Why Third Worlders hated Seattle

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Sun Dec 12 07:43:23 PST 1999


New World Disorder

Monte Paulsen, Original to AlterNet

SEATTLE (Dec. 5) -- The World Trade Organization slunk away from this

riot-torn city after delegates from 135 nations abandoned their

efforts to launch a new round of trade negotiations. Demonstrators

danced in the soggy streets, celebrating after a week of mostly

peaceful protests hobbled the ministerial meeting. But the Battle of

Seattle that drew 40,000 activists to the streets paled in comparison

to the quiet riot beyond the barricades.

Working from plush hotel suites nestled high above the clouds of tear

gas, WTO Director General Mike Moore and U.S. Trade Representative

Charlene Barshefsky were less troubled by the sea of protestors

handing out "practice safe trade" condoms than the trickle of outraged

delegates who, angered over how the U.S. and European Union were

monopolizing the agenda, were threatening to pack their bags.

"This is absolutely the worst -- the worst -- organized international

conference there has ever been," said Sir Shridath Ramphal, a

silver-haired veteran of more than 30 years of trade negotiations and

head of a joint delegation of Caribbean nations. "Mrs. Barshefsky is

intent on forcing the process and having a declaration at all costs,

almost as if it doesn't matter what the rest of the countries think

about it. Well, that is not going to happen. The WTO does not belong

to the United States."

How the WTO Failed

The WTO was set up in 1995 to monitor trade agreements and resolve

disputes. The Geneva-based group operates by consensus, which means

that every member nation must agree to proceed with a new "round" of

negotiations. In practice, WTO leaders summon small groups of

delegates to a "green room" -- so named because the walls of the first

room used for this purpose were green -- where the agreement is

hammered out. Once a few key delegates agree on a text, the rest of

the ministers are pressured to go along with it in exchange for

concessions on other issues.

The fundamentally undemocratic nature of this negotiating process was

among the complaints protestors brought to Seattle. It also proved to

be the undoing of the ministerial meeting. Among the fatal flaws:

- The green room process provided no opportunity for interested

parties to monitor negotiations. Neither the proposals, nor the

debate, nor even the voting records were visible to the public, as

they are in nearly every democracy in the world. This led to comical

results in Seattle, where news reporters and representatives from

non-governmental organizations turned to peering through peepholes and

sifting through trash cans as they struggled to discern what was going

on behind the scenes. WTO leaders stationed additional security

personnel throughout the convention center in order to combat such

amateur espionage. By the end of the week, the inside of the hall felt

as much like a police state as the streets.

- Most less-developed nations were also shut out of the process.

Delegates from economically powerless countries in Africa, the

Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean spent most of the week

wandering the halls, asking journalists and non-governmental

representatives what was happening. The delegates -- nearly all of

whom are high-ranking officials in their home governments -- were

humiliated, and grew furious as the week progressed. Making matters

worse, the riots prevented them from sampling Seattle's nightlife and

kept them cooped up in their hotels. "There's too much

behind-the-scene cooking," complained Namibian delegate Nokokure

Murangi. "It's as if we do not exist."

- And when many were finally were presented with a draft agreement,

they were simultaneously subjected to intense pressure to sign. None

would discuss the specifics on the record, for fear of further

reprisals. But Jamie Love, who has been tracking trade deals for

several years as head of the Consumer Project on Technology, said the

arm-twisting is frequently unrelated to trade. "It is this really ugly

form of colonialism where everything happens behind the scenes." Love

said that when Egypt was contemplating a pharmaceuticals policy that

would hurt U.S. drug makers, for example, "They were told in plain

terms that they would lose $500 million in U.S. aid if they challenged

the U.S." Brent Blackwelder, head of the environmental group Friends

of the Earth, agreed: "Delegates from the south are caving in to

United States pressure ... The violence you see outside cannot compare

to the violence being done inside."

By late Friday night, it became clear to WTO leadership that there was

no way to reach consensus. "We could have stayed all night, maybe for

five more days, it wouldn't have mattered," said a weary Barshefsky,

who as host of the failed conference will likely face intense

criticism in the months to come. "The WTO has outgrown the processes

appropriate to an earlier time," she added, " ... we needed a process

which had a greater degree of internal transparency and inclusion to

accommodate a larger and more diverse membership."

What Next?

While the forces aligned against corporate-led globalization won the

Battle of Seattle, the War over World Trade is far from over. The WTO

plans to resume discussions early next year in Geneva. Moore and most

of the humiliated trade negotiators believe that the WTO can be fixed

-- possibly through the creation of a parliamentary style system --

and resume pursuing its free-trade agenda.

But the labor, consumer, environment, human rights, and student groups

who marched in Seattle are opposed to the core beliefs of the WTO,

which they claim promotes not "free" trade but "corporate-managed"

trade policies that threaten health, labor, the environment and basic

human rights. Noted consumer advocate Ralph Nader, "There's never been

an event in American history that has brought together more disparate

groups."

Both sides vow to fight again. The only thing certain is that it won't

be in as comfortable a city as Seattle. When asked where he would

schedule the next ministerial meeting, a former top U.S. trade

negotiator suggested: "Someplace like Iceland, in January."

--------

Monte Paulsen is a freelance reporter based in Washington, D.C. He is

a contributor to "The Buying of the President 2000" to be released

next month by Avon Books.



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