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  t doesn't take
a lot to trip me out. Sometimes, revelations occur. Bam! Connections
become obvious, and things take on a whole new light. Recently,
I've had such a revelation, involving the WTO, George Lucas,
and a view of the future.
 Correct
me if I'm wrong, but aren't the bad guys in the Star Wars saga
the Trade Federation? As I see it, The WTO is the phantom menace,
the Force was behind the protesters in Seattle, and the police
in riot gear were just 20th century storm troopers. The Star
Wars equivalent of sea turtles? Jar Jar Binks was Gungan, also
a semiaquatic amphibian species. Continuing this analogy, Bill
Clinton is obviously our Emperor Palpatine, and not only is George
Lucas a cinematic genus, he is actually prophetic. Which is disturbing,
because according to Lucas' vision, the dominance of trade ministers
will be with us for a very long time, carrying into galaxies
far, far away.
Last week,
while channel surfing media coverage of protests in Seattle,
a pattern began to emerge. I'll admit that, until recently, I've
never given much thought to the greedy boys and girls of the
World Trade Organization, thinking them nothing more than cheerleaders
for global consumption. Acting locally left me little time to
think globally. Then the people in turtle suits took to the streets.
The WTO now
had my attention. Why the turtle suits? With just a few key strokes
I found my way to www.seaturtles.org, website for the Sea Turtle
Restoration Project. The search engine also took me to the Sea
World/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database. Found in warm
and temperate seas, there are 8 species of sea turtles surviving
in the world today, the Gulf of Mexico's Kemp's ridley being
the most endangered. Widening my search to online environmental
news services, I soon knew exactly why the turtle people of the
Animal Welfare Institute were marching in protest.
The reason?
WTO-directed trade liberalization is lowering standards for environmental
protection, and has been used repeatedly to attack US environmental
laws. One of those attacks was aimed directly at endangered sea
turtles. US law requires the all wild shrimp brought to market
in the United States be caught in nets equipped with turtle excluder
devices, which prevent needless drowning by more than 97 percent.
The World Trade Organization sees such environmental regulations
as trade barriers. When Asian nations challenged that turtle
protection measures violated WTO policy, the United States weakened
the Turtle Shrimp Law, a 1989 provision of the US Endangered
Species Act. This is but one example of how the environment is
bearing the cost of free trade.
On December
1st, the second day of protests, the turtle people returned to
greet WTO representatives. The establishment had other plans.
Watching CNN, I saw footage of demonstrators being pulled from
their costumes, much like turtles from their shells. Bootboys
in black, acting under orders from Seattle's Mayor, made sure
free trade talks did not include free speech. These were peaceful
protesters, yet any voice of dissent was excluded so as not to
encourage those who refuse to go limp. Funny thing was, even
as the talking heads talked about violent demonstrations, all
the video showed was the Seattle police shooting plastic bullets
into the crowd, and spraying pepper gas as if they were trying
to hold back the end of the world.
Two questions:
who were the cops protecting, and whose agenda did they serve?
Imagine the message being sent to young people around the world,
now that they know their rights are overruled by the holy grail
of unrestricted trade. Something else strikes me as odd. Isn't
it curious that American media makes a big deal about the threat
of foreign nations using chemical weapons against Americans,
but they never question American authorities dousing US citizens
with pepper spray? Video coming out of Seattle should give all
of us pause. Clouds of poison floating through their air, I guess
freedom to assemble no longer applies.
What the police
accomplished last week was jump-starting America's youth into
action. As we move toward the 2000 election, a reawakened youth
movement will really shake things up. I predict that next year
will be one for the record books -- not because of some arbitrary
spot in linear time, but because of rebel forces fighting against
globalization without representation, regulation, and moderation.
I am actually
looking forward to the next 12 months. Two major conventions,
lots of angry people who feel things are out of control, and
a growing police state is an interesting combination. I suggest
everybody hold on, because it's going to be a bumpy ride. 
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