All The Facts That Fit: Columns By Two NY Times Pundits Picked Apart [Part 1]

Saturday, May. 19, 2001 at 12:01 PM

rad@gte.net

Coinciding with the anti-FTAA demonstrations in Quebec, two NY Times columnists lambasted the demonstrators as enemies of the poor, ignoring several decades of Third World resistance and IMF riots in response to cruel and deadly neoliberal policies. Part One of this article recalls some of that lost history.

The Strawman's Revenge - IMC's E-zine Of Media Analysis

All The Facts That Fit
Columns By Two NY Times Pundits Picked Apart
By Paul Rosenberg, IMC-LA reporter.

Coinciding with the anti-FTAA demonstrations in Quebec, two NY Times columnists lambasted the demonstrators as enemies of the poor, ignoring several decades of Third World resistance and IMF riots in response to cruel and deadly neoliberal policies. Part One of this article recalls some of that lost history, Part Two criticizes other elements of Tom Friedman's column, and Part Three does a more detailed job with Paul Krugman's.

Part One: The Hidden History of Third World Resistance To Corporate, Neoliberal Globalization. | [ Part Two ] | [ Part Three ]

Zapatistas Enemies of Poor?

Protesters Painted As Enemies of Poor

In his column, "Media Scrutiny Of The White Bloc," Normon Solomon takes note of two top New York Times columnists representing the liberal side of the White Bloc. Both accused anti-FTAA protesters of being enemies of the poor.

"Paul Krugman ended his column by writing that the protesters 'are doing their best to make the poor even poorer,'" Solomon noted, before citing Thomas Friedman's parting salvo that "these 'protesters' should be called by their real name: The Coalition to Keep Poor People Poor."

The corporate media's 'spoiled white kids' lie echoes Southern sheriffs in the early 1960s, denying the long history of resistance struggles by the poor and oppressed.

Friedman and Krugman are hardly alone, of course. It's one of the corporate media's favorite lies: the only folks opposed to neoliberal, corporate globalization are spoiled white kids, who will only make things worse for the poor. Southern sheriffs tried a similar line in the early 1960s

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Brilliant Article

by %-) Saturday, May. 26, 2001 at 12:33 PM
blindmind@runbox.com London, UK

Excellent article. The mis-representation of the anti-globalisation/capitalism movement as a middle class developed world "luxury" is one of the most frequent assaults on the fight for justice and equality.

Of course, the fact that middle/upper class developed world inhabitants are the ones who make such disparaging comments, and design IMF etc policies from the comfort of their luxury apartments never features in such discussion.

Funny they never seem to get the gender thing in there though do they?

Their "strawman" arguement should read:

"The anti-capitalist hypocrites are a bunch of white middle class heterosexual able bodied wealthy male graduates from the world's richest countries."

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Neo-Liberalism=Hitlerian "Final Solution"!

by Anti-Neo-Liberal Tuesday, Jul. 31, 2001 at 6:54 PM

6 to 7 MILLION die every year from IMF "structural adjustment" policies-i.e. corporate globalization, neo-liberalism. That's the equivalent of Hitler's Halocaust against the Jews occuring EVERY YEAR(the Halocaust occured over a period of four or more years). Can this be interpreted as an IMF sponsered "population control" as well as economic reform policy? Appearently Hitler's "final solution" has found a new home-in the IMF, World Bank, WTO and their ranks of corporate sponsers!

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All The Facts That Fit: Columns By Two NY Times Pundits Picked Apart [Part 1]

Brilliant Article

Neo-Liberalism=Hitlerian "Final Solution"!