NGOs Unwelcome at Forum Mondays
meeting between the WTO and reprsentatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was
not a dialogue, as advertised, but a transparent public-relations exercise in which NGOs
offering the most powerful critiques of the organization were excluded from the panel.
Nevertheless, several NGO leaders made their views on the WTO, and on the unbalanced
nature of the event, known from the floor.
"We are in the country of spin doctors and we feel that the whole exercise
today is one of spin doctoring so that the WTO will not be criticized," said Muthoni
Muriu from ENDA, an environment and development group based in Senegal. "The real
issue here is that we want the imbalances and inequities in WTO rules to be
addressed."
WTO Director-General Michael Moore kicked off the panel by responding to a common
NGO criticism of the WTO. "The WTO is not a world government, a global policeman, or
an agent for corporate interests," he said. "It has no authority to tell
countries what trade policies - or any other policies - they should adopt."
Few of the speakers on the NGO panel, which included staunch WTO advocates such as
Columbia University professor Jagdish Bhagwati and Hewlett-Packard chair Lewis Platt, said
anything to challenge Moores view. Meanwhile, obvious choices for an NGO panel such
as the Sierra Clubs Carl Pope and Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder
were blasting the WTO to an audience of thousands of activists gathered at a protest
around the corner.
One of only two environmental representatives on the panel was Dr. Claude Martin,
Director-General of World Wildife Fund International. He called for a more environmentally
sustainable global economy, but said that free trade can help to achieve that.
"Multilateral trading rules are a neccesity for sustainable
development," he said, before going on to praise the WTO for becoming more
transparent and environmentally sensitive in recent years.
The panel of speakers included several officials from developed countries,
including Clare Short, the UKs secretary of state for International Development, but
did not include a single minister from a developing county, much less one critical of the
direction of the WTO.
Short called for the next WTO round to be a "development round."
"If the door is slammed shut here in Seattle, the poor will suffer. I appeal
not to let that happen," Short said.
But Martin Khor of Malysia-based Third World Network told the panel from the floor
that any trade round that purports to be a development round and ignores the concern of
developing countries is "a sham." These concerns include the implementation of
existing agreements and the impact of adding new issues like investment liberalization,
government procurement and competition policy to the WTO, he said.
At a press conference, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky responded to
the criticism that the symposium was simply a PR exercise, since the WTO has no intention
of heeding NGO calls to abandon a new round.
"The essence of democracy is to let everyone in and let them be heard,"
she said. "That doesnt mean that you agree with their views." She said the
view that there should be no new WTO round "doesnt take into account the need
for global prosperity."
But again, speaking from the floor, Maude Barlow of the 100,000-member Council of
Canadians decried "the lack of any real representation of civil society" on the
panel. She then produced a document that underscored the corporate-driven agenda of the
WTO: a contact list that Canadas trade delegation provided for the media "for
quotes, analysis and reaction." The list consists exclusively of industry groups,
including the Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters, the Business Council on national
Issues, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
The start of the NGO symposium was delayed several hours when the conference
center was shut for security purposes after someone broke into the building. This turn of
events, which resulted in the gathered pack of international media being forced into the
street, meant that NGO leaders excluded from the panel got the last laugh. They used the
opportunity to hold an impromptu press conference.
"We had some of our key people there, and we just yelled press
conference," said Josh Karliner of San Francisco-based Corporate Watch, who organized
the briefing. "It was like yelling fire in a crowded auditorium."
Daniel Zoll, IFG
home
|