New Delhi, Jan 11
While more than 200 activists were staging a demonstration outside, three protestors sneaked into a heavily guarded venue session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Meet 2000, here today. WTO Director General Mike Moore had just finished speaking when an activist walked to the dias and spoke against the dangers of allowing WTO to police the world economy and also criticised the Indian industrialists for joining hands with "an evil force".
Mr Mike Moore is in New Delhi on an invitation of the CII.
Taking the delegates attending the conference by surprise, the three activists distributed to the delegates a copy of an open letter to the WTO Director General. Terming the WTO as a "Wicked Trade Organisation", the activists said that the recent protests on the streets at Seattle had clearly demonstrated that trade was not the answer for human development. "The protests that began in Seattle will now be seen in India," they said.
A copy of the open letter to Mr Mike Moore is appended below:
AN OPEN LETTER TO MR MIKE MOORE
Jan 11, 2000
Mr Mike Moore Director General World Trade Organization.
Dear Mr Moore,
We have tolerated enough.
For several years now, the people of India have been a mute witness to the systematic effort of the rich countries to recolonise the developing world under the garb of free trade.
Over the years, the WTO has legitimised under TRIPs the steal, grab and plunder of biological wealth and traditional knowledge from India. Your patent laws have been designed to facilitate biopiracy from the biodiversity rich countries. We are aware that almost 90 per cent of India's estimated 45,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species are already stored illegally in the United States.
To protect the economic interests of a few million farmers on either side of the Atlantic, the WTO has reached an Agreement on Agriculture, which is aimed at marginalising the 550 million Indian farmers and putting the country's food security at an unmanageable risk. For us, the survival of our small and marginal farmers, forming the backbone of the economy, is as essential as protecting the democratic traditions of this great nation.
A majority of the small-scale industries in India have already closed down. The pharmaceutical sector, which made available medicines within easy reach of the people, is at the verge of closure. Multi-national companies, which your organisation essentially represents, have already embarked on the process of loot and repatriation of resources. And if the past tradition is any indication, we know that after you quit the WTO, you too will join one of these companies. Your interest in furthering the cause of these companies is, therefore, obvious.
As if this is not enough, you are bringing in labour, environment and multilateral investment within the gambit of the WTO. In any case, Seattle has clearly demonstrated that you are merely a pawn in the hands of the United States. Unabashedly, you addressed joint press conferences with the US Trade Representative. You behaved as if she was your boss. You threw all the democratic norms to wind by permitting the US to hijack the global forum. The WTO is, as a placard being carried by a protestor on the streets of Seattle read: "Wicked Trade Organisation."
Your agents in India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), perpetuate the unequal doctrine on unsuspecting and gullible masses. For your kind information, many of the people you support have already sucked the national exchequer dry. For instance, the non-performing assets of the nationalised banks in India, milked dry by a few industrialists, stand at a staggering Rs 5,00,000 million !!
The WTO protects the criminals. We cannot allow this to go on forever. Let this be a warning from the people of India. We will not allow a global system, which actually protects and supports the rich and the powerful at the cost of the lives of millions of poor and hungry. Mahatma Gandhi has taught us that tolerance of injustice is a crime. We will, therefore, no longer accept any sort of coercion, threat and injustice.
You are perhaps aware that we have had a long history of driving out the pirates and the colonial masters. And we will do it once again, if need be.
From
Swadeshi Jagran Manch Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh Akhil Bhartiya Vidayarthi Prishad Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Laghu Udyog Bharati Swamajvadi Abhiyan:
