\r\n\r\n\r\nRe-Framing Our Global Predicament: 2 Bits Towards A Better Society\r\n<\/b>
\r\nReal News Brief: #2 (August 30\/01)<\/b>\r\n By Paul Boin<\/i><\/b>\r\n<\/p><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n| <\/td>\r\n | \r\n\r\nProtesters need to take the lead in changing the language, Boin argues. \r\nHis two suggestions: 1) change the label \"anti-globalization\" to \r\n\"pro-democracy\", and 2) change the phrase \"against trade\" to \r\n\"for fair trade\". \r\n\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\nWhile our\r\nestablishment-biased media are often to\r\nblame for inaccurate and pejorative labels, \r\nprotesters must also share the blame. \r\n\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nJust hearing the mainstream news media's characterization of the G-8 protesters that gathered in Genoa, Italy, has\r\nleft me, well, exacerbated. As news commentators uncritically lap up the old pabulum that leaders such as George\r\nBush and Tony Blair spew out of their mouths - that 'anti globalization protesters' are \"no friends of the poor\" or\r\nthat those who oppose 'free trade' are simply unrealistic \"isolationists\" - I realize how powerful labels, especially\r\ninaccurate and pejorative labels, are in discrediting legitimate analysis and concerns. While our\r\nestablishment-biased media are often to blame, the protesters, primarily the higher profile protesters, must also\r\nrealize that they to share the blame. \r\n\r\n<\/b> The two bits that especially irk me, and severely undermine real movement towards a better world, are the label\r\n'anti-globalization', when describing this incredibly broad coalition of advocates, and the phrase 'against trade',\r\nwhen explaining what these protesters stand for. Both the mainstream media and high profile activists are guilty\r\nof simply regurgitating these statements, and for failing to call them into question whenever they are uttered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\nTwo suggestions: 1) change the label\r\n\"anti-globalization\" to \"pro-democracy\", and 2) change the\r\nphrase \"against trade\" to \"for fair trade\". \r\n\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMy 2 bit suggestion is as follows: 1) the label \"anti-globalization\" be changed to \"pro-democracy\", and 2) the\r\nphrase \"against trade\" be changed to \"for fair trade\". This would immediately help to re-frame the debate and\r\ncould inspire both journalists and citizens to begin asking different and more pressing questions, which could\r\nhelp our global society truly 'progress'. \r\n\r\n<\/b> For example, when hearing the demonstrators call themselves 'pro-democracy' protesters, one might be moved to\r\nask and investigate how organizations, elite gatherings of nations, and trade agreements such as the World\r\nTrade Organization (WTO), G-8 meetings, and NATFA (and possibly the FTAA) respectively, undermine the\r\nrights and living conditions of the vast multitude of people. Such a person might realize that critical public\r\ninterest decisions are being taken out of more local democratic jurisdictions and put into the hands of\r\nunaccountable supranational corporate agents. Or a journalist might wonder why powerful international financial\r\ninstitutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) force poor countries like Ecuador\r\nand Honduras to privatize their water management facilities and telecommunications services, in exchange for\r\n'aid' or 'loan' packages. If a person, any person, took the time to look into the concerns and arguments of\r\n'pro-democracy' protesters it would be quickly found that the present version of corporate-led globalization, and\r\nthe dominant institutions and agreements that enforce it, overwhelmingly benefits the privileged few at the direct\r\nexpense of the great majority of the worlds 6 billion+ people.<\/p>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\nCharacterizing protesters as 'for fair trade' is far from being \r\n'isolationist' or 'nationalistic.' They are quite internationalist, \r\nand actually embrace globalization - social globalization. \r\n\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIf journalists would start characterizing the people that have gathered in Seattle, Quebec and Genoa as being 'for\r\nfair trade', they might realize that far from being 'isolationist' or 'nationalistic' these protesters are quite\r\ninternationalist, and actually embrace globalization - social globalization. Our media, and their audiences, could\r\nlearn that 'pro-democracy' protesters are for globalizing more humane labour standards, responsible\r\nenvironmental regulations, and human rights. An enterprising journalist might learn about the years of hard work\r\n(from 1980 to 1992) that the UN Centre on Trsansnational Corporations spent drafting a \"Code of Conduct for\r\nTransnational Corporations\" that would have truly helped the people of the world escape poverty, and the earth\r\navert an environmental crisis. Such a journalist would also find that this code of conduct for multinational\r\ncorporations was lobbied off the 1992 Rio Earth Summit agenda, where it was to be signed, by George Bush Sr.\r\nand no less than the multinationals that it was designed to hold to account. Since then, we've seen a litany of\r\nproposed global agreements and codes - like NAFTA, the (temporarily) failed Multilateral Agreement on\r\nInvestment (MAI), and all-to-regular WTO decisions - which have dramatically tilted the balance of global\r\nactivities in favour of the exploitative practices of multinational corporate interests and away from the real needs\r\nof the people of the world (Note:Most pro-democracy advocates aren't 'anti-business' or 'anti-corporate', but\r\n'pro-responsible business' or 'pro-responsible corporations'). Re-framing our present global predicament is the\r\nfirst step towards truly understanding it. Once understood, informed actions and responsible policies will follow.\r\n\r\n<\/b> Onwards 'pro-democracy' and 'fair trade' advocates. The re-framed global movement for democracy is just\r\nbeginning. RNN<\/p>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n
\r\n \r\n\r\nThis Article (now a Real News Brief) was originally submitted as an Op-Ed article to Canada's major daily newspapers - the Globe and Mail, the\r\nNational Post, and the Toronto Star - on the morning of Friday July 20, 2001 (Just prior to the Genoa G-8 Summit\/Protests). However, none of\r\nthem gave it the light of day. <\/p> \r\n\r\nIn October RNN will be publishing an in depth investigative report on the state and potential of Canada's\r\nmedia landscape entitled: \"Canada's Most Critical Moment: Protecting Our Democracy Through Media\r\nReform\". Copies of this special 40-page investigative report can be obtained for $8 (Price includes\r\nshipping and taxes. International orders add $2). Mail, and make check payable, to: the Real News\r\nNetwork, 35 Green Valley Dr., Unit #1204, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, N2P 2A5. <\/ul>\r\n\r\n
\r\nPaul D. Boin<\/b><\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Protesters need to take the lead in changing the language, Boin argues, offering two suggestions.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2001\/09\/real_news_2.htm","filesize":"13.6 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2001\/09\/9920.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]} | | | | | | | |