Its a pro-democracy movement. And its global.
The vibrant social forces that converged on Seattle this week and proceeded to
deflate the WTO summitare complex, diverse and sometimes contradictory. Yet the
threads of their demands form a distinct weave: We want full democratic rights for all
people.
Leaders of the U.S. government are pleased to say nice things about some pro-democracy
movementsfar away. But here at home, their pretense is that the conditions of
democracy have already been achieved.
Yes, many of us have sampled those conditions during the last few days, complete with
tear gas and pepper spray, thick batons and rubber bullets. The law-enforcement partners
of the WTO pursued the goal of routing protesters in much the same way that top officials
of the WTO go about reaching trade agreements. They want to do whatever it takesto
maintain control and preserve the power of elites.
The marketeers who are so fervent about the glories of the WTO are determined to
preserve the kind of social order described a century ago by writer Anatole France:
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep
under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."
As U.S. Congress member Dennis Kucinich commented the other day, the World Trade
Organization has achieved great transparencywe can see right through it.
Genuine pro-democracy movements are always profoundly threatening to those with their
polished boots on the necks of the poor. In the United States, corporate-owned media
and corporate-leased politiciansdont see any fundamental problem. The
system is treating them very well, thank you, and theyre returning the favor. (Or is
it the other way around?)
Americas punditocracy is adept at changing the subject, away from the basics. But
the obviouslike the purloined letter in Edgar Allen Poes classic taleis
often so omni-present that it goes unnoticed. Every daily newspaper in the U.S. has a
business section; none has a labor section. On NPR, even though "Public" is its
middle name, theres not even a weekly labor update while the same network airs
an hourly NPR "business update."
The implicit media assumption that wealth creates all labor is simply another inversion
of reality. What passes for mainstream journalism is standing on its head in order to
serve corporate interests, as weve seen yet again in recent days. Carried in the
march through Seattle on Thursday, a huge banner noted: "The Corporate Media Diverts
Your Attention from Police and WTO Violence."
"The Capital Gang" is just one of many network TV programs providing an
incessant national chorus of corporate-friendly political pundits. Its an apt
metaphor: Although were supposed to assume that the name of the show is a reference
to Washington, D.C., my guess is that "Capital" could be more appropriately
understood as financial capital.
If a pro-democracy movement is going to grow much more in this country, it must deal
with the reality that the news media are hostile to populism that is progressive
but appreciably more hospitable to the right-wing variety.
The first political pundit to appear on national TV seven days a week was Patrick
Buchanan. Now he wants the Reform Partys presidential nomination.
Buchanan has become fond of voicing anti-corporate sentiments. He came to Seattle this
week, trolling for votes from the anti-WTO bandwagon. Meanwhile, he doesnt support
basic union rights of American workers. Significantly, he opposes a raise in the minimum
wage. And he scorns the environmental movement as an affront to holiness.
"Easters gone," Buchanan declared angrily a few years ago. "Now
its Earth Day. We can all go out and worship dirt."
From Corporate Americas vantage point, Pat Buchanan is just about ideal as a
national candidate waving the populist banner. Buchanan is hobbled by heavy far-right
baggage which he grips with white-knuckled defiance as he equivocates about Nazi
Germany and routinely denigrates people for failure to be white, heterosexual and
Christian (as he defines Christian).
In sharp contrast, the progressive forces at work in Seattle this week have boosted
momentum for democratic change. Were learning to reach out across borders and many
other barriers, finding out how to affirm our common humanity while struggling against
corporate power. As hundreds of people kept chanting outside the King County Correctional
Facility during a festive celebration of resistance on Thursday night: "This is what
democracy looks like."
A global pro-democracy movement. The time has come.