[van-discuss] Front lines of Cancun

[ha rsha]

 >To: nooneisillegal-org at lists.tao.ca
>Subject: Reports from the front lines of Cancun
>Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:34:18 -1000 (HST)
>
>
>
>Cancun Files: WTO Opens to Tragedy and Protest
>
>Tom Hayden, AlterNet
>September 11, 2003
>
>CANCUN, Sept. 10. -- A South Korean farmer, Kun Hai Lee, committed ritual
>suicide during the WTO's opening day to protest the organization's
>agricultural policies.
>
>Witnesses said Lee stood in front of police lines, declared that "the WTO
>kills farmers," and then slashed himself to death with a blade. His suicide
>came on South Korea's Day of the Dead.
>
>Few at the demonstration realized what had occurred until later in the day.
>As word slowly spread of the suicide, supporters of Kun Hai Lee vowed to
>protest his martyrdom throughout the coming week, possibly starting with a
>tent city at the barricades where the death occurred.
>
>The WTO Secretariat issued a one-paragraph statement of "regret" at the
>death that they described as resulting from a "self-inflicted" wound. Lee's
>supporters condemned the WTO for the callous description of his death as
>self-inflicted, which absolved the organization of any responsibility in
>his death or the fate of thousands of farmers suffering from its policies.
>
>Lee was known for a previous hunger strike outside the WTO Secretariat in
>Geneva. A decade ago, three South Korean farmers attempted to immolate
>themselves, and one died, in anti-WTO protests.
>
>Lee's suicide marked the tragic end of a day of loud and sometimes violent
>protest. Earlier in the day, twenty global justice activists peacefully
>disrupted today's opening ceremony, sealing their mouths with masking tape
>to represent the voiceless, but left before they were arrested. Carrying
>bilingual placards proclaiming "WTO anti-development," "WTO obsolete," and
>"WTO undemocratic," they visibly ruffled the feathers of the trade
>organization's director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand.
>
>Hours later, thousands of campesinos, marching from Cancun's barrio towards
>the posh hotel zone where the WTO is headquartered, were blocked by a
>wire-mesh fence and heavily armed police. Immediately, more militant
>members of direct action affinity groups from the so-called Black Bloc
>swarmed the fence to unsuccessfully tear it down.
>
>Black Bloc describes itself as a tactic rather than an organization -- a
>loose and changing collection of anarchist groups who come together for a
>specific action. The militants appeared to include Mexican students,
>Europeans with black flags, Koreans and a few from the U.S. As they raged
>against the fence, 25 members of Seattle's Infernal Noise Brigade, dressed
>in black peasant costumes and armed with painted wooden rifles, played
>drums and chanted. Chac, the Mayan rain god, blessed the dehydrated throng
>with a twenty-minute shower.
>
>The protesters threw rocks and water bags and attacked the line of police
>with sticks and poles. They even hurled themselves against the shielded
>police phalanx, bouncing back into the crowd, then charging again. They
>were successful in shaking and bending -- but not breaking -- the police
>fence at the intersection of Kukulcan and Bonampak boulevards, placed as a
>barrier to the hotel zone. As a result, traffic was blocked for several
>hours across the city. "Why aren't there wire-cutters?" asked one
>frustrated militant. Several protesters suffered head wounds during the
>confrontation, but there were no immediate reports of injuries from the
>police side.
>
>The confrontation, in clear view of the world's media, demonstrated the
>deep divisions that continue to bedevil the anti-WTO movement.
>
>While a minority believes in storming the barricades physically and
>symbolically, larger coalitions prefer peaceful confrontations highlighting
>the grievances of local community-based movements, such as the farmers who
>belong to Via Campesina. Wednesday's public rift came after a promising
>late-night meeting between Via Campesina and Black Bloc members. According
>to Via Campesina leader, Rafael Alegria Moncada, the Black Bloc agreed not
>to "intervene" at the fence and remain in the rear ranks of the march. In
>addition, Alegria negotiated a three kilometer extension of the march with
>the police, allowing the campesinos to enter the hotel zone that was
>previously off-limits. The Via Campesina wanted to march "on" the
>convention center itself, but the three kilometer proposal was seen as at
>least a partial victory.
>
>Both agreements collapsed when Black Bloc groups began attacking the fence.
>After a three-hour standoff, the Via Campesina contingent pulled back. It
>was their last scheduled effort to mount a march, and many began boarding
>buses to return to their villages this evening. About 2,000 remain encamped
>at the Casa de la Cultura outside the hotel zone.
>
>Alegria was disappointed but philosophical about the day's outcome. He told
>AlterNet, "Our objectives were not achieved unfortunately. But what can you
>say, the others were young people, who came to fight, and it does no good
>to criticize them". He planned to meet with the remaining Via Campesina
>contingent tonight to explore their options for the remainder of the week.
>
>Other organizers of the week's protests, including members of Public
>Citizen and Global Exchange, were seething at the disruption of the
>campesino march. "Who gives them the right to interfere and impose their
>agenda on indigenous people?" one prominent activist asked. "Was this what
>the campesinos took a two-day bus trip for?" asked another. Months of
>planning and thousands of dollars had been invested in the march, designed
>to show the human face of the Mexican countryside to the media and WTO
>delegates.
>
>On the one hand, the small group using Black Bloc tactics succeeded in
>creating a media spectacle questioning the legitimacy of a beseiged WTO
>hiding behind military protection. On the other hand, the episode divided
>the movement and diluted any message being sent by the global South.
>
>But it would be a mistake to conclude that the protests are "marginalized,"
>as a recent New York Times editorial suggested. At this point, Cancun 2003
>certainly does not compare to Seattle 1999, Washington DC 2000, Prague
>2000, Genoa 2001, Quebec 2001, Lazarc (France) 2000, or the anti-war
>protests of this spring, all events that drew tens of thousands people
>taking unprecedented mass action. While Cancun is not as isolated as Qatar
>or the upper Canadian Rockies (where WTO and G-7 meetings have been held in
>the past), it is difficult terrain for protests, both from a tactical and
>logistical point of view. Yet as many as 10, 000 indigenous people have
>streamed in from the Mexican countryside to join global non-governmental
>organizations in a broadening alliance against the trade agreements that
>leave them out.
>
>In addition, the impact of the movement gathered here has greater influence
>than ever before. For example, five years ago, Argentina was a poster-child
>for corporate globalization before its economic collapse. In response,
>social movements began blocking roads, taking over factories, besieging
>banks, and forming popular neighborhood assemblies to reclaim their lives.
>Unexpectedly, this year they elected a populist president, Nestor Kirchner,
>who, on the eve of the WTO's conference opening, dropped a bombshell by
>refusing to pay a $3 billion loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
>Heeding the social movement, Kirchner refused the IMF's demands that he
>slash social programs, increase middle class taxes, allow foreign-owned
>utilities to raise rates, and banks to foreclose on homeowners without
>savings.
>
>It was a dream come true for the anti-globalization movement -- all because
>of an election that the cynics dismissed as meaningless. The Argentina
>developments followed on the heels of the election of Lula in Brazil, and
>other populist victories across Latin America.
>
>In an another victory for the movement, on the day the Cancun conference
>opened, the European Union's high court ruled that European states can ban
>genetically-modified foods for health reasons, delivering yet another blow
>to U.S. chemical companies, agribusiness, and the WTO.
>
>The mass protests against the WTO will continue in Cancun and beyond. But
>what we are seeing behind today's headlines is the growing strength of
>global justice ideas, which are moving from the outside margins of protest
>to the mainstream of public opinion in many countries. A poll of Americans
>released Wednesday found that a majority believe the Bush administration is
>overemphasizing military approaches and should stress economic reform and
>diplomacy.
>
>Paradoxically, the movement could encounter more isolation and division
>right as it reaches the moment of critical mass, just as the anti-Vietnam
>and civil rights movements fell apart in the '70s as their message gained
>acceptance and their leaders were canonized in a new establishment
>consensus.
>
>It is far too early to predict this next phase of the global justice
>movement, except to say that it will need an internal review and
>course-correction if it is to keep up with the history it has helped
>unleash.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
>TO THE SOURCE:  http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16755
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>  Lee Kyung-Hae, Korean Farmer & Advocate, Takes his Own Life
>
>Lee Kyung-hae used a Swiss army knife to stab himself in the chest. His
>death came during an attempted life-saving surgery at Cancun's General
>Hospital. He was 56 years old. Mr. Lee had a humble background, as he came
>from a family who suffered through rural poverty.
>
>After having struggled as a poor farmer for many years, Mr. Lee became
>involved in
>activism as an advocate for farmers and eventually became the president of
>the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation. In his own words, Mr. Lee described
>the WTO as a source of "waves that destroyed our lovely rural communities."
>
>Full Story at:
>
>http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/newswire/display/414/index.php
>
>
>EARLIER REPORT OF KYUNG-HAE'S ACTIVISM
>
>On the 23rd of February 2003 Mr. Lee Kyung-Hae, a farmer President of the
>Korean Advanced Farmers Federation, put up a tent in front of the WTO
>headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and started a solo protest against the
>first draft modalities drawn up by Mr. Stuart Harbinson, who is the
>chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture of the WTO.
>
> >From the 20th of March Mr. Lee began a hunger strike expressing his 
>demands
>on picket boards, which read: "WTO Kills Farmers." "Stop your agricultural
>negotiations." And "Exclude
>Agriculture from the WTO."
>
>Complete Article at:
>
>http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/newswire/display/419/index.php
>
>THANK YOU to Millenium and GSN for the stories gleaned from the
>MediosIndependientes.org site
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>SEPTEMBER 10 COVERAGE:
>
>Cancun Files: The Seattle Beat Goes On
>
>Tom Hayden, AlterNet
>September 10, 2003
>
>CANCUN, Sept. 10 -- Thousands of campesinos will march on the convention
>center today when the WTO officially starts its proceedings with a speech
>by Mexican president Vicente Fox. Anti-WTO protestors may also attempt a
>creative disruption of the formal ministerial event, which they say is
>refusing to acknowledge the increasingly harmful impact of WTO regulations
>on wages and the environment over the decade since the organization was
>launched.
>
>At least 5,000 campesinos are camped on the grounds of Casa de la Cultura
>in downtown Cancun. Displaced by cheap corn imported from subsidized U.S.
>agribusiness, they have traveled with their families on buses from across
>southeast Mexico. They string their hammocks between trees, cook their
>meals together, and hold rallies under banners in Spanish that proclaim,
>"Indigenous People Are the Hope of Humanity." The makeshift rural village
>includes outdoor stalls hawking Che Guevara t-shirts and a Greenpeace truck
>mounted with solar electric panels.
>
>The march will cross "Avenida Nader" accompanied by several large puppets
>("without strings," they joke), but is expected to be blocked by Mexican
>federal and local police, in coordination with the FBI, before entering the
>luxurious First World where WTO delegates meet, stroll, and sunbathe behind
>well-armed protection.
>
>Today's march is a prelude to larger ones that will be launched Thursday
>through Saturday, the day when WTO delegates will be under maximum pressure
>to accept agreements further privatizing Third World economies. Thus, the
>protest strategy depends on demonstrating broad opposition in the streets
>to draft trade agreements that many Third World delegates are already
>reluctant to sign.
>
>On Tuesday, the protest campaign began modestly amidst some confusion, with
>hundreds of people marching up to the police barricade, where they
>performed a Mayan ritual before returning to the campsite. The protest was
>intentionally low-key to avoid mass arrests and detentions.
>
>As always, the protestors gather, study maps, construct puppets and
>placards, undergo civil disobedience training, and strategize at a
>"convergence center." The format symbolizes the coming together of the many
>diverse strands of the struggle, in notable opposition to a centralized
>hierarchy.
>
>The demands put forward by the protesters combine detailed denunciations of
>privatization with colorful representations of Mayan deities. A puppet of
>Caac, the rain god, thunders against the privatization of water. Yum Kaax,
>the corn goddess, opposes the dumping of cheap corn laced with GMOs.
>Kukulkan, the god of intellect, rebukes the theft of indigenous culture by
>corporate patents. Ixchel, the medicine goddess, curses the pharmaceutical
>manufacturers.
>
>The police, over-reacting to the protests, constructed numerous traffic
>barriers and checkpoints that tied up traffic all the way to Cancun's
>international airport. Although the police seem to have been instructed to
>avoid repressive tactics, the overwhelming police presence in itself could
>slow or disrupt the passage of delegates to the conference.
>
>One immediate side effect yesterday was to undercut attendance at an
>international panel for global justice activists sponsored by the San
>Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization (IFG). Rumors
>immediately circulated that police were preventing attendees from
>attending, until it was discovered that the police reaction to the
>morning's march several kilometers away had temporarily closed the roads.
>The lack of movement coordination had caused the glitch.
>
>The Forum featured critical analysis from several leading thinkers of the
>global justice movement. Walden Bello, head of the Bangkok-based Focus on
>the Global South, spoke of growing internal divisions within the WTO due to
>the unilateralist policies of the Bush administration. Bello said the U.S.
>is suffering an economic crisis brought on by over-extension, and is
>seeking "protectionism for the U.S. and free trade for the rest of the
>world." He cited the U.S. effort to use the trade process to secure
>protection for pharmaceutical corporations in the face of popular demand
>for generic medicines. In addition, Bello noted, the U.S. trade
>representative is telling countries that they must support American
>"strategic interests" if they want trade consideration.
>
>Martin Khor of Malaysia, director of the Third World Network, described the
>unraveling of the so-called Doha development agenda of 18 months ago, and
>the subsequent disillusionment of Third World countries, which now realize
>that the U.S. and the EU "don't want to give anything up." Twenty
>developing countries, including Brazil and China, recently organized to
>demand that U.S. agribusiness subsidies be phased out, coupled with greater
>support for small farmers in developing countries.
>
>Lori Wallach, leader of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, released
>findings that reveal the "devastating" results of nine years of the WTO.
>Her analysis concluded that:
>
>    *  The increased volume of trade has not resulted in higher wages
>      for most Americans.
>
>    *  Import growth has eliminated almost twice as many jobs created
>      by export growth.
>
>    *  Global poverty has increased (if one discounts the progress made
>      by China with its strong state sector which WTO rules eventually
>      will prohibit) and less-developed nations with the strongest
>      links to global trade have higher rates of poverty;
>
>    *  The gap between the poorest 20 percent of the world's population
>      and the richest 20 percent is widening, with the poorest
>      representing one percent of the world's income and the richest
>      claiming 86 percent.
>
>The Wallach and others advocate a strategy to "shrink" the WTO to a
>traditional trade agenda while derailing its ambition to become a world
>governing body for multinational corporations. The insistence of the U.S.
>and the WTO on imposing a market fundamentalism on developing countries,
>she notes, is a purely conservative corporate agenda, not a trade strategy.
>A strategy of "shrinking" the WTO would increase the movement's alliances
>with developing countries while also lessening the WTO's usefulness to
>corporations.
>
>At present, however, corporate lobbyists are well-represented in the WTO
>through low-visibility lobbies like the Council of the Americas, the U.S.
>Coalition of Services Industries, the Business Roundtable, and the U.S.
>Council on International Business. The roster of interlocked companies
>belonging to at least three of these four lobbying associations includes:
>
>American Express, American International Group, AOL Time-Warner, AT&T, Bell
>South Int'l, Boeing, Caterpillar, Citibank, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen &
>Hamilton, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Corning, Eastman Kodak, Eli Lilly,
>Exxon Mobil, FleetBoston, Ford, Halliburton, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Merck,
>Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Pepsi, Pfizer, Procter and Gamble, Raytheon,
>Shell, UPS, Verizon, and Visa.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
>
>TO THE SOURCE:
>http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16752
>(  '?  duckdaotsu subscribes to In These Times and supports independent
>media
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Personal Letter From Cancun
>from Gloria Osborne
>
>thanks to Women Against War
>GSN, and Millenium Twain
>
>I am in Cancun at the World Trade Meetings doing support for my affinity
>group, translating, working in a street clinic, etc. There are thousands of
>internationals, campesinos, and students and the objective is to reclaim
>sacred Mayan land and preserve the biospere and the culture--all things
>which the WTO seeks to destroy.
>We  made huge street "puppets" representing Mayan Gods/Goddesses--Ixchel
>(moon goddess), Hunapan (rain,water God), Kukulchan, etc. They are angry
>and they want the WTO/FTAA/CAFTA/PPP
>out of Central America!!  An ecovillage has been constructed where the
>campesinos are camping with compost toilets, greywater systems, and water
>catchment systems, and many workshops for all.
>The students and the campesinos will be leading the actions with the
>international community for support. Tomorrow the campesinos plan to march
>to the conference center where the WTO is being held and surrounded with
>fences, military-federal-and state police, to do rituals and make offerings
>for change. If we cannot change them, we can change ourselves and transform
>the communities we live in, ie reclaim the streets (land).
>Thursday there are forums with the Zapatistas all day but I don't know of
>any actions. Friday is to reclaim the parks and set up examples like model
>schools of the world we would like to see. (Cancun closed all it's public
>and private schools this week because of the meetings.)
>The press originally wrote us up as violent and troublemakers, they are now
>calling us global critics or globalproposition lists (for change). So
>farall has been quiet.
>Unfortunately there are MANY logistical reasons why it has been difficult
>to organize here. First, there are few trained activists heresince it is a
>tourist town with few actions (WEF in 2001) so planning was very poor and
>mostly done by internationals in the last several months. Second, the hotel
>strip that the conference center is located on is an island with a lagoon
>situated between the hotel strip and the city of Cancun with only 2
>entrances/exits, both heavily guarded by the military/police. Third, it 2-3
>days travel by bus from most places in Mexico--hot, dusty, bumpy travel
>without air conditioning.
> Thanks to international support, 17 buses of students (42/bus) and about
>an equal number of campesinos have arrived and are here to help create
>change and reclaim life, land, and culture. Saturday is the big march and
>demonstration, which has a permit, and Sunday we will either start cleaning
>up or doing jail solidarity. The feeling from our legal counsel is that no
>mass arrests of internationals will be made unless for criminal activities.
>However there is a strong push for jail
>solidarity if there are arrests so that campesinos and indigenous
>participants will not be held and tortured, translation: no-one leaves
>until everyone leaves.
>Although there are almost  as many varied actions and groups represented as
>the present biosystem, it is still very difficult to predict what may
>happen here. But being the pagan I am, I really feel the winds of change
>blowing and the sand shifting. Much love and blessings to all who are
>helping to make the Rochester Social Forum happen this weekend--
>
>I promise to send tons of magical support from here,  Gloria
>
>...
>
>
>
>

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