MARRIAGE
PARTY OF THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT?
At
the end of November the members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
will discuss their new Millennium Round in Seattle. The North American
town will see a whole series of demonstrations, actions and discussion
meetings.
By now a very diverse mixture of activists, lobbyists and politicians
are gathering under the vague banner of the anti-globalisation movement.
Both the Left and the Right are joining and seem to have put their quarrels
aside. "A historic change is under way at the very heart of the globalisation-process:
millions of people are mobilising. Tens of thousands of them will be in
Seattle"1, says lobbyist Susan George. "The fight against the
WTO and all it stands for is in my view the main one. There is even a
chance of winning this fight."2 George is one of the foremost European
lobbyists against "globalisation". Many lobbyists seem to somewhat
overrate the movement. "Seattle will be the protest of the century",
some of her colleagues say, without much knowledge of history. "The
bosses are scared", others add. But who are they supposed to be scared
of? The Left has not been a very strong force since the fall of the Berlin
Wall, and it hardly exists nowadays. That's why the lobbyists are no longer
exclusively looking to their left. They have started to actively build
a new worldwide movement, in which not only left leaning people, but also
conservatives, nationalists and even the New Right just be able to feel
at home. The extremely unclear concept of "globalisation" comes
of good use. Political activists of all creeds can project their own problems
on it. George and some 60 other lobbyists, researchers and opinion leaders
and their NGO's are members of the International Forum on Globalisation
(IFG), an elite think-tank. They organize a congress in Seattle and don't
get tired repeating that they expect some 2400 participants. IFG-members
often participate at meetings all around the world. They are the main
driving force behind the campaigns against "globalisation",
and they initiated the actions against both the MAI and the WTO. They
want to bring the Left and the Right together in one big movement, and
they seem to be getting succesful. Therefore the IFG-lobbyists cherish
their somewhat progressive image and at the same time try to remain acceptable
for the Right. But after reading their articles and books it gets very
clear: the IFG is politically Right-wing and very conservative. By criticizing
"globalisation" and multinationals they try to use the remaining
Left-wing activists to further their own conservative goals, and also
try to influence them ideologically. Therefore the IFG are a danger to
the already vulnerable Left. In the Netherlands, a lot of Left-wing activists
are also enthusiastically participating every time the IFG-members initiate
a new campaign. They are also organising actions at the end of November,
taking part in the worldwide coordinated protests. At the beginning of
this year the Dutch organisation "De Fabel van de illegaal",
together with some other groups, was still actively asking organisations
to sign the NGO-declaration on the WTO, which was written by some IFG-members.
When the ideas of the IFG became more clear to them, De Fabel decided
to stop, although other groups continued. In the near future De Fabel
will publish an analysis of the Right-wing ideas of the foremost IFG-members.
French
culture in danger
Seattle prepares for the reception of activists from many countries. Peoples'
Global Action (PGA) this time organises 2 action caravans to the WTO-meeting.
One across the US, including activists from Chiapas, Mexico. And another
one from Canada, ending at the elite IFG-meeting. A strange choice, for
the PGA is known as a Left-wing grassroots movement. Also expected in
Seattle are eco-activists, union-members, steelworkers, lorry drivers,
farmers, fishermen, mailmen, women's rights activists, artists, students,
gay and lesbian activists and pacifists. Only a small minority will want
to get rid of capitalism all together. The rest would rather have an international
regulation of "the economy" or will chose a nationalist future.
The French farmer and leader of the Confederation Paysanne (CP), José
Bové, no doubt belongs to the nationalist category. The farmers
of the CP are angry with the US-government, which doubled the import-tariffs
on French cheese, in revenge of the decision of the EU to put a ban on
meat with hormones coming from the US. The farmers immediately started
an dynamic campaign against McDonald's, which is after all an American
multinational. The angry farmers organised many actions, and even broke
down a complete McDonald's restaurant in Millau. Last June farmers from
India, arriving with the PGA action caravan, came to help a bit. At home
they also have a tradition of attacking American companies. The French
farmers also disturbed an American film festival, because they are very
much worried about their own French culture. Bové got arrested,
but was released shortly after. He send his regards to the French premier
and president for their support, and received a ticket to Seattle from
the Ministry of Agriculture, to defend the French interests there. Along
with the French Communist Party and the Front National some Dutch anti-globalisation
activists reacted very positively to the farmers' actions. They called
for solidarity with Bové.3 Supporting working families "The
Seattle summit will be a historic confrontation between civil society
and corporate rule", says Mike Dolan. He works for the American consumer
watchdog group Public Citizen founded by Ralph Nader. Public Citizen is
connected to the IFG and initiated the campaign against the MAI-treaty.
Dolan now acts as the great coordinator and spokesmen of the countermovement
in Seattle. Not everyone seems to be happy with him, but little can be
done about his presence. He sits in the middle of the web, like a spider.
On the one hand Dolan supports the American PGA caravan with several thousand
dollars, on the other hand he speaks up for the extreme Right Pat Buchanan,
now a candidate for the American presidency, representing the Reform Party.
"Whatever else you say about Pat Buchanan, he will be the only candidate
in the 2000 presidential sweepstakes who will passionately and unconditionally
defend the legitimate expectations of working families in the global economy"4,
Dolan writes. Indeed, Buchanan supports American workers. As long as they
are conservative and obedient, and not unemployed, black, gay, woman,
lesbian or Jewish. He's also not particularly fond of Left-wing workers.
Buchanan on Argentina: "With military and police and freelance operators,
between 6.000 and 150.000 leftists disappeared. Brutal: yes; also succesful.
Today peace reigns in Argentina; security has been restored."5 Closed
eyes Former Republican bigshot Buchanan is known for his sharp attacks
on international trade treaties like GATT, NAFTA, MAI and now WTO.
"Traditional antagonists as politically far apart as Ralph Nader
and Pat Buchanan are finding some common ground on trade issues."6,
says IFG-member Mark Ritchie. He is also director of the American Institute
for Agriculture and Trade Policy that supports small farmers. Reform Party
spokesman in New Hampshire John Talbott agrees with Ritchie. "If
you close your eyes, it is difficult to hear much of a difference between
Ralph Nader on the left and Pat Buchanan on the right when they talk about
the devastating effect of free international trade on the American worker
and a desire to clean big money and special interests out of Washington"7
According to Buchanan this big capital is mainly in the hands of "the
Jews". He presents himself as "the only leader in this country
who is not afraid of fighting against the Jewish lobby"8. Buchanan
calls Hitler "an individual of great courage" and doubts whether
the holocaust really was that big an event.9
But
"Jewish capital" isn't the most important reason why Buchanan
wants to be a candidate for the presidency. No, in the first place he
wants to end "illegal immigration", that is, according to Buchanan,
"helping fuel the cultural breakdown of our nation"10. The populist
Buchanan is probably the foremost representative of the extreme Right
in the US. His constituency consists of Christian fundamentalists, militia
members and neo-Nazi's. These millions of people might explain Dolan's
flirtation with Buchanan. Together with his enthusiastic commentary Dolan
sends around an newspaper article in which Buchanan openly says: "American
workers and people first."11 But Buchanan is not alone in that opinion.
Also the big Right-wing trade union AFL-CIO wants to make "the rights
and interests of US workers a priority".12 The Union also mobilizes
their rank and file for the demonstrations in Seattle. The government
is not the enemy When Dolan's work and ideas got criticized from the grassroots
level, the coordinator of the American PGA caravan immediately took his
side. "Let's work together when we can, work in parallel when we
must, but never work against each other when our goal is the elimination
of the WTO and ist corporate benefactors."13
While organizing Dolan keeps repeating his mantra: "Remember, for
us, the enemy isn't these governments that comprise the WTO. The enemy
is the trans-national corporate, free trade lobby."14 By consequence
Dolan can perfectly work together with the Right wing Republican council
member Derdowski, who earlier initiated plans for a Seattle MAI free zone.
Also according to Derdowski the discussion around the WTO trancends the
old borders between the Left and the Right. "The issue for conservatives
is the sovereignty of America, the constitution. State and local authority
is in danger of being eroded through international treaties, ceding authority
to foreign regulatory bodies."15
Together with the Republicans Dolan organizes a demonstration in Seattle.
On a meeting they brainstormed on how to get the conservative inhabitants
of the affluent districts of Seattle to also take to the streets. They
decided to put IFG-member David Korten on the task. They assumed this
ex-businessman would easily connect to the rich.16 Shortly after, Korten
showed up at the grassroots level. He acted as most important guest lecturer
at a strategy meeting on nonviolent direct action. Korten is probably
the foremost ideologue of the movement against "globalisation".
He would very much like to return to the 50's, when the economy was, according
to him, still local and capitalism was not yet "perverted".
His second hangup is neo-Malthusian. He wants to reduce the world population
from 6 to 1 billion. How? That he has wisely not yet revealed.17
Crucial
battles
George also actually believes that "state sovereignty" is "under
threat".18 Therefore she wants us to strive for the "greatest
possible unity".2 The need for that also became clear to George in
the US fight against the fast-track, a special presidential authority
to push through trade treaties. "The anti-NAFTA and anti-WTO forces
of the left defeated fast-track authority for the president only with
the help of the far-right. It was still a good thing to defeat fast-track."19
Ritchie, her colleague at the IFG, also has a good deal of experience
in working together with the extreme Right. "Aside from Nader and
Buchanan, the anti-GATT and NAFTA trade alliance include a wide spectrum
of what would have previously been called left and right elements. This
diversity of views and constituencies gave the campaigns much of their
strenght.6. De Fabel van de illegaal, on the other hand, fights the coming
together of the Left and the Right.
Whoever starts working with the Right automatically drops migrants, women
and gays as potential allies, for they are always under attack of the
Right. The last couple of months De Fabel heavily criticized working together
with the Right. Articles were written on the ideas and activities of the
New Right ideologist Goldsmith, who is also an important IFG-member and
sponsor of the think tank.20 George got very angry about the criticism.
De Fabel was splitting up the movement, she wrote. And because of that
"we" would lose the "crucial battles" that "will
be fought" in Seattle2. Millionaire Goldsmith was put on program
of the IFG conference in Seattle, but meanwhile he has been taken off.
Whether the cancellation of his lecture has anything to do with the criticism
of de Fabel remains unclear.
Merijn Schoenmaker
Eric Krebbers
(De Fabel van de illegaal)
Notes:
1. Seattle prepares for battle, Susan George. In: Le Monde Diplomatique,
November 1999.
2. Letter to Dutch organisation De Fabel van de illegaal, Susan George,
21.9.1999.
3. Dolle toestanden in Frankrijk, Kees Stad, 7.9.1999.
4. Letter by e-mail, 2.3.99.
5. The right wing revolt against the modern age, M. Quigley and Chip Berlet.
6. Cross-border organizing, Mark Ritchie. In: The case against the global
economy and for a turn towards the local, Jerry Mander en Edward Goldsmith,
1996.
7. Right-wing populism. Homepage Public Eye, 11.7.1999.
8. Kritiek op Buchanans kijk op nazi-Duitsland, Bert Lanting. In: De Volkskrant,
25.9.99.
9. Pat Buchanan in his own words, FAIR-report, 26.2.1996.
10. Free trade and foul, Leonard Zeskind. In: Searchlight, October 1999.
11. Buchanan dumps on Clinton steel policy, Edward Walsh. In: Washingon
Post, 2.3.1999.
12. Gephardt calls for a seat at the table for labor, environmentalists
in WTO-talks, Tom Gilroy. In: Washington Post, 13.10.99.
13. Letter by e-mail, Michael Morrill. 13.10.99.
14. Protesters busily practice for WTO meeting in Seattle, David Postman.
In: Seattle Times, 10.9.99.
15. Shutting down Seattle, Geov Parrish. In: Seattle Weekly, 19.8.99.
16. Globalization foes plan to protest WTO's Seattle round trade talks,
Helene Cooper. In: Wall Street Journal, 16.7.99.
17. Antiglobalization, Doug Henwood. In: Left Business Observer No. 71,
January 1996.
18. State sovereignty under threat - globalising designs of the WTO, Susan
George. In: Le Monde Diplomatique, Juli 1999.
19. E-mail by Susan George, 17.9.1999.
20. Millionaire Goldsmith supports the Left and the Extreme Right. Eric
Krebbers. Goldsmith and his Gaian hierarchy. Eric Krebbers. Both in: De
Fabel van de illegaal No. 36, September 1999. If you are interested in
other articles dealing with the Right-wing influences on the Left through
the campaigns against the WTO,
"globalisation" and "free trade", please check our
internet site (address above). For more information please write: De Fabel
van de illegaal, lokabaal@dsl.nl
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