November 1999-January 2000
Economic Globalization:
Free Trade or Fair Trade?
At the end of 1999, Seattle swept shards of glass from its sidewalks while global trade talks collapsed in disarray. The World Trade Organization (WTO), a five-year-old global body whose very existence was unknown to most people just a few weeks before, was suddenly plunged into a cyclone of controversy. Some opponents called for its abolition, while others argued that if labor standards, human rights and protection of the environment were built into its charter the WTO would actually strengthen standards worldwide. Free trade advocates said that a collapse of global trade talks would hurt poorer countries the most, while critics asserted that the sole beneficiaries of free trade are multinational corporations and rich elites.
What should be the rules of global trade and who should decide them? Should the WTO be able to overrule national standards for the environment and labor rights? Is the WTO a monolithic bureaucracy, a world government in embryo, or a body of nations with widely varying views and interests that has the potential to "level up" the playing field?
The "Battle of Seattle" marked the emergence of a newly assertive global public, linked by the Internet and determined to play a role in shaping our future. The Mainstream Media Project offered leading players in the global trade debate who were questioning the WTO's current rules and proposing new ones. As Seattle demonstrated, trade is no longer a topic as dull as watching snow melt. Trade is the one issue where all others converge, affecting everyone and everything from what we eat to what we think.
Between November 1999 and early February 2000, MMP mounted a public education campaign centered on issues of economic globalization. This was the most successful campaign we've ever mounted, garnering fully 400 interviews. More than a quarter of these (109) were nationally, globally or regionally syndicated, reaching scores of stations at once. Nearly 90 experts from more than 60 NGOs participated in the campaign.
These are issues that will grow in importance in years to come. Seattle marked a sea change in public awareness and citizen activism, when disparate social movements found common cause. We hope to return to many of these issues for another major campaign.
Guest Speakers by Topic
Wall-to-Wall Wal-Marts: What's Wrong with a Globalized Economy?
John Cavanagh, Director, Institute for Policy Studies
Charles Derber, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
David Korten, President, People-Centered Development Forum
Larry Mishel, Economist and Vice President, Economic Policy Institute; Author
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
Mike Prokosch, Globalization Coordinator, United for a Fair Economy
Trudi Renwick, Economist and Fiscal policy Analyst, Fiscal Policy Institute
Michael Shuman, Director, Institute for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, Village Foundation
Free Trade or Fair Trade?
Sarah Anderson, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies
Kevin Danaher, Director of Public Education, Global Exchange
Kristin Dawkins, Director, Trade and Agriculture Program, Institute for Food and Agricultural Policy
Dan Griswold, Associate Director, Center for Trade Policy, CATO Institute
Brink Lindsey, Director, Center for Trade Policy, CATO Institute
Anuradha Mittal, Policy Director, Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy; Coordinator, "Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come"
Sophia Murphy, Senior Associate, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Njoki Njoroge Njehû, Director, 50 Years Is Enough Network
Mark Ritchie, President, Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy
Michelle Sforza, Research Director, Public Citizen Public Citizen Global Trade Watch Project
Lori Wallach, Director, Global Trade Watch Program at Ralph Nadar's Public Citizen
What's in Store, What's at Stake at WTO Summit
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, Global Exchange
Michael Dolan, Deputy Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen; Field Director, Citizen's Trade Campaign (CTC)
Julie Light, Managing Editor, Corporate Watch
The Wealth Gap: Precarious Property
Chuck Collins, Co-Director, United for a Fair Economy; Author
Jeff Gates, President, Shared Capitalism Institute; Author
Betsy Leondar-Wright, Director of Communications, United for a Fair Economy
Vanessa Lowe, President, VLL Consulting
Karen Kraut, Program Associate, Responsible Wealth Project, United for a Fair Economy
Holly Sklar, Writer and Lecturer
Sacrificing Nature: Environmental Impacts of Globalization
Michael Evenson, Co-Chair, Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment
Paige Fisher, Timber Trade Campaigner, Pacific Environmental Resources Center
Patti Goldman, Managing Attorney, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund
Antonia Janis Juhasz, Director, International Trade and Forests Program American Lands Alliance
Dan Kegley, Co-Chair, Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and Environment
Danny Kennedy, Director, Project Underground
Victor Menotti, Coordinator, International Forum on Globalization
Jubilee 2000: Forgiving Debt in the World's Poorest Nations
David Bryden, Communications Coordinator, Jubilee 2000 USA
Carole Collins, Journalist; Former National Coordinator, Jubilee 2000 USA
Marie Dennis, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Executive Member, Jubilee 2000 USA
Jo Marie Griesgraber, Chair, Jubilee 2000 USA
New Models: Economics as if Life Mattered
Rebecca Adamson, President, First Nations Development Institute
Paul Hawken, Author, Founder, Smith & Hawken
David Morris, Co-Founder and Vice President, Institute for Local Self Reliance
Vicki Robin, Author, Your Money or Your Life
Jonathan Rowe, Author; Former Fellow, Redefining Progress
Penny Yunuba, Spokesperson, Your Money or Your Life
Exceptional Experiments: Doing Well by Doing Good
Alisa Gravitz, President, Co-op America
Michael Kieschnick, President, Working Assets Funding Service
Michael Linton, Investor of LETS, Local Currency System
Michael Shuman, Director, Village Foundation Institute for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship
Additional Participants (local contacts)
Congressman John Conyers, Michigan's 14th Congressional District
Donna Grace, Founder and Director, Buffalo John School
Tracy Hewat, Director, Comfort Zone
Connie Hogarth, Hogarth Center for Social Action
Pastor Rob Johnson, Truth Lutheran Church
Jean Ross, Executive Director, California Budget Project
David Solnit, Organizer, Direct Action Network; Coordinator, Art and Revolution
Jeff Thompson, Policy Analyst and Economist, Oregon Center for Public Policy
