The fall of the WTO:
The Doha Round negotiations suspended!
31/07/2006
- Opinión
On Monday July 24, 2006, the General Secretary of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, officially announced the suspension of
the Doha Round talks. Outside the somber WTO headquarters in Geneva, a
large group of La Vía Campesina, Fisher Folk Federation, and members of
other social movement celebrated the failure of the negotiations and WTO.
The organizations publicly stated: "The Doha Round cycle is over, now is
the time for food sovereignty."
On Friday July 28, 2006, La Vía Campesina and other social organizations
marched from Wilson Palace to the WTO, to accompany the Fluvial Parade of
the fisher folks in the Lake of Geneva to celebrate the collapse of the
WTO. The Philippino fishefolks launched four traditional fishing boats
decorated with huge banners against the WTO, and navigated until they
reached a small dock in the back of the WTO headquarters. A flotilla of
yachts of local supporters and social organizations accompanied the
fisherfolks boats. The marchers followed them to that point walking along
the edge of the lake. In front of the march, a tractor driven by a Swiss
farmer carried a giant effigy depicting Pascal Lamy's severed head.
Following behind the tractor the Korean Peasants League carried a coffin
symbolizing the death of the WTO. They were followed by a large delegation
of La Vía Campesina representing 12 countries, members of social movements
like Friends of the Earth International, Our World is not for Sale, Focus
on the Global South, the Geneva Coalition Against the WTO as well as local
farmers and activists. The fisherfolks got off their boats and everybody
marched to the WTO.
The march ended across the street from the WTO. Police officers did not
allow the marchers to get close to the main entrance to deliver the
coffin. A cheerful and colorful rally was held at this point were Henry
Saragih from La Vía Campesina told the crowd; "The Doha Round is dead,
long live food sovereignty!" Walden Bello from Focus on the Global South
urged the marchers: "The WTO is dying, let's bury the sucker!"
The rally ended and the Korean farmers decided to leave the coffin there.
When all the protestors left, some WTO armed guards crossed the avenue to
carefully inspect the coffin making sure that no explosives were inside.
They then carried it inside the WTO.
This was a day of celebration for international social movements opposed
to the WTO, free trade and neoliberalism in general. But let's briefly
review the road that lead to the spectacular failure of the WTO.
The United States has always actively promoted the liberalization of
markets as a strategy to win economic dominance. These neoliberal policies
became more significant with the negotiation in 1993 of the North America
Free Trade Agreement and the foundation of the World Trade Organization in
1995.
The WTO was the continuation of the Uruguay Round that lasted from 1986
and 1994. Two Ministerial meetings of the WTO took place and the
negotiation process among its members continued slowly but steadily into
1999, the year when the WTO suffers its first setback.
The 3rd Ministerial meeting took place in Seattle, Washington in 1999. As
a result of the mobilization of thousands of people, from farmers to trade
unionists, from indigenous peoples to environmentalists, students and
social activists, the meeting was derailed. Under a heavy fog of tear gas,
pepper gas and rubber bullets, the negotiators suddenly suspended their
deliberations and went home.
Then in 2001, the meeting was held in Doha, in Qatar. The protests against
WTO were contained due to the authoritarian and repressive environment of
Qatar. The negotiators were able to begin a round of negotiations imposed
by US trade negotiators and the WTO released the Doha Declaration setting
forth the framework for negotiations as well as extending the powers of
the WTO.
The 5th Ministerial meeting was moved to the resort city of Cancún,
México. Again as a result of the mobilizations of thousands of people,
and the self-immolation of Korean farmer Lee Kyang Hae on September 10,
2003, the negotiation process was suspended.
On December of 2005, this time in Hong Kong, mobilizations, including a
large contingent of migrant workers, caused the failure of the
negotiations of the WTO. More than 1,000 protesters, mainly Korean
farmers, were repressed and arrested. But no progress was made in the
meetings and the fate of the WTO became uncertain.
Last weekend, July 23-24, an international delegation of La Vía Campesina,
as well as members of other social movements, arrived in Geneva to
continue the fight with a planned week of demonstrations, meetings and
press conferences. But on Monday July 24, 2006, the first day of actions
by La Vía Campesina and a large contingent of other social movements,
Pascal Lamy announced the suspension of negotiations and so the abrupt
stop of the Doha Round.
La Vía Campesina and other social organizations happily received the
announcement. However, some organizations were saddened by the collapse of
the WTO. Some development NGO's took on the position that the suspension
was a disaster for poor farmers of the Third World. Other organizations as
well the European media, some developing countries, and China, went as far
as demanding the continuation of the negotiations.
La Vía Campesina, accompanied by other organizations like Friends of the
Earth International, the World Women March, and others, went to the WTO
headquarters to welcome Mr. Lamy announcement and to publicly state that
this is the moment for food sovereignty. Surprisingly, during the rally,
an assistant of the General Secretary came out to invite La Vía Campesina
members to speak with Lamy.
The next day, July 26, a delegation of La Vía Campesina that included José
Bové from the French farmers and Ms. Yoon Geum Soon from the Korean Women
Peasants League, as well as representatives of the fisher folk from the
Philippines, met for more than an hour with Lamy. In the meeting, Lamy
appeared confused and upset and blamed "certain" countries (did not
mention names) for the suspension of the Doha Round. The delegates
explained the position of La Vía Campesina. He was told that the WTO and
the neoliberal policies have worsened the economic crisis of the rural
poor living in the so-called developing countries and that it has created
a global system of unlimited competition among farmers in the developed
countries that have only benefited multinational agribusiness and their
shareholders.
The Doha Round is over and the negotiations may not be reinstated again
soon. In fact, it is probable that the suspension may bring about the fall
of the WTO. The collapse of the Doha Round represents an opportunity for
La Via Campesina and other social movements to promote our own
alternatives to WTO, Free Trade and Neoliberalism. As a leader of La Vía
Campesina, Basque farmer Paul Nicholson stated: "WTO is an octopus that is
why we have been attacking its head, now we need to start cutting the
tentacles. Now is time to develop our global, regional, national and local
strategies to bury the WTO and more importantly, to bring food
sovereignty, our alternative, as the alternative of the citizens of the
world and into the agenda of the social movements."
- Carlos Marentes: Border Agricultural Workers Project El Paso, La Via
Campesina
https://www.alainet.org/fr/node/116442
Del mismo autor
- La Vía Campesina presente 19/04/2010
- La caída de la OMC 03/08/2006
- The Doha Round negotiations suspended! 31/07/2006
Clasificado en
Clasificado en:
Libre Comercio
- José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez 01/04/2022
- Jorge Murga Armas 31/03/2022
- Jorge Murga Armas 30/03/2022
- Lori Wallach 22/03/2022
- Néstor Araujo 22/03/2022
![S'abonner à America Latina en Movimiento - RSS](https://www.alainet.org/misc/feed.png)