Views from the South: The Effects of Globalization and the WTO on Third World Countries

Ever since the "Baffle in Seattle", the World Trade Organization has been featured prominently in the news. For all their talk of being dedicated to the welfare of the Third World, the WTO has damaged the economies of several countries and encouraged the growth of labor markets that more closely resemble sweat shops. Third World activists/scholars Martin Knor, Walden Bello, Vandana Shiva, Dot Keet, Sara Larrain, and Oronto Douglas examine the effects of the WTO and provide alternative agendas geared towards people, not profits. Highlights include: -- Demonstrations against globalization shut down the important World Trade Organization talks in Seattle last year; -- Machinations of WTO reported on daily; -- Jubilee 2000, the plan to cancel Third World debt, is gaining adherents and momemtum; -- Alternative agendas argue for a WTO that is responsive to the needs of the Third World, or no WTO at all.