
Without
such visible opposition, reigning power brokers are glad to pose as tolerant
souls. But at the historic crossroads in Seattle, when the WTO found itself
unable to proceed with business as usual, it was time to exchange the velvet
glove for the iron fist.
This
is logical. After all, the World Trade Organization is supremely
anti-democratic. Unelected WTO officials deliberate in secret and issue rulings
that deem local or national laws to be unfair "trade barriers" if they
impede the pursuit of profits. This, we are told, is "free trade" —
and laws that protect workers or the environment or human rights are supposed to
get out of the way.
As
I write these words on Wednesday evening, a few blocks away police are attacking
nonviolent protesters in downtown Seattle with heavy batons and new rounds of
pepper spray and tear gas. Armored personnel carriers have moved in. Some
policemen are arriving on horses. National Guard troops are putting on gas
masks. All day, helicopters have droned steadily overhead.
In
a perverse way, all this seems to make sense. While boosters of the World Trade
Organization keep talking about "free trade," the consequences of
contempt for democracy include more contempt for democracy. Elites may insist on
the right to rule, but the rest of us — including journalists — should not go
along to get along.