“A People’s History of the WTO” arises from the experience of struggling to find a way to express this human and political drama.
The CD, downloadable from http://www.peopleshistory.net/ website, is a tool for activists working to overcome the barriers to trade justice campaigning posed by the apparent complexity and dryness of the issues at the policy level, as well as outdated perceptions of activists engaged in a kind of earnest, political charity on behalf of the poor.
The story unfolds through the lens of the last three ministerial meetings of the WTO, and unfolds predominantly in the voices of people from the global South. The suffering and the trade policy that causes it is there, but the story is about the people – especially the poor themselves – who are fighting for justice. Policy is merely the case study.
In the course of the larger human and political story, the CD takes the listener from “What is the WTO” through to “What is at stake at the Hong Kong Ministerial” in the voices of highly dynamic, mostly Southern speakers, from activists to analysts to farmers.
Some suggestions
The CD content and cover art may be freely
downloaded, broadcast, copied and distributed by any means in its unaltered form.
Below are a few general suggestions on the CD might be used (for more detailed discussion of previous experience with this kind of audio campaigning resource, see the
project proposal)
Individuals
o listen to it
o mention the website to someone who’s interest you may have piqued on trade justice.
o better yet, copy it, and hand them a copy. People who might never sit down to read a paper on trade justice might just listen to a CD while washing the dishes, or walking the dog.
o take it to your local community radio station. See if it can’t be used to generate further dicsussion on its issues in your community. (Note, if you’re coming from a farming community, you may like to look at
this).
o upload it to you local indymedia (see www.indymedia.org)
Organisations
encourage your members to use it as a resource as above by:
o mentioning you members in your newsletters/ emailings
o reviewing it in your magazine
o putting a link on your website
o putting the entire program on your website for streaming or download (please put a link to peopleshistory.net somewhere)
o set it up as a a podcast for you supporters.
o mass producing it for your supporters (CDs can be produced very cheaply)
o include it in briefings for journalists/ politicians.
o send it to your local newspaper, and suggest a review
