PRESS STATEMENT
By Dr. Vandana Shiva
Director Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology

The causes and implications of the failure of W.T.O Ministerial in Cancun

The failure at Cancun, is a failure for the unfair and undemocratic agenda of W.T.O and the rich countries. It is a victory for democracy and equality and it gives a chance to fair trade which guarantees farmers survival. We had identified W.T.O as an undemocratic, asymmetric instrument of US/EU unilateralism since it was born in 1995. The farmers protest in India from 1991 to 1993 had predicted the genocidal impact that the W.T.O agreement on agriculture would have on small peasants and rural communities. The failure of the W.T.O talks in Seattle gave the institution and the rich countries an opportunity to change the rules and the workings of W.T.O, and stop imposing an unfair trading system on the people and countries of the world. Doha was pushed through under the shadow of 9/11. Cancun proved that W.T.O which protects the greed of corporations and the power of rich countries through its rules and decision making structures is un-reformable. The W.T.O has failed the test for reform a second time.

The Cancun ministerial took place in the shadow of the martyrdom of a Korean farmer, Lee Kyung-Hae, who took his life at the barricades during the farmers protest on 10th September, the first day of the
meeting . Lee was the former president of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation and identified the unfair W.T.O rules with the crisis faced by him and small farmers world wide. He made visible the crisis millions of Indian farmers are facing which has pushed thousands to commit suicide. Indian farmers are loosing Rs. 1.2 billion annually due to falling farm prices (The mirage of market access RFSTE). This free fall of prices must be stopped if farmers have to survive. Mr. Lee gave his life so farmers could live and survive in dignity.

The Cancun talks collapsed because the U.S and EU insisted on continuing unfair and unfree agriculture trade which is killing Third World farmers. Pascal Lamy, the EU Trade Commissioner had announced
even before Cancun that EU would not cut export subsidies. The U.S had announced that it would not cut domestic support. In fact, both U.S and EU have increased farm subsidies since the W.T.O agreements came into force even though reduction of Northern subsidies and the creation of a level playing field in agriculture was the most significant promise made at Marrakesh. The W.T.O has legalized the increase in subsidies through the creation of blue and green boxes. Thus explicit subsidies for cereals in EU decreased by 60% from 2.2 billion euro in 1999 to 6883 million euro in 1999. However total subsidies increased by 36% when we add the 2.1 billion euro in direct payments allowed under Act 6.5 of AOA which the group of 23 wanted deleted at Cancun. The U.S farm bill has increased subsidies by $ 82 billion. The U.S farm act of 2002 allows the U.S Government to pay cotton farmers the difference between the world market price, $ 1.23 per kilo, and a fantasy ideal price of $ 1.57 per kilo. U.S cotton farmers receive $ 3.9 billion, most of it going to the giant corporate farmers. With these subsidies, the U.S has doubled cotton exports and destroyed the livelihoods and incomes of 250 million African cotton farmers. That is why Africans were upset and began the walk out of the Cancun talks on 14th September, 2003. As they said in the press conference immediately after the draft declaration was released on 13th September, 2003:

"If Africans leave Cancun without practical results, they may not return, because so much efforts have led to so little".

What the U.S / EU wanted in Cancun was to continue the right to dump, continue unfair trade by supporting their agribusiness interests to take over world markets through WTO's market access rules. This is what the W.T.O rules were designed to do. They are rules for freedom of MNC's to destroy small producers. Now that the bullying has been challenged by the persistent organizing by citizen groups over a decade and new alliances among developing country governments, Lamy calls the W.T.O "a medieval institution" and Zoellick calls the Third World the "won't do" group. The rich countries have sent a signal they will not reform, they will not let the W.T.O be reformed. With this clear signal it is now imperative to stop the one sided liberalization that is destroying our farmers and agriculture. It is time to put our national interests and domestic interest above the greed and deceit of powerful corporations of powerful countries. It is time to bring back QR's and import restrictions as the Indian People's Campaign against W.T.O had demanded when representatives met the Prime Minister on 26th August. The paradigm of trade liberalization has been dealt a severe blow in Cancun. It is time to give concrete shape to a fair trade paradigm that builds on robust local and national economies. It is time to put people before profits. It is time to put domestic production before international trade.

There was clearly no "Doha Round" since the new issues which it was supposed to launch have been rejected by the Third World. The legitimate work for trade officials in Geneva is now only the reform of W.T.O - based on the mandatory reviews of TRIPS and Agreement on Agriculture. No new issues, no enlargement of the trade agenda can legitimately be negotiated in Geneva in light of the failure of W.T.O at Cancun and absence of agreement at the Ministerial level.

But the real work is not in Geneva but in Delhi, in our State capitals and in our villages and towns. As we approach elections the people of India must vote for trade justice and the protection of their livelihoods and economies.

The ball is now in the court of our domestic economy and national democracy. Democracy won in Cancun. Economic democracy must also win in India by ensuring that no far reaching economic trade agreements are signed without the consent of Parliament either multilaterally or bilaterally. The U.S has announced it is moving to the bilateral arena. The Government should not repeat the secret deal making that it engaged in December, 2000 to remove QR's robbing millions of Indians of trillions of rupees of hard earned incomes.

All trade decisions must be made with the consent of the Indian people. This would be the real meaning of "explicit consensus" that is Mr. Maran's legacy in trade talks. Explicit consent in the domestic sphere is the foundation for recovery of national sovereignty and economic democracy. This is the real challenge after Cancun. And to address this challenge the Government does not have to get direction from W.T.O. It has to get direction from the Indian people.

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Forwarded by:
Diverse Women for Diversity
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