The World Trade Organization (WTO) will be meeting in Seattle Washington from Nov. 27th through Oct. 3rd. It is imperative that we understand that the WTO acts in the interest of one class and one class only. Furthermore, we must understand that what they propose will do nothing positive for the working class except plague us with unemployment and environmental hardships. Those who own the means of production will be free to utilize and exploit, via the WTO, the cheapest labor available on the world market effectively driving the wages of millions of workers down. Moreover, the WTO has been able to exercise unprecedented power over governmental laws, regional and national, regarding the reversal of environmental laws in the name of profit.
The WTO came into being four years ago with the signing of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and is designed to elevate corporate influence above and beyond that of the nation-states which we already know are kept out of the hands of the majority working class. This effectively places the decisions concerning world economic affairs into the hands of the few multi-national corporations who now control the lives of millions if not billions of workers internationally. The propertied class has already shown itself willing to use the working class as pawns in their global chess match of profit taking. Likewise, that same small class who owns the means of production, has time after time shown itself more than willing to use our fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters as cannon fodder in their petty wars. The tactics of the WTO are no different, as the WTO is just an extension or a tool that the owners of the means of production use as they wage their class warfare against the working class majority.
The WTO composed of non-elected "trade specialists" acting in the interest of the Bosses have gone so far as to overturn laws affecting labor, local economies, public health and the environment. This places panels of non-elected specialists who affect not only the nation they attempt to exploit but also affects the individual working class citizen by not allowing their voice a forum to be heard in. Does this sound as if they are acting in the interest of the working class?
According to the People for Fair Trade Organization, "In 100 cases, over the first four years at the WTO, all decisions by non-elected corporate panels have favored corporations over labor, corporations over public health and corporations over the environment." We need to act now in order to take control of our world; for those who own the means of production will destroy not only the working class which they exploit for profit, but the environment as well.
"The WTO’s lack of democratic process or accountable decision-making is epitomized by the WTO Dispute Settlement Process. The WTO allows countries to challenge each other’s laws and regulations as violations of WTO rules. Cases are decided by a panel of three trade bureaucrats. There are no conflict of interest rules and the panelists often have little appreciation of domestic law or of government responsibility to protect workers, the environment or human rights. Thus, it is not surprising that every single environmental or public health law challenged at WTO has been ruled illegal." (Seattle Org 99 http://www.seattle99.org/wto_issues/issues_home.html) Again we are forced to ask; where does the majority working class fit into this equation?
Let us momentarily look at the record of the rulings for the WTO on two issues. As mentioned above the WTO has never voted in the favor of anything except profit.
The WTO is used by companies like Glaxo Welcome and Britstol Myers, manufacturers of AIDS drugs, to compel poor countries to abandon their efforts to make desperately needed medications more affordable through the use of generic drugs and other policies. In Africa for instance, where the level of AIDS cases has reached plague proportions, the WTO has pressured the governments of the poor countries to refrain from purchasing or manufacturing the drugs, in generic form, that would help to save the lives of millions! Profit before people flies on the banners of the WTO!
The WTO and its panels of non-elected "trade specialists" have no regard for the environment as they have routinely voted in favor of profit over the environment. Sea turtles, which have been on the planet for 150 million years, are in great danger of becoming extinct because of the WTO’s opposition to certain regulations that help to protect the turtles. Apparently the WTO feels that these turtles are in the way of profit and therefore they should be erased from the Earth as their punishment for impeding the collection of their precious profits!
These aforementioned examples are just a few of the injustices that the WTO forces on the workers of the world. We could go on and on about the injustices the WTO are responsible for; everything from clean air laws and bananas to labor laws and baby food.
In conclusion, the WTO represents raw unadulterated greed and the quest for profits at the cost of the working class and the environment. The WTO will destroy the working class in the name of profits if that is what they deem necessary. In short, they will use and discard the working class like refuse. They have already proven this time and time again with millions upon millions of working class individuals being killed in their petty wars. How many children of those who own the means of production have been sent off to war as compared to those men, women, and children of the working class who are ritually offered up to their gods of profit! These are the types of people who are in control of the WTO! These are the types of people who believe they control the working class! We must prove them wrong! Our lives and the lives of our children depend on it!
The WTO meets in Seattle Washington on November 27th - December 3rd. We urge as many people that are able to go and represent the interests of the majority working class make the trip to Seattle. Make a stand against the class who owns the means of production! Make a stand against the WTO! We must have the courage to change the things we cannot except!
For Worker Solidarity!
For People before Profit!
Let us show those pigs who’s in charge!
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