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What is the WTO?
Janne M.
Nyström The
WTO rose to knowledge of most common people in connection to the so called
Seattle riots. But what does this mystical abbreviation stand for and why are
people so angry about it? WTO
stand for World Trade Organization and was founded on the 1st of
January in 1995. It’s main purpose is to promote ”free trade”, but by the
way it works it has turned into our unelected global government – standing
over local law. ”Freeing up” trade has so far mostly been about lessening
restrictions put by local/national governments on multinational corporations,
and about deciding trade ”disputes” between nations. It also polices
international trade rules. The
decisions of the WTO have all been in advantage of multination corporations,
while they have been in disadvantage of environmental, public health and worker
safety laws. The problem is that the only priority of the WTO is to protect
trade – not caring about workers, jobs, communities or environment. That is
why the common people never accepted this organization – already when it was
created millions of people protested in the streets and there were 70 000
arrests in India! Although the WTO promises prosperity for everyone, it just
adds inequality in reality – democracy turns into plutocracy, a corporate
rule. As a
matter of fact, the WTO has put itself above democracy by working behind closed
doors. The panel that sets trade disputes consists of only three (!) persons and
the public has no access to it. The WTO stands also above the 135 member
governments that it is made up of: it has the right to limit the possibilities
of governments to make purchases on ethical grounds – purchases must be based
on quality or cost only. That means you cannot, for instance, ban products
produced through child labor – because products cannot be treated differently
for how they are produced. To sum
it all up I’ll give a few examples of the achievments of the WTO: -
Forced
Guatemala to stop warning mothers of the dangers to their babies of feeding them
breast milk substitute. -
Stopped
countries banning imports of fish caught in nets that kill vast numbers of
dolphins, turtles and other marine life. -
Overruled the
US state of Massachusetts’ boycott of companies dealing with Burma’s highly
oppressive regime. -
Ruled in favour
of huge US corporations over small Caribbean banana farmers. Free trade means freedom for the rich, a prison
for the poor! Make love, not profit! | Main page |