Our World Is Not For Sale Press Advisory: On Eve of 7th Ministerial, the WTO Faces Worldwide Opposition

Press Advisory
Thursday 26th November 2009

On Eve of 7th Ministerial, the WTO Faces Worldwide Opposition
Global Civil Society Calls for WTO Turnaround! No More Crises!

Over 170 trade unionists, farmers, environmentalists, fisher folks, consumer representatives, and development advocates, most of them working together through the global Our World is not for Sale network, will travel to Geneva, to ensure that their governments advocate for their interests during the 7th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (29th November 2009 till 2nd of December 2009). Many of them will also participate in a mass mobilization in Geneva on November 28th, where approximately 5,000 people are expected. At the same time around the world, civil society groups and social movements are focusing on holding governments accountable, working to ensure that officials reflect citizens’ real interests on WTO and globalization.

The Ministerial Conference has been convened on the eve of the 10th year anniversary of the Seattle protests. For the past four years, WTO expansion proponents have been afraid to call another Doha Round negotiating ministerial– despite a WTO requirement that ministerial conferences be held biannually. Thus the subject of this ministerial is “The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment”. However, the pre-crisis Doha Round agenda remains on the table, even though it is conspicuously absent from the Geneva Ministerial agenda. At the same time, calls continue to grow for WTO Turnaround – a halt to WTO expansion of the Doha Round, and a roll-back of the existing commitments under WTO, particularly those that have contributed to the global economic, social, climate, and food crises.

Expanding the free trade model amidst the global economic crisis, with unemployment exploding, wages under downward pressure, the number of people going hungry to bed significantly rising, and climate change threatening peoples’ livelihoods, will do nothing but exacerbate these crises. Contrary to governments’ rhetoric to regulate finance and the economy, world leaders are planning to do the opposite by pushing for the conclusion of the WTO Doha Round, which includes further liberalization and deregulation of financial services. Furthermore, the current trade model embodied in the WTO exacerbates the climate crisis by contributing to global warming and by discouraging, and even preventing, governments from taking action on climate change at the international and national levels. If concluded, the WTO expansion through the Doha Round would erode needed policy space even more. It will further exacerbate, not resolve, the food crisis that has already pushed 100 million people into extreme poverty.

The development dimension has been eroded in the Doha Round, out of which projected gains are meagre; in fact, many developing countries are projected to lose as a result of tariff revenue and increased unemployment! Furthermore, the global crises is exposing how the current trade and investment rules and with it free markets are failing. To overcome the current global systemic crises that now engulf the planet, a new economic order must be built --- one that puts the satisfaction of basic human needs and the implementation of all social, economic, cultural, political and human rights at the centre of its program priorities --- and one that is based on models of production and consumption that respect the natural resource limits of the planet, an equitable distribution of these resources among people, and the use of clean, safe and renewable energy resources. This requires an alternative multilateral trade model--- one that is just, sustainable, and participatory. Within this context, social movements, trade unions and civil society organisations are coming to Geneva, to express their critique and their alternatives towards Ministers attending the 7th WTO Ministerial. Given the gravity of the crises, business as usual is not possible any longer. Instead, a new model of governing multilateral trade must be developed, ensuring food security, promoting global economic growth and stability, halting global warming, addressing the massive unemployment around the world, and securing the stability and development dimension of the financial sector.

CALENDER OF PRESS BRIEFINGS:

Saturday November 28th at 9:30 a.m.: Press conference to introduce OWINFS constituency in Geneva and objectives of mobilizations around the WTO ministerial (before the social movements’ rally). Place: Maison des Associations in Plainpalais, rue des Savoies 15; reachable by bus and tram stop CIRQUE.

Monday November 30th at 10:00 a.m: Press briefing before the official opening of the Ministerial Meeting. Place: Room E of the NGO Center at the Conference Center (Ministerial location)

Tuesday December 1st at 10:00 a.m.: Meeting with trade unionists. Place: Room D of the NGO Center at the Conference Center (Ministerial location.

Wednesday December 2nd at 10:00 a.m.: Closing press briefing. Place: Room D of the NGO Center at the Conference Center (Ministerial location)

LIST of SPOKESPERSONS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS:

Trade Unionists

Tony Ehrenreich: [email protected]
Western Cape Provincial Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

Josua Mata: + 63 917 794 2431 / [email protected]
Secretary General of the Alliance of Progressive Labor

Ruben Cortina: + 5491144721211 / [email protected]
Secretary of International Affairs. Member of the international team of General Confederation of Workers

Etienne Vlok: [email protected]
Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU)

Farmers and Agriculture Experts

Chennaiah Poguri: +919440274143 / [email protected]
Secretary National Coordination of Andhra Pradesh

Babacar Ndao: + 221 77 618 67 68 / [email protected] (francais)
The Reseau des organisation paysannes et des producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest – ROPPA

Solenne Piriou: [email protected]
European coordination of La Via Campesina. Can secure interviews with Via Campesina members

Anurahda Mital: + 1 510-469-5228 / [email protected]
Executive Director of the Oakland Institute

Regional Perspectives

Adhemar S. Mineiro: 078 670 0537/ + 55 21 2518 4332/ + 55 21 2285 5835 [email protected]
Economist working at DIEESE, an institution supporting trade unions with research and analysis

Ambassador Nathan Irumba: [email protected]
Executive Director of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute

Services

Tony Clarke: + 1 613 769 9226 / [email protected]
Executive Director of the Polaris Institute

Lori Wallach: + 1 202 546-4996 / [email protected]
Director of Global Trade Watch at Public Citizen

General Issues

Meena Raman: [email protected]
Third World Network

Deborah James: + 41 860787760178 / [email protected]
Director of International Programs at the Center for Economic and Policy Alternatives

PRESS CONTACTS:

Verda Cook: [email protected] and +41 (0) 78 776 0178

Kinda Mohamadieh: [email protected] and +41 (0) 79 872 8738.

*** The OWINFS network is a loose grouping of organizations, activists and social movements worldwide fighting the current model of corporate globalization embodied in global trading system. OWINFS is committed to a sustainable, socially just, democratic and accountable multilateral trading system.

For more information, please visit: www.ourworldisnotforsale.org.