RE: <nettime> draft article on WTO

["Robbins, Mark" <mrobbins@lims.com>]

I did not attend any of the anti-globalisation protests, and mostly for
the reasons you pointed to.  They were attacking specific behaviors of
corporations, which is inherently doomed.  By fighting the behaviors of
corporations you only open the door for a judgefest, wherein every group
attacks behaviors which they don't like, and end up fighting with
themselves.  The fact of the matter is that the only people who like the
idea of a corporation having the rights of human beings are those who
stand to profit enormously from that understanding.  Corporations don't
interact with each other as corporations because they don't consider
themselves corporations, they see themselves as human beings.  If you
force them to look at themselves as corporations rather than human beings,
then everything changes.  I'm not anti-corporation.  People have as much
right to form corporations as they please, and whatever they would like
with them. However, they have not the right to call themselves human, nor
do they deserve the privileges associated which are granted human beings.

Mr. Teh is spot on when he says that it is impossible to attack an
abstraction with fists or masses.  All you end up with is a debacle of
white noise, where everything is so loud and so important that nothing of
substance gets heard.  If the goal is to dress up in bright colors and
march around the block and sing "we will overcome" then we're doing a bang
up job. If our goal is to impose our will onto those who impose their will
on us, then we must reassess our strategy.  I see no reason for mass
demonstrations other than as a catalyst for further recruitment and
organization; but that requires that there is something to organize around
to begin with.  Nothing presently exists which can pose even a moderate
threat to globalisation or the corporation, because nothing is attacking
either fundamentally. Hopefully, this will come to a peaceful resolution
in the courts, with an end result of stripping corporations of their
legally given though illegitimate humanity.  Other options are not
enticing.

M. Robbins


i must voice my hearty agreement with the views expressed by m. robbins.
<...>






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