October 8, 2003 Free Trade —Please? Macdonald Stainsby Op Columnist Now, if you've read my column even once before you won't be surprised to learn I’m not an advocate of free trade. But this is okay; I am (for nearly the first time in my life) in total agreement with the US government. However, I’m the only one telling you the truth of the matter. The gov- ernments of the world today that like to pretend they don’t really have colonies also like to pretend that these very same ‘not colonies’ (i.e.= the third world) are suffering not from capitalism and the whims of the market, but from a lack of real capitalism and the ‘invisible hand’ that will magically make everything better by providing much need- ed capital, markets for products, technologies, and even skills. Deregulation = prosperity. So we are told. So, if this is the case, why aren't the governments who speak of these virtues practising them? We are told to eliminate labour organizing rights, environmental protections, provisions for public funding, and (most significant recently) agricul- tural subsidies for farmers. Supposedly, all of these meas- ures handicap how capitalism will carry out its historical mission as an arbiter of justice through the market place. Problem is, the rest of the world’s populations are the only people who are punished for not doing this completely. What am I talking about? The same thing that the so- called “G-21” (now 32 in number) countries were talking about in Cancun, Mexico at the last round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings. Now, I'll tell you where I’m coming from so no one can get any misleading ideas about my bias: I was in the streets of Seattle a few years ago when, for only one day, we the people converged on this organization of murder by eco- nomics and shut it down. I’m proud of that; this organiza- tion and the concept of an un-elect- ed body that is above the sovereign- ty of a state, people, and any law one could pass to me is the very opposite of democracy. The mani- festation of how these governments who speak of an abstract democracy feel about the real thing was shown very clearly when they tear-gassed us, attacked young flower children with cops on horseback, and fired rubber bullets at us. We, random people who took the day off school, work and our regular lives went to the streets of Seattle to shut down the WTO. Groups like Oxfam and large American trade unions (such as the AFL-CIO) put out their message to fix the WTO, but there were large numbers like us who sim- ply don’t believe that one can put out a fire by asking arsonists to carry out arson in a less fire-like manner. You have to take away their right to play with fire in someone else’s house. But that’s all me. There are other people—I already mentioned a pair of the organizations—who believe that such an organization has the possibility to be an agent for change. Okay, let’s just see. Here’s what the Third World countries (from Brazil to India, Venezuela through to Kenya and even China along with over two dozen others) demanded in the way of reform: It’s time for free trade rules to go in both direc- The point here is the exposure of the nature of what is happening Opinions tions. “Free” trade with one country still massively subsi- dizing their agricultural industry isn’t “free” at all. What this should be called, at minimum, is a double standard. The United States does something that would normally get their ultra-right wingers knickers in a knot that not even the navy could undo: they use publicly funded subsidies to alleviate price hits that the market, if operating alone, would cause. These subsidies come to a total of $3.9 billion per year. Once effectively guaranteed to sell their produce to the US government, farmers produce incredible quanti- ties of cotton. This, as is the law of capitalism when widg- ets or gadgets or thing-a-ma-jiggers are over-produced, causes a major fall in world prices. However, the end-run around the laws of “the invisible hand of the free market” are stopped there. No one produces cotton in major coun- tries like Africa with such subsidies. No one is guaranteed to sell his or her produced cotton in places like South Africa, Senegal or Coté D’Ivoire. And these African gov- ernments face sanctions, loss of “favoured nation” status and even the Iraqi solution wouldn't be ruled out if a sim- ilar government subsidy program were adopted. The first measure would be the loss of credit from the IMF, not something I normally would be too upset with. The point here is the exposure of the nature of what is happening. The First World continues to treat their colonies with the same arrogance, and these kinds of measures, ostensi- bly to “protect American cotton producers,” run against the much-ballyhooed free market. This kind of govern- ment intervention into the economy is something, barring a revolution that I would usually admire—but it should be carried out by all states, regardless of the size of their pock- etbook or gunship flotillas. And in Cancun, Mexico the “G-21” coun- tries (which totaled over 30 by the end of the WTO negotiation round) from all over the planet organized to say no more subsidies to rich countries while their farmers continue to starve. The entire round of trade talks collapsed. The words used about the global economic structure are many and oh-so-sweet sounding. “Free Market.” “Globalization.” Eliminating barriers. Who could be against this? How about some other words: Hypocrisy, imperialism, and exploitation. Finally, how about another word, Resistance. That's what we have seen in the streets from Seattle to Genoa to Quebec City. And now we see it on the inside of the world trade body itself, with even these third world misleaders (often previ- ously hand-picked by Western powers) saying they have had enough. That will terrify the leaders of the US and Europe far more than all the black and red balaclavas in the world, even when they are subsidized purchases. But I’m still keeping my masks. Sometimes you just have to dress right for any occasion. Macdonald Stainsby is a freelance writer, social justice activist and can be reached at: mstainsby@tao.ca http://www.otherpress.ca e the other press © A Penny Saved, Isa Penny ¥% Earned — Angie Cameron David Lam Contributor Following the footsteps of David Lam's Student Services Wing of staying afloat this semester, I’m adding my two cents. * How to Find $78 Get your $50 haircut once every ten weeks instead of every eight. If you dye your hair like I do, bear your roots just a little longer. 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