Why We Are Here...

At the end of November, thousands of concerned citizens will converge on Seattle to try to make themselves heard by an international authority notoriously shy about taking advice or explaining its actions: The World Trade Organization, described by the London Independent as the most powerful entity in the world and one of the most secretive.

Many headed for Seattle do not trust the WTO. They’re skeptical of its motives. They believe its rulings have been setbacks for environmental sustainability, human rights, and democracy. They’re coming to debate, demand reform, protest—or shine a light on the proceedings so that citizens will at least know about the closed-door decisions that will affect their lives. To use the jargon, they want transparency. So do we.

World Trade Observer, in print and online is, produced by organizations representing environmentalists, labor activists, agriculture specialists, human-rights campaigners, and others, will be published daily during the week of the Ministerial, with the first free daily issue on the streets (and online at www.worldtradeobserver.org) Monday, Nov. 29. We’ll provide news and analysis that look behind and beyond the official communiques. This preview issue offers an introduction and background.

Trade is a basic function of society. Kids trade instinctively. Indigenous cultures have barter systems. International trade has existed since before there were nations. The essence of trade was swapping something you had plenty of for something you didn’t have enough of.

But in these last days of the century, trade has fundamentally changed. Once it was about commodities. Now it’s trade for the sake of trade. The giant companies driving globalization don’t care whether they trade software or soft drinks, as long as they make money. They care about their stockholders, their executive pay packages, and their profits. Supposedly this forced march to open all markets will benefit everyone, but that notion is belied by the widening gap between the planet’s haves and have-nots.

There are many costs to unfettered globalization. Even workers in rich counties are threatened as transnational corporations move to wherever wages are lowest. Business insists that free markets demand "a level playing field," so the trade rules that get adopted bring all nations’ environmental or labor regulations down to the level of the weakest ones. The WTO’s critics agree on what the problems are, but not on what to do about it.

Some think the WTO may be worth keeping around. Their slogan is "Review and Repair." But there is a determined group who want to abolish the organization altogether. In between is a group who say, "No New Round. Turn Around." They want to reverse the momentum of globalization and work on rebuilding local cultures and economies.

Apart from the United Nations, the WTO is the first international body to wield real power. Will it become a force for equity, for resource protection, for social justice, for human rights? Does it want to? Or is it so much a transnationals’ tool that asking the question is like wondering if the fox will stop raiding the henhouse?

The Observer is committed to examining these questions; to airing the full range of views; to helping journalists, participants, and observers understand each other’s perspectives; and like all good newspapers, to raise constructive hell if needed. We invite your comments, opinions, reactions, commentary, letters and leaks. (Especially leaks.) You can find out where to reach us and more about who we are here.