WTO

Killing People, Killing The Planet — WTO Found Guilty

December 7, 2013 Priadi Talman, Aditiajaya, Mae Buenaventura and Muhammad Reza, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Corporatism, Human Rights, WTO

To the chant of “guilty, guilty, guilty!”, a “peoples’ tribunal” indicted the World Trade Organization yesterday for the “systematic violation of human rights, massive destruction of livelihoods and the environment, privatization and commodification of the commons and the violation of international law”. The court specifically held to account and answer for widespread damages, private entities that Freeport Indonesia Ltd., PAM Lyonnais Jaya Ltd. and Aetra Air Jakarta Ltd., the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Donggi Senoro Liquid Natural Gas Ltd., Lafarge Cement Indonesia Ltd., Charoen Pokphand Indonesia Tbk., the mayor of Samarinda - Kalimantan, and corporations of coal and pesticides in Brebes, Central Java . It also decried “corporate impunity”, such that justice cannot be accessed in the current judicial system by grassroots people.

Global People’s Tribunal on WTO & Free Trade Agreements

December 6, 2013 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Corporatism, Democracy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Human Rights, TPP, Worker Rights and Jobs, WTO

The Indictment A. We the Justices of the Global People’s Tribunal on WTO, Free Trade Agreements, Investments & Transnational Corporations, have heard the substantive testimonies of the affected communities and sectors, including women and children, peasants, fishers, workers, migrants and indigenous peoples in Indonesia, other Asian countries (India, Korea, Thailand, Cambodia), and other regions - Latin America, Canada. B. These testimonies have given evidence on: The systematic violation of human rights; The massive destruction of livelihoods and the environment; The privatization and commodification of the commons and of nature; The violation of international law. . . . I. We underline people’s inalienable right to justice. We acknowledge the importance of social movements and civil society organisations engagement in the campaigns to end corporate impunity, the WTO and the trade & investment regime. J. We recognize that the struggle of resistance goes hand in hand with the construction of alternatives of an economy for the people and the planet, with initiatives such as the indigenous knowledge systems, seed banks, food sovereignty, and a new paradigm for trade and investment, as well as a new juridical system that will deliver justice.

Action By Indian Social Movements Inside WTO Meeting In Bali

December 3, 2013 Indian Social Movements, www.climate-connections.org Resist! Corporatism, Food and Agriculture, WTO

However, the group cautioned the Indian negotiating team headed by Commerce Minister Mr. Anand Sharma, not to bow to any pressure to weaken India’s position on defending and upholding national food security as a sovereign right. The group declared that the safeguarding and promotion of the country’s food security, rural employment and livelihoods are non-negotiable, and that food security cannot be ensured without supporting agricultural production by small and marginal farmers. The group reminds the WTO members that no country needs to be on the defensive about protecting the right to food and fighting hunger in their countries. And that aggressively upholding the rights of its citizens is not tantamount to collapsing the ministerial talks. On the contrary, such pressure tactics must be exposed as a conspiracy to keep people hungry and poor.

Seattle WTO Collapsed 14 Years Ago: Lessons For Today

December 2, 2013 David Solnit, www.popularresistance.org Strategize! Finance and the Economy, Government, TPP, Wars and Militarism, WTO

On Dec 3, 1999 the 1%'s plan for how to run the global economy collapsed in Seattle, amidst teargas in the streets and jails full of hundreds of people from North America's newly emerging global justice movement. The World Trade Organizations negotiations had collapsed in failure as a result of a week of mass direct action and protest in the streets that shut down the entire first day of the WTO Ministerial on November 30 together with the refusal of Global South countries--under pressure from strong movements at home--refusal to comply with the plans of the elites in the rich countries. 14 years later, the value of looking back is to see how people power can work and to pull lessons for today. The best analysis of the week long street/info battles was written by Paul deArmand; Black Flag Over Seattle, later republished as part of Networks and Netwars by the RAND Corporation.

Globalized Corporate Trade Fails Again: WTO Stalls

November 27, 2013 Lauren Airey, www.shopfloor.org Educate! Corporatism, Democracy, Economic Democracy, TPP, WTO

The approach of global trade is not working for most people in the world. The failure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to move forward is one more example of a failed approach. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Atlantic version, TAFTA, are additional examples. The WTO and these trade agreements pursue a path that puts profits ahead of the necessities of the people and the planet. They have expanded the wealth divide, destroyed the environment and undermined the rights of workers. Unlike the spokesperson from the United States in the article below, we are pleased to see this failure. Our view is that an entirely new approach is needed to international trade. We need to change the goals of trade and the method of reaching agreements on trade. The new goals should be one of cooperation, not domination; it should put the people and planet before process. The approach to achieve trade for the benefit of people and planet should not be one of secrecy and participation by transnational corporations, as the current approach takes but rather one of transparency and participation of civil society in creating economic democracy. These negotiations are creating international laws, the people affected by those laws should participate in making them.

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