Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Michael Thomas <mdthomas AT mindspring.com>]

<apolitical>

Those of you that have been following the WTO happenings
might want to know about this...

</apolitical>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 17:09:18 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
From: vinci daro <vdaro AT email.unc.edu>
Reply-To: criticalmass AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
Subject: WTO Protest on Friday at 4

Hi everyone,

Could you please forward this announcement to any and all listservs that
reach grad students and anyone else in the area who might be interested?

Thanks so much, 
Vinci



Hello to all people interested in demonstrating solidarity with
protesters
in Seattle who may not yet have heard about tommorrow's activities,

There will be a gathering to protest the World Trade Organization on
Friday Dec. 3rd at 4PM at New Hope Commons (WalMart, Best Buy, Barnes
and
Noble, Old Navy, etc.; off of 15-501 just past the intersection with
I-40).

Shuttles will be leaving from the Campus 'Y' at 3:15 for those without
transportation, or else meet in the parking lot of WalMart at 4:00.

This is a great opportunity to be part of a network of demonstrations
being organized in major cities around the world in conjunction with
those
in Seattle to show that people *everywhere* (not just the 50,000 or so
in
Seattle) disagree with the principle that profits must come before human
rights, women's rights, labor standards, health standards, environmental
issues, immigrant rights, and the right of national and local
governments
to determine what kinds of business practices are appropriate.

For information about why the WTO is something we should all be
concerned
about, please scroll down and view the two attached flyers.








Basic Background:  What It Is and How It Operates

134 member countries one country, one vote, just like the United Nations
a
set of international trade agreements which these countries make, on
topics like agricultural exports and patents and even food safety to
enforce such trade agreements, a Dispute Settlement Process is in place
so
that if Country A thinks Country B is violating the "laws" (over 700
pages
compiled since the implementation of the WTO), it can appeal to the WTO
the Dispute Settlement Process runs on panels comprised of "trade
experts"
like economists, trade lawyers, and corporate executives out of over one
hundred cases heard by the WTO, each have been decided in the favor of
multinational corporations


Here are just two examples of WTO rulings in favor of corporate profit:


Burma:  a Massachusetts law boycotting goods produced in the military
dictatorship of Burma was ruled WTO-illegal.  Currently Massachusetts
faces a lawsuit which aims at repealing the law.  Carrboro supports
Massachusetts' argument, as it has a similar law. Dolphins:  The U.S.
environmental law encouraging the use of dolphin-safe tuna nets which
saved over 200,000 dolphins a year was ruled WTO-illegal.  Now,
dolphin-safe tuna labels don't mean anything because the law is not
enforced.



The WTO's Track Record on Issues that Matter to You

    The World Trade Organization is the enforcement body of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a world-wide "free trade"
agreement. It is currently promoting a global, corporate-managed trade
deal - what critics have dubbed a "Bill of Rights for Big Business" - at
any cost.

    The WTO's policies discourage or overrule local legislation that
supports local business, economic sanctions against human rights-abusing
countries, or measures to protect people, animals and ecosystems.  
Instead of using its influence to fight poverty, it facilitates
downsizing
and sweatshops.

    Three WTO trade lawyers, meeting in Geneva behind closed doors,
settle
trade disputes.  Their track record so far clearly favors profiteers
over
the public interest:

    * The WTO ruled that the European Union could not ban hormone
treated
beef. This ruling allows the U.S. to punish European businesses and
governments with stiff trade tariffs - all because the EU tried to
protect
people from risky food.
 
   * In other rulings, the WTO has struck down laws protecting
endangered
sea turtles, small-scale banana farmers in the Caribbean, and part of
the
U.S. Clean Air Act.
   
 * In Canada, rural mail carriers barred from joining labor unions
complained to the WTO that their counterparts in the U.S. and Mexico
were
allowed to unionize.  The WTO's ruling? Justice denied.

    * In 1996, the state of Massachusetts enacted a boycott on
government
purchases from Burma, as part of the international movement against the
Myanmar (Burmese) military dictatorship's atrocious human rights record.
The Massachusetts law, very similar to laws passed in the 1980s against
South African apartheid, was struck down by the WTO.
   
 * The WTO recently ruled against an agreement to protect Canada's
automotive industry.  The ruling will likely result in heavy wage and
job
losses in Canada's manufacturing sector.

    These are the measures imposed by the WTO - can you imagine what
will
happen when our schools, hospitals, natural resources like water, and
remaining public utilities are opened up to international trade?

For copies or more info contact:
Canadian Federation of Students
500 - 170 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa ON K2P 3
Tel: 613.232.7394, ext. 13
Fax: 613.232.0276
www.cfs-fcee.ca
Contact: Elizabeth Carlyle