I'm not sure that I disagree with them, but there is a large portion of people living here in my small town in Australia that believe the WTO is simply the tool of a few big corporations designed to make governments submit to their needs and not those of their people. They believe it's run by a group of faceless unelected who are taking control of things they should have no right to effect.
The idea that they can declare a part of an American city off limits to Americans is very interesting.
People here fear being forced to use patented corporation seeds. They fear having to buy products form other countries when it could mean local economic destabilization. They fear being told to do anything, because the they think they are a democracy.
So, they see the people struggling in Washington against a seemingly over powerful enemy as a great effort to bring attention to these changes before it's too late. Well, a little dramatic I agree, but still that's what they see.
They don't want to live in the country of Merck or United Fruit Company. We've seen what these corporations will do to people in the third world and they would be just as happy doing it to the US and Australia. The WTO is seen as a tool of this and therefore, it's very telling that when people have the impertinence to protest against them, they are beaten up and jailed. If it were Athens or Buenos Aires, or Seoul, instead of Washington DC, a few of them might even be killed by police to make an example.
Yes, Wag the Dog was a discussion of media manipulation. It showed the worst in people who are so dependent on TV to make an opinion. How do you want them to think today?
Was the violence in Washington just staged for effect? How about the people who dressed as Indians and threw all the tea in to the bay? It was also staged, but perhaps it wasn't the same kinds of media event?
But, what are people to do when they feel there is no solution to fighting against an unelected body as powerful as the WTO? Can't they form a legal protest without being beaten and jailed in America?
Regards,
Mark |
