-- On 6 Jul 2001, at 18:54, Trei, Peter wrote:

Moore made his remarks in Geneva, in an appeal for citizens groups (NGOs) to distance themselves from "masked stone-throwers who claim to want more transparency, anti-globalization dot.com-types who trot out slogans that are trite, shallow and superficial," he said.

Which came as news to us. We thought "dot com" types were too busy braying into mobile phones and snorting enormous quantities of Bolivian marching powder as they vandalised a communication infrastructure created at great public expense for research purposes, with marketing plans that would get a six year old suspended from kindergarten for frivolity.

The WTO is under attack both from anti capitalists and pro capitalists. The anti capitalists are attacking it physically, with stones. The pro capitalists are using more sophisticated weapons, the "trite, shallow and supercial" arguments he dismisses. The pro capitalists are arguing that the multilateral approach to freeing trade has failed, as now too many people are looking for a gravy train in international regulation, and the solution is unilateral free trade policies, like those implemented by Singapore and Hong Kong -- that the WTO is beginning to be harmful, rather than helpful, for free trade. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG /OS0clQxBlI8w2AmxGTqQdeAGTCLAL+gOHqiP4Qs 4g5HvgJ/YLgAVlaNOte9/E7VAOdw5nIc009qpLLAU