How can we begin to divert this world from its current path? The urgency of making change is apparent to anyone who reads the alter- native press, rather than imbibing the soothing pablum of mainstream media.

We are headed toward increasing environ- mental destruction, an increasing gap between the rich and the poor, and increasing control of ever more powerful technologies by ever less accoun- table corporations and the governments that serve them. But the difficulty of making change is equally apparent to anyone who has tried to work with their representatives, only to find that they answer to campaign donors, not voters.

As the corporate grip on our mechanisms of government replaces the last vestiges of genuine democracy, as corporations spread their PR and advertising message into the last nooks and crannies of society, there is a temptation to give in to despair, to feel that looking out for number one is all a person can do.

If you find yourself in this place, let me first recommend that you read the speeches of one of the most incredible women in America, Granny D. You can find them on her website, www.grannyd.com . Find the one entitled "Don’t Give Up the Ship."

But my other prescription is action. If it is no longer possible to effectively petition our government through the regular channels, then it’s time to take to the streets. I have said that what I experienced in Seattle was the manifestation of a lifelong fantasy of international solidarity.

Vivian Stockman, a personal friend and well-known West Virginia environmental activist who accompanied me on the trip to the protest, said that Seattle was the high point of her whole life. Some called it the Protest of the Century. But if you missed it, buck up -- because the Protest of the Next Century is right around the corner, in mid-April. And this time you don’t have to cross the country, instead of Washington state, it’s in Washington, DC.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is just one piece of the New World Economic Order; the other two are the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. These institutions were created right after World War II, and initially were reasonably benign. Both are now primarily engaged in international lending, and regulating other loans; both are primarily controlled by governments of the United States and Europe.

The World Bank has frequently been taken to task for bankrolling environmentally and socially destructive projects, despite much-vaunted "reform." But probably the most important impact of these institutions is in their imposition of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)on indebted nations, including most of the Third World and now some of the former Second World. Designed to enhance the likelihood of repayment of the loans, these SAPs demand that governments cut spending and payrolls, increase taxes, decrease tariffs, increase exports, and open up more of their economies to private and foreign investment. All of these things benefit multinational corporations, but their effects on people and the environment are horrendous. Far from allowing a country to pay off its debts, they tend to lock it into a state of per- petual poverty and debt, much like the old "company store" scam.

The rise in taxes and the loss of jobs mean increased poverty. Cuts in health and education spending reduce whatever slim chance margin- alized people have for progress. They also have more widespread effects, as girls who lose out on education will have more babies, and countries that spend almost nothing on health care cannot control the spread of even easily preventable diseases. Another typical cut is in environmental programs -- at the same time that the demand for increased exports often leads to increased logging, frequently of rainforests rich in biodiversity. Or it may mean increased mining, generally with no meaningful environmental oversight, and typically done by foreign corporations who also export most of the profit.

Increased poverty impacts the environ- ment in other ways as well. Women may be forced to denude hillsides in search of firewood; subsis- tence farmers who have been pushed off their land in favor of export crops may be forced to farm slopes, worsening erosion, or to cut down forests for cropland.

So SAPs are environmentally devastating; other results stem from the fact that foreign corp- orations are welcomed by the ruling elites and any unions that spring up in their sweatshops are ruthlessly suppressed. ("international competit- iveness," don’t you know?)

For all of these reasons, a coalition of women’s, environmental, human rights, economic justice, labor, faith-based and peace groups has formed to challenge the unholy trinity of WTO, IMF and World Bank. Calling itself the Mobilization for Global Justice, it includes many of the organizations that made Seattle a people’s victory -- and it is busily gearing up for similar events in Washington, DC.

The heads of the World Bank, the IMF and WTO, along with about 25 finance ministers and central bankers, meet in Washington, DC twice a year. IMF and the World Bank have their headquarters there across the street from each other. So the meeting is nothing new, but this time when they meet, it will be high noon -- and who is that powerful stranger striding toward them, wearing a white hat?

It’s several thousand representatives of the peoples of the world, there to say "No! No! We will not hold still for more of your destructive agenda designed to make the rich richer. No! We will not accept weapons in space, patents on life, or advertising satellites backlit by the moon. We will not accept the perpetuation of human misery in Africa and Latin America and Asia. We will not accept the loss of biological and cultural diversity.

"We see a different choice: a world of cooperation, not conflict; a world whose resources, freed from warfare and greed, are used to eradicate poverty and fight disease. We want to get started establishing environmentally sustainable econ- omies and governments actually ruled by the people; we are not taken in by the substitution of ceremonial elections for actual decision-making power. We intend to leash the corporations, now!"

As in Seattle, there will be rallies and marches, with puppets and music. It will kick off with a demonstration for Jubilee 2000 on April 9th, demanding the cancellation of third world debt. The International Forum on Globalization is hosting another teach-in on April 14th; and having attended their excellent WTO Teach-In, I urge you to hop on their website, www.ifg.org, and grab a ticket. The Global Network Against Weapons in Space plans four days of activities, starting on the 14th. But the biggest day will be the 16th, when the Three Stooges of Corporate Rule actually meet. This is why the central website for the whole shebang is called www.a16.org. The Direct Action Network says they are going to shut down the IMF as they shut down the WTO in Seattle on November 30th.

All in all, this should be empowering, educational, exciting, and perhaps even more fun than I’ve had since December 3^rd.