www.gatt.org hits a sore spot
by Camille Dodero
For the most part, the World Trade Organization has
carefully limited its public condemnations of anti-WTO activism. But one
week before dreadlocked protesters gathered in the streets of Seattle
(see "Seattle
Was a Riot,") the WTO wiped off its diplomatic poker face and
chastised one source of grassroots opposition: RTMark (or reg.(TM)ark).
RTMark is the same tech-savvy prankster organization that scooped up
Internet domain names such as http://www.gwbush.com/ and http://www.yesrudy.com/, and then used the URLs as
tongue-in-cheek mouthpieces for candidate criticism. In the case of the
WTO, RTMark painstakingly replicated the appearance of the international
organization's Web site (http://www.wto.org/) on
http://www.gatt.org (GATT is an acronym for WTO forebear the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and spiked it with anti-WTO sentiments.
The stunt infuriated the WTO, specifically director-general Mike Moore.
"WTO DG Moore deplores fake WTO websites," declares a November 23 WTO
press release, available online at http://www.wto.org/wto/new/press151.htm.
Singling out http://www.gatt.org/ in his statement, Moore says,
"The WTO and its members uphold the rights of others to criticize and
comment on WTO affairs, including the right to protest publicly." But,
he goes on to say, "Confusing the public is another matter."
At first glance, http://www.gatt.org/ is a dead ringer for
www.wto.org: the design, color, and navigational structure are
identical. But peruse the site for more than a minute, and
www.gatt.org's "confusing" smoke and mirrors reveal themselves to be
little more than dry ice and plexiglass.
RTMark says its spoof of http://www.wto.org/ is hardly believable. "Them
attacking us was absurd," comments RTMark spokesman Fred Guerrero.
"We're completely baffled by it."
RTMark also points out that www.gatt.org is not only an exercise in
criticism and commentary, but also a form of public protest -- three
things the WTO claims to support.
"We hoped to lend a hand in cyberspace to the protests on the
ground," says Guerrero. "And it worked, if only because Mike Moore
actually took the time to say something about it."
What does RTMark have to say for itself after being "deplored" by the
typically tightlipped WTO?
"We're happy that we can define the fringe for the WTO," Guerrero
laughs. "But tear gas and rubber bullets sound pretty deplorable to
me."