[asia-apec 1829] Food First: November 11th Doha Report

[Anuradha Mittal]

THE DOHA REPORT
by Anuradha Mittal
November 11, 2001

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Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director of Food First, is in 
Doha, Qatar attending the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference.

Daily Doha Reports can be found at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wto2001/updates.html

Other WTO Info and News Coverage can be found at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wto2001
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As the WTO continues to meet in Doha, Qatar, it faces a severe
crisis of legitimacy. Every newspaper present here and the Qatari
News Agency, the daily bulletin on the WTO Fourth Ministerial, has
carried articles on growing protests against the economic forces
of the WTO that are ignoring the concerns of the Third World
countries in the process.

The Geneva draft is sprinkled with clauses that benefit the
powerful trading nations such as the United States and the European
Union. To ensure the success of the Ministerial, they are now
arm twisting poor member nations of the WTO to endorse the text.

The release of the draft declaration was deliberately delayed
by the WTO General Council so that the NGOs and others would
not have sufficient time to react and to demand its withdrawl.
In addition, issues such as agriculture, environment, investment,
competition policy, and TRIPS were added without assigning enough
time for member countries to explore the issues further. The
Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Rajiv Pratap
Rudy has demanded that issues such as investment and competition
which are currently under study should not be brought up for
discussion at the World Trade Forum.

To support the position of the Third World nations,  
representatives of international civil society, around 40-50 
of us, held a protest on November 10, to tell the U.S. delegation 
to stop its arm twisting tactics. This morning, we added good 
humor while exposing the lack of transparency and muscle 
flexing by the U.S. and the E.U.

Protest theater, "Why the Developing Countries Love the E.U.
and the U.S.," was staged in the tented breezeway outside the
media center, at the end of the corridor that press and NGOs
are forbidden from using, fondly called the Hall of Shame by
many of us.

While the NGOs portrayed how the business fat cats are pulling
the strings of E.U. Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, Mike Moore, 
and Robert Zoellick, they also ridiculed the WTO's claims of 
having changed its way by getting rid of the Green Rooms by 
replacing them with the facilitator, a "Green Man." Walden Bello, 
Executive Director of Focus on the Global South and a Board 
member of Food First, played the role of the Third World delegate 
who is first threatened and then offered bribes to agree to 
investment and to show no opposition to Trade Related 
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The theater generated massive media coverage including the BBC,
Arabic Press including Al Jazeera, and other international press.The
press jostled with each other to take pictures and video as
we chanted and held the following placards:

1. Our World is Not for Sale: No New Round
2. Don't Sell Our Public Services: Stop the GATS
3. Don't Destroy Our Environment: No Green Rooms, No Green Men:
   We Want Green Trade
4. Put Food and Public Health Above Private Wealth: People Before
   Patents
5. Food is a Human Right: Food Rights for the Poor
6. Worker's Rights are Human Rights: People Before Profits
7. Women's Rights are Human Rights: Put Life Before Trade
8. Democratize the WTO: No Arm Twisting

The WTO might have controlled the NGO participation, but it cannot
control our energy and our passion for truth and justice. This
evening, we will protest the press briefing organized by Pascal
Lamy to show how hollow his claims of
openness and democracy within the WTO are.

The Third World delegates are fighting back as well. This morning
while distributing the press release for our protest theater,
I met a delegate from an African country. His response to our
press release was, "We love the U.S. and the E.U. because they
are suffocating us with their love." The Indian government has
already declared in the General Council that the new round is
promised as a new check to India while the last check has already
bounced for India.

>From Doha,
Anuradha


(Read Anuradha's Bio: http://www.foodfirst.org/who/amittal.html)

For more information, to order Food First Books,or to join our member-supported organization, go to:
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