WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. GLOBAL ECONOMY CALLS FOR LATIN As a member of the Lewis & Clark College community, I had to respond to the posturing by alum Nathan Hobbs in "The Lessons of Seattle" [Dec. 15, 1999]. Given that thousands of Portland-area students (college and high school) participated in teach-ins as listeners, organizers and speakers, created listserves with analysis and updates on WTO-related issues worldwide, and expeienced in the flesh the repressive state apparatuses lurking behind the veneer of participatory democracy, I'm surprised you had to go all the way to Minnesota to find someone to loftily opine on what occurred. It's also sort of sad that after spending close to $100,000 on a private liberal-arts education Mr. Hobbs retains such a simplistic "love it or leave it" analysis of globalization. Most people involved in the protests understand that globalization is complex, that contradictions abound, and as was shown so powerfully in Seattle, that this system is undergirded by violence. For example, the CIA aids the "invisible hand" of the globalizing market, keeping wages down through funding the murder of union organizers in Guatemala. At the same time a global market for snow peas allows indigenous families there to educate their children, who in turn spearhead an unprecedented Mayan revitalization challenging racist state structures. As more and more wealth concentrates in the hands of a tiny percentage of the world's population and does not trickle down, we all need complex dialectical tools to read this unnatural history full of terror and unintended consequences. We also need an ethics that constantly asks cui bono--who benefits? Diane M. Nelson Southwest 12th Avenue OUT OF ORDER Why would you print Dave Coulter's inane ramblings about anarchism [Letters, WW, Dec. 28, 1999]? Is no one else sick of uneducated jackasses displaying their embarrassing ignorance in public in the form of rants against the recent demonstrations in Seattle? The sophomoric definition of anarchy Coulter puts forth as definitive obviously comes from a dictionary (why do uneducated people always assume dictionaries constitute the absolute authority on meaning, as if they were not produced in a political context, as if meanings were not social and fluid?). To find out how much he does not know about anarchism, he might read about various anarchist movements, which he stupidly claims cannot logically exist, in the writings of such philosophers as Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Rudolf Rocker, Emma Goldman and Noam Chomsky, to name a few. In their works he could learn that this form of socialism is opposed to centralized, hierarchical orders, not order qua order. People don't have to accept the principles of anarchism--freedom, equality, democracy--but let us not pretend that they are not serious principles worthy of far more thought and reflection than the woefully unaware would have us believe. Michael Robbins Northeast Fargo Street GIMME SHELTER We appreciate the article "Homeless for the Holidays," by Rachel Graham [WW, Dec. 28, 1999], and the conscientious effort placed on following up on the issue of women and safety. We found that many questions were left unanswered and many issues unquestioned. As part of the system we are uniquely aware of the missing pieces, the needs of homeless men, women and children which remain unmet. We believe strongly that each agency must be held accountable, the Salvation Army certainly being no exception. We believe that "Basic Shelter" means a bed to sleep in, a blanket to cover yourself, a hot shower, available toiletries, a safe, secure, nurturing environment and access to other supportive services such as housing and transitional shelter. This is basic--anything less remains unacceptable, and certainly should not be condoned or publicly funded. We also believe at the same time the community needs to be held accountable, as well as our city and county funders. It is morally unacceptable for anyone to sleep on the streets. As the city continues to review services for homeless single adults it needs to better define what basic shelter is, what they are willing to pay for, and to more closely monitor the agencies which they fund. Doreen Binder, executive director, Transition Projects Inc. Chuck Currie, director of community outreach, First United Methodist Church Athena Zacharopoulos, director of women's services, Transition Projects Inc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published January 5, 1999