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WTO-CANCUN: Social Activists in Their Element

Diego Cevallos

CANCUN, Mexico, Sep 13 2003 (IPS) - Thousands of social activists from around the world came to this Mexican Caribbean resort city to make their protests against the World Trade Organisation, at times turning into something of a party, but also a bit of war.

Amidst shouted slogans and multicoloured banners, hundreds participated in a march Saturday "against globalisation and militarisation".

It was yet another in the series of events held during the past week as a counterbalance to the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference. While most were peaceful in expressing their protests, others turned to violence.

Demonstrators have repeatedly filled the streets of Cancun, while under tight security at the convention centre the trade ministers from the WTO’s 146 member countries continued negotiations on the final declaration they are to sign on Sunday.

A draft of the declaration was distributed to the media at midday on Saturday, but, like the first version, disseminated prior to the Cancun meet, many sections are "bracketed", meaning that disagreements persist in several areas.

Outside these intense talks, which are focussed on the issue of agricultural subsidies, demonstrators tried to get to the luxurious hotel district of the Mexican resort city where the ministers are gathered, but the police cordons and metal barricades have mostly kept them out.

There are approximately 5,000 activists who are in Cancun to participate in "people’s forums" to seek an alternative to the prevailing model of economic globalisation they say is embodied by the WTO.

Among these ‘altermundistas’, as they have been dubbed in Spanish, are farmers, labour unionists, students and representatives of non-governmental organisations of every stripe.

One was Lee Kyang-Hae, former leader of the South Korean farmers’ federation, who stabbed himself to death Wednesday in an act of protest against the WTO, amidst a violent clash between demonstrators and police.

Many of the protesters are veterans of the movement that targets international organisations like the WTO, International Monetary Fund and World Bank – and the globalisation model they say these institutions represent.

Massive protests by hundreds of anti-globalisation groups shut down the WTO’s Third Ministerial Conference, held in the U.S. city of Seattle in December 1999.

That meeting, which sent the trade ministers home without any agreements on launching negotiations, is considered the origin of the ongoing and powerful movement against neoliberal globalisation, and in favour of "another possible world".

In Cancun, some activists have established a communal lifestyle in the camps where they are staying, and overall there have been some attention-getting protests, but the otherwise peaceful environment has been marred by acts of violence.

The attention-getting: several youths took off their clothes in front of the police barricade, others urinated on the metal security fencing, while still others staged protest theatre on the beach. And one enterprising group somehow made it into the official WTO meeting site to hang a giant banner telling the ministers to "go home".

The violent: a group of protesters broke the windows of local shops, and a mob attacked a policeman as he lay defenceless on the ground.

"We are at war against the rich countries and the transnational corporations that impose their interests on the rest of the world," said Carla Hernández, a young Mexican woman who took part in the marches.

The ones who complained most about the protests were the residents of Cancun. They were unable to get to their places of work, street traffic was at a standstill, and the police implemented strict security measures, meaning that individuals were repeatedly stopped as they walked through the city.

However, for the ministers of the WTO member countries, the protests did not pose any problems.

Some of the heterogeneous group of activists are staying in Cancun’s luxurious hotels, but many are sleeping in tents, or under the stars on the grass in the parks.

And there are those who have comfortable lodging because they purchased special tour "package" put together especially for people who wanted to come to Cancun for the alternative forums and to protest the WTO.

The Mexico Solidarity Network, based in the United States, brought many to the Mexican resort city through a special 300-dollar deal that includes seven nights of lodging, local ground transportation and an "educational programme".

The U.S.-based Organic Consumers Association had a package for 850 dollars, for five days of full room and board, transportation and seminars, and the organisation Global Exchange offered a "Cancun reality tour" for 1,128 dollars, including air fare and lodging.