For Shame.

There's an old trick in political debate: If you don't have the facts on your side, argue the law. If you don't have the law, attack your adversary's motives.

Director general Mike Moore of the WTO produced a textbook example of this on Sunday in a statement to a variety of trade unionists in Seattle. His statement is an insult to thousands of thoughtful people gathered in Seattle, and the WTO and its boss ought to be ashamed of themselves.

We refer you to the following:

"There is also a darker side to the backlash against globalization. For some, the attacks on economic openness are part of a broader assault on internationalism—on foreigners, immigration, a more pluralistic and integrated world. Anti-globalization becomes the latest chapter in the age-old call to separatism, tribalism and racism—the ‘them versus us’ view of the world."

Now, it is possible to brush this off as an attack on the Pat Buchanan/Jean-Marie LePen corner of the global nuthouse, but the attack is so scattershot that many honest, serious, intelligent people have been splattered with the mud. A quick reading of this incendiary paragraph could lead a casual observer to think he was talking about people clogging the streets of Seattle. That is a canard of the most outrageous proportions.

The Observer does not pretend to speak for all the protesters in Seattle. In fact, its editorial mission is to provide a wide stage from which many views may be broadcast. This is, after all, a free country that enjoys free speech. Isn't it?

The Observer is well acquainted with many of the people and organizations who find fault with the WTO, its programs and its activities. We can—and do—assure Mr. Moore and the WTO that insinuating that they are anti-foreigner, anti-immigration, anti-pluranism, even racist is a crushing insult that we deny and reject out of hand.

If the WTO's bossman really wanted to understand why so many people have come to Seattle to express their doubts, he would have attended the teach-in over the weekend and the scores of rallies, symposia, panel discussions, and other events put on by people of good will. Not do to so, under the circumstances, borders on the irresponsible.

So please, Mr. Director-General, answer the substance of the criticisms being levelled at you and your organization and leave the mud-slinging to others.

You owe our friends an apology.

home