WTO Talks Fail Again

Another round of World Trade Organization talks collapsed on July 29th, largely due to India’s insistence that they be able to protect farmers from a surge of agricultural imports from rich nations. Efforts to complete the “Doha” Round of negotiations, begun in 2001, have continually failed, as countries of the Global South have insisted on more fair-dealing from the US and EU, rejecting their hypocrisy.

We provide links here to analyses of people who are critical of the WTO: Victor Menotti from the International Forum of Globalization (who put on the huge Teach-in at Benaroya Hall in 1999) frames the collapse as a victory for people’s movements everywhere, who are already building alternatives to the WTO that “renew government’s rightful role in regulating commerce”. In radio and print articles, CAGJ’s recent guest, Raj Patel, helps us understand exactly what happened, and why this is a limited victory given the crises small food producers and the poor currently face globally.

RADIO:

Raj Patel is interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! (includes transcript):
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/31/raj_patel_on_the_collapse_of

Raj on KUOW Aug 1st:
http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=15483

He speaks for the first 20 minutes.

ARTICLES ONLINE:

Also by Raj Patel:
“Muted woe at WTO: With the collapse of the Doha round, disappointment is turning to recrimination. But what did poor countries have to gain anyway?”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/30/wto.india

“World Trade Likely to Grow Even as WTO Talks Sputter”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a51wW7jx6bfM&refer=home

“Derailing Doha and a Pathway to a New Paradigm”
by Victor Menotti, the International Forum on Globalization
https://cagj.org/2008/08/derailing-doha/

Posted in Food Justice Blog Posts.

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