Re: global mobilization etc etc

[PuzzleStar@aol.com]

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Cate (and all:)

Time to stop lurking on this end....

> This looks like an act by people with good intentions but without much in
>  the way of vision...sort of an anti-globalisation frenzy, where they're
>  rushing out to try and catch as many people as possible. 

if it's real at all...which has already been well discussed....
  
>  It's a pretty common phenomenon, especially with the catch-all nature of
>  the particular movement; first, that organizational efforts must be
>  generic--after all, you're trying to bring together feminists, union
>  members, anti-sweatshop, pro-environment etc etc etc. Second, the agenda
>  becomes damn near incomprehensible....you then have to try to explain to
>  all of these groups the intricacies of thngs like trade economics, which
>  isn't exactly easy. Stop exploiting people and fair trade not free trade
>  is a lot catchier than "shock-treatment move to a purely export-driven,
>  mercantilistic existence in a non-developed (I cringe at that
>  phrase) economy only further impoverishes people."

I've got a friend who went to DC and I was really impressed when she informed 
me that most of the people there actually *do* have a clue, and a much better 
clue than Joe Average as to how all these intricacies work.  Part of it that 
helps is a lot of them are college-age and are spending their entire lives 
(at least for the moment) learning about all the problems that arise from 
corporate globalisation (careful simply saying "anti-globalisation" -- that's 
a media misnomer aimed to make the folks look like they're all for going back 
to the caves).  Many of the others are directly having their lives affected 
by the results of corporatising the globe (UAW perhaps).  

My impression is that the main problem is living in a sound-bite culture, 
where if you can't sum up your point in 30 s or less nobody will listen.  And 
for such complex problems arising as what we're seeing now, it's nearly 
impossible to sound-bite the problem without coming off as "just kids with a 
cause" as the DC police chief put it.  Yup, they'll grow out of it when they 
become better educated.  *smirk*  What the guy means is, when the "kids" 
start profitting from the f'd up system they won't think it's so bad after 
all.
  
Calling this movement "generic" might also be a little misleading.  Anything 
that involves the entire planet, let's face it, is going to be complex and 
many people have interests they want to protect (on both sides, if there 
really are sides at the end of the day...).  Do feminists, environmentalists, 
and anti-sweatshop folks really have so little in common as to make 
difficulties in reconciling the problems they face?  In my mind, they all 
seem to face similar problems, the least of which is that not enough people 
hear what they have to say, and many people I know who associate themselves 
with one "group" tend to associate with fifteen others as well.  I don't 
think that makes them generic people, (and you probably don't either); I 
think it means they have a ton of energy to be willing to take on so many of 
the world's problems!  :)  It seems like all I'm really good for is sitting 
on my bum and writing about what I've heard/seen/learned from these people.  

Guess this may be pretty off track, but just a couple things that I think 
need to be read.

Puzzle*


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