Thank you for your link to my site. Your summing up of my view is largely accurate, albeit snarky. But I find an interesting contradiction:

Coke deprival is just one more reason for him to get riled up, and his blog is not necessarily the best place to look for nuance in discussions of globalization. But he does make one observation that is worth repeating to everyone who decries the WTO as nothing more than a tool for Western corporate interests.

"World trade is unfair as it stands, with massive subsidies and market distortions making the world's poor poorer for the sake of rich French farmers' vanity. Labour does get exploited. But the answer isn't to destroy the one multilateral avenue for negotiating improvements in world trade."

There's no nuance, but then you quote one of my nuanced arguements? I don't pretend to be anything than a free market/trade fan. I've said elsewhere I often agree with anti-WTO protesters when they talk about fair trade. We are on the same side - rich world subsidies and limits to market access are a big part of the problem (as are similar limits and subsidies in developing countries). Where I disagree with anti-WTO types is two fold: where the eventual end goal should be (I say unfettered free trade, others say tightly limited trade) and how to get there (I say make the WTO work, others say destroy it without offering an alternative).

Thanks again for the linkage.

I suggest anyone who wants to understand more about the plight of poor nations and people read some Vandana Shiva before simply following the party line and supporting the WTO as the organization that can make things better. If more people read and understand the arguments being made against the current form of globalization by the poor, people of color, women, the marginalized in general, we would be a thousand steps ahead of where we are now because we would actually see and understand more than one side of the argument.

And, please, can we stop using anti-globalization to describe anyone who thinks a fairer world is something we can attain? Most of the people being labeled as anti-globalization are against the system as it is set up now and not isolationists and would-be hermits who want nothing to do with technology, communication, and sharing. Words are power and how we use them is important.

Hi Simon,

Thanks for taking the time to come here and post. I'd just like to note that it is my perception that you too are fan of snark and sarcasm as you chronicle your corner of the world. So think of my tone as homage!