[asia-apec 1378] WTO DG faces protestors in India

[Anuradha Mittal]

New Delhi, Jan 11

While more than 200 activists were staging a demonstration outside, 
three protestors sneaked into a heavily guarded venue session of the 
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Meet 2000, here 
today. WTO Director General Mike Moore had just finished speaking when 
an activist walked to the dias and spoke against the dangers of allowing 
WTO to police the world economy and also criticised the Indian 
industrialists for joining hands with "an evil force".

Mr Mike Moore is in New Delhi on an invitation of the CII.

Taking the delegates attending the conference by surprise, the three
activists distributed to the delegates a copy of an open letter to the 
WTO Director General. Terming the WTO as a "Wicked Trade Organisation", 
the activists said that the recent protests on the streets at Seattle 
had clearly demonstrated that trade was not the answer for human 
development. "The protests that began in Seattle will now be seen in 
India," they said.

A copy of the open letter to Mr Mike Moore is appended below:



AN OPEN LETTER TO MR MIKE MOORE

Jan 11, 2000

Mr Mike Moore
Director General
World Trade Organization.

Dear Mr Moore,

We have tolerated enough. 

For several years now, the people of India have been a mute witness to 
the systematic effort of the rich countries to recolonise the developing 
world under the garb of free trade.

Over the years, the WTO has legitimised under TRIPs the steal, grab and
plunder of biological wealth and traditional knowledge from India. Your
patent laws have been designed to facilitate biopiracy from the 
biodiversity rich countries. We are aware that almost 90 per cent of 
India's estimated 45,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species are 
already stored illegally in the United States.

To protect the economic interests of a few million farmers on either 
side of the Atlantic, the WTO has reached an Agreement on Agriculture, 
which is aimed at marginalising the 550 million Indian farmers and 
putting the country's food security at an unmanageable risk. For us, the 
survival of our small and marginal farmers, forming the backbone of the 
economy, is as essential as protecting the democratic traditions of this 
great nation.

A majority of the small-scale industries in India have already closed 
down. The pharmaceutical sector, which made available medicines within 
easy reach of the people, is at the verge of closure. Multi-national 
companies, which your organisation essentially represents, have already 
embarked on the process of loot and repatriation of resources. And if 
the past tradition is any indication, we know that after you quit the 
WTO, you too will join one of these companies. Your interest in 
furthering the cause of these companies is, therefore, obvious.

As if this is not enough, you are bringing in labour, environment and
multilateral investment within the gambit of the WTO. In any case, 
Seattle has clearly demonstrated that you are merely a pawn in the hands 
of the United States. Unabashedly, you addressed joint press conferences 
with the US Trade Representative. You behaved as if she was your boss. 
You threw all the democratic norms to wind by permitting the US to 
hijack the global forum. The WTO is, as a placard being carried by a 
protestor on the streets of Seattle read: "Wicked Trade Organisation."

Your agents in India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and 
the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), 
perpetuate the unequal doctrine on unsuspecting and gullible masses. For 
your kind information, many of the people you support have already 
sucked the national exchequer dry. For instance, the non-performing 
assets of the nationalised banks in India, milked dry by a few 
industrialists, stand at a staggering Rs 5,00,000 million !!

The WTO protects the criminals. We cannot allow this to go on forever. 
Let this be a warning from the people of India. We will not allow a 
global system, which actually protects and supports the rich and the 
powerful at the cost of the lives of millions of poor and hungry. 
Mahatma Gandhi has taught us that tolerance of injustice is a crime. We 
will, therefore, no longer accept any sort of coercion, threat and 
injustice. 

You are perhaps aware that we have had a long history of driving out the 
pirates and the colonial masters. And we will do it once again, if need 
be.


From

Swadeshi Jagran Manch
Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh
Akhil Bhartiya Vidayarthi Prishad
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh
Laghu Udyog Bharati
Swamajvadi Abhiyan

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