| | It was a lineup of luminaries of the left: Walden Bello, Vandana Shiva, Medea Benjamin, Randy Hayes, Maude Barlow, Anuradha Mittal, Tony Clarke and about 15 other internationalists. But they weren't presenting a new book or making academic speeches, they were fighting off police and scrambling to hang a large banner from a 30-foot high pedestrian walkway outside the World Trade Organization's Fifth Ministerial conference in Cancún, Mexico. The direct action was part of a large and diverse assault on the WTO's latest attempt to cobble together a constitution for the world that will supersede national and local legislation, and empower transnational corporations to hold down wages, monopolize markets, wipe out small farmers, and wreak havoc on the environment. |
