This just in from Deborah James at GX:
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Hello Paula
Here's a short informal note on the inside action against Powell - I hope it is the info you're looking for. I am planning on writing something but my carpal keeps my computer time limited.
Thanks for your interest! Deborah Global Exchange
Global Exchange, working with the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) and a few others organized a demonstration inside the United Nations during Colin Powell's speech. The demonstration took on a life of its own because of the anger at the Bush Administration's delegation felt by nearly every other delegation from around the world, and resulted in a huge criticism of Colin Powell's speech at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Originally, we planned a silent protest. Participants from the Global Exchange delegation had stayed up til 3 am making three huge identical green banners last night that read: "Bush: People and Planet, Not Big Business" As soon as Powell started his speech, I stood up and my group - with folks from Rainforest Action Network - unfurled our banner. But the U.N. Security took the banners away very quickly and we didn't know whether the press or many delegates had even seen them. So Mike Brune (from RAN) started to speak out and was carted off (on CNN!). Frustrated, Mike Green of CEH started chanting "shame on Bush.' Almost immediately, hundreds of people joined in.
The anger at the US delegation was so strong that the other people in the room and even the delegates from other countries joined right in and began interrupting Powell. This anger has been building over the four preparatory meetings (over the last year), as well as the last two weeks here in South Africa. Nevertheless, it is unfathomable that the delegates from other countries did that. That doesn't happen at the UN. It was unbelievably amazing. The delegates from other countries (these are senior government officials, heads of state) booed and jeered him throughout his speech - specifically when he discussed how 'healthy gmo's are for the rest of the world' and 'the US's leadership on climate change'.
For those who haven't been tracking it, the Bush Administration has been working very hard to block every important international environmental agreement proposed her at the Summit. Although our original intention was to act silently in our protest, the final result was a well-deserved humiliation of the Bush Administration. Bush's appointees ran resistance for big business on every substantive issue through the entire process. At one ngo briefing, the US delegates were asked about the US's position on biodiversity - and the delegates deferred to the biotech industry rep in the room to tell civil society what the US's position was!!!! The Bush delegation worked hard to block international consensus on global warming (on behalf of the oil companies), genetically modified organisms (on behalf of Monsanto, which has direct relationships with many Bush Cabinet members), the precautionary principle (for Monsanto again, as well as the chemical industry). The one thing that Bush's team did support was language that calls for subservience of UN international agreements to the WTO process.
By the way, some press thought that we were also criticizing Powell's comments on Mugabe of Zimbabwe. That was completely inaccurate.
-- Deborah James, Fair Trade Director Global Exchange deborah at globalexchange.org 415.575.5537 direct line 415.255.7296 x245 415.255.7498 fax 2017 Mission Street #303, San Francisco, CA 94110 http://www.globalexchange.org/coffee http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa
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