We, the people marching in the streets of Seattle against the World Trade Organization in late 1999, in reality demanded only one thing: that moral matters be considered in every step of the trade negotiations there, which would craft the global economy in a powerful, lasting institution, and which would permanently cement the powerlessness of governments in the face of corporations.

Groups that differed widely in tactics and analysis, stood together in calling for morality in world trade - morality of respecting the Earth, morality of peace, morality of solidarity with the poor and with workers everywhere.

Apologists for the WTO told us that their organization should be independent from such morality, that moral questions should be dealt with elsewhere. But this is the same line that defends businesses and corporations from accepting responsibility for their actions, because they are just out to make money, and which defends militarism and nuclear weapons because they are just out to protect national security. They say that moral questions should be dealt with outside corporate boardrooms, outside the armed forces.

But the people on the streets said "NO!" to all this. Moral considerations should be part of everything we do, every institution we create, every market force harnessed to our advantage. You cannot relegate responsibility to other spheres, other agencies, other people. Moral matters are every individual's concern. How we deal with moral choices is what makes us human, and standing up for one's convictions is what makes us strong.

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