Kuttner pats the WTO and IMF protestors on the back for making global issues debatable. Defenders of the prevailing global order now feel compelled to offer decent space to dissenters. Even The New Republic, as the saying goes, published World Bank dissenter Joe Stiglitz. This grossly exaggerates the openness of the media to dissenters on global issues. Stiglitz is part of an establishment that has its own tactical dissenters, and their access does not extend to those with radical messages.
Radical messages are still almost inaudible.
A similar massive bias has characterized the media's handling of the current debate over the granting of Permanent Normal Trade Relations to China, where the media have once again manned the barricades in service to corporate community demands. Despite this deep apologetic thrust, Kuttner's own journal TAP has had many good articles opposing the ongoing conservative revolution and sometimes even assailing the Clinton abuses and contributions to the erosion of the welfare state. Interestingly, TAP refused to publish a letter of criticism I wrote on the Starr position, as well as at least one other critical letter. But it is good to know that the struggles of our ancestors are respected.