WTO collapse: win for people
by Anna Pha The collapse of the World Trade Organisation's Ministerial Meeting in Seattle last week marks a great victory for the people of the world. It is the second recent serious setback for the policies of globalisation and the WTO, IMF and World Bank and for the corporate powers driving those polices. The first setback was the abandonment by the OECD member countries of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The failure of the WTO meeting to reach agreement on any statement, let alone proposals for a new "Millennium Round" of negotiations demonstrates that the WTO agenda and transnational dictatorship are not inevitable when democratic forces unite and take a strong stand defending the rights of people and nation states. A number of developing countries refused to be bullied or blackmailed into accepting the dictate of US imperialism and, within the ranks of the leading industrialised countries, serious divisions emerged. The high degree of internationalisation of the campaign to stop a new round of negotiations was an important factor in its success. As of November 25, 1,448 local, national, regional and international organisations from 89 countries had signed a Stop the Round Statement*. November 30 was declared an International Day of Action. In Seattle, tens of thousands of protestors were successful in blocking access to the meeting centre. People gathered at every intersection leading to the WTO venue. Barricades were built and people chained themselves together so that no vehicles could pass. The WTO was forced to cancel its morning meeting. The police and other security forces were out in force. They used teargas, rubber and plastic bullets, "flash and bang" concussion grenades and capsicum spray in their efforts to clear the thousands of protestors from the streets. By mid-afternoon Seattle's Governor, Gary Locke, announced a curfew and a state of emergency and called out the National Guard. The tens of thousands of demonstrators included workers, farmers, and environmentalists. They came not only from the US but from around the world. There was a strong trade union contingent, organised by the AFL-CIO. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) shut down the docks in Seattle and other ports on the US west coast in solidarity with the protests. ILWU President Brian McWilliams told a pre-march rally: "There will be no business as usual today ... demonstrating to the corporate CEOs that the global economy will not run without the consent of the workers everywhere... The interests of working people transcend international boundaries." Mr McWilliams said labour was there "to tell the agents of global capital that we will not sit quietly by while they meet behind closed doors to carve up our world." The rally was also addressed by COSATU's General Secretary Velinzima Vavi. International actions In Sydney there was a protest outside the office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade. Mass protests were organised in the lead-up to the WTO meeting in many cities around the world. In Geneva around 3,000 protested outside the WTO building and then in front of the UN building. In France, 75,000 are reported to have taken part in actions in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Lille, with a message to the WTO: "the world is not a commodity". In New Delhi, around 300 indigenous people forced their way into the premises of the World Bank office. They met with a World Bank representative in India and handed him an open letter addressed to the WTO President: "We know that in the Seattle Round of the WTO, there is a plan to hand over our forests to commercial and industrial interests. We will resist this too, with all our might. For the World Bank and the WTO, our forests are a marketable commodity", the letter said. "But for us, the forests are a home, our source of livelihood, the dwelling of our gods, the burial grounds of our ancestors, the inspiration of our culture.... We will not let you sell our forests. So go back from our forests and our country." Health is another area that would be affected if the US and Australian push for the inclusion of services into the WTO regime had succeeded. The US Coalition of Service Industries has been lobbying hard for the inclusion of health. "Health care services in many foreign countries have largely been the responsibility of the public sector — [making] it difficult for US private sector health care providers to market in foreign countries", says the Coalition, determined to force open foreign health markets. The aim of the Coalition is to "encourage more privatisation" and "allow more foreign ownership of health care facilities". Stop the Round The Stop the Round Statement points out, "The Uruguay Round Agreements have functioned principally to prise open markets for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of national economies; workers, farmers and other people; and the environment. "In addition the WTO system, rules and procedures are undemocratic, untransparent and non-accountable and have operated to marginalise the majority of the world's people. "We oppose any further liberalisation negotiations, especially those which will bring new areas under the WTO regime, such as investment (the MAI by another name), competition policy and government procurement. "We commit ourselves to campaign to reject any such proposals. We also oppose the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. We call for a moratorium on any new issues or further negotiations that expand the scope and power of the WTO. "During this moratorium there should be a comprehensive and in-depth review of the existing agreements. Effective steps should be taken to change the agreements. Such a review should address the WTO's impact on marginalised communities, development, democracy, environment, health, human rights, labour rights and the rights of women and children. The review must be conducted with civil society's full participation... "A review of the system will provide an opportunity for society to change course and develop an alternative, humane and sustainable system of trade and investment relations", concludes the Statement. Differences inside the WTO On the eve of the Seattle meeting, US President Bill Clinton made a strong plea for labour standards to be part of the WTO regime and for countries to be subjected to "sanctions" for labour-rights breaches. Such a provision would give major industrialised countries like the US, the European Union and Australia open slather to "legally" (in WTO terms) put up barriers to cheap imports from third world countries. This is the real aim of the exercise. Clinton has not suddenly become the champion of workers' rights. As Chakravarthi Raghavan, writing in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS), pointed out: "Ironically, the site of Mr Clinton's address [to the WTO] and the luncheon was the `Four Seasons Hotel', one of the two five-star hotels in Seattle that are `union free', which means that there is no union, and the management can hire and fire workers at will." Agriculture is another area where there are sharp differences. One group of members (including the US and Australia) want the complete integration of agriculture into the same rules as other products, thus compelling governments to remove all export subsidies and open up their markets to imports. On the other side are the European Union, Japan and south Korea and a group of 25 developing countries fighting to maintain export subsidies to protect their agricultural workers. Proposals from the European Commission for negotiations on investment and competition policy were opposed by India, Kenya (co-ordinator of the African group), Zimbabwe and others. One of the most heated contests was at the Biotech Working Group. Despite the proposal coming from the European Commission, the Environment Ministers from 15 European countries (including Denmark, Britain, France, Belgium and Italy) are reported to have expressed opposition to the establishment of a new WTO working party on biotechnology, arguing that it would undermine the Biosafety Protocol. Developing countries, including India, and environmental and development groups, who see it as an act of betrayal of the Biosafety Protocol, were also strongly opposed. Despite this strong opposition, the US delegation continued to lobby other countries to accept it. The US authorities oppose laws such as the Biosafety Protocol because they require the labelling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and ban such products or the commercial planting of GMO crops. Corporate sponsors The costs of holding the WTO Conference in the US were footed by corporate sponsors who made private donations. A host committee headed by Microsoft's Bill Gates and Boeing's President Bill Condit raised the funds, exposing "the nature of the relationship between corporations, governments of powerful countries and the WTO which they control and run from behind", said Chakravarthi Raghavan. "In exchange for the funds to run the conference donors were promised free publicity and privileged access to the assembled delegates. And there were attempts to get foreign corporations to contribute funds too, though this misfired when NGOs got hold of the circular and publicised it." There were six classes of donor, from emerald (more than $250,000) down to bronze. Benefits were graded accordingly. The Seattle team of Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile included eight big business representatives. Offers from non-business groups like the ACTU, Australian Council of Social Services, and the Australian Council for Overseas Aid to provide advice were rejected. The WTO and the corporate forces behind it and their government stooges will not let up. They have suffered a serious setback in their plans. They will continue to push their agenda in every corner of the globe, through the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and where-ever else they can. But the defeat of the new round at Seattle and the forced abandonment of the OECD-sponsored MAI are great victories for the people with which to enter the new millennium.* * * Acknowledgements to Third World Network for information used in this article* * * Details of the Stop the Round Statement are available on the following web sites: http://http://www.onelist.com/ http://http://www.antenna. nl/foei/campaigns/indexwto.html http://http://antenna.nl/aseed/trade/index.html#statement