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Protesters disagree on how to shut down WTO Cancun meeting
Cancun (Mexico), Sep 08: As World Trade Organization ministers from around the world check into high-rise beach hotels this week, protesters meet in ramshackle offices and tent communities, fighting over how they will wage war against free trade.
Cancun (Mexico), Sep 08: As World Trade Organization ministers from around the world check into high-rise beach hotels this week, protesters meet in ramshackle offices and tent communities, fighting over how they will wage war against free trade.
The tangle of union members, Zapatista rebel sympathizers, anarchists, environmentalists and farmers cannot agree on protest tactics against the WTO, which they consider a mouthpiece for powerful nations and wealthy corporations.
But the 15,000 demonstrators expected to flood this Mexican resort agree on one thing: they want to shut the meeting down.
``We've been fighting over the goal in meetings all this week,'' said Jessica Pupovac of the Washington-based Rights Action, a human rights group. ``Some people are flat-out scared of the Mexican Police.'' The 146-member WTO is striving to complete a new treaty meant to boost the world economy by further reducing barriers to trade. Yet, going into Wednesday's meeting, delegates have missed a series of negotiating deadlines and acknowledge they can only hope to cobble together a loose framework for liberalizing agricultural trade.
Most of the protesters here are peaceful. But the more than 200 groups here include Mexican activists who took several public officials hostage last year and sunk President Vicente Fox's plans to build a new airport outside Mexico City. Bureau Report
But the 15,000 demonstrators expected to flood this Mexican resort agree on one thing: they want to shut the meeting down.
``We've been fighting over the goal in meetings all this week,'' said Jessica Pupovac of the Washington-based Rights Action, a human rights group. ``Some people are flat-out scared of the Mexican Police.'' The 146-member WTO is striving to complete a new treaty meant to boost the world economy by further reducing barriers to trade. Yet, going into Wednesday's meeting, delegates have missed a series of negotiating deadlines and acknowledge they can only hope to cobble together a loose framework for liberalizing agricultural trade.
Most of the protesters here are peaceful. But the more than 200 groups here include Mexican activists who took several public officials hostage last year and sunk President Vicente Fox's plans to build a new airport outside Mexico City. Bureau Report