No More Free Ride For Free Trade

For the World Trade Organization, five years of a free ride in US mass media came to a crashing halt on the last day of November 1999.

The WTO was 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.

Midway through this historic week, it is 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 has gone up in smoke—symbolized by the tear gas and pepper spray wafting over Seattle. And December has begun with the acrid smell of illusions turning to ash.

Bretton Woods Is Burning Down

BrettonWoods is burning down. For North America and the rest of the world, the WTO will never be the same. And while the hotshots running the WTO struggle with this predictable but abrupt crisis in Seattle, the parallel activities of global loan sharks like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are also sliding into further disrepute.

The broad base of the protests in this city has compelled media attention. It was not just numbers that were so impressive. The unions, religious groups, civic alliances, NGOs, activist coalitions and other organizations represented in the streets were clearly and deeply rooted in communities across North America and every other continent. We are discovering and strengthening our common interests. One sign in the big march Tuesday afternoon read: "Turtles and Teamsters: United At Last."

Get Ready for the Counterattacks

The emerging coalitions that have literally and figuratively disrupted the best-laid plans of the WTO this week are, for corporate media, somewhat odd – and at worst, nothing short of ominous. Get ready for the counterattacks in the news media.

When you go home—wherever that is—don’t forget that your voice must be heard. You were a co-creator and a witness to history, moving with the best of our hope. Of course, the obstacles to challenging the current global economic system of privilege and injustice remain huge. But they can be overcome.

For the guardians of systemic inequities on a global scale, the expectations for a ministerial gathering have turned nightmarish. The host figurehead, President Clinton, was to have arrived to help officiate at a triumphant moment. Instead, he faced a range of distasteful choices.

Automatic Assumptions

The default position of US news coverage has always been 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. Such assumptions are so automatic that few journalists give them a second thought.

But as the smoke clears here, there are bound to be some second thoughts. Whether they will be transient or transformational is up to people at the grassroots in communities all over the world. Painstaking efforts have brought us this far. But unless we sustain and increase the pressure brought to bear on the WTO this week, the corporate globalizers and their kindred media spirits will find ways to revert to business as usual.

One of the most progressive members of the US Congress, Dennis Kucinich, made a crucial point a couple of days ago when he warned against "sacrificing human existence on the altar of the great dollar bill." Labor rights, economic equity, environmental protection, human rights, and social justice are concentric values that must withstand assault from monetary worship that proliferates in the mass media every day.

Enter Bill Clinton

Now comes Bill Clinton, doing his best to clean up the mess. The rhetoric is likely to fly high. As usual, many reporters and pundits will give him credit for lofty intent. One way or another, we can expect Clinton to put himself forward as a healer who is seeking to strengthen what he has called "a vital American center where there is cooperation across lines of party and philosophy." But Clinton’s fervent support for the WTO remains centered on power and wealth.

Norman Solomon is author of "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media"

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