From: WestSaeed (u2babyboy@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Oct 29 2001 - 21:29:19 EST
This is a very, very interesting article from the NYT. Long, but
worthwhile...
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-----Original Message-----
From: Soren Ambrose [SMTP:soren@50years.org]
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2001 12:27 PM
To: stop-wb-imf@50years.org
Subject: NYT the mvmt after 9-11
For Trade Protesters, 'Slower, Sadder Songs'
New York Times
October 28, 2001
By LESLIE WAYNE
NEXT month, international financial and trade officials will gather in
two important meetings - one in Doha, Qatar,
and the other in Ottawa - to resume a series of talks that were
scheduled before, but questioned after, the attacks on Sept. 11. As they
meet, anti-globalization groups will be holding some type of protests,
perhaps candle vigils, perhaps marches, in cities around the world.
Their message, protesters say, warns about the ill effects of globalism,
capitalism and world trade on poor nations.
But how they express that message, even some leaders of the movement
say, will probably bear little resemblance to the marches - often
erupting in violence - that put them on the map in recent years.
Strident demonstrations against globalization may occur in Europe, but
protesters in the United States are scrambling to see if they can hold
together a movement now that their most effective way of getting
attention is out of sync with the national mood.
"I don't think we are going to be in the spotlight as much as before,"
said John Sellers, director of the Ruckus Society, a human rights group
based in San Francisco that has organized marches against global trade.
"There's a strong concern about marches since Sept. 11. What would
happen if 10,000 people turned out for a peaceful march and then 4 of
them burned a flag?"
That is the quandary facing the anti- globalization movement - which has
gained its strength as a confederation of environmental groups and trade
unions, anarchists and respected advocacy groups. Many of these
organizations remain highly committed to their causes, especially those
that have criticized the lending policies of the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank. But the terrorist attacks have forced them to
regroup and, they say, they are not sure how, or if, they can be as
effective as before.
"A lot of us are in a retreat-and-reflection mode," said Tim Atwater,
national organizer for Jubilee USA Network,
which advocates the canceling of debt to developing countries. "We are
having to walk on tiptoes and communicate very, very carefully. Things
are coming back slowly. But we will be singing slower, sadder songs."
Yet for all the difficulties facing the movement, it is hard to imagine
that it will fade away. The movement has been too long in the building,
and it is too well financed and organized. And many of the issues it has
raised about global inequities between rich and poor appear to have
become more relevant in recent weeks. Even the Bush administration in
the last few days has made the link between poverty and the roots of
terrorism.
"We will definitely be there in Ottawa," said Stephen Kretzmann, an
analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, an advocacy group in
Washington. Mr. Kretzmann was arrested at the demonstrations in Seattle
in 1999 that thrust the movement into America's consciousness. "We have
to be very Ghandian in our approach."
To many, the anti-globalization movement has been a bit of a puzzle
since it first appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
Who are these people? Where did they come from? How are they financed?
How are they organized? What do they want?
If the perception of the movement is of angry faces and police clashes,
the reality is different, members say. The movement has been building
quietly for more than 20 years, they said, promoting a message about
global economic inequities that does not lend itself to quick sound
bites. Some leading foundations - including the Ford Foundation and one
at Unilever (news/quote) - have supported the movement's efforts
financially, along with church groups, organized labor and celebrities
like the rock music group U2.
THE movement's success in gaining a following, especially since the
Seattle demonstrations, has come from a combination of grass-roots
organizing, plentiful position papers and clever self-promotion. In the
wake of Sept. 11, protesters say that there are still many issues to
resolve and that they are more at odds than ever with the Bush
administration.
While the administration says one way to fight terrorism is by promoting
a global policy that is pro-business, protesters say this approach will
only make the world less stable. In addition, the administration has
used the attacks to justify a new push for "fast track" authority, which
would allow trade agreements to be enacted with little Congressional
oversight - another measure long opposed by protesters and organized
labor because it allows little debate.
This month, at an economic forum in Shanghai, President Bush told
business executives that more free trade and greater unrestricted
commerce were crucial to fighting terrorism. The chairman of the Federal
Reserve, Alan Greenspan, echoed those thoughts last week, when he said
the terrorist attacks have given new urgency to the trade negotiations
in Qatar.
Mr. Greenspan called the protesters misguided and said they offered no
solutions to the "alleged failures" of globalization.
The activists say they are upset with the administration's effort to use
the terrorist attacks as a way to push a pro-business agenda and fast-
track negotiating authority.
John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, said that
while Sept. 11 "stopped our movement," it was beginning to come back.
"The fight has come back in the form of fast track," he said. "Groups
are already gearing up for a big fight."
The movement blossomed in the mid-1990's as more multinational
corporations, aided by loan policies of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank, went in search of less-costly places to make goods
and new markets for their cars, hamburgers and basic commodities like
sugar and rice. A catalyst in the United States was the fight against
the North American Free Trade Agreement.
At the same time, a parallel movement was emerging in Europe. Protest
groups there - with names like Attac and Black Bloc - shared many of the
same views as their American counterparts, but with more militancy.
Although demonstrators on both sides of the ocean may look ragtag, they
are anything but. European groups are financed in part by the European
Union and grants from charitable trusts; American groups receive money
from wealthy individuals and foundations that run the gamut from small
church-related foundations to the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller
Foundation.
One unusual benefactor was the Unilever Corporation, the consumer
packaged goods company, which recently gave $5 million to the foundation
run by its Ben & Jerry's (news/quote) ice cream subsidiary, a major
donor to these groups. "We like to call it caring capitalism" said Liz
Bankowski, a trustee of the Ben & Jerry's Foundation.
U2 and its lead singer, Bono, are also prominent donors, and they allow
groups like Jubilee USA, a church-related group, to set up information
tables at concerts. The band also plans to donate part of the proceeds
of a new single it has recorded with Destiny's Child and Britney Spears.
WHAT gave the movement its strength was this panoply of different groups
that came together in a sort of alliance of convenience. Labor unions
joined, looking for allies in the fight against Nafta and low-paying
jobs overseas; in return, they provided respectability and foot
soldiers. Groups like the Center for Economic Policy Research in
Washington churn out studies that are the movement's intellectual
backbone. And organizations like Jubilee USA, 50 Years Is Enough and
Global Exchange spread the message through pamphlets and meetings on
campuses and in church basements and union halls to religious groups and
students.
Global Exchange, a human rights group based in San Francisco, has even
offered "reality" tours to countries like Cuba, Haiti and Iran and runs
a store selling goods from developing nations - as a way to raise both
awareness and cash.
Finally, there are those who train the troops, like the Ruckus Society,
which teaches nonviolent and creative confrontation techniques at camps
held before demonstrations. One had been scheduled at the Virginia
estate of a wealthy supporter but was canceled after the terrorist
attacks. More recently, the Ruckus camps have been replaced by classes
on computer-based organizing skills.
"We are all working against the same" corporate establishment, said
Kevin Danaher, a founder of Global Exchange, which has a $4 million
annual budget, a staff of 50 and a membership list of 12,000.
"There is unity in diversity, and diversity is the magic of this
movement," Mr. Danaher said. "It's fine to be focused on sea turtles or
dolphins or to be a steelworker or a tree hugger. But you are isolated
unless you team up."
But can this coalition hold? Already, some foot soldiers have fallen
away and joined antiwar groups. It is possible that organized labor,
which always was uncomfortable with the movement's militancy, will have
less tolerance if loud protests break out. Still, some Washington groups
continue to meet and are optimistic.
"We feel very committed to the issues," said Thea M. Lee, associate
director for international economics at the A.F.L.-C.I.O. "I think most
folks are committed to keeping the coalition together. But it will be
put to the test."
If there is a unifying theme behind the groups, it is their message -
one that both the I.M.F. and World Bank say they have been hearing and,
depending on the concern, responding to. To the protesters, large
nations led by the United States have turned globalism into a form of
economic colonialism through the lending policies of the I.M.F. and the
World Bank, which make loans to troubled countries.
The protesters say poor countries become hurt because, in order to pay
off the loans, they lure multinational companies with low wages and
relaxed environmental standards. As a result, instead of becoming
self-sustaining, these countries become economic captives, making
products on the cheap for export, while importing basic goods and
necessities from companies in the United States and Europe.
More specifically, they object to the fact that many I.M.F. and World
Bank meetings are held behind closed doors -
although both institutions have said they are bringing more of their
activities into the open.
BUT more fundamentally, demonstrators say that the debt facing many
countries - $220 billion by the 40 poorest - means that many nations
spend more on debt service than on education or health care, leading to
high mortality rates and rampant disease. One poster shows smiling faces
of children in developing countries and says: "Today 19,000 children
will DIE as a result of international debt."
On its Web site, the World Bank has a section devoted to responding to
protesters' demands - some of which it rejects, others of which it says
it is taking steps to address. Merrell Tuck, deputy media director for
the bank, says the institution meets often with advocacy groups, so long
as they do not espouse violence.
"We think we have a lot of areas of common concern with the activist
groups," Ms. Tuck said.
Thomas Dawson, an I.M.F. spokesman, said the I.M.F. has always had an
"open door" policy to many groups.
"There are no doubt winners and losers in globalization," Mr. Dawson
said. "But we still think that global economic integration offers the
best route to lift the poor out of poverty."
Still, the movement would not be what it is without its core groups,
like 50 Years Is Enough, which was founded in
1994 to oppose I.M.F. and World Bank policies. It serves as the
clearinghouse for a coalition of more than 200 other organizations - and
is so named because it was founded on the 50th anniversary of the I.M.F.
and World Bank.
The group's director, Njoki Njoroge Njehu, was born in the central
highlands of Kenya to a family active in the Kenyan struggle for
independence. She earned scholarships to come to the United States to
study communications and then stayed to work with environmental groups.
Fifty Years Is Enough is based in in a low-rent space in Washington,
above a neighborhood law office with signs offering "divorce specials"
and "walk-in deals on car wrecks." Ms. Njehu runs the group with about
$250,000 a year in donations, mostly from foundations, with her husband,
Soren Ambrose. After growing up in a middle-class family in Chicago, Mr.
Ambrose became interested in the issues facing developing countries when
he went to study in Nigeria and found that his counterparts there could
not afford to pay for their school books.
"We are in an unprecedented place in time," said Mr. Ambrose, the
group's senior policy analyst, whose office is at the top of a rickety
staircase and decorated in brown paneling. "If the I.M.F. and World Bank
are going to hold meetings and do their business, we will be there to go
around and expose what they are doing. It will not be confrontational in
character."
For all the talk of demonstrations, most of the work that Ms. Njehu and
Mr. Ambrose do is quiet and behind the scenes
- a constant schedule of travel to enlist support in small groups on
campuses and at churches. "We will continue to do the quiet work we have
always done," Ms. Njehu said. "It just won't be in front of the
cameras,"
For all the discussion of poverty, the movement is supported by well-
endowed foundations, which are concerned about the gap between rich and
poor nations. The foundations also view themselves as bulwarks against
the excesses of violence, financing only those groups that support
nonviolent demonstrations.
The Ben & Jerry's Foundation, which has made grants to the Ruckus
Society ($100,000 for a year) and Global Exchange ($150,000 for a year),
felt so strongly about its liberal brand of philanthropy that when
Uniliver acquired the Ben & Jerry's company, it insisted on a provision
that Unilever provide the foundation with a one-time, $5 million grant
and $1.1 million a year for 10 years.
"Unilever gave the gift in the spirit of the founding values of the
company," Ms. Bankowski of Ben & Jerry's said. "It's what happens when a
large multinational merges with a small, quirky company. I'm sure it's a
pain in the neck for them to read stories about our donations. But they
are aware of our history and that our business was founded as a way to
do social change."
The Solidago Foundation, which was founded six years ago from money from
the sale of radio and cable properties, gives $3 million from its $48
million endowment to many liberal programs, including anti-globalization
efforts like Jobs With Justice and 50 Years Is Enough.
Diana Cohn, a spokeswoman for the foundation, said that Solidago's
strategy is to give small grants - $10,000 to $50,000 - to many groups
and to bring advocacy groups and research organizations together to
offer new voices in debates about trade and globalization.
"Grants are pivotal in terms of this movement," Ms. Cohn said. "Our
focus is on groups working on a corporate-driven mode of globalization.
We even provide travel grants just so that these groups can meet. There
has been a wellspring of activity and groups working together and
realizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
Even the Ford Foundation, which has given money to the Institute for
Policy Studies and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, is
motivated by the same concerns that many demonstrators have.
"Globalization has undeniable benefits," said Bradford K. Smith, vice
president for the peace and social justice program at the foundation.
"But there are also real and perceived costs. Our grant-making seeks to
better understand these costs. The goal is to ensure that economic
integration and development proceeds in a way that reduces inequities
and increases the shares of benefits going to the poor."
The foundations share the view that Sept. 11 will only lead to a pause,
not a halt, in the movement. Anannya Bhattacharjee, program officer at
the Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, a Unitarian Universalist Foundation
in Manhassat, N.Y., said the movement had displayed remarkable
creativity in adjusting its tactics.
"Everyone is adjusting," Ms. Bhattacharjee said. "One thing social
movements are extremely good at is figuring out creative and imaginative
ways under extremely difficult circumstances. These movements have faced
some of the greatest odds, and no one knows yet what tactics will
emerge. But if history has taught us anything, it is that this work will
not stop."
THE effects of Sept. 11 are being felt in Europe, to a lesser degree.
Bernard Cassen, president of Attac, a French group, said the terrorism
in the United States had not slowed his movement. "We will continue to
fight against globalization," he said. In England, Ashok Sinha, national
coordinator of the Jubilee Debt Campaign U.K., said the attacks "have
made it difficult to get our voices heard."
For now, Mr. Sinha said, he is trying to keep "the issue of debt
cancellation on the political agenda, given that most other things are
being squeezed out by war."
While trade officials are meeting in Qatar, anti-globalization
protesters are planning demonstrations in Britain including pamphlet
distribution, seminars and work stoppages.
Guy Taylor of Globalise Resistance, another British group, said, "We
need to say now more than ever that we need a world that is for the
people and not for profit."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/28/business/28GLOB.html?ex=1005300357&ei=1&en=5971676a77574b07
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