Beyond Eco-Imperialism: An Environmental Justice Critique of Free Trade
![handle is hein.journals/denlr78 and id is 991 raw text is: BEYOND ECO-IMPERIALISM: AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
CRITIQUE OF FREE TRADE
CARMEN G. GONZALEZ
As trade ministers from 135 nations gathered in Seattle for the Third
Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late
November 1999, over 50,000 protesters, including farmers, trade union-
ists, and environmentalists, joined forces in a raucous demonstration of
opposition to the current organization of the global economy.' The mas-
sive protests, which quickly became known as the Battle in Seattle,
featured teach-ins, rallies, marches and other events designed to draw
attention to the WTO's impact on labor, environmental, food safety, hu-
man rights and consumer protection measures.2
Media coverage of the issues underlying the protests emphasized the
WTO's threat to U.S. environmental and labor laws,3 and posited a con-
flict between developed countries' concerns for workers' rights and envi-
ronmental protection on the one hand, and developing countries' needs
for unfettered economic growth on the other.4 In so doing, the media
*Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law. The author would like to thank
Janet Ainsworth, Keith Aoki, Sumi Cho, Maggie Chon, Eileen Gauna, Mary Lyndon, Kenneth
Manaster, Henry McGee, Catherine O'Neill, David Skover, Ronald Slye and Kellye Testy for
helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.
1. See Robert A. Jordan, Battle in Seattle Sent a Message, BOSTON GLOBE, Dec. 7, 1999, at
D4; WTO Protesters Have Cause Worth Hearing, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, Dec. 1, 1999, at A12.
2. See WTO Protesters Have Cause Worth Hearing, supra note 1, at A12.
3. Much of the media attention focused on the protesters' expressed concern that the WTO
would promote the downward harmonization of environmental and labor standards by allowing
WTO member nations to challenge each other's environmental, worker safety, and consumer
protection laws as nontariff barriers to trade. See THE PROGRESSIVE, Jan 1, 2000, at 8 (describing
successful WTO challenges to U.S. pollution standards for reformulated gasoline imports, U.S. bans
on shrimp harvested in nets that jeopardize endangered sea turtles, and the European Union's ban on
hormone-treated beef); Lenora Todaro, Attack of the Killer Kapitalists, THE VILLAGE VOICE, Nov.
30, 1999 (describing the shrimp/turtle and reformulated gasoline cases); David Postman, Caught in a
Tangled Net, SEATTLE TIMES, Nov. 16, 1999, at A12 (describing the shrimp/turtle dispute); see
generally Ralph Nader and Lori Wallach, GATT, NAFTA, and the Subversion of the Democratic
Process, in THE CASE AGAINST THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: AND FOR A TURN TOWARD THE LOCAL 92-
107 (Jerry Mander & Edward Goldsmith, eds., 1996) [hereinafter GLOBAL ECONOMY] (explaining
how any WTO member may challenge U.S. laws under the WTO and describing the WTO dispute
resolution mechanism).
4. See Senseless in Seattle, BOSTON GLOBE, Dec. 2, 1999, at A26 (stating [t]he United
States cannot impose its environmental or labor standards on the world by diktat. The developing
countries see their low wages as giving them a competitive edge and a way out of poverty.); Helene
Cooper, Clash in Seattle: Poorer Countries are Demonstrators' Strongest Critics, WALL STREET
JOURNAL, Dec. 2, 1999, at A2 (describing the opposition of delegates from developing countries to
proposals to link trade liberalization to environmental and labor standards); David Postman,
979](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/denlr78&div=46&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Beyond Eco-Imperialism: An Environmental Justice Critique of Free Trade
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