Sample letter to the editor re: Genoa & animals

July 23, 2001

**please cross post**

Newspaper reports on the recent events in Genoa provide us with an opportunity to educate the public about the environmental and animal welfare aspects of globalization. Use the sample letter below to write to your local newspaper. For best results, write " re: [headline of an article in the paper concerning Genoa] " at the top of your letter.

If your write your own letter, you may also wish to submit it to other regional papers or to one of the big national papers. Visit www.opedletters.com to find websites and email addresses for newspapers. For more background information about factory farming and globalization, visit http://www.bravebirds.org and click on 'world hunger.'

*** sample letter ***

The message of the majority of the anti-globalization protestors in Genoa should not be lost because of the violence of the police and of a subset of protestors. The aim of free trade policies is to make it easier for private corporations to cross national boundaries in their quest for profits. Often, these policies allow corporations to circumvent the labor, environmental, or animal welfare policies put into place by the people of a nation. For example, the World Trade Organization has ruled U.S. sea turtle protection laws to be unfair barriers to trade and the U.S had to abide by that decision. What is the use of living in a democracy if an international organization serving the interests of private corporations can overrule the decisions of the people?

Globalization will not end poverty and, in many cases, will worsen the problems faced by people living in low-income nations. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is supposed to be working to end world hunger. But, under the influence of the International Monetary Fund, the FAO promotes practices which would make the problem worse. US and multinational meat corporations want to put contract farms and processing plants in low-income nations so that they can avoid the labor, environmental, and animal welfare regulations they face in the US and Europe. Because meat production is the least cost-effective way of feeding people and because intensive livestock confinement degrades the environment, this would leave hungry people with less food, fewer natural resources, and more pollution.

Anyone who cares about people, animals, or the environment should oppose these aspects of trade globalization. You don¹t have to protest on the streets. Writing to your legislators or to the US delegation to the United Nations can also help.