WTO Blog 6: Cliff-hanger

I mentioned roosting chickens in an earlier blog, I’m not obsessed with them honestly but chickens have come up again during my time in Geneva. Ghana used to have a buoyant poultry industry but subsidised poultry from the EU has decimated the Ghanaian poultry industry.

I heard Kenneth Quartey who represents Ghanian poulty farmers say that: “If the Doha Round concludes we see little space for agriculture in Ghana and in Africa, where 60 per cent of the population relies on agriculture for its income. We just simply do not know what to do next.” This sentiment is echoed around the world by farmers and fishers, labour groups and environmentalists who all see a Doha conclusion as a complete and utter disaster.

The WTO ministerial closed today with the reaffirmation that development is still central to the Doha round and a 2010 deadline is still on the cards. It beggars belief, that the WTO has the cheek to use the word ‘development’ when its rules and policies are decimating entire sectors (e.g. chickens in Ghana and cotton in West Africa) causing massive job losses in its wake and derailing much needed poverty alleviation in developing countries.

Development is also about enabling countries to grow their own industries which provide jobs and decent wages. “Doha’s drive for more market access in developing countries will mean that we will not be able to grow our own manufacturing sectors. We need to be able to protect our sensitive sectors and protect our jobs so that our people can be lifted out of poverty. Doha will limit the policy options that we can use and is not only an attack on our current industries but will limit our future industrial growth” Etienne Vlok from South Africa.

The WTO met this week fully conscious of the global crisis yet there seems to be a disconnect between the liberalisation mantra that countries are regurgitating at the WTO and the imperative of dealing with the mess that deregulation and liberalisation has left in its wake. It’s like they haven’t joined the dots and seen that we are in this mess because of the WTO or that by committing to a Doha conclusion they are asking for more of the same and therefore condemning themselves as increasingly irrelevant and out of touch. They haven’t cottoned on that the WTO rules will actually restrict what they need to do at home to create jobs, build food security, re-regulate the financial sector and deal with climate change.

So is there any silver lining here? I’m glad to say there is. Ten years ago, protests at Seattle collapsed the talks and today worldwide resistance to the WTO is still as passionate and committed as ever and I got to meet some of those who are on the frontline in this struggle and have committed their lives to campaigning on trade issues. Global resistance has made a difference as the Doha round has collapsed several times over.

I hope that the videos, photos, stories and quotes from Geneva stir up outrage and inspire you to continue taking action in solidarity with those whose daily lives have been impacted by the unfair rules and policies of the WTO.

Like any good soap, I’ll leave this blog on a cliff-hanger – the resistance story 2009 continues through the Caravan for social and climate justice where 60 activists from the global south will travel from the WTO in Geneva through Europe to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen to draw attention on how trade and climate change have impacted their lives and what they can do to make a difference. Wiz from WDM will be with the Caravan and will be trying her best to provide some blogs on the way and Kirsty and Tim (WDM climate team) will also be providing updates and blogs from Copenhagen – so over to you guys!