The WTO: An Utne Field Guide

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A cadre of think tanks and activist groups (known as nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs) has emerged in the past decade to lobby the WTO and organize public opposition to its policies. Some, like Oxfam, believe the organization has real potential to make trade fair. Others, including the Our World Is Not For Sale network (OWINFS), say the WTO is beyond repair and should "shrink or sink."

Since the Seattle protests in 1999, the WTO has become progressively less open and democratic, says Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a human rights policy think tank and OWINFS member. The 2001 and 2003 ministerial conferences (a ministerial is a summit of government ministers) were held in Qatar and Cancœn, respectively, to isolate delegates from protesters. Recently, WTO leaders have been moving most of their decisions to regional mini-ministerials and General Council meetings at the Geneva headquarters.

At press time, delegates were gathered in Geneva, attempting furiously to negotiate a series of accords before December. According to Mittal, it was unclear whether there would be sufficient agreement to pass a ministerial declaration closing the Doha Round. "Most likely," she predicts, "there will be a weak agreement to keep talking."

WTO Resources

For news and further reading

Web Sites

• World Trade Organization: The official Web site, which contains a wealth of useful information about the global trade regime, including texts of negotiating documents, press releases, and statistics. www.wto.org
• Office of the U.S. Trade Representative: Features regular statements on Bush administration positions on trade negotiations. www.ustr.gov
• Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO: The main organizers of this year's protests. daga.dhs.org/hkpa
• Our World Is Not For Sale: A coalition of civil society groups calling to "shrink or sink" the WTO. www.ourworldisnotforsale.org
• Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign: www.maketradefair.com
• The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Trade Observatory: Contains hundreds of policy papers, as well as breaking news on trade issues. www.tradeobservatory.org
• Independent Media Center: Founded for the Seattle WTO meeting, a dynamic network of activist news sites with breaking reports on protests everywhere. www.indymedia.org

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