Protest the WTO and privatisation of services
by Takver Wednesday August 13, 2003 at 03:47 PM

The next World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting is in Cancun, Mexico in September. People in Melbourne, and round the world are organising protests against this meeting.

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The World Trade Organisation is meeting in the resort of Cancun, Mexico, in September to deepen its agenda of privatisation. People in Melbourne, and around the world, are organising concurrent protests.

The "ministerial meeting" (similar to the one in Seattle in 1999) will be discussing the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which is a corporate charter for looting public services like health, education, utilities and transport.

Many of the governments which are behind this economic attack on the workers, peasants and poor of the world supported the invasion of Iraq, which has opened up a new "free market" for western corporations. First world corporations make enormous profits through the manipulations of the IMF and World Bank of Third World countries caught in a "debt trap (which) robs all the surplus production of an entire society. Debt does much more than forcing a country to work for nothing. This form of terrorism punishes the children, abandons the sick, and enslaves the adults.(The Terrorism Of Debt by Wanda Fish, 06 Aug 2003)

That is why the "Hemispheric and Global Assembly against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the WTO" held in Mexico City on May 26 put out a call for action. (The call to action, plus other related documents, can be read at www.focusweb.org)

In particular, the assembly called for a global day of protest against war and globalisation on Saturday, September 13.

This call has since been supported by the Jakarta Peace Conference, a meeting of 700-800 peace activists in Geneva following the G8 protest, and a similar meeting at the protests against the European Union in Thessalonika.

There is a Civil Society call to WTO Members for the 5th WTO Ministerial in Cancun which organisations and individuals can endorse.

One of the issues deferred from the WTO Doha Meeting two years ago is a new Investment Agreement. Global Civil society organised a successful campaign against a previous incarnation of this agreement - the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). There is a strong push from European Commission for WTO Investment Negotiations at Cancun. Keep an eye on the Investment Watch website to organise to stop this agreement.

The other major agreement under scrutiny by civil society is the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). While some are concerned that GATS may be the End of Democracy there is an active campaign to stop GATS in Australia coordinated by the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET). The ASU website in particular is active on the GATS campaign.

In Melbourne, a 'Fiesta for Freedom' Reclaim the Streets against the WTO Cancun meeting is being organised for 5pm Friday 12 September outside the State Library in Swanston Street, and a Teachin on War, Globalisation and Justice is being called by the Victorian Peace Network on Saturday 13 September. The first organising meeting for the Melbourne rally brought together people from No One is Illegal, the Greens, Stop Killer Coke campaign, Friends of the Earth, local peace groups, socialists, and La Trobe student union.

The Cancun Solidarity Group will be meeting weekly at 6pm at FoE Melbourne on Thursday evenings, 312 Smith Street Collingwood. You can also join the Cancun Solidarity Group Email List to help organise the event. For more details ring FoE on (03) 9419 8700.

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