e castigated by alter-globalists on many points, the main six are that they; aim for the maximisation of profits; locate where the wages are lowest; employ children and women in their factories; destroy cultural identities; devastate the environment by means of their production and are more powerful than many nation states. Other opponents are identified as international organisations, in particular, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which are said to promote policies of free trade and balanced state budget. Alter-globalists say these policies put an unbearable weight on the shoulders of the poor in the shape of increasing debts and pushing for a reduction in social expenditures and also continually widen the gap between rich and poor.
One of the greatest enemies of alter-globalists is the World Trade Organisation (WTO). There are four main criticisms of the WTO which inspire action from alter-globalist activists: the WTO only serves the interests of multinational corporations, they walk all over labour and human rights, kill people and are a great enemy to the environment. Alter-global activists consider the WTO to only serve the interests of multinational corporations is not a democratic institution; this is because their regulations are written for and often by the corporations that have inside access to the negotiations. The US Trade Representative relies on its seventeen Industry Sector Advisory Committees to provide information for trade negotiations and they often ignore input from consumer, human rights, environmental, and labour organisations.
Human rights and labour are especially important to alter-globalists and they believe the WTO walks all over them on its way toward fulfilling economic needs. The WTO has said that, it is illegal for a product to be banned by a government based on the way it is produced i.e. using child labour; and governments cannot take into account the behaviour of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma. Alter-global activists say these two WTO rulings mean potential resolutions to human rights and labour abuses are blocked.
Following on from this, alter-globalists strongly believe the WTO’s stern protection of intellectual property rights comes at the expense of human health and lives. The organisation’s support for pharmaceutical companies trying to overcome governments seeking to protect their people’s health has had serious ramifications for places like sub-Saharan Africa. The US government, on behalf of US drug companies, is attempting to obstruct developing countries access to less expensive, generic, life-saving drugs.
The South African government, for example, has been threatened with a WTO challenge over projected national health laws that would encourage the use of generic drugs, ban the practice of manufacturers offering economic motivations to doctors who prescribe their products and set up parallel importing, permitting companies to import from countries which can supply cheaper drugs.
The environment, in the eyes of the alter-global activist, is important and has a powerful enemy in the WTO. The WTO sees important environmental protections as barriers to trade, and uses corporations to disassemble them wherever possible. Alter-globalists activists say the WTO is at present fanning the flames of deforestation by negotiating an agreement that would eliminate tariffs on wood products
