Carlos: Welcome to another edition of Viewpoint, the time is 6:05 P.m., tonight in the studio we have James Russell, he is a student activist, and we are going to be focusing on the WTO and what it means for children, what it means for average citizens, and what it means for all of us. The collapse of the WTO talks in Seattle was a victory for the vast majority of the word population that is suffering from the consequence of new liberalism after years of free trade and structural adjustment policies around the world, the statistics leave much to be desired. The richest three people in the world have more wealth than the poorest 600 million. One point two billion people live on less than 1 dollar a day according to world bank statistics, and it is estimated that there are 20 million child laborers, that's about the size of the US population, by the way. Now, James lets just begin with the basic premise of the WTO, or neo-liberals, which is free trade, you know, spread the wealth, but you know that products made overseas are not really cheap ok, these products are cheap to the corporations that buy these products abroad and then sell them here while paying their laborers as little as possible. That's what Free Trade is really all about isn't it?

James: I completely agree, free trade seems to be defined by them as the "freedom " to avoid any sort of legal restriction, or moral restriction, on what kind of goods they import. The WTO works to avoid any kind of restriction, whether legal, or just by conciencse, on imports and exports. For example, to ban a product form being imported depending on how it is made, even if it is made by children, or slaves.

Carlos: Now in this country, the average citizen doesn't really know much about the working conditions of people abroad, and far less about the fact that there are child laborers out there. You know that child labor is illegal in this country and its almost unthinkable but can you just tell us why globalization leads to children having to work

James: Well globalization didn't' start child labor. Child labor has been around in our own country for hundreds of years, like for example in the grape farms of California many children of illegal immigrants and migrant workers work in our own country, but globalization has escalated child labor, because US companies that work in the US have to follow us laws, have exported their means of production to avoid US laws and US payment that means that why can work with children who are often more easily manipulated, and more easily exploited.

Carlos: Can you give us some examples of products one might find at say a mall or store that re produced by child labor or other forms of illegal labor?

James: Everyone listening to this program, and even us in the studios, unless we made all our own clothes, we are probably wearing something that was made in a sweatshop. The best example is shoes, especially Nike and new balance are prominent, the us sneaker industry is headquartered in Thailand, where girls as young as eight are forced to sew Nike sneakers and sneakers from other popular brands for as little as six cents and hour, working fourteen hour days to help feed their family lots of others goods that are very popular on this campus and in our area are made in sweatshops, popular brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, old navy and especially small chintzy objects that we buy in a store such as the Christmas Tree Shops. If its' inexpensive popular, and made in another country, there's a good chance that it was made in a sweatshop. are it was made in a sweatshop.

Carlos: Yeah, it's shoes are particularly well known and I have my own story to tell. Last weekend I was at the Holyoke mall to go shopping for shoes and being somewhat more conscious of this labor issue I went to a store, and went to this store and said to the attendant, I'm looking for a pair of shoes and I'd like to buy something that was made in the USA. . She said, look over there, and she pointed to about two pairs out of about a hundred on display and it was just mind boggling and if people start looking, and everything is made overseas and how can we start to make the corporations more responsible and equitable.

James: Well, even made in the USA is not a sign that your goods weren't made in a sweatshop. For example, you may have heard about the island of Saipan. It is a US protectorate in the Marianas islands in the Pacific Ocean, and it was acquired by the US during WWII. As a protectorate, they are officially part of the USA ca put made in the u on their labels but they don't have to follow us human rights or labor laws. Lots of popular brands have sweatshops on Saipan where they bring in women from the Asian mainland who are seeking a job and the American dream and lock them behind barbed wire in Saipan sweatshops where they are forced to make goods at indentured servitude pay for American companies so even made in the isn't sure, it's a good sign, but you have to be aware of that as well. You asked how globalization affects this? Globalization means that companies are in a "race to the bottom" as the term says. They look for the lowest cost and the highest profit no matter what the moral or ethical constraints, for example a set of Nike shoes that sells in the us for a hundred dollars. It is estimate that it would take a worker five years to save up enough money to buy one pair of the shoes that they make. That is completely unfair

Carlos: Now it would seem that a good strategy to improve labor practices would be to begin right here in the Us, applying pressure to retailers and they in turn would apply pressure to manufacturers. Can you tell us about some of these action groups that have been set up, because I know that a lot of campuses are taking the lead they don't want their products made n that fashion, can you tell us a little more about that?

James: well there's a campaign led by a group called united students against sweatshops, which is basically sweeping the nation. They have decided to put pressure on college stores and college garment makers to make sure that what they are wearing for their college pride was not made in sweatshops. High-profile universities such as Harvard and Yale have been put under this kind of protest, and I am not aware, is there a group at UMASS? I hope there is, if you're listening. A lot of what these groups protest is a thing called the FLA. The FLA was introduced a few years ago, it's the "fair labor agreement". It is the corporations saying "we'll monitor ourselves" well e cant trust, them, and a lot of colleges unknowingly have signed onto the FLA but student activists in addition to protesting sweatshops initially, are protesting the FLA so they can be sure that their goods were not made in sweatshop conditions.

Carlos: during the WTO talks when Mr. Clinton saw that there was lot of protest against them he said that something had to be done against the worst forms of child labor as if there were certain kinds of child labor which are ok, which is not true. What would you say to all those folks at the WTO to clean up their acts.

James: It's a difficult question, because I applaud Mr. Clinton for signing onto the international labor organization treaty from the ILO, this is a good step in the right direction, but it begs the question - why did he wait this long? Up until the start of the WTO talks, Clinton was completely on the side of the world trade organization and free trade, but I guess he did his role as the president and listening to public opinion reversed his role. But it raises questions about is sincerity and signing it as well. As you said it only bans the worst forms. Which is a step in the right direction, but it could also be holding us back. By concentrating only on the very worst forms, child pornography, child prostitution, and horrible conditions in sweatshops, we could also lose our focus on other, less severe forms of child labor which are denying children the right have an education, or simply enjoy their childhood.

Carlos: Mr. Russell lets talk a little about hunger. Hunger is not caused by lack of food, it's really caused by poverty, by the inability of people to purchase food. Do you know the statistics bout the state of hunger in the world at the moment?

James: I'm not aware of the exact statistics myself, but I do know that there is enough excess food sitting in Us warehouses to feed the world. A WTO policy is that we have to sell goods for the highest cost, because of supply and demand, but food is sitting unused, rotting in warehouses, that we could be altruistically shipping out for free but we can't because of WTO policies against product dumping and in favor of profitmaking

Carlos: This is WMUA, 91.1 Amherst, the time is six sixteen p.m. and we are speaking with James Russell about the world trade organization.

Intermission

Carlos: Welcome back this is WMUA 91.1 in Amherst, we are speaking with James Russell about the WTO and its side effects, Mr. Russell globalization and all this liberal economics has affected a lot of people around the world but it is also having noticeable impact here in the unites states as they are laid off and they can't find jobs that pay the same especially manufacturing jobs, can you shed more light on how this globalization had effected the world and especially people in our area.

James: US industry as a whole is just shipping itself off overseas a good example would be in Lowell, the local town of Lowell used to be the center of US clothing industry many ears ago, but5 all the mills have closed down and all the factories have closed won because people couldn't or wouldn't afford to pay us workers to compete, so they have shipped off overseas, and it has caused a lot of the rural areas which used to be factory towns to have poverty and lack of production. It's also a case that is being repeated all over the nation as companies ship themselves off overseas

Carlos: What kind of direct action can people take? Are there organizations in this area the people can tap into if they want to get a little more involved to mobilize for better economic policies, and we saw the big events in Seattle and a lot of people from the area went, is there something here?

James: The organization I am involved in is PACT, which is People Against Corporate Takeover it meats regularly on Thursday nights at 270 at the Unitarian church in Amherst. Those of us who couldn't go to Seattle organized a local event I solidarity with it called the Horrors of Globalization. Which was very successful, and where a lot of people including myself spoke about global issues

Carlos: There was a caravan that went by the area; do you remember what that was all about?

James: That was a group called People's Global Action which they built a caravan form all over the world, representatives from places like Nepal, Israel, and the United States. They got in a bus and traveled around the country speaking in various location against the WTO, eventually ending up in Seattle and leading a lot of the protest. They gave a great speeches in their presentation on Halloween.

Carlos: Mr. Russell, the big question after Seattle is what happens next, because life goes on, and there has to be follow up action, so people can have an effect

James: Well the major effect of Seattle is that now people know the WTO exits. Before this only a few economists knew about it but now the WTO itself is becoming more open, and maybe more positive, because people know about it and are getting involved. But I think that the WTO is so infiltrated with corporate interests that it has lost its viability as an organization. I think that we need a new international regulatory body that works for workers and consumers instead of the few leaders of a corporation. I do not know what this body would be called or how it would initially be formed but I thin the UN could be come involved in it. The UN is still somewhat undemocratic, for example, the Security Council has only five votes from the richest nations. But I think that if we had an egalitarian UN community dedicated to fair trade instead of free trade, that would be a much better organization to replace the WTO.

Carlos: We have a few minutes left in the show, Is there any contact information for PACT, or are there telephone numbers or addresses where people can go to get involved?

James: The WTO protest is all over the Internet. Some pages I would suggest are www.globalizethis.org, which is from the Ruckus Society, www.n30.org, which stands for November 30, the date of the protest, and www.protest.net, which informs of protest actions and is also run by that local activist. Which informs people about events that are happening. I myself run a web page called free youth Internet, FYI which focuses on youth rights specifically. It can be found at www.oblivion.net/fyi

Carlos: Are there any other questions that I haven't' asked that you would like to address.

James: I think that you have covered a lot of the main issues, but just the fact that this show is happening. Show some of the success that we are having against the WTO. Before the Seattle event, the WTO wouldn't have been on the radio, wouldn't have been on television or the internet, but just the fact that this show is happening is showing some of the success that we are having against the WTO, now the public is becoming informed. And now the words WTO are in the media and our collective consciousness, because I think that when people are informed and begin to make up their own minds, they will begin to see what is wrong with the WTO and what they can do about it.

Carlos: That's all for Viewpoint for today. Our guest was James Russell he's a student activist.

James: Thanks for having me on the show

Carlos: Thanks for coming here. Tune in next week at six for another edition of viewpoint, stay tuned, this is WMUA 91.1 in Amherst.

Your comments are welcome jrussell@wnec.edu

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