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Dear Brothers and Sisters of Planet Earth,
My name is Mark Moshay. I am a labor union president of a small union local in the Seattle area here in the United States.
On November 30, 1999, I participated in the AFL-CIO march on the WTO in
Seattle.
By now, everyone knows that our march was a success. No violence, no
problems. Of course, that can't be said for the other groups in town that day.
FAIR TRADE VS FREE TRADE (There is a difference)
I am not opposed to international trade. Quite the contrary, I fully support it. But such trade must be fair and not exploit human beings or our earth. Sweat shops, slave labor, and child labor are the dirty little secrets that the mega-corporations have found in obtaining huge profits. They have only one priority, profit. Human misery does not count. Our adversaries have always relied on public apathy to get away with their deception. The general public either feels helpless or refuses to believe that something like the WTO could be harmful. Yet, very few have taken the time to read and understand the issues. Please I urge you, take the time. It is essential.
The polices of the WTO will ultimately affect every human being in the world. It's time for the people of planet earth to stand up to the mega-rich corporate
minority which is manipulating the world's resources for their own gain. In short, the current policy of the WTO is all about the greed.
TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY
For those who doubt that we can be successful in turning the tide of the WTO,
let me remind you of a few things:
- In the early 1980s a lowly shipyard electrician from Poland, lead working
people to stage a labor strike in that communist country. It is no coincidence that within a few years, communism collapsed all over the world. Lech Walensa made Solidarity a household word.
- In the 1990s the earth's citizens had enough of Apartheid. Once the working people of the world banded together in support of our brothers and sisters in South Africa, Apartheid fell.
- In the year 2000, we can and we must band together to defeat the dangerous
polices of the WTO. We defeated communism, we defeated Apartheid, we can defeat the WTO.
EDUCATION IS VITAL
Finally for those who are still unfamiliar with the dangerous polices I'm referring to, here are some brief facts:
1. The WTO is endeavoring to achieve the ability to determine whether or not the laws of any member nation are valid. That is, if a nation, such as the United States, has in place certain worker or environmental protection, they are subject to review by the WTO. If the WTO determines that those laws are a "barrier to trade" they would have the authority to override those laws. In short, the WTO would effectively do away with national sovereignty.
2. Last year less than 500 individual people earned more money that 62% of the world's population. Not all of those earnings were done through exploitation of the human beings and the environment, but most of it was.
3. The so-called leaders in the WTO use clever wording when they say that other nations want to join the WTO. The truth is, it is the mega-corporations who want the nations of the world to join the WTO. In essence, they are using elected officials to do their bidding. In some cases they are coercing world leaders, in other situations they have gained their complicity through bribery, and sadly, in some cases our world leaders have been deceived by the corporations.
Please check out the following sites on the Internet to learn more:
World Labor Rips Latest WTO Danger
http://www.uaw.org/publications/wash_report/3819/wr381905.html
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION (IFG)
http://www.ifg.org/
If the global economy doesn't work for working families, it doesn't work.
http://www.aflcio.org/wto/index.htm
I would very much appreciate your feedback and ideas: write@tscnet.com
In SOLIDARITY,
Mark Moshay, President
PEPS/IFPTE Local 6
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