Thailand & China

Peter K. peterk at enteract.com
Thu Feb 17 05:42:52 PST 2000



>>Paul Krugman wrote:
>>
>>>because the
>>>developing world is still so poor, what looks to careless observers like
>>>exploitation is often far better than the alternative.
>>
>>Reading something like this makes me wish there was a Hell for the
>>author to burn in.
>>
>>Doug

I know, I know, for some reason I had thought Krugman was better than this. I like the placement of the word "often." It's not always the case. My retort would be that what looks to exploiters' apologists as development is often far worse than the alternative.


>And isn't Manuel Castells today is making a similar argument: that global
>redlining that excludes large chunks of the globe from the network society
>is the process that is doing the most today to create global extreme
>poverty?
>
>Of course, it does all depend on just what the "alternative" is...
>
>Brad DeLong

This seems to be the argument that's shaping up.

I like Sweeney's quote at the end of the following story. So Brad - if I may call you that - enforcing intellectual property rights isn't redlining? (would Castells see it so?) I mean, didn't the developed world become so by in part by running roughshod over intellectual property rights? Why yank the ladder up after us by enforcing intellectual property rights?

----------------------------------- New York Times - February 17, 2000

Labor Is Ready to Fight Easing of China Trade

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 16 -- A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials today outlined an ambitious campaign to persuade Congress to oppose President Clinton's efforts at normalizing trade relations with China.

The labor officials buttressed their case by issuing the results of a poll that found most Americans opposed normal trade with Beijing.

The telephone poll, of 609 people around the country over three days beginning Jan. 25, showed that 65 percent were against normal trade relations with the Chinese and that 61 percent said China had unfair trade policies. A particularly surprising result of the survey, conducted for the federation by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, was that a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats or independents opposed normal China trade.

John J. Sweeney, the federation's president, said the labor movement hoped to work with Democrats and both moderate and conservative Republicans to build a majority on the issue.

The labor federation has been the most powerful opponent of the Clinton Administration's trade accord with China, which, with Congressional approval, would remove trade barriers against the Chinese and ease their entry into the World Trade Organization.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. wants to make sure that instead, Congress continues its annual reviews of trade with China, an exercise that often irritates Beijing while pressuring it to improve its performance on human rights and worker rights.

Labor leaders said the battle they mount over China could be as big as the huge but ultimately unsuccessful fight they undertook in 1993 to press Congress to reject the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Gathered here for the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s winter meeting, labor leaders said their fight against normalized trade with China would be part of a larger, multiyear effort to make the global economy fairer to workers in the United States and overseas. Mr. Sweeney said the labor movement wanted to build on the December protests in Seattle against the harshest effects of globalization.

Many Democratic officials say they fear that labor's battle against the administration's China trade policy could weaken union members' support for the presidential candidacy of Vice President Al Gore and for Democratic Congressional candidates, at a time when the labor movement wants to help the party regain control of the House.

But, to pressure members of Congress not to normalize trade with China, the labor federation said it would run broadcast spots in 12 to 15 Congressional districts where lawmakers are wavering. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. also plans to get union members to meet with every member of Congress, and to sponsor town meetings on the issue around the country.

In Seattle, the labor movement worked closely with environmentalists and advocacy groups for the third world, and, addressing some of their concerns, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. said today that it was backing debt relief for poor nations.

In announcing what it called a Campaign for Global Fairness, the federation said it would seek to have countries gain the power to bring trade sanctions against other nations where core labor standards, like a ban on child labor, are frequently violated.

"It is insane that under the rules governing worldwide trade today you can take action against a company for pirating a Madonna videotape," Mr. Sweeney said, "but you can take no action against a company for employing children, or using forced labor, or violating workers' fundamental rights, or poisoning the environment."



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