Why Protest TABD at N16?

THE HARMONIZATION OF THE RICH

\"Salvador\" had journeyed all the way from Chile to Alaska to work as a fisherman during the seasonal Salmon run. Aside from the college students, the campesinos and the local native american\'s working in the cannery he was one of the many nameless faceless workers caught up in the global economics of migrant work. While the low catch of the season dominated the news and closed down all but one cannery in Petersburg there were several small stories not being mentioned over the radio. The story about how campesinos had come here with no rights protected under international law to be exploited by cannery owners, the story about how a fisherman can withold pay from a crew member and the crew has no rights to collect their shares. The story of how canneries conspire to control the price of the salmon to pay to the fisherman. What is reported is the story of how the Canadian fisherman have blocked in the Alaskan Ferry in their waters as a protest of US violations of their waters. What is reported is that the fish are not there this year and it will be a hard winter for many. Like these small stories of migrant seasonal work there is the unreported story of the effects of global trade on small people in all places.

Who Controls the Story?
The Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue is a relatively new player in the world of Globalization-- the spread of free market economies to all parts of the world. The TABD is a group of business leaders of MNC\'s in the US and European Community. Their main purpose is to \"harmonize\" the regulatory practices of the US with those of the Eurpean Community. They advocate such concepts as \"self-regulation\" and \"non-redundancy\" in regulatory practices\". And write regarding the WTO:

\"The strengthening of EU-US economic relations should be seen within the context of world-wide multilateral cooperation. The TABD fully supports the rules and principles of the World Trade Organisation.\"

They have several members with solid anti-labor practices such as Fedex & UPS, members that have performed test on animals such as Estee Lauder, members that now control the media we receive such as AOL-Time Warner. They control what we read, we eat, what we wear and what we even put on our face.

Who Makes the Truth Known?
But there is a remedy to this control. It is you and the power of your voice. With such mainstream publications as Business week writing critical articles of \"Global Capitalism\" (see http://businessweek.com/2000/00_45/b3706001.htm) Our voices are growing stronger. It is our power of protest which is makeing change possible, albeit inevitable. But are voice will not be heard if you are not there to speak with a collective unified voice of opposition to the TABD, the WTO, the IMF and the liberal economics of global capitalism. Business week writes:

\"Yet it would be a grave mistake to dismiss the uproar witnessed in the past few years in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Prague. Many of the radicals leading the protests may be on the political fringe. But they have helped to kick-start a profound rethinking about globalization among governments, mainstream economists, and corporations that, until recently, was carried on mostly in obscure think tanks and academic seminars.

This reassessment is badly overdue. In the late 20th century, global capitalism was pushed by leaps in technology, the failure of socialism, and East Asia\'s seemingly miraculous success. Now, it\'s time to get realistic. The plain truth is that market liberalization by itself does not lift all boats, and in some cases, it has caused severe damage to poor nations. What\'s more, there\'s no point denying that multinationals have contributed to labor, environmental, and human-rights abuses as they pursue profit around the globe.\"

We are winning now we must keep up the fight that has just begun. Soon the WTO will be announcing a new round of talks, soon the IMF/World Bank will be meeting in Washington again. We must counter their endless resouces of power and greed with the endless energy of the power of the people. Go to Cincinnati build the unity of the people and help your brothers and sisters put a real hope in their hearts and a real meal on the deal.

Http://www.n16.org