The protests have also raised doubts about the WTO among policy elites. The report seems to suggest that poverty is political. Which is what activists worldwide have been saying all along. Networking is the heart and soul of recent global protests. It's behind everything from the mass mobilizations of people in Melbourne and Prague to the International Forum on Globalization's preparations for a small gathering of Mexican activists, farmers, and officials to discuss Boise Cascade's logging excesses in Mexico.
Road shows essentially traveling teach-ins are one way activists raise funds.
Grant proposals are written, philanthropy sought. Legislation to regulate U.S.-based multinational corporations has been introduced by two house members. Democrat Cynthia McKinney of Georgia introduced the Corporate Code of Conduct. Neither bill is likely to pass as long as both Republican and Democratic leaders persist in liberalizing trade. Nor is the UN able to rein in multinationals, though it has produced several documents that lay out viable plans for global living the UN Declaration on Human Rights, and its Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, for instance.