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Crowd rallies to protest start of WTO meeting in Qatar
Over 300 protesters demonstrated against the World Trade Organisation ministerial in Qatar -the WTO`s first formal meeting since delegates failed to launch a new round of trade talks in Seattle two years ago.
Over 300 protesters demonstrated against the World Trade Organisation ministerial in Qatar -the WTO's first formal meeting since delegates failed to launch a new round of trade talks in Seattle two years ago.
The action Friday, one of dozens taking place in 36 countries, was a tiny echo of the 50,000 protesters who shut down Seattle's downtown and WTO opening ceremonies in 1999. But activists said it was crucial to keep attention focused on WTO actions, and several linked corporate globalisation to the attacks of September 11.
There's a war going on. I'm not talking about just the action in Afghanistan. I'm talking about an ongoing war, a war whose generals are meeting in Qatar today. It's the international war on workers. Seattle central community college instructor Lynne Dodson said. Armando Munoz, 29, of Seattle, who held a sign saying world terror organisation, said the WTO stood for terrorism toward workers, the environment... and human rights.
The reason the World Trade Center stuff happened was because of our foreign policy - the sanctions and the bombings (in Iraq). People see US as a rich, greedy, capitalist nation, and the WTO and corporate globalisation are part of that, said Dara Starr, a veteran of the 1999 and smaller commemorative protest in 2000.
Activists contend the WTO, a forum in which member nations set tariffs and other terms of global trade, is undemocratic and has too much power to override national laws protecting labour and the environment, among other areas. The 1999 protests left some 2.5 million dollars in downtown property damage.
Bureau Report
There's a war going on. I'm not talking about just the action in Afghanistan. I'm talking about an ongoing war, a war whose generals are meeting in Qatar today. It's the international war on workers. Seattle central community college instructor Lynne Dodson said. Armando Munoz, 29, of Seattle, who held a sign saying world terror organisation, said the WTO stood for terrorism toward workers, the environment... and human rights.
The reason the World Trade Center stuff happened was because of our foreign policy - the sanctions and the bombings (in Iraq). People see US as a rich, greedy, capitalist nation, and the WTO and corporate globalisation are part of that, said Dara Starr, a veteran of the 1999 and smaller commemorative protest in 2000.
Activists contend the WTO, a forum in which member nations set tariffs and other terms of global trade, is undemocratic and has too much power to override national laws protecting labour and the environment, among other areas. The 1999 protests left some 2.5 million dollars in downtown property damage.
Bureau Report