IN QATAR, W.T.O. WILL AVOID PROTESTS When ministers from the 142 member countries of the WTO gather next Friday, the anti-globalization protesters who hijacked its last meeting two years ago in Seattle won't be there, reports the Wall Street Journal Europe (p.3)-but their demands could still threaten the outcome of the talks.
The protesters will be kept away from this WTO gathering by the decision taken 10 months ago to stage the meeting in Doha, in the remote Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Environmental groups said the WTO was going into hiding. Citing a shortage of accommodation, Qatar is issuing visas to only about 300 accredited delegates from anti-globalization groups.
Whereas tens of thousands of labor unionists filled the streets of Seattle, only about 40 labor leaders are expected in Qatar, an authoritarian country where trade unions are illegal. They are scheduled to hold just one meeting in a conference room. In the most public display of protest, Greenpeace will dock its boat, SV Rainbow Warrior, and a crew of 30 will set up a few protest billboards on its deck.
Despite the lack of street agitation, Mike Moore, the WTO's director general, predicts that the environment and agriculture, both issues tightly linked to the anti-globalization agenda, could be "deal breakers" at Doha. The meeting is supposed to agree on the broad parameters of a future round of world trade talks, something world leaders have said is crucial to rebuilding confidence in the face of recession, but anti-globalization protesters are still hoping to block that initiative. "Until the whole nature of the WTO is changed, we believe that it's wrong to launch a new round of trade talks," says Remi Parmentier, political director of Greenpeace International.
Even stronger opposition will come from developing countries, which have rejected these demands as a disguised form of protectionism. For instance, the EU's food-safety laws have been used to keep out food exports from African countries with little scientific justification. Mexico is arguing with the US over laws that penalize its shrimp exports because its fisherman kill endangered sea turtles. "You should not assume that we share the anti-globalization movement's agenda. They speak for the rich North," says Nasir Ben Jalloun, Morocco's ambassador to the WTO.
That sets up a conundrum for the anti-globalization lobby, which sometimes claims to speak for the world's poor. Greenpeace, for instance, has responded by stressing that its demands are consistent with the needs of developing countries. The crew of Greenpeace's protest ship will include traditional fishermen and tropical mangrove dwellers, who, it says, are being harmed by the shrimp industry.
The news comes as the International Herald Tribune (p.1) reports that following the phase of relative quiet into which it was stunned by the September 11 terrorist attacks, the anti-globalization movement is looking for a second wind, and it may find it in recasting itself as a force linked to protests against the US military response in Afghanistan.