Recommended reading this week
What is the World Trade Organisation (WTO)? According to the WTO website, it’s “the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.”
Simply put, the WTO ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in Hong Kong 13-18 December is about negotiating the rules of trade between nations. These negotiations are of huge significance. Decisions made impact on the lives of millions of people.
For Africa, the stakes are high, especially in negotiations over agriculture, where currently obscene subsidies to rich country farmers put the squeeze on African producers. Then there are negotiations over trade in services, an increasingly lucrative area of world trade where rich countries want as much access to African economies as possible – regardless of the consequences.
If they haven’t already, decisions made at the WTO level are coming to a country, city, town or village near you. You might have noticed that one day you woke up and a multinational corporation was running your health service. Or perhaps you read in the paper about textile workers losing their jobs because of cheap imports. There are a thousand other examples. The point is that the hand of the WTO is pretty much in everything.
So, what’s going to happen at this WTO meeting? What are the main issues on the negotiating table? Will there be a deal and if so what kind of deal? The articles in Pambazuka News this week set out to answer these questions and provide the background details about what’s going to happen in Hong Kong and why.
- Pambazuka News
EDITORIAL: The Hong Kong WTO meeting will be of “rude battles and fierce negotiations” but Africa must stand firm in the interests of her people, writes Demba Moussa Dembele
COMMENT&ANALYSIS:
- Agriculture is a central issue of the Hong Kong WTO meet, but a deal is unlikely. Raj Patel says even if there was a deal it would have to ignore the demands and needs of agriculturalists in the Global South
- Developing countries engaged in WTO talks are being asked to "chase a black cat down a dark alley blindfolded”. Riaz Tayob warns of the danger of a deal that is an empty gift.
- What's going down on the streets of Hong Kong? Nicola Bullard answers questions from Pambazuka News
- Can't make sense of the WTO? Browse our facts, figures, glossary and background reading for more information.
LETTERS: Mahmood Mamdani sends an open letter to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni telling him to reconcile with the living and not only the dead; The debate over Pan-Africanism revives
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reports on Baby Faith, who died on World Aids Day
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD:
BOOKS&ARTS: A review of Simao Kikamba's Going Home, the story of a political refugee living in South Africa
GCAP NEWS: White Band Day 3 is on December 10
CONFLICT&EMERGENCIES: News from the watch list areas of DRC, Nigeria and Sudan
HUMAN RIGHTS: International Human Rights Day on December 10 focuses on torture; Statement on trade and human rights ahead of the WTO meeting in Hong Kong
REFUGEES&FORCED MIGRATION: No entry for Darfur refugees in Greece
ELECTIONS&GOVERNANCE: Egyptian elections end in violence; Kibaki faces dilemma in Kenya
WOMEN&GENDER: Africa's push for Reproductive Rights Fund rubs US the wrong way; 16 Days draws to a close
DEVELOPMENT: Why development aid fails to help the poor; News on the WTO
CORRUPTION: Oiling the wheels of corruption in Chad - World Bank style
HEALTH&HIV/AIDS: The vicious cycle of AIDS, poverty, and neoliberalism
ENVIRONMENT: Rich UK company sues Tanzania over water deal
MEDIA: Eritrean journlist gets moment of freedom before being sent back to jail
PLUS: News on advocacy, fundraising, e-newsletters, courses and jobs...
BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The origins of Pambazuka News can be traced back to December 2000, when the newsletter began as a tiny subscriber list distributing bits and pieces of information. Since then Pambazuka News has grown into a community of 18 000 subscribers! This week we are five years old. Thanks to all our supporters for helping us to survive the dangerous early childhood years.
* The lead editorial from Pambazuka News 231, Smile, Woman of Africa, Smile!, is now available in French. Visit Pambazuka News 231: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30542