
Issue No 23		23 July 1999

Environment

Trading into Trouble

By by Lee Rhiannon - Greens MLC

Seattle, USA, is shaping up as demonstrator mecca in the lead up to World Trade Organisation talks.

In November tens of thousands of unionists, environmentalists, social justice activists and members of Greens parties will converge on this US city for the meeting of the World Trade Organisation.

The common factor for the protesters is that this trade gathering is the place to stem the tide of international corporate greed that is robbing communities of jobs, destroying the environment, sending developing countries deeper into poverty and generally running amok.

On the inside at the WTO meetings will be about 5,000 delegates from 150 countries discussing ways to slash tariffs, abolish subsidies and open up investment for companies seeking to get into global markets. On the outside colour and causes will fill the streets.

Demonstrators could well outnumber trade envoys. Steelworkers, angered that both President Clinton and Congress have refused to endorse a bill putting quotas on steel imports, have already reserved 1,000 hotel rooms. The Longshoremens Union plan to have 3,000 to 5,000 members at the protests.

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth along with a range of smaller green groups will be there. Labor representatives from India, militant anticapitalists from Germany and AIDS activists from New York will also be part of the action.

With the Seattle Trade Round still four months away the size and talent on the protesters side is causing consternation among conference organisers and the police. Rumours are rife. There has even been whispers around town that the Zapatistas, southern Mexico's peasant-based rebel group, are coming by caravan.

The protesters already have the Seattle City Council and nearby King County Council on their side. Known for their environmental bent, both bodies recently voted unanimously to make the city a "MAI-Free Zone," ostensibly to prohibit the WTO from reaching any Multilateral Agreements on Investment during the November gathering. While the move is largely symbolic, city and county council members have been busy working with the protesters.

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  Issue 23 contents

Interview: An Economic Wet
Dr Christopher Sheil on economic rationalism and the 1997-98 water failures in Adelaide and Sydney.

Unions: The Stench from the South
In 1997 the entire Adelaide metropolitan area was drenched in foul, sulphorous, sewerage odours, emanating from the Bolivar waste water treatment plant.

Environment: Trading into Trouble
Seattle, USA, is shaping up as demonstrator mecca in the lead up to World Trade Organisation talks.

History: Eveliegh Rail Reunion
Former workers and their families from the historic Eveleigh Railway Workshops in inner-Sydney are holding a picnic reunion and folk music festival on the site on Sunday, August 29.

International: Bosses Use Armed Gangs to Break Russian Picket
On 9 July 1999, eighty masked, uniformed gunmen accompanied by the local prosecutor and other officials tried to storm the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill, under occupation by workers for the past eighteen months.

Satire: New Refugee Crisis: Journalists Flee Peace Zone
The camps are once again full in the Albanian border town of Gruntiez.

Review: 10 Reasonably Interesting Moments in Film
Cultural theorist Snag Cleaver flies off the handle again..

» Water Staff Pull Plug on Pay Talks

» Hotel Survey Warns of New Years Labour Crisis

» Pfizer Jerks Workers Off

» Shafted: Howard Squibs on Entitlements

» Olympics Jobs Shortage Looms

» Nurses Change Tack on Public Health Campaign

» Actors Save Conditions from Reith Attack

» Global Mariner Shines Spotlight on Howard Shipping Policy

» New Currawong Deal Ends 25 Years of Trying

» Hands off Workers Comp

» Scully Off the Rails Over Contract Security

» PiersWatch and The Chaser in Mega Merger Deal

» Apology to Dr Bridget Griffen-Foley

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Upcoming Chippo Politics Events

» Bright Oakdale Idea

» Calling All Linesmen

» Dissent Within the Ranks!!

» Reply to Don Macchiato

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