Anti-Globalization Protests in Bangkok by Phairath Khampha 24 February 2000 The first major global trade summit since violence erupted at economic talks in Seattle in late 1999 started in Bangkok on February 12, 2000. Protestors had already made their presence felt in Thailand for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) earlier the week before. Greenpeace accused the United Nations of condoning the export of toxic waste from rich countries to the developing world. "We are here to expose UNCTAD's 'greenwash', and alert people of Asia to prevent their countries from becoming the dumping ground for the West," said Greenpeace International toxics campaigner Marcelo Furtado. Building bridges Trade officials said that far from dumping on poor countries, they wanted to build bridges between the rich and the poor. UNCTAD secretary-general Reubens Ricupero said he wanted the week-long meeting to be the start of a reconciliation process after the violence on the streets of Seattle during the World Trade Organisation meeting. Given the economic neo-colonization of the Southeast Asian countires by mainly American multinational corporations, the statements made by Ricupero had a strongly hypocritical ring. Mr Ricupero told a news conference: "We are an organisation that is very close to the poor, the deprived and the marginalised." Waste Protest Most others, including a very large number of Thais were unconvinced. Most Thais that the Penguin Star spoke to in the two weeks before the summit said they saw the United States and its multinational corporations as interfering policemen that were action more to protect the interests of corporate America than the welfare of the Thai nation. On February 9, Greenpeace environmentalists dumped a container of waste incinerated by a Japanese company on the tourist island of Phuket in front of the Japanese embassy in Bangkok. The container bore the message: "Return to sender." The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was docked in Bangkok port for a week as part of a Asian campaign against toxic waste. Big Business The leading advocates of globalisation were also in Thailand. The heads of the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were there. Most Thais see the three organizations out to ensure corporate America takes over the Thai economy and pillages the nation's wealth at the expense of ordinary Thais. The United States, in an attempt to play down its economic neo-colonial agenda sent a relatively-junior official. Some have said that underlines the fact that UNCTAD has little power because it does not lend money and is not a forum in which countries make binding commitments to remove trade barriers. Many said that UNCTAD was only a hollow forum pretending to sound for the economic interests of the downtrodden masses.