…I’m still reeling from this experience and my thoughts are past due…
In this line of work, I have to accept the bogus line that trade liberalization is mandatory for human development, for reducing poverty, for promoting democracy. Yet it is estimated that the damage done to African countries by trade liberalization in the past 25 years, amounts to $272 billion USD (Christian Aid). Clearly, there are better alternatives for world trade, like keeping some protection and market regulations, (was not every US President on each bill a bloody market protectionist?), or getting rid of capitalism altogether? In addition, to bite the hand that feeds me, the organization for which I work tries to play by WTO rules and promotes liberalization in order to become a substantial contender with the other Chicago Boys. But I think it becomes just as soulless, misguided and disconnected from the world’s poor majority. Given that many of my political tendencies conflict with colleagues and people in hierarchies of power towards whom I must smile, I fear that all commentary and protest actions could cost me the job. (Hm, I’ll have to let you know if I need a couch to crash on…)
Indeed, the madness of the 6th WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong is indescribable and may contrast with mainstream media stories. For me, the whole process was very rushed, overwhelming and a strange convergence of activists of all kinds (whether it be dogmatic trade ministers, well-off activist tourists [i.e. Tallahassee’s Dubravko], or people who’ve fallen through the ‘cracks’ in the public eye and world trade sphere). I learned the Sunday before the talks hat I was to accompany the organisation, to which I am affiliated, to the flame-throwing debauch of the trade ministerial/circus Although I arrived too late in the week to sort out my security pass, and had to attend laborious, never ending delegation meetings with the development posse, I got a very good idea of how such negotiations take place. ‡US/EU shows up with their agenda and trade interests, does not budge and brings the rest of the world to groveling, due to their threats of sanctions and falling out of favor with ‘the only show in town’, the WTO. The talks leading up to 12-18 Dec meetings clearly demonstrated this. So none of us are surprised, but I’m more vitriolic about WTO’s farcical attempts towards ‘compromise’ –er, coercion in the green room-, civil society ‘consultation’ and NGO accreditation process, and all bloody presented offers.
It’s clear that within the talks, industrialized Northern reps ‘forged consensus’ with up-and-comers India, Brasil, and China, precluding ‘less developed’ or least developed countries (LDCs) from the talks. {Whose bloody terms of development are we using here? Developing to whose standards?}. I had the good fortune to attend several International Centre on Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) panel discussions, which taught me more than I could learn from any book. I was able to observe my colleagues’ politics, how one manipulates themselves in this ‘talking head’, ‘fridge buzz’ arena, and how I will most likely fail out of this spectacle as I cannot play this deceitful, conniving game.
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