-Caveat Lector- From http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/1999/458/op3.htm {{<Begin>}} Civil society against the WTO By Mohamed Sid-Ahmed The city of Seattle on the northwestern coast of the United States is home to two of the most successful American corporations: Microsoft, the world's leading manufacturer of computer software, and Boeing, its leading aircraft manufacturer. The very personification of the American dream, Seattle has come to symbolise the economic and technological preeminence of the United States. True, Microsoft owner Bill Gates, who rose from the ranks of anonymous computer nerds to become the richest man in the world, is currently embroiled in a massive antitrust lawsuit, while Boeing is facing stiff competition from its European rival, Airbus, especially after the mysterious crash of EgyptAir's Boeing 767. But both remain symbols of America's status as the world power which heads the present day unipolar world order. Two days ago, Seattle was the venue for the opening session of a new round of trade talks under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which brought together the economic and trade ministers of 135 countries and which is expected to continue for the coming three yeas at least. Dubbed the Millennium Round, the Seattle WTO meeting is seen as a celebration of the supposedly unmitigated success of the liberal school of economics on the eve of the new millennium, in other words, as a vindication of Fukoyama's 'end of history' theory. But what is happening on the streets of Seattle is delivering another message altogether. Over the last two days, Seattle has witnessed mass demonstrations by some fifty thousand activists representing hundreds of NGOs from all parts of the world, who have come to express the viewpoint of civil society on the performance of the WTO and to underscore that its practices are in clear contradiction with the aspirations of the masses in a wide variety of walks of life. A statement issued by an organisation calling itself the Representatives of Civil Society Opposed to the Millennium Round of Trade Talks, signed by 1,200 organisations from 87 countries, declared that "the WTO has played a significant role throughout the last five years in further concentrating wealth in the hands of a minority while increasing the poverty of the majority of the world population... The (previous) Uruguay round of talks aimed at opening new markets for the transnational corporations at the expense of national economies, workers, peasants, many other sectors of society and the environment. The WTO's processes are undemocratic and non-transparent". The statement called for a moratorium on all activities extending the authority of the WTO and for reforms hat would allow an evaluation of the impact of the WTO on marginalised communities, development, democracy, the environment, health, human rights, labour practices and the rights of women and children, stressing that these reforms should be undertaken with the full participation of civil society. The most significant feature of the anti-WTO rallies in Seattle is that they have taken political action to a wholly new dimension, one that is not dominated by traditional centralised institutions like political parties and trade unions, but follows a new and unconventional pattern which draws heavily on the opportunities offered by the information revolution, notably the Internet, and expresses the grievances of groupings of global citizens united in their opposition to the unbridled deregulation of international trade as advocated by the WTO. Possibly because it anticipated that the WTO meeting would provoke just such a furore, the US government decided not to contribute towards its financing but to leave it to the private sector. A special organisation, headed jointly by Bill Gates and Boeing CEO Phil Condit, was set up for the express purpose of raising the required funds through the sale of tickets to businessmen interested in lunching and dining with the ministers taking part in the WTO talks. Some ten million dollars were raised this way thanks to the price of the tickets, which ranged from 250 thousand dollars for the 'emerald' ticket to 5,000 dollars for the 'bronze'. The four-day 135-nation conference in Seattle is a forum for what is being touted as the biggest trade talks in history and, as such, an unprecedented opportunity for delegates to come to grips with the real problems facing world trade. But so profound and multiple are the differences between the participating states making up today's 'globalised' world that the plenary meetings failed to come up with an agenda acceptable to all the delegates. Each country concentrated on what it considered its priorities: France on its cultural specificity, especially in regard to the protection of its film industry, India on the protection of its home industries, etc. Actually, the protection of national film and audio-visual industries is an issue of concern for no fewer than 23 of the states represented at the Seattle meeting, including Germany, Britain, Canada and Australia which, together with France, suffer from US domination in the field. Thus the assumption that economic and trade issues can be dealt with in isolation from social and political considerations is belied not only by the street protests in Seattle, but also by the deep differences between the countries participating in the official meeting. Obvious cracks have appeared in the supposedly unified front of the industrialised nations, which are squabbling among themselves over a number of trade-related issues. Clinton's bid to assert America's economic leadership over its allies is creating tensions with Europe and Japan. The biggest subject of disagreement between the US and Europe is agriculture, with Washington attacking the EU for the price supports and export subsidies it offers its farmers and Europe boycotting hormone-fed American livestock and genetically modified crops. Then there are the still more acute differences between the industrial nations and the developing countries. But the real confrontation is between the WTO as the proponent of ever greater trade liberalisation and the street demonstrations protesting the adverse effects this is having on labour practices, the ecology and social and political stability. As the US representative at the conference, Charlene Barchevsky admitted: "The absence of support for the conference from public opinion is the main threat to the ongoing multilateral trade system." In a bid to counteract the external pressure to which the WTO is being subjected, Clinton is trying to expand its membership to include as many countries as possible. To that end, he has paved the way for China's inclusion in the organisations despite the reservations of Congress. In the meantime, the anti-WTO campaign is proceeding full force ahead in Seattle, with American NGOs in the vanguard. One American NGO, Public Citizen, has issued a statement accusing Clinton of double standards: "He might be talking to us about protecting the workers and the environment and about developing a globalism with a human face, but his administration has not stopped bolstering business and the big corporations". Another NGO notes that although "we were told that the downfall of the Berlin Wall ten years ago brought about the defeat of the anti-democratic forces worldwide, now the state is supporting the most undemocratic institutions ever to have existed and is intruding as never before in our private lives." The face-off in Seattle marks another round in a battle that has been taking a variety of forms. One such form was the anti-Davos demonstration organised last year to protest the annual gathering of top decision makers in the corporate world held in Davos. Another less obvious form was last month's failed bid by Ismail Serageddin for the directorship of UNESCO. The election of the Japanese candidate reflects the triumph of state manipulation and market mechanisms over the broader human concerns with which Sarageddin identifies, such as environmental hazards, water shortage and the growing gap between rich and poor. Some prominent Egyptian intellectuals, including friends I hold in high esteem, have criticised articles in the Egyptian press supporting Serageddin and Ahmed Zeweil on the grounds that, however outstanding their achievements in the international arena, from the perspective of Egyptian nationalism, they have been involved in questionable practices. The criticism may be valid in the case of Ahmed Zeweil; it is unfounded when it comes to Ismail Serageddin. While it is true that Zeweil's breakthrough scientific discovery deservedly earned him the Nobel Prize, it is also true that he has no compunction about offending Egyptian sensibilities by accepting prizes from Israel and fraternising with Israeli scientists, possibly in the interests of pure science but perhaps also in the interests of self-promotion. Serageddin, on the other hand, cannot be placed in the same basket. By declaring that his defeat in the UNESCO election will not make him relinquish the battle he undertook to occupy that post, Serageddin is acquiring another stature. He is no longer fighting for a post, but for an idea: that of combating the ills threatening the human species, which requires a fundamental change in world order and world priorities. This places him on the side of the 50 thousand demonstrators waging their battle in the streets of Seattle. 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