Papers and speeches

26 July 2006
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Papers and speeches

Articles

  • Susan George Reflexions sur l'Accord de Hong Kong: L'OMC au service des transnationales TNI Website, 19 December 2005
  • Susan George reports from Hong Kong:
  • Walden Bello The Real Meaning of Hong Kong: Brazil and India Join the Big Boys’ Club 22 December 2005
  • Boris Kagarlitsky A Good No-Go for WTO 22 December 2005
  • Dot Keet Why South Africa Needs to Oppose GATS Business Report (Johannesburg), 8 December 2005
  • Roeline Knottnerus Services Outcome of the Meeting with EU Ambassador Trojan TNI Website, 20 October 2005
  • Walden Bello Are the WTO Talks in Trouble? Don't Bet On It Focus on the Global South, 16 August 2005
    The recent WTO General council meeting in Geneva failed to arrive at substantive agreements in any of the critical areas of negotiations: agriculture, non-agricultural products, and services. Critics of the coming WTO ministerial in Hong Kong were cheered by this as a sign of setback. Bello says it is too early to celebrate and warns of the possible raw offers to some developing countries that would induce them to come to a deal. In this case, civil society pressure is essential to prevent developing country governments from signing up to processes that will drastically reduce their policy space. - Versión español
  • Walden Bello The End of an Illusion. WTO Reform, Global Civil Society and the Road to Hong Kong Focus on Trade, April 2005 - Versión español
  • Boris Kagarlitsky Making WTO Happy, Not Average Russians The Moscow Times, 27 January 2005
    In an effort to push forward Russia's entry into the WTO, the housing, education and health care sectors are being opened up to competition and privatisation. Politically speaking, Putin himself is the main force behind these anti-social measures, and the Presidential Administration is doing all it can to implement this programme, running roughshod over popular discontent as well as the resistance of a bureaucracy that realizes this will not end well, writes Kagarlitsky.
  • Walden Bello Roller Coaster of a Decade for the World Trade Organization Focus on the Global South, 26 January 2005
    On the 10th anniversary of WTO, Bello analyses the state of affairs of the organisation which, after the defeat in Cancún, has changed tactics in dealing with critics. It has managed to break the alliance of developing countries by co-opting Brazil and India on the agriculture issue. It has also transferred the powers of ministerial meetings to the Geneva-based General Council in order to defuse the power of civil society protests. This shift of authority could prove to be counter-productive, warns Bello.
  • Susan George Report on the "Etats généraux" of Local Governments against the GATS TNI Website, 18 November 2004
  • Praful Bidwai Unequal Bargain at WTO Teh Daily Star, 23 August 2004
  • Walden Bello and Aileen Kwa G20 Leaders Succumb to Divide-and-Rule Tactics. The Story behind Washington's Triumph in Geneva Focus on the Global South, 10 August 2004
    The "July framework" negotiations were a departure from traditional North-South trade negotiations and may set patterns for things to come, writes Bello. The trade superpowers learned from the debacle of Cancún, and moved from confrontational strategy to one on co-optation and subtle divide and rule tactics. By bringing the leaders of the G20 into the centre of the negotiations and playing to their specific interests, they managed to sideline the group, thus diluting the strength of the negotiating position of the South. The "July framework" negotiations were a departure from traditional North-South trade negotiations and may set patterns for things to come, writes Bello. The trade superpowers learned from the debacle of Cancún, and moved from confrontational strategy to one on co-optation and subtle divide and rule tactics. By bringing the leaders of the G20 into the centre of the negotiations and playing to their specific interests, they managed to sideline the group, thus diluting the strength of the negotiating position of the South. - Versión español
  • Walden Bello D-Day for the WTO Focus on the Global South, 28 July 2004
    Commenting on the "July Framework", a document issued by the WTO General Council in Geneva at the end of July, Bello says developing country governments should consider that rejection of the July text may no longer suffice. It is time they actively explore or create other trade mechanisms or frameworks to make development and trade complementary, he argues. Commenting on the "July Framework", a document issued by the WTO General Council in Geneva at the end of July, Bello says developing country governments should consider that rejection of the July text may no longer suffice. It is time they actively explore or create other trade mechanisms or frameworks to make development and trade complementary, he argues.
  • Dot Keet Challenging WTO Rules Countering Regional Development Strategies AIDC Regional Briefing 3/2004
  • Susan George Faire dérailler l'OMC TNI Website, 10 October 2003
    After Cancùn, Susan George declares victory and calls for time-out to reflect on long-term objectives with regards to the campaign to derail the WTO.
  • Walden Bello The Economics of Empire New Labor Forum, Fall 2003 - Versión español
  • Walden Bello Implications of Cancún ZNet, 23 September 2003 - Versión español
  • Walden Bello There is Life after Cancún Bangkok Post, 21 September 2003
    The collapse of the WTO meeting in Cancún represented a victory for people throughout the world. The coalition of developing countries that emerged at the summit (Group of 21) is a new development that could alter the global balance of forces. The group found a natural ally in global civil society, whose challenge now is to redouble its efforts to dismantle the structures of inequality and to push for alternative arrangements for global economic co-operation that would truly advance the interests of the poor, the marginalised and the disempowered.
  • John Cavanagh and Robin Broad A Turning Point for World Trade? The Baltimore Sun, 18 September 2003
    At the WTO meeting in Cancún, it was the first time in decades of globalisation negotiations that democracy trumped narrow elite interests. India, Brazil, China and nearly two dozen other poor nations, representing more than half of the globe's population, negotiated as a bloc. With backing from a wide array of citizen groups, they rejected the meeting's final text, which, as usual, was crafted to address the corporate interests of richer nations. In short, the many derailed a trade agenda for the few.
  • Walden Bello Multilateral Punishment. The Philippines in the WTO, 1995-2003 Focus on the Global South, 20 June 2003
    The report traces the Philippine experience under the WTO from the Senate ratification debates in 1995 and the subsequent implementation of government policies and programmes that opened up the local economy to global competition. The report highlights the role played by the United States in shaping a national policy environment conducive to the WTO agenda: "The main by products of membership has been the erosion of national sovereignty, as the US government took a direct hand in overhauling the Philippine legal system to make it WTO-consistent". Bello concludes that Philippine membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its subsequent implementation of trade agreements under the multilateral trading system has been an unmitigated disaster.

Activities

Statements

Updates

  • Roelien Knottnerus WTO Update. Summer 2005 TNI Website, 18 August 2005
    TNI's Gats Co-ordinator, Roelien Knottnerus outlines developments in Geneva, offering a useful overview of current analyses from our networks, and a specific focus on European Union positions as regards WTO negotiations.
  • Dot Keet Reports from Cancún, Mexico AIDC, 9-15 September 2003

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