hydrarchist writes: "Naomi! We love your sweet eye for poetic perversity! Rock on!

The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) October 4, 2001

By Naomi Klein

There are many contenders for biggest political opportunist since the September 11 atrocities. Politicians ramming through life-changing laws while telling voters they are still mourning; corporations diving for public cash; pundits accusing their opponents of treason.

Yet amid the chorus of draconian proposals and McCarthyite threats, one voice of opportunism still stands out. That voice belongs to Robyn Mazer, who is using September 11 to call for an international crackdown on counterfeit T-shirts.

Not surprisingly, Ms Mazer is a trade lawyer in Washington DC. Even less surprising, she specialises in trade laws that protect America's single largest export -- copyright.

That is music, movies, logos, seed patents, software and much more. Trade related intellectual property rights (Trips) are among the most controversial side-agreements in the run-up to next month's World Trade Organisation meeting in Qatar.

It is the battleground for disputes ranging from Brazil's right to disseminate free generic Aids drugs, to China's huge market in knock-off Britney Spears CDs.

American multinationals are desperate to gain access to these large markets for their products - but they want protection. Many poor countries, meanwhile, say Trips cost millions to police, while strangleholds on intellectual property drive up costs for local industries and consumers.

What does any of this trade wrangling have to do with terrorism? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Unless, of course, you ask Ms Mazer, who wrote an article last week in the Washington Post headlined -- From T-shirts to terrorism: That fake Nike swoosh may be helping fund bin Laden's network.

... read the rest of this account of normalised inanity at infoshop.org."