In a nutshell, the WTO has the power to overturn any nation's laws that inhibit free trade, regardless of whether those laws were put in place to protect the environment or workers rights. As far as I understand, they HAVE OVERTURNED at least one U.S. law that prevented the use of fishing nets that kill sea turtles.
-Lisa
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Matt, I understand and in part agree with your statement about the violence opening up the media coverage. However, go back a moment to Martin Luther King jr. and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 50's-60's. The violence was what got it on the news, but it was the ABSOLUTELY non-violent action of the protesters in CONTRAST to the totally violent and angry reaction of the police and bystanders that was so incredibly powerful. If we want things to change in our world, if we are truly working for peace, then the movement should at all times uphold that peace or risk becoming what it abhors. Think how much more powerful the message could have been if the streets were shut down, and the cops were the only ones responsible for any violence? The issue on the mainstream media could not be muddled by a three day argument over who got out of hand first or who was justified, protestors or police? The media may have been more pressed to do real coverage on what the protestors were actually there to convey.
-Lisa
