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Here Come the Zapatistas

World history makes a pit stop in Mexico this week as the world's free trade representatives land in Cancun for the World Trade Organization's Semiannual Ministerial Conference. So far the only funny, beach related protest has been peaceful. Having a world event at a beach resort during hurricane season seems odd enough, but to schedule during September 11 is just morbidly ironic. Add to that, it's an event about globalization in a country representing the best and worst about globalization: Mexico.

But let's not beat around the George Bush. The world trembles to hear what happens. First and foremost, most developing nations are desperate to have tarrifs and farm subsidies eliminated in the developed world. The USA and the Europeans are eager NOT to do that, and while it might seem that the developed nations are out of luck, you would be mistaken. For now most of them realise that their regimes are in trouble from the spectre of international terrorism. The infamous "19 hijackers" didn't murder 3,000 people in the name of Allah...they did it to force the Saudi Arabian royal family to realize, in the words of Czar Alexander II: "We can either abolish serfdom from above, or they will do it from below." Poor nations could easily compete with the US and Europe if the subsidies are gone on agriculture and other low tech products. This is what unions and other entrenched companies fear around the world.

But hey, it doesn't end there. The Bush Administration wants the People's Republic of China to stop fixing it's exchange rates so as to make American made manufacturing goods more affordable in China. The Chinese, of course, are all too happy to stick it to Bush for demonizing him over that spy plane two years ago. The Europeans would be more than happy to see that happen, but remember, much of their heavy industry now occurs in the developing world. But it's not just that Bush wants to be a hypocrite: he is scared about that 2004 thing and he knows that states with manufacturing jobs are restless...all too willing to toss him overboard. Having the Chinese take the hit saves him political capital, but with Iraq a war zone and Afghanistan falling into anarchy...he might be all out of bullets before too long.

And what about Cancun itself, a perfect metaphor for the uneasy globalized world. The economy is based on services( tourism) and faces the law of diminishing returns with a tricky balance to strike with the natural beauty and environmental impact that tourism brings. Add that Mexico is slowly being ripped apart by class war and those really high-minded rebels in Chiapas, and well .... on the one hand it's nothing new under the sun. On the other hand, an illiterate man in the developing world will base whether he joins the ranks of terrorism or starts a small business on just how much better his lot gets in the next year or so. For even Alexander II, the most progressive of all Russian czars, was killed by revolutionaries because despite abolishing feudal serfdom, most Russians were still starving... in 1862.

As the AP story says, the naked protestors may elicit a giggle, but the Zapatistans are on their way.
posted by Thomas at 11:22 PM 0 comments