Norman Solomon

SEATTLE

— After enjoying a free ride in American news media for many years, the World

Trade Organization just hit a brick wall. The credit should go to a vast array

of civic activists — represented by tens of thousands of protesters from every

continent who took to the streets here with determined nonviolence.

The

WTO has been fully accustomed to operating with scant media scrutiny in this

country. Even for alert consumers of mainstream news, the WTO was apt to seem

distant, aloof and fully protected from the intervention of mere mortals. No

more.

By

the time President Clinton arrived in Seattle on Wednesday for the WTO summit,

it was clear that mere mortals have thrown themselves onto the gears of global

trade designed by the rich and powerful. The Oz-like curtain shielding the

operators of corporate machinery had gone up in smoke — symbolized by the tear

gas and pepper spray wafting over the city.

This

month began with the acrid smell of illusions turning to ash. For the general

public, the WTO will never again be able to claim automatic legitimacy. And

while the hotshots running the WTO lose momentum, the parallel activities of

global loan sharks like the International Monetary Fund are also sliding into

further disrepute.

The

peaceful marchers in downtown Seattle compelled media attention because they

were so clearly and deeply rooted in communities across North America and every

other continent. Formerly isolated from each other, advocates for diverse

interests — the environment and labor rights, for instance — are finding

common cause.

At

a union-sponsored demonstration that stretched for many blocks, amid protesters

dressed as sea turtles (endangered by WTO edicts), I saw a sign that captured

the moment: "Turtles and Teamsters — United At Last."

Over

the years, news coverage has been stuck in a default position, routine and

implicit: When government leaders and top corporate officials reach agreement on

economic rules for the planet to live (and die) by, those rules are basically

sound. Kindred elites arrived in Seattle hoping for a celebratory event.

Instead, resistance spoiled their party.

Guardians

of the WTO’s image got a break when a small group of hoodlums went on a

window-smashing spree and drew appreciable media attention. It’s easy enough for

TV cameras to videotape scenes of random violence in a shopping district. A much

more difficult task would be to cover the institutionalized violence that is a

quiet part of daily life.

While

Western banks collect huge interest on loans to poor countries, the suffering —

and the links between wealth and poverty — go largely unreported. That’s how

20,000 children worldwide continue to die each day from preventable diseases.

The

chain of events that led to a virtual military lockdown of Seattle’s core

business district at midweek was set in motion by wide opposition to the WTO in

many societies around the globe. Now, the battle of Seattle has torn off the

WTO’s happy-face stickers.

Without

such visible opposition, reigning power brokers are glad to pose as tolerant

souls. But at the historic crossroads in Seattle, when the WTO found itself

unable to proceed with business as usual, it was time to exchange the velvet

glove for the iron fist.

This

is logical. After all, the World Trade Organization is supremely

anti-democratic. Unelected WTO officials deliberate in secret and issue rulings

that deem local or national laws to be unfair "trade barriers" if they

impede the pursuit of profits. This, we are told, is "free trade" —

and laws that protect workers or the environment or human rights are supposed to

get out of the way.

As

I write these words on Wednesday evening, a few blocks away police are attacking

nonviolent protesters in downtown Seattle with heavy batons and new rounds of

pepper spray and tear gas. Armored personnel carriers have moved in. Some

policemen are arriving on horses. National Guard troops are putting on gas

masks. All day, helicopters have droned steadily overhead.

In

a perverse way, all this seems to make sense. While boosters of the World Trade

Organization keep talking about "free trade," the consequences of

contempt for democracy include more contempt for democracy. Elites may insist on

the right to rule, but the rest of us — including journalists — should not go

along to get along.