Over forty unannounced protestors from across the world joined together inside the opening ceremony of the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong to protest at the WTO’s ongoing drive towards liberalisation.“We have seen ten years of deceit under the WTO. We are protesting because we cannot continue to watch the WTO take away the lives and livelihoods of farmers, peasants and workers across the world,’ said Walden Bello, Executive Director of Focus on the Global South.
Members of civil society which included farmer’s organisations, unions and NGOs held white banners above their heads chanting slogans during Pascal Lamy’s opening address. Mr Lamy appeared visibly uncomfortable by the surprisingly noisy protesters. Across the auditorium, signs were held up with the words in many languages: ‘Stand by your people’ and the ‘WTO Kills Peasants’.
Protestors demanded that developing country members of WTO reject the hollow development package.
“There is nothing on the table at the WTO that is going to benefit developing countries. Developing countries must reject what is on offer. It is a case of ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’.
This was echoed by several developing country delegations who held press conferences before the plenary.
See the video of the action
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