In her editorial, “Too quick to criticize stance of press at protest,” (Oct. 7, p. 5), Leanne Lee says it’s unfair to claim that the protesters at the recent IMF/World Bank meetings were “anti-capitalist” or suffer from “thoughtlessness and a want of reflection” because some of the protesters were environmentalists or opposed the war in Iraq. On the contrary, if ever there were thoughtless anti-capitalists wanting of reflection, they were at that protest.

Notice that none of the protesters acknowledged that the Third World nations they seek to defend suffer from a lack of respect for private property and individual rights that makes legitimate savings and investment possible. Notice that none of the protesters demanded a repeal on the ban on DDT, even though it is the only technology that is effective against disease-carrying mosquitoes which continue to devastate the poor of the world, or embraced the use of genetically-modified foods, even though such foods offer the best chance for farming in the marginal areas of the world. And notice that none of the protesters were willing to acknowledge that the Iraqi government is a bloody dictatorship that has murdered tens of thousands of its own citizens and has long ago forfeited its right to rule.

Whether they are anarchists, anti-globalization advocates, environmentalists, peaceniks or pacifists, at root, the protesters are united by the same trait: hatred of the individual rights and freedoms that make human life both possible and prosperous. This is anti-capitalism to the letter and is worthy of the sternest moral condemnation.

-Nicholas Provenzo, chairman, Center for the Advancement of Capitalism