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NGOs stage new protest at WTO meeting

November 10, 2001
Agence France Presse

About 50 protesters staged a demonstration Saturday inside a conference center here, where a WTO ministerial meeting is under way, to denounce what they say has been "arm twisting" of poor countries by rich nations in the organization.

Demonstrators from non-governmental organizations shouted "Zoellick go home," a reference to US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, as well as "We want democracy," "The world is not for sale," and "No Marines in Doha," an allusion to US forces stationed here.

Qatari security personnel blocked access to a room in the center where an official from Zoellick's office was about to give a press briefing. "We're protesting the arm-twisting and intimidation of third world countries and the pressure being put on them by the powerful trading nations to agree to a new round" of global trade talks, Anuradha Mittal, co-director of the group Food First, told AFP.

Added Ziad Abdul Samad of the Arab NGO Network for Development: "We decided to come here and protest and to show that we are not in agreement with US policies in the WTO."

"But not only the policies. It's the way they are manipulating the negotiations."

There were no reports of arrests or violence at the protest. Ministers from the 142-member World Trade Organization are in the second day of a five-day conference here aimed at drafting an agenda for a new round of multilateral talks to lower trade barriers.

WTO critics maintain that trade liberalization will in essence expose poor countries and their economies to domination and exploitation by multinational corporations.

WTO officials insist that a freer flow of goods and services will spur growth and raise living standards.

Saturday's action was the second anti-WTO gathering in Doha. Around 50 demonstrators protested at the entrance to the conference center on Friday.

French anti-globalization militant Jose Bove took part in both demonstrations.

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