The WTO protests caught free-traders off guard. The WTO protests caught free-traders off guard.
International trade is no longer just a matter of interest-group politics.
It as become a highly charged symbol of markets in general and, even more broadly, of the cultural dynamism that they unleash. The protests in Seattle were not about the World Trade organization per se. Some protesters were against development, some against growth, some against low-wage work in poor countries, some against resource extraction, some against consumption, some against biotechnology, some against killing animals, some against highly restrictive intellectual property laws, some against property rights of any kind. Just about all of them were against change without political regulation. The trade diplomats' Seattle meeting merely provided a focal point for protest.