WTO & Its Opponents Assemble
Delegates from 135 nations are gathering in Seattle for the World Trade Organization meeting that opens Tuesday. President Clinton will be there to push for more free trade in the 21st century, but 50,000 protestors are also on hand, and they have different ideas. CBS News' John Roberts has the story.
The President has made it clear that opening new global markets is crucial to the future prosperity of America. But when he arrives at the WTO meeting here in Seattle, he will be met with a storm of protest over the environmental and social costs of that prosperity.
Protestors mobbed a McDonald's restaurant in downtown Seattle this afternoon, demonstrating against what they claim is McDonald's use of genetically modified food.
It was the latest in a succession of demonstrations against what critics of the WTO call a policy that puts free trade above all else. Earlier today, conference participants were kept from going into the Convention Center. The Secret Service, worried that an apparent overnight break-in might mean a security breach, kept the facility closed for hours while they swept the building for explosives.
Protestors have been planning for this moment for months. University of Washington Professor Philip Bereano says Americans are becoming fed up with the World Trade Organization's closed door process.
According to Bereano, "The WTO is a an anti-democratic organization, closed to small numbers of people, and most citizens are barred from any information."
The biggest protest is reserved for tomorrow, when more than 30 thousand members of the AFL-CIO will march in downtown Seattle. They are demanding a place at the WTO table in order to craft an enforceable set of rules on global labor practices.
"We're not looking to impose American labor laws on other countries, just looking for what's fair," says John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president.
The President has been calling on the WTO to address unfair labor practices and enact a ban on child labor. The AFL-CIO says it supports Mr. Clinton on the issue, but will hold him accountable if the WTO does nothing.
Just what is the World Trade Organization? It is a big, powerful business international institution dedicated primarily, to elimination, if possible, otherwise reducing tariffs on international trade. But some fear the WTO is too powerful, a global authority that can override national laws and run roughshod over individual rights. CBS News Anchor Dan Rather explains how the organization works.
The WTO consists of 135 member countries, two-thirds of the world's population. Almost every major nation currently takes part. Russia is not a member, but despite human rights and other questions, China is now nearing membership.
The WTO helped change the whole world economy by lowering tariffs on industrial goods, eliminating many quotas and subsidies, and helping to protect patents, copyrights and trademarks. The WTO has ruled on disptes involving everything from Japanese steel dumping and saki taxes to American hormone-treated beef and fishing restrictions aimed at saving endangered species.
Now the United States wants the organization to look ahead to eliminating barriers to global telecommunications and entertainment and electronic commerce.