forward from dag macleod on WTO issues

Dag MacLeod
431 Lee St. #15
Oakland, CA 94610
dagmac@jhu.edu


Frankly I thought Friedman's article was incoherent. He suggests that
WTO
protesters are deluded for thinking that this type of direct action can
make a difference in the twentyfirst century. Instead, he argues for
some
form of unspecified cyber or networked organizing as if the direct
action
in Seattle and other forms of organization are somehow incompatible.

Worse still, he was on "Marketplace" tonight on NPR discussing the topic
with Todd Gitlin. Gitlin was very good, Friedman remained
incoherent, trying to seize the soundbite moment by claiming repeatedly
that you can "either make a point or make a difference." Once
again, not mutually exclusive ideas! More deluded still, he argued that
progress was somehow achieved by convincing elites -- moral
suasion? -- of the need to make the world a better place.