PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

No to the WTO Weekend: September 12th and 13th!
by wheatpaster Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 at 4:01 PM
starbuxsux@heartofdarkness.org (email address validated)

Come join hundreds of activists from throughout the area in opposing the World Trade Organization by attending a forum: Money, Guns, and AIDS: The WTO and Corporate Globalization on September 12th at U. of Pittsburgh David Lawrence Hall at 7pm, and Just Say No to the WTO, a concert and rally on September 13th.

Come join hundreds of activists from throughout the area in opposing the World Trade Organization by attending a forum: Money, Guns, and AIDS: The WTO and Corporate Globalization on September 12th at U. of Pittsburgh David Lawrence Hall at 7pm, and Just Say No to the WTO, a concert and rally on September 13th. Speakers opposing free trade will rally Pittsburgh to show solidarity the global community who reject the agenda of the WTO. Bands already scheduled to perform on September 13th include Ritual Space Travel Agency and Ouve. The event is being organized by the Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) in conjunction with the Thomas Merton Center’s Stop the FTAA Project.


WTO: BACKGROUND

Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a powerful new global commerce agency, which transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into an enforceable global commerce code. The WTO administers over 20 agreements, facilitates future trade negotiations, and oversees and enforces trade dispute resolution. This operates in a secretive process that allows countries to challenge each others' laws as violations of WTO rules. With 146 member countries, the WTO is the world's most powerful instrument in controlling international trade.

The WTO and GATT have functioned principally to pry open markets for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of national and local economies; workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, women and other social groups; health and safety; the environment; and animal welfare. It is generally considered a noose around the neck of any government or social movement that seeks to oppose elements of corporate globalization. In addition, unlike United Nations treaties, the International Labor Organization conventions, or multilateral environmental agreements, WTO rules can be enforced through sanctions. This gives the WTO more power than any other international body. The WTO's authority even eclipses national governments.

It is a main vehicle of the 'neoliberal' agenda -- a philosophy in which everything and everyone is reduced to a commodity to be bought and sold in markets, with the ultimate goal being a relentless expansion of profits.

During the ministerial summit in Cancun, Mexico on September 10th through 14th, governments participating in the WTO will attempt to allow cheap commodities to enter domestic markets even though they undercut local farmers and small business owners. For example, the large subsidies granted to US farmers make US seed corn cheaper in Mexico than Mexican seed corn. Genetically engineered crops are currently banned from Mexico. WTO regulations, however, jeopardize Mexico's ability to continue this protection.

Legislation also on the agenda could determine the fate of forests and the viability of alternative forest practices both in Mexico and worldwide. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allowed 15 US logging firms into Mexico in the first 18 months after its implementation. Logging by these multinational corporations is rapidly destroying Mexico's biologically diverse forests in places like the Lancandon in Chiapas and the Chimalapas in Oaxaca. In southern Mexico, a strong sustainable forestry movement is countering the destructive WTO free trade model of logging with efforts at eco-labeling. The WTO will be deciding how these alternative movements impact trade.

Also being reviewed in WTO Cancún is trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS), the agreement that allows corporations to patent living beings as genetic resources. TRIPS agreements have also
denied countries like Brazil and South Africa access to essential drugs to fight AIDS.


WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO TRY TO STOP THE WTO?

In November 1999, 50,000 people went to Seattle to challenge this corporate agenda and to demand a more democratic, socially just and environmentally sustainable global economy. The protests succeeded in shutting down the trade talks and derailing another round of corporate-managed trade agreements. The Meetings were forced to meet in Qatar, an undemocratic monarchy in 2001.

The 5th WTO Ministerial is scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico from September 10-14, 2003. Organizations and social movements in Mexico as well as around the world are mobilizing to demonstrate against their policies as they take place.

The WTO process has reportedly begun to unravel beneath the weight of its own illegitimacy. Externally, it is universally reviled as a symbol of corporate domination; internally, the majority of its own members are fed up with being shoved around by a minority of powerful interests. The hard work of anti-globalization activists has slowed the process.

You can learn more about the WTO by attending the forum on September 12th and the concert and rally on September 13th. Show Pittsburgh does not support the agenda of the World Trade Organization. Check the Thomas Merton Center calendar online for the time and date of the rally, or visit http://www.organizepittsburgh.org. All proceeds from the events will be used towards funding the continued efforts of POG and much needed renovations to the Thomas Merton Center.

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