The WTO's "stewardry" solution for Africa

The WTO's "stewardry" solution for Africa

Reveal date
Status
Complete

Accidentally invited to a Wharton Business School conference on business in Africa, World Trade Organization representative "Hanniford Schmidt" (actually Andy Bichlbaum) showed a Powerpoint describing a WTO initiative for "full private stewardry of labor" for the parts of Africa that have been hardest hit by the 500 years of Africa's free trade with the West. At the same time, a fake WTO press release went out announcing the "initiative," which would require Western companies doing business in some parts of Africa to own their workers outright.

Watch the rough cut for an edited version of "Schmidt's" talk, including remarks by the Director for African Affairs at the Office of the US Trade Representative, and questions and answers after the formal remarks. The audience included Prof. Charles Soludo (Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria), Dr. Laurie Ann Agama (Director for African Affairs at the Office of the US Trade Representative), and other notables. Agama prefaced her remarks by thanking Schmidt for his "macroscopic perspective." Nigerian Central Bank Governor Soludo also acknowledged the WTO proposal, though he did not seem to appreciate it as much as did Agama.