This September, thousands of people will descend on Cancún, Mexico. But they won't be there to partake of the sand and surf. And they won't be on their honeymoon. This trip to Cancún has global implications, as member nations and representatives converge on the beach resort for the 5th Ministerial Summit of the World Trade Organization, September 10 — 14, activists and concerned citizens from around the world join together to make sure their voices are heard.

In conjunction with the WTO Summit, a Fair Trade Expo will be held just a few blocks from the convention center where the WTO will meet. Peace Coffee will be participating in this event, which will include fair trade producers, importers, merchants and policy experts. Our attendance at the WTO Summit is to encourage trade leaders to recognize sustainable farming techniques such as organic and shade grown coffee. It is also to highlight the farmer cooperatives success in investing in their community's infrastructure establishing health care and educational resources and other needed community projects via the financial benefits of fair trade. The fair trade model, in our eyes, offers onea practical alternative to the WTO's agenda by promoting self reliance and building trusting relationships across borders.

Some Background on the WTO

According to our friends at Global Exchange (and countless other like-minded organizations), the World Trade Organization is the most powerful legislative and judicial body in the world. The WTO came into being in 1995 as the successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an international agreement to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade. The functions of the WTO panels have ruled that the US laws protecting sea turtles and US clean air standards are a barrier to "free trade," and the European Union law banning hormone-treated beef is illegal. WTO are to administer trade rules between nations, act as the court to resolve trade disputes and provide a forum for further negotiations to "liberalize" trade.

While this sounds benign enough, in practice the WTO trade rules promote put corporate ""rights"" to profit with little regard for over human and labor rights. The WTO encourages a 'race to the bottom' in wages by pitting workers against each other rather than promoting internationally recognized labor standards. In addition, the WTO has ruled that it is illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced (such as with child labor). The flip-side is that it is illegal to give legislative preference to a product based on the way it is produced; coffee is coffee regardless of what the farmer got paid. It has also ruled that governments cannot take into account "non-commercial values" such as human rights, or the behavior of companies that do business with dictatorships when making purchasing decisions. The implications of WTO rulings extend well beyond labor to include the environment, agriculture and even intellectual property rights. WTO panels have ruled that the US laws protecting sea turtles and US clean air standards are a barrier to "free trade," and that the European Union law banning hormone-treated beef is illegal.

These WTO ruling trend could potentially make it illegal for legislative preference of fair trade coffee and other fairly traded goods to exist. These "rules" are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret.

At the WTO Summit in Cancun, continued liberalization of agricultural products will be one of many hot topics. The agenda can be summarized by the words of one Southern farmer; "Northern governments continue to subsidize while we are forced to liberalize." A recent op-ed series in the New York Times highlighted this seemingly contradictory policy. "The glaring credibility gap dividing the developed world's free-trade talk from its market-distorting actions on agriculture cannot be allowed to continue. While nearly one billion people struggle to live on $1 a day, European Union cows net an average of $2 apiece in government subsidies. Japan, a country that prospered like no other by virtue of its ability to gain access to foreign markets for its televisions and cars, retains astronomical rice tariffs. The developed world's $320 billion in farm subsidies last year dwarfed its $50 billion in development assistance. President Bush's pledge to increase foreign aid was followed by his signing of a farm bill providing $180 billion in support to American farmers over the next decade." While coffee is not one of the products on the table, we encourage everyone who supports Fair Trade based on direct, human relationships to follow the negotiations, learn as much as you can and share what you think.

The reason we don’t hear a lot about the WTO is that these "rules" are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret.

In response, organizations like Global Exchange, the Cancún Welcoming Committee, Third World Network and Friends of the Earth International are calling on people and organizations around the world to make their voices heard at the WTO Summit. In response organizations like Global Exchange, the Cancún Welcoming Committee, Third World Network, Friends of the Earth International and calling on people and organizations around the world to protest the WTO Summit. The Mexican worker rights organization Via Campesina and other popular international movements are urging peasants, farmers, indigenous peoples, fishers, farm workers, migrants, landless workers, rural women, and all civil society organizations to mobilize to stop the WTO negotiations. Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org) is leading a "reality tour" to Cancún from September 3 - 8. The Organic Consumers Association offers a travel package for a week of teach-ins with its delegation during the WTO meeting, September 4-11. Solidarity actions around the world will focus on September 13 as a Worldwide Day of Action Against Corporate Globalization and War. Global Exchange calls on people throughout the United States to join this global uprising for peace and justice by organizing events in your community throughout the week leading up to the WTO Ministerial and particularly on September 13. Visit the Global Exchange Website for a variety of creative ways to participate on this day such as teach-ins, vigils, protests, direct action, street theater, festivals of resistance, cultural events, meetings with elected officials, public forums, and so on. (Global Exchange has organizing information on their website or contact Deborah James at deborah@globalexchange.org.)

Look for our report back on the WTO Summit in the next issue of Fair Grounds!

Some Resources for Further Reading:

www.tradeobservatory.org

www.radiocancun.org

www.publicitizen.org/trade

International Forum on Globalization www.ifg.org

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