John Madeley
Caroline Lucas et al
Oxford for Trade Justice meeting hears first hand from Cancun.
This meeting, sponsored by Oxford for Trade Justice, a local umbrella group
campaigning for the reform of world trade rules, was held on 18 September at
7.00pm in the Town Hall.
Both John Madeley, an international author and Caroline Lucas, local Green
MEP had just returned from the WTO meeting. John told us that Cancun had
been ‘a resounding success for developing countries that refused to be
bullied. The emergence of new powerful alliances has shifted the balance of
power’. They are demanding differential treatment. But the US is continuing
to put pressure through bilateral agreements on some countries not to
support the G23, which represents more than half the population of the world.
The downside is that negotiations now move to Geneva where diplomats will be
responsible. The remaining big question is what can be done to influence the
US to take notice of the WTO rules and drop their subsidies. The WTO must stop
being the ‘errand boy’ for the big corporations, helping them increase their
global control.
Richard Hering illustrated his contribution about Brazil’s Landless Movement
(MST) with clips of protesters from his film. He reminded us of the terrible
dangers these poor people face.
Caroline Lucas who works ‘inside the beast’ at the EU Parliament told us that the EU
shares a responsibility for the failure at Cancun as they had tried to push
the New Issues which over 70 countries had said they were not ready to
consider. She was concerned that this failure may create more trouble,
leaving the US and EU to make more bilateral agreements with individual
countries. This has already led to Bangladesh having far more damaging trade conditions imposed than it would have had under WTO rules. Caroline believes that there need to be new proposals for the WTO or a new organisation entirely, as the lack of an international organisation will leave the world open to even worse trade abuses. She was encouraged by Vandana Shiva’s demand for Citizen Intervention in the WTO disputes settlement process. Another fascinating evening. Don’t miss the final one next week.
Further details: The final meeting in this series will be on Thursday 25 September at 7.00pm. The venue will be Oxford Town Hall, as before. The topic will be the consequences of WTO policies on human rights. Amongst those billed to speak are: Jesus Alfonso Naranjo, President of the Columbian Health Service Trade Union; Gerard Kelly, NATFHE ex-President; Mick Duncan of the No Sweat campaign.
Links: Oxford for Trade Justice
http://www.yvs.eu.com/otj/. MST (Brazilian Landless
Workers Movement), http://www.mstbrazil.org. Or email Oxford Brazil Solidarity at:
brazilsolidarity@yahoo.co.uk. For Caroline Lucas’s ‘take’ on Cancun and many other issues see: http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/latest_news.html. John Madeley is the author of a number of well-regarded publications on development issues, such as: ‘Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free Trade’ published by Zed Books, Oct 2000.
This meeting, sponsored by Oxford for Trade Justice, a local umbrella group
campaigning for the reform of world trade rules, was held on 18 September at
7.00pm in the Town Hall.
Both John Madeley, an international author and Caroline Lucas, local Green
MEP had just returned from the WTO meeting. John told us that Cancun had
been ‘a resounding success for developing countries that refused to be
bullied. The emergence of new powerful alliances has shifted the balance of
power’. They are demanding differential treatment. But the US is continuing
to put pressure through bilateral agreements on some countries not to
support the G23, which represents more than half the population of the world.
The downside is that negotiations now move to Geneva where diplomats will be
responsible. The remaining big question is what can be done to influence the
US to take notice of the WTO rules and drop their subsidies. The WTO must stop
being the ‘errand boy’ for the big corporations, helping them increase their
global control.
Richard Hering illustrated his contribution about Brazil’s Landless Movement
(MST) with clips of protesters from his film. He reminded us of the terrible
dangers these poor people face.
Caroline Lucas who works ‘inside the beast’ at the EU Parliament told us that the EU
shares a responsibility for the failure at Cancun as they had tried to push
the New Issues which over 70 countries had said they were not ready to
consider. She was concerned that this failure may create more trouble,
leaving the US and EU to make more bilateral agreements with individual
countries. This has already led to Bangladesh having far more damaging trade conditions imposed than it would have had under WTO rules. Caroline believes that there need to be new proposals for the WTO or a new organisation entirely, as the lack of an international organisation will leave the world open to even worse trade abuses. She was encouraged by Vandana Shiva’s demand for Citizen Intervention in the WTO disputes settlement process. Another fascinating evening. Don’t miss the final one next week.
Further details: The final meeting in this series will be on Thursday 25 September at 7.00pm. The venue will be Oxford Town Hall, as before. The topic will be the consequences of WTO policies on human rights. Amongst those billed to speak are: Jesus Alfonso Naranjo, President of the Columbian Health Service Trade Union; Gerard Kelly, NATFHE ex-President; Mick Duncan of the No Sweat campaign.
Links: Oxford for Trade Justice
http://www.yvs.eu.com/otj/. MST (Brazilian Landless Workers Movement),
http://www.mstbrazil.org. Or email Oxford Brazil Solidarity at: brazilsolidarity@yahoo.co.uk. For Caroline Lucas’s ‘take’ on Cancun and many other issues see: http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/latest_news.html. John Madeley is the author of a number of well-regarded publications on development issues, such as: ‘Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free Trade’ published by Zed Books, Oct 2000.