Sorting out the latest free trade protests

Sunday, April 16, 2000

THOMAS FRIEDMAN
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Washington is now playing host to protests against the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, globalization and free trade. If this were a baseball game, someone would sell programs to help follow the action. Here's how mine would read.

Facts you won't hear: You will hear much blarney in coming days. Fortunately, a major study of how globalization has affected 34 developed and developing countries was just published by the consulting firm A.T. Kearney. It concludes what economists have long known: "Overall, countries integrating rapidly with the world economy have fared better than those integrating more slowly . . . because the fastest globalizing countries have enjoyed rates of economic growth that averaged 30 to 50 percent higher over the past 20 years. The same countries also enjoyed greater political freedom . . . more social spending and received higher scores on the U.N. Human Development Index, an indicator of longevity, literacy and standard of living."

On the downside, the report found, "rapid globalizers have witnessed a growing gap between rich and poor . . . rising corruption and higher levels of environmental pollution." The report adds, though, that while some 34 percent of the world's population lived in absolute poverty in 1980, by 1990 that number had dropped by more than half. "In other words, 1.4 billion people escaped absolute poverty as a result of economic growth associated with globalization."

Whom to root for: There are many activists gathered in Washington who understand that globalization has its upsides and downsides, and they have come not to destroy this system but to improve it -- by agitating for the World Bank to be more sensitive to the environment in its building projects, by urging rich countries to write off the debts of the poorest countries, and by urging the IMF to be more open to alternative, possibly less harsh remedies for rescuing countries in financial distress. All worthy issues.

Whom to root against: Root against the economic quacks peddling conspiracy theories about globalization; the anti-free-trade extremists, like Ralph Nader's group, Public Citizen; the protectionist trade unions; and the anarchists. These groups deserve to be called by their real name: "The Coalition to Keep the World's Poor People Poor."

These characters are fighting free trade. But they can't point to a single country that has flourished, or upgraded its living or worker standards, without free trade and integration. And they offer the third world no coherent plan for how to develop and preserve the environment. Their only plan is that developing countries stop developing. This coalition is supported by U.S. unions that have launched a protectionist jihad against more free trade with the developing world, for fear of competition. The unions don't want to say that out loud -- so they tell you they are for free trade with countries that get their worker standards up.

Yeah, sure. Unite, the reactionary garment union, is currently blocking a compromise bill aimed at giving the poorest countries in Africa duty-free access to the U.S. apparel market, even though this bill would link these trade benefits to improved worker standards. After Cambodia made an unprecedented effort to improve its worker standards -- in order to win greater access to the U.S. apparel market -- Unite still opposed increases in Cambodia's quota, citing areas where Cambodia wasn't perfect. Read the fascinating Jan. 10 piece in The New Republic entitled "The Man Behind The Anti-Free-Trade Revolt." It's about the relationship between Ralph Nader's and Lori Wallach's Public Citizen group and Roger Milliken, the far-right billionaire textile factory owner -- one of America's legendary union-busters and a longtime backdoor funder of protectionist groups. Nice company.

There's nothing wrong with unions or owners protecting their interests -- it's just when they do it in the name of helping the poor that's contemptible. So as you watch this demo, give your heart to those who not only care about the poor and the rain forest but have real ideas of how we can help both grow in a more integrated world. And give the back of your hand to those who pose as friends of the downtrodden but whose real goal is to take care of themselves and keep the poor poor.