essays from Wisconsinites who were at Cancun.**************
Statement to the Campesino Forum,Casa de la Cultura, Cancun Mexico
James Goodman
Wonewoc WI EEUU
September 08, 2003
I speak to you today as a small organic farmer from the United States. Although they tell us ours is the richest and most powerful nation on earth, our farmers, our workers and our indigenous peoples do not share that wealth. Just as our industrial agricultural system dictates which crops will be raised and what prices will be paid, it also enslaves not only the farmers of the north, but you the campesinos, the indigenous and the landless of the south. Northern farmers are caught in the trap of buying the GM seeds, the chemicals and the fertilizers that the multi-national corporations force them to accept. We are all prisoners. Northern farmers accept low crop prices hoping government subsidies will keep them in business, but knowing, that all along the profits are intended for the Monsanto�s and the Cargill�s of the world. Excess production, in the mind of the northern farmer, is the only method of survival. In reality however, it will eventually be there their downfall. The GM seeds will eventually fail, the government subsidies will eventually end and neither our un-elected government nor the WTO will save us. While we blindly follow the path that was plotted for our government and the WTO by these multi-national corporate giants, we will not only ruin our futures, but yours as well.
I and other organic farmers have turned to a better system of farming, one that respects the environment, honors the contributions of women and promotes connections between farmers and consumers through local marketing. Despite the fact that we strongly disagree with most of what our president promotes around the world, we are still a part of our country and must bear some of its guilt. I apologize for the imperial designs our nation seems to have on the world. I apologize for our misguided agricultural policies that threaten to ruin your livelihoods through the dumping of GM grain. I apologize for our governments policy of allowing corporations to turn the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF into tools of corporate domination that are imposed upon your lives.
They hope to divide us, pit farmer against farmer, farmer against consumer, North against South. We will not let this happen. We are winning and they know it. They know they must control us because, ultimately we are right and they are wrong. Money and power will ultimately fail, while our families, our connection to the land and our solidarity will win.
*********************
A Report on the WTO Meeting in Cancun, Mexico
By: Hiroshi Kanno,
New Voices on Globalization
Wisconsin Dells, WI
The shocking suicide by South Korean farmer Lee Kyung Hae on the opening day of the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on September 10th 2003 occurred amidst the noise and clamoring of the thousands of anti- global activists protesting in front of the barricades in downtown Cancun Mexico. As he sat on top of the 15 foot barricade facing the police, farmer Lee plunged a knife into his chest and toppled to the ground. A few hours later he died of his self inflicted wound.
Meanwhile farmers (campesino) and anti-global activists, mainly from countries of the global south, continued their assault on the barricades. Men and women dressed in colorful t-shirts, and others dressed in solid black representing a spectrum of political and social views hurled stones at the police, burned flags of the US and pushed against the barricades. Finally they were able to topple the barricade. A fierce confrontation between the police and marchers followed. Rocks were hurled at the heavily armed and protected police who hurled them back causing injury to several marchers. Many in the crowd had sticks and poles and beat on the shields of the police.
When word began to circulate in the crowd that a Korean farmer had died the mood changed. The confrontation subsided and both groups pulled back. Instead of a physical confrontation different groups and individuals stood in front of the police and voiced their protest and drew pictures and symbols on the street.
Sealed off from this street turmoil, eleven kilometers away at the luxurious Convention Center in Cancun�s Hotel Zona, Ministers from 146 countries, their entourage, staff from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and invited guests were holding a more solemn and subdued opening ceremony. But both inside and outside the convention center there was tension.
Before the start of this meeting 16 developing countries, which grew to 21 including China, India and Brazil, joined to oppose the agenda of the US,EU(European Union) Japan block. The G21 developing countries were primarily concerned about agricultural subsidies in the developed countries, but there were other issues, such as the lack of transparency in decision making and policy decisions at the WTO which favored transnational corporations from the global north. If the block of 21 countries stood firm at this ministerial meeting, it would be the first such confrontation in the short history of the WTO.
I was part of a delegation from New Voices on Globalization. I had come to tell the story of our successful fight against Nestle in their attempt to take our spring waters and to build a large water bottling plant in the midst of our rural community. The World Trade Organization dominated by corporate interests seemed like a good place to tell our story.
The WTO has been described by Barlow and Clarke in Making the Links, �as a global trade institution with teeth. It is responsible for administering dozens of international trade agreements and declarations on a range of issues from agriculture to intellectual property rights. It also handles trade disputes, monitors national trade policies, and operates as the overarching forum for global trade negotiations, called rounds. It was created in 1995 at the completion of the �Uruguay Round� of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) negotiations.�
How does the WTO work? Again from Barlow and Clarke, �the WTO has �legal personality� and the power to enforce its rulings. It has an international status equivalent to the UN, but unlike the UN, it carries the powers and tool of a global government. WTO rulings are so powerful, they take precedence over Multilateral Environment Agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity; human rights agreements like the UN�s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international labor codes. WTO rulings also apply to laws at every level of domestic governance-federal, provincial, state and municipal.�
The dispute resolution procedure of WTO is of concern to those of us who are fighting to keep Nestle from establishing a stake in our state�s groundwater. If our state DNR, for example, tries to limit or restrict the pumping of our groundwater by this transnational corporation for environmental reasons, this policy could be challenged as a �barrier to trade� and brought to the WTO dispute panel. This panel has the authority to strike down a countries domestic laws, policies, and programs and require it to establish new rules more favorable to business interests.� (The US challenge to the EU restriction on importing genetically modified foods is currently before a WTO panel for example.)
On the day after Mr Lee�s suicide at the encampment where the campesinos and Koreans were staying, the large gymnasium was turned into a memorial site for Mr. Lee. Candles were placed in a rectangle with his picture in the center. Flowers and leaves were placed around his pictures.I watched as a woman entered with a smoking incense pot and slowly circled the rectangle. She said a pray in Spanish and placed the smoking pot at the front of the make shift memorial. A constant stream of farmers and activists from the global north and south paid their last respects to their fallen comrade each in his/her own way. People hung signs on the stage representing their country. I put one up for Wisconsin, USA. Songs in Spanish, Korean, and English were spontaneously sung. They seemed to understand why Mr. Lee had committed such a horrendous act.
On Saturday September 13th there was a second major march to the barricades. When the marchers arrived at a point where Mr. Lee had committed suicide a memorial service was held. Not far away a group of Koreans were busy braiding three long strands of rope until each was about 2 inches in diameter.
After the memorial service the crowd of over 1000 headed for the barricade. Three lines of people held each of the thick ropes which was then tied to the heavy metal barricade. To the cadence of beating drums and the urging of the crowd the men and women tugged at the ropes. Slowly the metal barricade tumbled. At that point there was a danger of a confrontation between the police who were dressed in riot gear and the marchers. But cooler heads prevailed.
Someone began singing John Lennon�s song �Remember� in Spanish other joined in. One young woman made a gesture to kiss the cheek of one of the police.The tension was broken and the crowd dispersed.
On Sunday,the last day of the meeting, jubilation broke out among the NGOs and anti-global activists. Kenya led a walkout at the conference which was quickly joined by the other G21 countries. The G21 countries stood firm . The 5th Ministerial meeting was over. WTO Ministers and others predicted further damage to the world�s already fragile economy. The European Trade Minister Pascal Lamy said, �We could have gained here and now we have all lost,� Others made veiled threats against the G21 countries.
But is it not the G21 countries who are on trial, it is the World Trade Organization. If it hopes to survive it must stop catering exclusively to the dictates of the US-EU-Japan block and the transnational corporations who control it. The WTO must listen to the campesinos, unionists, and civil society from both the global north and south, who gathered at the barricades. They are saying agriculture should not be part of WTO�s agenda. And such vital natural resouces as water, air and the environment are part of the public trust that all governments should protect for their citizens. If the ministers cloistered in exclusive hotels began to heed these voices then perhaps another world and global society will be possible.
(Post script: In November 2003 ministers from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere will be meeting in Miami to expand free trade and give greater access by transnational corporations to markets in Central and South America. Called FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) it will be another treaty which will expand the role of the WTO. The United States, led by our corporate leaders, is pushing hard for the adoption of FTAA. But there is mounting resistance to FTAA by civil society in both the north and the south. If the ministerial talks in Miami fails then the future of the WTO becomes more cloudy)
