- Campaigns -

WTO, Seattle, and Frankenfoods

I guess everybody here has heard about the Battle of Seattle by now.
For those who didn't know, one of the reasons the WTO is under such fire is that every time the WTO has had to decide a case concerning the safety of contaminated or geneticly altered foods it had ruled in favor of the exporter. In short, the US wants to use the WTO to ram these "frankenfoods" like geneticly tampered corn cereal from Kelloggs(Frosted Fakes) and hormone-tainted beef(like McDonald's probably uses rather they know it or not)down everyone else's throats.

The Washington Post ran an editorial yesterday or today claiming that foreign countries saw the fighters and protestors in Seattle SUPPORTING the US and opposing a balance of power between the US and its trading partners, but consider the source: The oligarchies that run many Third World countries stand to make billions by inviting in U$ Corporations to set up sweatshop, and don't want US or anyone else's subjects standing in their way. If they can protray opposition to sweatshops, frankenfood, and poison as national chauvinism, the winners are NOT the people of the Third World. Instead the multinational-and the ruling classes of the Third World-benefit, along with the U$ politicians the multinationals own. Meanwhile the workers and consumers(the same people) of both the West AND the Third World get lower wages, longer hours, worse conditions, poisoned food and shoddy products. You would not believe how bad the quality of sweatshop goods often is. The only thing worse is the quality of sweatshop life.
I believe we won a great victory in Seattle by permanently associating the WTO with conflict and strife and preventing any deals from being reached in this round of talks. Maybe they will have trouble even finding a place to meet next time!

Follow Ups:

None.