1) the 3rd world nations of enslaved workers really don't have the instruments of protest (and the people of the 1st world barely have the tools as this movie shows...) to affect corporations (governments perhaps, but not multinationals).
I am not one for laissez-faire trade, but the third world can benefit from trade. If anything what has cost them, has been the fact that trade has been lopsided with the rules skewed to benefit the west. If we had truly free trade there would be a mass shift of industry eastward and their living standards would rise fairly rapidly from the onset of industrialization....at the expense of ours. Just talk to a mill worker in BC. Also, let's not ignore the role that corrupt governments in the third world play....particularly in Africa, where they squander billions in western aid. Nigeria is an excellent example. One would think that with the oil wealth they have, poverty would be below western levels. But a small elite decide to hoard the wealth. Another example of this is Sudan. Heck, even Saudi Arabia has incredible unemployment, because the Saudis put their funds into pumping out Islamic Studies graduates instead of scientists, engineers, doctors, and skilled tradespeople.
2) We have benefited the most! and that's why its so horrible... I feel guilty. Don't you? And so not all North Americans wear fashion labels and buy 3rd World fetish objects and generally engage in modern consumerism - and there is now a growing 'buy local' shift happening right here in Toronto.
If you feel guilty, do something about it. For me personally, I buy fair trade coffee and fair trade chocolate regularly. And I tend not to buy name brand fashions too often. I get much of my clothing tailor made in India or Hong Kong, which contributes to their economies, provides them with jobs and get's me a better product than I could ever afford here. But aside from that. What do you think would happen to the third world if this large 'buy local' movement succeeds? The very export income that these nations are relying on to help millions rise out of poverty would dry up. Let's take your guilt with fashions. Do you have any idea how many rural and poor Indians work in textile mills? Have you ever seen the pride they take in putting together a pair of jeans? Do you have any idea at how much money that job pays relative to the other meagre rural opportunities they have? It is one of the few industries that the Indian government has managed to successfully locate throughout the countryside. So guess who loses when you feel guilty and buy American Apparel instead. Gap loses profits, but those poor workers lose the funds to put food on the table. And you get to ease your conscience.
3) the Indians and Chinese as you put it are not 3rd world nations - the victims of the WTO are mostly in Africa and South Asia. These are the nations that get ignored by WTO which is pressured by big business hungry for consumer goods and unprotected markets.
Where by the way do you think India is? I remember something about it being in South Asia from grade school..... That the Indians and Chinese don't live in developing world nations would be news to the billions who don't live in the glittering cities of east and south asia. A colleague of mine who visited China on a diplomatic tour compared the seaboard to Europe and the interior to Africa. So don't be fooled by Beijing and Shanghai. There are millions who live in poverty in Xizang, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sicuan, etc. India and China may be big, but that does not mean they're rich. Their rise in HDI has largely been in the last 10-15 years. And it's all come through industrialization and trade. It's amazing that you can't link all the goods produced for Walmart, with the hundreds of millions of Chinese now being pulled out of poverty. Can you explain how this happened? There's certainly been relatively little western aid to China. You should visit Guangdong to understand the full impact of globalization and the effect that trade has on eradicating poverty. Ask the millions and millions of folks what they did before the toy factories showed up. And ask them how they lived before they got their jobs. They may still be poor by our standards but when all you have is a thatched or clay roof and a hole in the ground for a toilet, sharing a company provided bachelor apartment with 6 others is relative luxury.
As for big business being the culprit. Sure, it's easy to blame them. But how come the multitude of developing nations courting FDI from these companies don't feel the same way? Because they look at Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, etc. and see what is possible. You want a trade success story that's still under way....Mexico. Look at the start of NAFTA and look where they are today. Just have a peek at the GDP, HDI, Gini numbers. And look at it over the time period.
4) and finally most protesters are very educated people who understand basic economic cause and effects without corporate branding - they have worked very hard in school to be able to rise above the ad copy and realize basic facts like ... well like.. Africa was a net food exporter before GATT.
Yes, the worked hard in school and have no experience living in the third world and certainly don't have relatives who live in slums today. Being born in India and having parents who grew up in poverty, I have a particular disdain for westerners who seem to know how to cure poverty better than the locals. And their excuse seems to be the same as yours, 'we read it in a book.' If I were cynical, I would say that most of these misguided protesters have as their sole goal, to keep the developing world for ever dependent on western aid. Thankfully, many in the world see western naivete for what it is, a new form of western imperialism from the left. Nobody in South Asia for example would support that idiot kid (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Kielburger) who campaigned to end child poverty. Why? Because that 10 year old who activists use as a prop was probably helping feed a family of 8. You are going to send that 10 year old to school and make his family starve. That's the western band aid solution to problems.
In case you have not heard the new slogan is 'Trade not aid.' I invite you to come over and ask my folks if they would have ever wanted a handout as a poor Indian kid. You'd be surprised. My dad's next door neighbour who grew up studying under a street lamp went on to become a VP at Motorola for North America. And yet another neighbour came to Canada on a commonwealth scholarship, finished his PhD and served as a director for defence research. What they want over there is opportunity, not handouts. What will help the third world, is industry and jobs that put food on the table, not World Vision building a well in villages with good looking children.
