<nettime> seattle: (a)moral colonization

[wade tillett <super89@bigfoot.com>]

what we should keep in mind about the wto protest in seattle is
that it was a wto protest in seattle.

that is, not only the wto, but also the wto protest, represented
first world interests. specifically, it represented american
interests. the protest serves as an extension of power through
the simulation of conflict. what i mean is that the wto and the
protest both operate within a system of first world expansion
interests, and this expansion is accomplished through a
spectacle of conflict. am i saying that people should not protest,
should be silent? absolutely not. what i am saying is that when
we protest we must have an acute awareness of how this
protest will be used. the wto negotiations 'collapsed', but there
is more than one result of this conflict. these results are what
we need to examine and anticipate.

what are the results for the corporations?

the continued operation under the existing rules of the wto. the
continued operation under governments in their existing form.
an expansion of interests through self-regulation, concurrent
with industry deregulation in the name of competition. 'this
deregulation, by allowing insurance, banks, and brokers to
operate under one roof, therefore decreasing their overhead
costs, will allow savings to be passed on to consumers.' does
anyone believe this? industry deregulation is simply a symptom
of corporations more powerful than governments. deregulation
allows corporations to operate on a scale larger than
governments. mega-conglomerates of media and financial
institutions are necessary in order to preserve american
interests through the extension of corporate power based in the
united states. remember that the cold war was an economic
war, the spoils of which are economic colonization.
deregulation allows for the massive deployment of propaganda
and products on an international scale. yeah, you can send a
couple hand-crafted wooden chairs to russia through your
web page but who would want them. they could make those for
themselves. the products and services which makes the united
states a superpower are the products and services which
provide a capital investment which no one else can match. this
is the reason for deregulation, to ensure unmatched corporate
capital bases. the united states is the world bank, brokering
investments and taking a cut through the use of unmatched
funds. the united states no longer needs a weapons war to drain
economies of their wealth. american interests are strong
enough worldwide to provide the backbone of economic
infrastructure. what are the essential industries of an american
based corporate colonization? media and finance. industries
which have both been heavily deregulated since the end of the
cold war. the government won the cold war through the
strength and extension of a global american economy. but
government colonization is frowned upon these days. luckily,
and not by chance, it is also unnecessary for continued
american colonization. colonial expansion is now afforded to
corporations under the banner of free trade. the institutions
which the government relied upon for its wealth during the cold
war are now claiming the power which they gave. its kind of
like what the united states always does, give weapons to the
guys they believe will further their interest and then crush them
when they turn on the us because they finally figure out the us
was only using them to further american interests. but the
government can not continue the expansion of an economic
warfare without weapons. the american government has met
its 'moral' (financial) limit. or has it?.

capitalism and democracy have been bundled into the phrase
democratic capitalism and sold as if any restrictions on
corporations are restrictions on our freedom to choose and,
therefore, democracy. 'global capitalism is inevitable and this is
good because democracy will follow.' is this true? what are the
choices which are not being presented to us? did we all lose the
cold war? (fooled for the last time by the either/or). capitalism
is based on growth, what happens when it has fully extended
itself? will this ever happen? can governments control
corporations larger than themselves? can people control
corporations through their buying power if they are informed?
how could people be informed if the media is what we need to
be informed of? is a desire for information simply the extension
of an information economy? does a belief in first world
education necessarily extend the fundamental capitalistic belief
in a relationship between wealth and knowledge, and therefore
a 'you get what you deserve' value system? is not an
information economy based on massive data mines financed by
corporate capital? - the information which information
have-nots possess is the information on their self - their
buying habits, their desires, their sizes and health, their protests
and weaknesses, their recorded entity, their objectification
with which they can be limited. their bank account. we are
consumers eagerly lined up for personalization, security, and
prosthetics so that we may be strip mined of our information,
tied to our reification and therefore bankrupt.

what are the results for the protesters?

was this really a victory for the protesters? where is the
counter-plan? the structure which is to take place after the
revolution?

there is the issue of united states environmental laws being
overturned by the wto inside the united states, but to limit the
dispute to this would be nationalist and protectionist. there are
larger more global issues such as human and labor rights,
environmental pollution, non-democratic governments. these
are all good issues to be concerned with, however what it
results in is the expansion of the first world beyond a unified
vision of capitalism into a unified vision of a pseudo-christian
pseudo-democratic capitalistic belief system. the continued
expansion of first-world countries as the moral police and
truth-makers of the world. (be careful what you wish for.) why
do you think that the protest in seattle got so much media
coverage? why do you think clinton was so eager to hop on the
bandwagon? it is an inflation of interests. beyond free trade we
have moral trade. the conflict yields a governmental, moral,
social, and cultural expansion. more (a)moral colonization.
manifest destiny.

are we really up to this? are our morals worth passing along?
(the only form of regulation we could attain would be entirely
corrupt, what with trillions of dollars at stake.) can we pretend
that we do not have overly populated jails and housing projects,
high murder rates, the death penalty, a miserable education and
foster care system for our children, an extreme and widening
gap between the rich and poor, as well as environmental
pollution and consumption of most of the world's resources?

we do need our government to protect us from corporations.
corporations do not represent any form of society, welfare, or
community. government is our strongest weapon against
corporations. but we must be careful what sort of power we
give to our government also. we must protect our rights without
trampling over everyone else's. does the expansion of
corporations have to mean the expansion of our moral system?
we need to examine our own democracy and the belief that
democracy is alive and well because of our freedom to choose
a product. where the power structure lies is not in what you
choose, but in the choices that have been presented to you. the
things not listed on the menu are quickly dismissed as
non-choices, choices already weeded out by supply and
demand. 'democratic choices' which have already been made.
these are the choices we must look at. choices like
non-ownership, community ownership, public ownership,
elective ownership, pulsating ownership, revolving
ownership.... choices like modified capitalism,
information-based capitalism, regulated capitalism, welfare
capitalism... choices like elective democracy, elective
citizenship, consumer rights... i am not saying these are the
answers, but i am saying that there must be options other than
the american form(s) of democratic capitalism. these forms
must be allowed to exist. this world can not support a world
which consumes (resources, governments, people) the way
the united state does. do we really think that new forms of
governments, of society, can ever sprout out of the united
states? we must encourage new forms. we must limit the
expansion of american profiteering , but we also must limit the
expansion of the united states ad other countries as moral
police. economic colonization must include moral colonization,
or else we have amoral colonization. is this colonization
inevitable? if so, how can it be modified, limited, changed?

we need to examine our goals. we must understand what the
result will be, what will be left with when we do not attain our
goals. (after all, this is why communism doesn't work). that is,
we have to make clear goals which account for their failure.

an internet that promotes non-commercial interests and
solidarity:

http://www.assises.sgdg.org/motion-assises99-en.html

united states bill of rights:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/bor.html

united states declaration of independence:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/declar.html

united nations bill of rights:

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

the electronic frontier and the bill of rights:

http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/bill_of_rights_online.paper

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