Subject: Don't Condescend to the WTO Protesters

Re: " Today's Papers" (Dec. 1)

From: Richard Perry

Date: Wed Dec 1

It's not just interesting that the major media coverage of WTO/Seattle, this piece included, has been dismissive and condescending--it's telling. The New York Times' front-page piece, which Today's Papers quotes, refers to the protesters' "sentiments"; the smug "Brainless in Seattle" headline in "TP" betrays a similar willful ostrich-pose.

The protesters' main victory lies in making the WTO front-page news in the first place. The WTO is a non-democratic (unless you want to stretch the definition of "democratic" to absurd proportions) organization with great power to affect, well, everyone. It is symptomatic of the decay of accountability and legitimacy in ostensibly democratic, people-centered government.

This is a major issue, and it's not going to get play if a few loud activists don't make noise and force corporate media to at least take note, even as they reel out the tired Friedman-esque line that a global economy is both inevitable and the best of all possible worlds, so get used to it, take your medicine, shut up and get back to work. Guys in black masks smashing Starbucks windows make easy targets, sure. It's a lot harder to actually look beneath the surface and think through the present and potential effects of the incredibly complex--and in many ways dangerous--phenomenon of globalization.

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Subject: Don't Pick on Skip Gates

Re: " The Book Club: Africana" (Dec. 1)