The New Republic, Jan. 10
The man behind the anti-free-trade revolt. Silent Partner
By RYAN LIZZA
I'm on the phone with Mike Dolan, the Public Citizen activist who led the
charge against the World Trade Organization in Seattle a month ago. The
lefty Dolan is packing for a much-needed vacation to (where else?) Cuba as
he banters in his friendly, Jesse Ventura-esque voice about his yearlong
effort to bring the anti-free-trade movement to the Pacific Northwest. "I
was the first one out there," he says. "I pulled together a whole lot of
people." Suddenly we're interrupted. "I'm sorry; I have to put you on hold
for a second," he says. Three minutes later, he's back on the line, telling
me he can no longer talk with me. His boss, Lori Wallach, chief Washington
lobbyist for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, has just instructed him
to end our on-the-record conversation. "You and I," he says, "are about to
go on deep background, OK?"
What's the problem? Something that has been whispered about on the left for
some time now: the suspicion that Roger Milliken--billionaire textile
magnate from South Carolina, founding member of the conservative movement,
and patron of right-wing causes for almost 50 years--has been quietly
financing the anti-globalization efforts of Public Citizen and related
organizations. "This is the dirty little secret in the anti-free-trade
crowd," says one prominent left-of-center activist. If it's true, then a
man who once banned Xerox copiers from his offices because the company
sponsored a documentary about civil rights played a key role in filling the
streets of Seattle with protesters in December. "They were out there [in
Seattle] months in advance. They were paying for offices and computers.
Where did all that money come from?" asks one economist whose organization
is a member of Citizens Trade Campaign, the anti-globalization coalition of
environmental, labor, and other progressive groups dominated by Public
Citizen. Milliken, Public Citizen, and the Citizens Trade Campaign all give
the same answer when asked about a financial relationship: they will
neither confirm nor deny it. But what is clear is that Milliken's
decade-long fight against free trade is finally bearing fruit.
Full story at: http://www.tnr.com/011000/lizza011000.html
Louis Proyect
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