WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION DECLARES HATRED FOR RTMARK
December 1, 1999
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (contacts mailto:wto@rtmark.com,
> mailto:jean-guy.carrier@wto.org, mailto:enquiries@wto.org)
>
>WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION DECLARES HATRED FOR RTMARK
>
>The World Trade Organization, the principal organization in charge
>of enforcing the rules of global commerce, has issued a press release
>stating that it is “deeply concerned” about RTMark’s “illegal and
>unfair” website, http://gatt.org/.
>
>In the release (http://www.wto.org/wto/new/press151.htm), WTO
>Director-General Mike Moore accuses RTMark of attempting to
>”undermine WTO transparency” by copying the WTO website’s design and
>using “domain names such as ‘www.gatt.org‘ and page titles such as
>’World Trade Organization / GATT Home Page’ which make it difficult
>for visitors to realize that these are fake pages.”
>
>RTMark spokesperson Ray Thomas says that, on the contrary,
>http://gatt.org/ is much clearer than http://www.wto.org/.
>”Following any of the Gatt.org links–or reading any of the text–
>will make clear our interpretation of what the WTO is about, and
>that RTMark is behind the site. Mike Moore must have a very low
>opinion of people to think they won’t figure it out.”
>
>It is the WTO, according to Thomas, that is misleading. “They claim
>to be ‘transparent’ because their site includes thousands of
>official documents and the minutes of many meetings, but who could
>possibly have the patience to read any of that, besides corporate
>planners? All anyone actually sees is their bold declarations that
>they’re ‘delivering better living standards for everyone,’ or
>somewhat bizarre assurances that ‘The WTO is not a world government
>and no one has any intention of making it one’… but the site
>doesn’t even mention the violent riots in Seattle, London, etc.,
>nor the reasons they’re happening.” [Links to news about the
>violence and some of its reasons can be found at http://gatt.org/.]
>
>Thomas said that while the WTO admits on its front page the obvious
>truth that free trade has resulted in environmental catastrophe–
>”The growing world economy has been accompanied by environmental
>degradation, including deforestation, losses in bio-diversity,
>global warming, air pollution, depletion of the ozone layer,
>overfishing and so on”–this openness is illusory.
>
>”WTO.org says that the WTO response to environmental catastrophe
>is to do ‘new studies,’” said Thomas. “But as you can read at
>Gatt.org, what Moore says in the press is that freer trade will
>lead to higher living standards, which will in turn make for a
>cleaner environment. It’s incredibly bad logic at every step,
>and it’s what has created this disaster in the first place.”
>
>Explaining this sort of trickery is Gatt.org’s reason for being, said
>Thomas. “We’re just making the WTO a little bit more transparent–for
>example, to help explain why the WTO prevents democratic governments
>from imposing sanctions based on human rights abuses, or from
>including economics in their foreign policy at all.”
>
>RTMark found out about the WTO release, dated November 23, from Jean-
>Guy Carrier, the WTO’s Manager of Information Technologies for
>Development. In an e-mail dated November 24, Carrier writes:
>”Greetings, to be accurate you should update your WTO clone site to
>include the text of the news release deploring efforts such as your
>to confuse the public. Any honest group with information and sincere
>views to convey usually does so without having recourse to
>subterfuge and deception. Others such as yourselves consider they
>are above all that. Too bad.” In another, to a news service
>advertised on the Gatt.org site, Carrier encourages the service to
>withdraw its sponsorship; in another one week later, he accuses
>RTMark of having “little regard for any law.” (Carrier can be
>reached at mailto:jean-guy.carrier@wto.org.)
>
>Director-General Moore shows a similar tone in the release: “It’s
>ironic that while the WTO is accused of lacking transparency, some
>critics who put out misleading or false information are camouflaging
>their identities.”
>
>Thomas says that by accusing RTMark of not playing by the rules,
>Moore and Carrier seem to be implying that the WTO and RTMark are
>equal opponents in the same game. “We’re supremely flattered that
>the WTO is acting as if RTMark were its equal,” said Thomas, “but
>it’s ironic that they’re so upset. Despite the neo-liberal myth of
>equal opportunity for all, the WTO is not enjoying this little
>dialogue. They’d rather just shut us up.”
>
>
>http://gatt.org/ is not the first time that RTMark (http://rtmark.com)
>has used website imitation to render an entity more transparent.
>RTMark has performed the same service for George W. Bush (with
>GWBush.com, archived at http://rtmark.com/bush.html), Rudy Giuliani
>(http://yesrudy.com/), Shell Oil (http://rtmark.com/shell/), and
>others. RTMark’s principal aim is to publicize corporate abuses of
>democratic processes
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