I agree that Becker's speech was pretty revolting but to summarize the rally with the worst speech is pretty distorting. I'd agree the whole thing was more nationalist than I'd like, but your whole post ignores the denunciations of "predatory capitalists" and the betrayal of workers by the "capitalist" and "market system." For those who dislike Clinton, there were strong denunciations of him and the Republican leadership selling out the working class of America and of the world.
The focus of most speeches were on the ways human rights and workers rights are suppressed in China, with a pretty good argument repeated by multiple speakers that human rights in China have not improved since Tiammen in 1989, despite promises that more trade rather than sanctions was the best route to dealing with human rights abuses.
The Chinese regime may not be the enemy of the US government or of US business, but it is acting like the enemy of its own workers and of the US working class. Some may not feel that the rally denounced the US government enough (although they did), but why so many people are so forgiving of the Chinese regime's mass jailing of labor activists is beyond me.
Rakesh has his complicated argument that the capitalists, who actually are for ending the yearly review of China's MFN status, benefit from that yearly review. I don't buy his argument, but it's worth emphasizing that all the labor leaders were demanding is that the US continue to have a yearly review of China's human rights and workers rights record. They were not demanding new sanctions against China or the end of trade. All they were demanding is a yearly vote in Congress where they have a chance to raise these concerns and maintain pressure on China.
Those who are opposing the position of the AFL-CIO, Friends of the Earth, and its various other allies on this issue are basically arguing that it is better to have less democracy, less debate and less grassroots say over our trade relations. I am all for pushing for a less nationalist line out of the AFL-CIO, although they also had plenty to say about debt relief and support for workers globally, but a lot of people seem to be siding with the big corporations in wanting for that reason to shut the labor unions up by preventing the MFN vote each year.
-- Nathan Newman
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The anti-China rally yesterday has to stand as a low point in US labor history. It is appalling to see the likes of Buchanan, Sanders, Sweeney, Becker, Hoffa et. al. denounce China as a rogue nation and declare America as the only country that can drag the poor third world into the light of democracy and freedom. Most disturbing to me was Becker's speech praising the American soldiers who fought China during the Korean War and surround China now. He of course didn't mention the bases in Okinawa and Korea where these forward deployed soldiers are stationed - bases that rob the Okinawan people of their land and human rights and have been used in Korea to back evil military regimes that in the name of anti-communism suppressed Korean human and labor rights until the Korean people themselves (with no help from the US or American labor) got rid of the generals. The massive US intervention in Korea in 1950 (rooted in the Cold War meddlings in Korea of the late 1940s) rejuvenated the! ! !
Japanese economy, brought back the right-wing Japanese war criminals to power and solidified a US-Japanese military alliance that persists to this day and has coddled dictators like Ferdinand Marcos, Park Chung Hee, Chun Doo Hwan, Suharto and too many others to mention. Is the AFL now going to back the Clinton-Republican proposals to create an anti-missile defense against China, wasting trillions of dollars? Why not - after all, Becker denounced China's nuclear missiles and its support for North Korea. Are they going to continue backing the deployment of 100,000 US troops in Asia forever, as the Clinton administration has done? China has serious human rights problems but is NOT our enemy as many of the leading lights in the Republican party and the CIA seem to believe. This kind of rally appeals to the most base anti-communist, anti-Asian instincts in America. Why not get John McCain on the stage to blast 'the gooks'? I'm sure that would get a rousing cheer just as Buchanan's! ! !
sneering reference to Chinese chopsticks did. I grew up in Japan and Korea during the Cold War. I saw first hand the terrible impact of American militarism, particularly on Korea, and that experience changed my life and brought me into a life of activism starting with opposition to the Vietnam War in 1965. This China rally yesterday could have taken place 50 years ago. To those who think the revolution has arrived (and some comments on this list in recent days make that assumption) please take your rose colored glasses off. This is scary stuff.