Bryn Mawr prof gives talk on WTO protests

Richard Duboff alleed biased media coverage of the riots in Seattle. Calling the media's coverage of the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization "garbage," a professor emeritus of Economics at Bryn Mawr College gave his own take yesterday on what caused the recent uprisings in Seattle. Richard DuBoff spoke to a crowd of about 25 students last night at Civic House, arguing that the globalization of trade was the true source of contention for the recent riots during the WTO's annual meeting in Seattle last week. An estimated 50,000 demonstrators, including environmentalists and farmers, descended upon Seattle over the past two weeks to protest the globalization of trade. DuBoff also expressed his frustration with what he perceived as inaccurate media coverage of the protests. "The media just don't get it," DuBoff said. "They are convinced the anti-WTO organization is anti-trade. "[The protesters] are not anti-trade. There is just immense dissatisfaction with the costs of globalization." According to DuBoff, today's economy is consumed by the "era of globalization." Consequently, "the cost-benefit ratio of trade is increasing." And DuBoff claimed that the protesting groups in Seattle represented the costs of the increasingly global nature of trade. "This was very well illustrated in Seattle," he said. "You had labor groups, environmental groups, women's groups. And this is what the media is ignoring." Instead, DuBoff said the media --especially national periodicals like The New York Times -- portrayed the Seattle protests solely as revolts against trade. College senior Miriam Joffe-Block, who flew to Seattle last week to join the protests on behalf of United Students Against Sweatshops, said she supported DuBoff's interpretation of the false media coverage of the protesters' motivations. "The message repeated throughout the protests was that the WTO is pushing corporations at the expense of the people," she said. "The media largely ignored this." Though DuBoff discussed the motivations behind the Seattle protesters, much of his talk focused on the consequences of globalization, sparking intense debate between DuBoff and several audience members about current economic trends. Most members of the audience were prompted to attend DuBoff's lecture after the media coverage of last week's protests. "There's such biased reporting going on," College sophomore Alice Rink said. "It's very sad the media focused on the small minority that tried to cause mayhem, because the protests forced every representative in Seattle to realize that everyone has concerns [about the WTO]."