IN SEATTLE, FREE TRADE'S HAPPY FACE PEELS OFF

by Norman Solomon of Creators Syndicate

SEATTLE: After enjoying a free ride in American news media for many years, 
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) 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 
the USA. 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 for the WTO summit, it was 
clear that mere mortals had 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 — symbolised 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 labour 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 
institutionalised 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 Organisation 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 non-violent protesters in downtown Seattle with heavy batons and 
new rounds of pepper spray and tear gas. Armoured 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 Organisation 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.