The complaint was brought by the U.S. on behalf of the U.S. cattle industry. Inc. The State of Massachusetts is sued for passing selective purchasing laws requiring divestment from corporations propping up the brutal military dictatorship in Burma. The World Trade Organization has elevated trade and profit above democracy, above justice, above the right to live free. And they're doing it without telling you and me. While we spend our time winning victories by swinging at the branches, multinational corporations are flexing the power and secrecy of the WTO, trying to strengthen their control at the roots.
Education is all ready becoming a commodity.
Under the WTO it will be further commodified. Students' control over our education will be completely lost. Most importantly, our local communities, the communities our schools are built to serve, will loose all control over their educational institutions. Yet there has been relatively little mobilized opposition in North America compared to the degree of action elsewhere around the world. Perhaps that is why the WTO considered the serene locale of Seattle, Washington, to hold its third high-level Ministerial Meeting in November 1999.