COLLIDING WORLDS

	December 2, 1999
	Spencer Michels begins our coverage of the world trade meeting.

SPENCER MICHELS: At dawn this morning in the streets of Seattle, day three of the World Trade Organization meeting began on a quieter note than the last two days. Demonstrators were still banned from a 50-block area surrounding the WTO site. In fact, under a new 24-hour curfew, only people living or doing business downtown were allowed to go near the conference. Nevertheless, some undeterred protesters said they would keep up the fight, and they did. PROTESTERS: We won't turn around... SPENCER MICHELS: Hundreds marched toward the sealed-off convention area. Marching demonstrators challenged the tight security downtown, carrying signs and chanting. OFFICIAL: Move back! SPENCER MICHELS: Yesterday, about 500 people were arrested for blocking traffic and skirmishing with the police. Many were put on buses bound for a northern suburb, with arrestees complaining they had no access to attorneys. Last night, protesters clashed with law enforcement officials for the second night in a row. Downtown, police used tear gas to break up a few hundred demonstrators, and in a Seattle neighborhood known as Capitol Hill, a mile from the convention center, local residents joined demonstrators, angry with the way the police allegedly drove a vehicle toward a group of protesters and began firing tear gas at them. The conduct of the police has become a major issue in Seattle. Inside the trade meeting today, President Clinton signed a United Nations-sponsored child labor treaty designed to root out some of the most severe instances of child abuse, including slavery, unsafe work conditions for children, and forced participation in drug trafficking and pornography. Labor standards for all workers are a hot-button issue at this year's meeting, and one that thousands of union members have demonstrated over, and one that President Clinton has endorsed. PRESIDENT CLINTON: We seek to widen the circle of opportunity, deepen our commitments to human rights and human freedom, and put a human face on the global economy. Some say that it is not possible, that the interests of nations, businesses, and labor within and across national borders are too divergent. This child labor convention proves that, at least on this profoundly important issue, it is possible. It is a living example of how we can together come to level up global standards and lift up core labor values. In Pakistan, for example, when 7,000 children moved out of the soccer ball manufacturing plant into the schools, 7,000 parents moved into jobs they didn't have before, at better incomes. SPENCER MICHELS: Yesterday, in an address before local farmers and students, the president implored other countries to lower their tariffs on apples and other U.S. food exports. He also addressed overseas fears that genetically modified food from the United States is unsafe. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I want to say to the people of Europe and all around the world, I would never knowingly present... permit a single pound of any American food product to leave this country if I had a shred of evidence that it was unsafe. But everyone must understand we have nothing to hide, and we're eating this food too. Nobody is trying to do anything under the table, in secret, in an inappropriate way, but neither should our farmers be subject to unrealistic delays and unfair discrimination based on suspicion unsupported by the latest scientific examination. Let's handle this in an open, fair, scientific way. That's the right way to do this. SPENCER MICHELS: The President also addressed the environment. At the WTO meeting, Mr. Clinton said environmental concerns like labor should also be a core trade issue. He recommended that countries adopt voluntary industrial standards, from transportation to manufacturing, that limit greenhouse gas emissions. Before the WTO delegates, the President also talked about the secrecy of the trade body, which currently conducts its business behind closed doors. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I think it is imperative that the WTO become more open and accessible. While other international organizations have sought and not shied from public participation, when that has happened, public support has grown. If the WTO expects to have public support grow for our endeavors, the public must see and hear and in a very real sense, actually join in the deliberations. I know there's a lot of controversy about this, but I'm telling you, I've been in this business a long time, and in the end, we all serve and function at the sufferance of the people, either with their active support or their silent acquiescence. What they are telling us in the streets here is "this was an issue we used to be silent on; we're not going to be silent on it any more. We haven't necessarily given up on trade, but we want to be heard." The sooner the WTO opens up the process and lets people representing those who are on the outside in, the sooner we'll see fewer demonstrations, more constructive debate, and a broader level of support in every country for the direction that every single person in this room knows that we ought to be taking into the 21st century. SPENCER MICHELS: The WTO meeting ends tomorrow.