The Financial Times
September 16, 1999
By Mark Suzman in Washington

A coalition of more than 1,100 public interest groups in 87 countries will today launch a petition demanding a halt to efforts to launch a new round of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation's ministerial meeting in Seattle this November.

The statement will be unveiled at a rally in Washington as part of a global day of action to oppose any expansion of the WTO. The event, being timed to coincide with separate demonstrations in 15 countries ranging from Nepal to Japan, is being led by Public Citizen, a consumer activist group, and Friends of the Earth, a big environmentalist organisation.

It will be attended by several Democratic members of Congress as well as labour and environmental leaders.

The petition marks the launch of an international "mobilisation against globalisation" being orchestrated by a diverse range of non-governmental organisations ranging from environmentalists to labour unions and consumer groups, all opposed to further trade talks.

Despite strong support from business for a proposed "millennium round" of trade expansion negotiations, the US and other governments are increasingly concerned that the emerging populist campaign could overshadow the formal agenda at the Seattle meetings and trigger a backlash against free trade.

The petition urges an end to "any effort to expand the powers of the WTO through a new comprehensive round of trade liberalisation" and calls for a formal review of the international trading system to make it more accountable.

"The Uruguay Round agreements have functioned principally to pry open markets for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of national economies; workers, farmers and other people; and the environment," it says. "In addition the WTO system, rules and procedures are undemocratic, untransparent and non-accountable and have operated to marginalise the majority of the world's people."

Thousands of protestors from around the world are planning to descend on Seattle for a series of rallies, teach-ins and other demonstrations. They are using the internet to co-ordinate activities and link diverse groups around the common goal of disrupting the talks.

A group called the Ruckus Society, which specialises in training people in non-violent civil disobedience, will this weekend host a special Globalise This! action camp for anti-trade activists near Seattle to help prepare strategies and tactics for November.

In the greater Seattle area the influential local environmental lobby is also trying to recruit many citizens to help in the protests, in part by spearheading a campaign against specific trade proposals that carry local resonance, such as an initiative to end global tariffs on forest products. Although US companies insist the measure, which is strongly backed by US trade officials, would pose no threat to the environment, more than 100 conservation groups yesterday launched a new report warning that the deal could undermine American laws protecting forests.