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What's really at stake in Seattle
Economists speak out on the issues behind the World Trade Organization summit and the street protests.
By Alicia Montgomery, Daryl Lindsey and Fiona Morgan
[12/02/99]

A no-win situation
Nonviolent protesters get hit from both sides at the WTO conference in Seattle.
By L.A. Kauffman
[12/02/99]

"Tear gas sucks"
I was minding my own business when the Seattle cops gassed me.
By Zach Works
[12/02/99]

WTO protesters go to the Web
Guerrilla journalists and webcams bring you all the tear-gassed excitement of Seattle's street protests.
By Fiona Morgan
[12/01/99]

Bare breasts, green condoms and rubber bullets
The WTO has united labor and the radical, countercultural left in a way the anti-war movement never could.
By David Moberg
[12/01/99]

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Decrying the shrinking of the TV sound-bite on the evening news from an average of 18 seconds in the 1970s to just 6 seconds today, he predicted the coming of the "sound-bark." "When they say, Mr. Nader, what do you think of the latest Federal Reserve interest rate [hike], I'll go like this: 'Nyahh.'"

Assailing corporations for turning Washington into "accounts receivable," he called for the creation of a "taxpayer appreciation day" when big business would give thanks for all the subsidies and giveaways it has received from the public till.

And citing the ancient Greek physicians' maxim that "a human body is more likely to tolerate colliding against a flat, yielding surface than a sharp, cutting edge," he sarcastically chided General Motors for failing to conscientiously design their cars; in particular, he pointed out that car makers took decades to install seat-belts, even though they had been invented for pilots in World War I.

If this sounded as though Nader were a candidate for something, that's because he is, though precious few are in on his secret. But Nader has assured close associates that he intends to run a serious campaign for president next year, under the Green Party banner, and that he will announce in January.

Throughout his Michigan speech (which had been taped live last summer), Nader hammered away at his central message: that what America needs is a renewal of civic culture to combat the now-dominant corporate culture.

"More and more, corporations are raising our kids," he declared. Companies now start marketing directly at children as early as age 2, he pointed out, and the average youngster watches 30 hours of television a week, with at least three pernicious effects: They learn that violence is a preferred solution to life's problems; they are taught to value cheap sensuality in everything from sex to self-image to food; and they become addicted to entertainment that shortens their attention span.

"What is wrong with a society that allows its most precious resource to be exploited?" he asked. "If there was a child molester in the neighborhood, would it be enough to tell parents to lock the doors?"

When we "grow up corporate," as Nader puts it, we never stop to think that any of this could be different -- that we could control the resources of our commonwealth like the public airwaves and lands, that we could demand safer and less-polluting products, that we could have public financing of elections so money doesn't nullify our votes, that labor could win strengthened rights to organize, that consumers could band together to challenge monopolistic practices and industries, that poverty among children could be eliminated.

But despite all of this, Nader is the ultimate anti-cynic. "If you were in a big lifeboat and the ship had just sunk and there's a big storm coming and you had to get to the island to save everybody in the lifeboat, and here you are rowing away and you look back and there's some guys who aren't rowing, they're listening to some music on their radio, what do you think you'd say?" He asked his Michigan audience. "Oh well, to each his own? [Pause.] "You'd say, 'Pick up those oars!'" The crowd cheered.

Life magazine has identified Nader as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, yet most citizens know him only as a consumer advocate. In fact, his call for a revival of civic culture represents nothing less than a full-blown philosophy of life.

"This is truly one of life's greatest gratifications, to work a democracy into a strengthened posture for the greatest good for the greatest number of people," he says.

In this age of hyper-materialism and shallow politics, Nader's message is more relevant than ever. The question is whether his emerging 2000 presidential campaign will be relevant, too.

The official word from Nader, who got nearly 700,000 votes as the Green Party's 1996 candidate despite running a non-campaign that confused and angered many of his supporters, is that he has not made up his mind about running again and will not do so until January.

But when he spoke at a meeting of the Association of State Green Parties last June in Connecticut, he promised that he wouldn't limit his fund-raising as severely this time around, and that he would make at least three major appearances in every state where he is on the ballot before the summer is through, with more selective targeting of key states in the fall -- "if," he added, "I run."

According to sources close to Nader -- one a senior Green activist who met with him at length last June, the other a close associate who is a former "Nader's Raider" -- Nader is privately saying that he will indeed run.

"I'm not using the word 'if' because I've heard him be definitive," says the first source. "It's not if but when. The question becomes what kind of campaign because it takes two to tango. During our meeting, we addressed some of the issues from '96: Is he going to run an active campaign, and will he work closely with the Greens on a daily basis? He said yes and yes."

Next page | Ad hoc committee quietly prepares the campaign