Business Week - November 8, 1999

A SOPHISTICATED ASSAULT ON GLOBAL CAPITALISM

DANGER: Activists have given free trade a rotten rep--and if
governments and business don't get busy, it's going to get even worse.

By Jeffrey E. Garten

In late November, Seattle is likely to be the scene of a big test for
global capitalism. That's when more than 1,000 nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) are planning to disrupt the kickoff of a new
round of global trade negotiations. The NGOs' collective claim is
that unfettered commerce hurts workers, consumers, and the
environment, and that it is being propelled by an arrogant World
Trade Organization unaccountable to ordinary citizens. With the very
real possibility that the trade talks will be derailed, the question
is whether the strategy of Washington and the business community is
as lame as it looks.

Of course, not all NGOs have a political agenda and many, such as the
Red Cross or the International Rescue Committee, provide unique
critical services. But the gathering in Seattle will be dominated by
NGOs that take strong public-policy stands, such as Human Rights
Watch, United Students Against Sweatshops, and the Sierra Club. While
these organizations are supporting important causes, their
public-spirited missions shouldn't obscure their intention to retard
the momentum for a more open world economy --the best hope, even with
its flaws, for a better life for billions of people.

JOINING FORCES. Today's NGOs are not the ragtag protesters of the
1960s. They are well-organized and amply funded and have become a
powerful new force on the global scene. They have skillfully
exploited the void between shrinking governments unable to cushion
the impact of change on ordinary citizens and multinational companies
that are the agents of that change. They have gained influence by
joining forces across borders, aggregating power under broad umbrella
groups such as Consumers International, and building alliances with
unions such as the AFL-CIO. They have harnessed the Internet to build
huge global coalitions and to coordinate lobbying in multiple
capitals. While governments and chief executives bore the public and
the media with sterile abstractions about free markets, NGOs are
sending more nuanced messages sensitive to the anxieties of local
communities around the world. At the same time, they are preparing
sophisticated strategies to influence television networks,
newspapers, and magazines.

There is plenty of evidence of NGOs' growing clout. In recent years,
they have changed the policies of global corporations such as Nike
(over treatment of workers abroad), Monsanto (over genetically
engineered products), and Royal Dutch Shell (over environmental
issues). In 1997 more than 600 NGOs, representing 70 countries,
caused the collapse of international governmental negotiations to
create global rules for foreign investment.

If Washington and Corporate America don't move decisively, NGOs could
dominate public opinion on global trade and finance. In the first
instance, government officials and business leaders should mount a
much better campaign to explain the benefits of globalization. They
should also promote more effective policies to help people adjust to
changing trade patterns--such as education, professional training,
and portable health and pension benefits. Third, the Administration
should also apply intense pressure to the WTO to make its goals and
its work more visible and understandable to people around the world,
and to open up effective channels of communications to public
interest groups everywhere.

Beyond that, Washington and business should challenge the NGO
community to practice what they preach. Every organization that calls
itself an NGO shouldn't be granted a free ride to influence.
Governments and business associations should demand that NGOs part
the curtain on their own activities--including disclosing exactly who
their members are and how they are financed. The media should be
continually prompted to scrutinize the accuracy of the facts that
underlie NGOs' arguments against globalization. They should treat the
situation as if it were a hotly contested long-term political
campaign for public opinion--which it is.

NGOs can play an indispensable role in bridging the responsibilities
of the public and private sectors. But if they are allowed to hijack
the WTO talks, it will be a dangerous precedent that every government
and every global company will regret long after the protests in
Seattle. It's important to broadcast the message that a global market
economy can promote not only growth but individual freedom as well a
cleaner environment. Warning for President Bill Clinton, the Business
Round Table, and their counterparts in Europe and Japan: There is
less than a month to get your act together. You are already in deep
trouble.

Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management, was Under Secretary of
Commerce for International Trade in the first Clinton administration.