Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
On-line edition: www.dailyemerald.com
■ The real message in
the WTO protests may
have been lost, thanks to
the actions of the
irresponsible few
Chaos really never ac
complishes anything.
Martin Luther King Jr.
knew that.
And so did the peaceful
protesters at this week’s
World Trade Organization
convention in Seattle. Angry
with the WTO’s stance on
a variety of issues, the
protesters put actions to
words in a fury of
protest that hear
kened back to the
1960s.
Forming a
human chain
on Tuesday to keep out WTO
delegates, delaying the start
of the conference for at least
six hours and garnering the
support of President Clinton,
these protesters made a mark
on the convention that might
actually have significance.
The WTO might sense that
people aren’t happy. Clinton
might try to involve protest
ers in talks. Changes might be
made, all from the efforts of a
couple thousand vocal peo
ple.
Overall, a positive experi
ence.
If we can overlook the
A violent protesters. The
j anarchists. The vandals.
I Even though distinc
Jf ti ons between the two
r groups of protesters
were often unclear in media
coverage, they couldn’t be
further apart.
The peaceful protesters —
several hundred from Eugene
— took their stance against
the WTO and made an argu
ment through words, sheer
physical presence and ac
tions. Although they blocked
entry into the convention for
many delegates, the intent
was to stall the meetings, not
to harm the participants.
The gist of their message
was concern over the WTO’s
impact on the environment,
human rights and workers’
rights. The WTO resolves
conflicts in world trade, seek
ing to make such trade more
free between nations. If a hu
man-rights law of one coun
try limited its trade with an
other that didn’t share the
same values, the WTO might
rule that free trade was more
important than the human
rights law, for example. This
type of free trade at all costs is
what angers many protesters.
But while the non-violent
groups waged a war of words
and civil disobedience with
police, a few black-clad anar
chists —again, some from
Eugene — took the anger a
step farther.
Their acts of
windows, spraypainting
buildings and overturning
dumpsters created a message
of violence, not of protest. In
stead of focusing attention on
the WTO delegates or the
convention itself, these
groups vandalized big-name
merchants in downtown
Seattle, such as Starbucks
and Nike Town. While they
attracted the attention they
wanted from media and po
lice, their message was cheap
and degrading to the real pro
testers. In effect, they helped
turn Seattle into a police
state: Their actions forced the
mayor to impose a curfew
and the governor to declare a
state of emergency.
Both groups had their mo
ments, but it’s funny how the
two aren’t even really related.
Real protesters with a mes
sage decried the damage and
violence of the anarchists.
The anarchists distanced
themselves from the peaceful
protesters, with one saying in
Thursday’s Oregonian,
“They’re just accomplices to
the system.” Yet the two
groups will be
linked to
gether in our minds when we
think about this week.
Photos of tear-gassed pro
testers alongside images of
broken corporate windows.
One bad apple sure can spoil
the bunch.
And the message. With so
much media, police and gov
ernment attention focused on
what went wrong, it’s easy to
overlook what went right.
When things settle down in
the next week or so, it is
hoped that the intelligent
protest won’t be lost or forgot
ten. One of the participants
expressed the idea best:
“A lot of the message we
were trying to get across is
lost because of [the vio
lence],” Portland teenager
Grace Callahan said in The
Oregonian Thursday. “On
the other hand, we’ve raised
awareness about what’s going
on. I feel like the whole world
is watching Seattle now.
Whether they know anything
about the WTO or not, now,
this may motivate them to
learn.”
Exactly.
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses maybe
sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
*WA
Letters to the editor
Notes off web acceptable
At the close of Wednesday’s editorial the author
states, “The problem is that it can take the work out
of education. And lets face it, that’s kind of the
point.” (ODE, Dec. 1)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point of ed
ucation to educate? So why the big deal of class
notes being made available on the Web? As long as
students are held accountable for the course mater
ial in exams and the like, there should be no prob
lem.
Some might say using notes off of the Web can
hinder the level of learning one might do. I say let
people be responsible for their actions and assume
any possible consequences they bring. As for buy
ing essays and papers, I believe that to be plagia
rism and unacceptable.
Justin Collins
pre-business
WTO helps poor countries
The World Trade Organization is an intergovern
mental organization whose purpose is to organize
trade negotiations, settle trade disputes and help
the free flow of trade around the globe. WTO is not
against environmental standards. WTO requires the
member countries a) to prove scientifically that a
foreign good is harmful, and b) apply the same en
vironmental standard requirements to all countries
and domestic producers.
WTO, by promoting free trade, helps poor coun
tries become richer. It’s a fact that countries with
low barriers to trade are the most prosperous while
those with high barriers to trade are the poorest. So
why all this noise? Why has the liberal media given
such a wide coverage to a bunch of hippies demon
strating? It only helps to obscure an issue of com
mon concern. Also to hide the truth. Namely that
free trade is good, more free trade is better.
Napoleon Linardatos
economics
Thumbs
To finally popping
the question:
Jonas Alien, for
mer Emerald
columnist and cur
rent board mem
ber, became en
gaged to bis
long-time girl
friend, Sara Mot
tau, this month.
Best wishes.
To keeping watch
on criminals:
The Oregon State
Penitentiary will be
Y2K ready, accord
ing to the Depart
ment of Correc
tions, alleviating
fears that the year
2000 bug will be a
boon to inmates
freed from cells by
computer error.
Good.
mp
To not dropping
the chalupa:
Kansas football
player Dion Ray
ford made news
last week when he
went to Taco Bell
but did not get the
chalupa he or
dered. Like that
darn Chihuahua,
Rayford must have
really wanted it,
and he got stuck in
the drive-thru win
dow when he tried
to force his way in.
Hello, they aren’t
that good.
To mistakes that
kill:
A new report by the
National Academy
of Science’s Insti
tute of Medicine
says that medical
error kills between
44,000 and 98,000
people a year,
more than deaths
from highway acci
dents, breast can
cer and AIDS. The
report concludes a
major overhaul of
America’s health
care system is re
quired to curb er
ror.