A good starting place for more information about the WTO
http://www.wtowatch.org
http://www.ifg.org
http://www.citizen.org
http://www.corpwatch.org
Independent media information
http://www.indymedia.org
http://www.freespeech.org
http://webactive.com
the WTO
Whose
Trade
Organization?by Bob Russell
The WTO, World Trade Organization, had its moment in the spotlight of the corporate media last week. Unfortunately, too much of the media coverage focused on the protest, but not about who the protesters were and why they were there. A 50 block area in Seattle became a police state after Tuesday's mostly peaceful demonstration was declared a riot and a state of emergency was proclaimed by the city's mayor.
I think Walden Bello, a professor at a university in the Philippines who spoke at several NGO programs, said it best when he was asked by the press from the Philippines what was going on in Seattle: "It is an organized police riot against peaceful protesters in service of the WTO".
I was in Seattle during the WTO Ministerial meeting to attend meetings and teach-ins about the WTO, sponsored by various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Even with all the turmoil in Seattle, I was still able to attend various meetings about what the WTO is and what it has done in its short four year history, but not without being gassed while in downtown after attending a peaceful protest march sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
The WTO is an undemocratic institution creating "free" trade rules for the multinational corporations. The rules for the WTO were formulated by government trade officials and over 500 corporations and business representatives, while no access was given to non-governmental organizations. These rules are not "fair" trade rules creating level playing fields, the claim often made by the WTO supporters, but "free" trade rules in the interest of the multinational corporations. These are rules that break down barriers for the multinational corporations to gain economic dominance on a global level at great cost to national economies, workers, farmers, the environment and other people everywhere. Environmental laws, food safety regulations and laws protecting workers rights, can be weakened or declared illegal by the rules of the WTO.
The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body decides what national laws and regulations are illegal barriers to "free" trade. A three-person dispute resolution panel is appointed and meets in secret. All documents are kept secret and no public or press is allowed. The decision of this secret body is final with only one appeal process. That appeal is without merit as it takes all members of the WTO, including the member who brought the dispute, to over-turn a ruling of this panel. This process sould be recognized as a tyranny by any democratic institution.
The claim that the WTO helps the poor in the developing countries is dubious at best. It is often quite the opposite. The dumping of cheap grain by large corporations, such as Cargill, has caused widespread poverty by driving subsistence farmers off their land when they cannot compete with the cheap grain from industrial farming. These farmers often end up as the urban poor in the developing world's major cities.
One of the most important aspects of the events in Seattle was the diversity of the organizations that were among the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) protesting and starategizing against the WTO&emdash;teamsters, steelworkers, AFL-CIO, environmentalists, small farmers, farm workers, human rights activist, all major religions, elected officials, consumer protection advocates and concerned citizens from many countries. It was truly the global civil society raising its collective voice against the tyranny of economic globalization that is being created by the WTO.
What most groups were calling for was a moratorium on any new issues or further negotiations that expand the scope and power of the WTO. During this moratorium a comprehensive and in depth review and assessment of the existing agreements would be conducted.
The impact of the WTO can be felt now by people in Northwestern Michigan, from the lowering of EPA air quality standards by a 1998 WTO ruling, to the threat that water is a tradable commodity that would allow the selling of water from the Great Lakes.
The NGOs were successful in Seattle in several ways. The WTO delegates left Seattle in disarray with no new rounds for more liberalization of trade rules, a powerful coalition of global civil society united for the first time and the WTO was held in the light for people to see.
Now the hard work needs to continue for citizens all over the world to take back control of their own governments from the multinational corporations and force national governments to make changes to the WTO. Changes that make the WTO more democratic, more just, more open and more balanced to create "fair" trade not "free" trade.