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作者 David C. Korten11.29.99
在西雅圖參加世界貿易組織會議的代表們將遇到來自世界各地的多達50000個抗議者。世界貿易組織倡導者試圖驅散這些抗議者，好像他們是反貿易極端份子要將人類進展的時鐘倒轉。事實上，抗議者的大多數將來自主流教會、工會、大學、獨立企業及各式各樣關心例如民主、經濟公平、和平及環境議題的民間組織。相反地，世界貿易組織的最熱心的支持者是企業執行長、職業說客、公關顧問、貿易官僚及對企業政治獻金心存感謝的政客。
陽光西雅圖
這些抗議者中，只有少數人 (如果有) 想阻止貿易、關閉邊界或遺棄窮人。多數人致力於國際合作以達成和平、終結貧窮、追求全部人的人權並保護有生命的地球。他們呼籲有益於人們及社區的公平貿易，而拒絕允許企業在各地破壞勞工及環境標準的自由貿易。這些自由貿易經常威脅要求愈來愈多的免稅額及公共補助，來交換其輸出工廠工作至國外。這些抗議者的心中是愈來愈瞭解世界最大的企業正用國際貿易協定下的秘密論壇及神秘語言，使自己免除於民主的會計責任。
自由貿易的倡導者說世界貿易組織會提供所需的貿易規則。我們確實極需一些規則以規範國際貿易、企業及金融以符合人類利益。然而，世界貿易組織根本無此強制命令。相反地，它管制民主政府使其無法限制全球企業的自由，去做任何對它們最能獲利的事。
舉例而言，世界貿易組織過去曾告訴美國，它必須放鬆它的清潔空氣標準，並允許較髒的汽油的進口。世界貿易組織告訴過日本，它必須降低對進口的產品的殺虫劑的檢測。世界貿易組織告訴歐洲人，直到他們能證明基因工程食物對人類及環境健康有害之前，他們不可禁止產品進口。在前述例子中，每一個民主政府的決定都會被未經選舉的貿易律師在日內瓦加以推翻，而所持的理由是它是自由貿易的障礙。彷彿貿易擴張過去都是全部人類最重要的優先次序。
我們需要可以保護並強化人類、社區及自然的福祉的全球經濟規則。舉例而言，這些規則要能支持國家及地方政府提高勞工、健康及環境標準的努力。它們還能支持政府解決國際金融投機及企業逃稅、限制企業力的集中並保護當地企業不受種種全球競爭掠奪形式之害。在每一個例子中，世界貿易組織都積極阻止政府履行對人民所負的這些及其他基本義務的努力。世界貿易組織是反民主的、反人民的及反環境的。那是為什麼數以萬計的抗議者將到西雅圖對世界貿易組織說「不」。
原文與圖片詳見： http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/
imho/imho112999.stm
版權歸屬 環境信託基金會 (王鴻文 譯，梁明煌審校)
中英對照全文：http://news.ngo.org.tw/issue/ecoeco/
issue-ecoeco00060801.htm
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by David C. Korten 11.29.99
Delegates to the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle will be met by as many as 50,000 protesters from all around the world. WTO advocates seek to dismiss the protestors as anti-trade extremists who want to turn back the clock on human progress. In truth, the vast majority of the protestors will be coming from mainstream churches, unions, universities, independent businesses, and a wide variety of civic organizations concerned with such issues as democracy, economic justice, peace, and the environment. By contrast, the WTO's most ardent proponents are corporate CEOs, professional lobbyists, P.R. consultants, trade bureaucrats, and politicians beholden to corporations for political contributions.
Sunny Seattle.
Few, if any, of the protesters want to stop trade, close borders, or desert the poor. Most are deeply committed to international cooperation to achieve peace, end poverty, secure the human rights of all people, and protect the living earth. They call for fair trade that is beneficial to people and communities, not free trade that allows corporations to bid down labor and environmental standards everywhere, while demanding ever larger tax breaks and public subsidies on the threat of exporting jobs. At the heart of the protests is a growing realization that the world's largest corporations are using the secret forums and esoteric language of international trade agreements to free themselves from democratic accountability.
The advocates of free trade say the WTO provides needed trade rules. There is indeed a critical need for rules to regulate international trade, corporations, and finance in the human interest. The WTO, however, has no such mandate. To the contrary, it regulates democratic governments to prevent them from limiting the freedom of global corporations to do whatever they find most profitable.
For example, the WTO told the United States that it must relax its clean air standards and allow the import of dirtier gasoline. The WTO told Japan that it must reduce its testing for pesticides on imported produce. The WTO told Europeans that they cannot ban the import of genetically modified food products until they can prove conclusively they are harmful to human and environmental health. In each instance, the decision of a democratic government was overturned by unelected trade lawyers in Geneva on the grounds that it was a barrier to free trade -- as if trade expansion were the most important of all human priorities.
We need rules for the global economy that protect and enhance the well-being of people, communities, and nature. For example, such rules would support the efforts of national and local governments to raise labor, health, and environmental standards. They would also support governmental efforts to curb international financial speculation and corporate tax evasion, limit the concentration of corporate power, and protect local enterprises from predatory forms of global competition. In every instance, the WTO actively hinders governmental efforts to act on these and other basic obligations to their citizens. It is anti-democratic, anti-people, and anti-environment. That is why tens of thousands of protesters are coming to Seattle to say NO to the WTO.
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