It was a sight to see. Fifty thousand people from nations around the globe, gathered together in the streets of Seattle to protest the WTO. Those who marched, engaged in organized civil disobedience, attended rallies and meetings, listened- in on consciousness-raising sessions, watched cultural performances, sang songs, and held the hands of strangers came away feeling changed, empowered by their own actions and with the sense of a truly global community united in a common goal.

I marched in Seattle on Tuesday November 30, 1999, as a representative of APWLD and a participant in the People’s Assembly. The event was in fact the resounding conclusion of an inspiring three day meeting composed of NGO representatives,grass- roots organizations, farmers and activists from countries as culturally diverse as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Mexico, Canada and the USA.

The morning of the march, I arrived at the departure site together with three People’s Assembly representatives,Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk and Cholada (Judy) Montreevat from Thailand, and Liza Largoza-Maza from the Philippines. Denied a permit to march, People’s Assembly participants decided to proceed nonetheless, creating and carrying a red “people’s permit” banner signed by all attendees.

After a rousing speech by our fearless leader Ace Saturay, Chair of the Seattle Sentenaryong Bayan and Convenor of the People’s Assembly, we pressed forward into the streets of Seattle’s international district. We moved up Fourth Street slowly and surely, alternating chants as we progressed. As I looked behind me and up the sloping street, I was overwhelmed by the density of the crowd.

Eventually, we did arrive at our rally site. One by one, People’s Assembly delegates climbed above the crowd and shared with other marchers and Seattle residents their stories, hopes and fears. People who knew nothing of the People’s Assembly, and probably even less about the WTO, stood entranced, eyes directed at an Asian farmer describing the impact of WTO decisions on his community. There was a sense that nothing terrible could happen because there were so many witnesses sympathetic to the cause. Yet, in the distance clouds of tear gas rose up from the crowds and between skyscrapers. Several times during our march we came close to the origins of the gas, but luckily we were never the direct targets of police as so many others unfortunately were.

As our rally came to a conclusion, the AFL-CIO marchers began to pass us. A loud cry went up as we realized their presence. Reorganizing ourselves into a more orderly procession, we merged into their ranks and continued toward the Paramount and the Convention Center - two locations where official WTO events were scheduled to take place.

With our rally and performances over, all of us safe and physically intact and warmed by our energy despite the cold, wet Seattle weather, our leaders declared the People’s Assembly march a success. We were told that we had postponed the WTO meetings for several hours. In fact, because of the massive presence of marchers near the Paramount, the WTO was unable to conduct its opening ceremonies there. Cheers went up celebrating victory.

Several days later it was announced on radio stations, the television news and in newspapers that the WTO had been unable to come to an agreement for a further round of talks. More importantly, the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) had failed to pass. Around the world, little cries of victory went up because, for a short time in 1999, thousands of diverse people came together with focused on their commonalties rather than their differences. Although the victory in Seattle cannot be solely attributed to the efforts of those protesting in the streets, those of us who were there know that we played a significant role.

With the confidence gained, the alliances made and the knowledge shared by those present as well as many more thousands of people supporting the cause to stop the WTO, we are better equipped for the next time. For as we chanted that day, “The people united, can never be divided!”

Women and the WTO:
Clarifying the problem and taking on the challenge

On December 1, 1999, a one-day conference was held in downtown Seattle entitled, “Women, Democracy, Sovereignty and Development.” The conference scheduled during the time of the official WTO meetings, redirected attention to an often forgotten population - women. It brought together an extremely wide variety of people including women and men ranging in age, ethnicity, nationality and class as well.

The morning session began with presentations from five women representing St. Lucia, Tanzania, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States. Mohau Pheko of the African Women’s Caucus, South Africa and Mariama Williams of the Institute for Law and Economics, Jamaica, and DAWN-Caribbean moderated the presentations.

Farming & Agriculture

Elizabeth Charles from St. Lucia drew on her own experience as a banana farmer to connect the global and the local, and to detail the ways in which new trade rules determined at an international level have resulted in new and increased input costs for farmers. The WTO system has not resulted in more revenue as promised. Rather, farmers face increasing pressure as well as heavier burdens due to competition with large-scale production companies such as Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte which now control 90% of the banana market. Unemployment is rising, resulting in a current unemployment rate of 40% and the demoralization of farmers who can no longer support their families.

Mary Rusimbi, from Tanzania Gender Network, connected the feminization of farming to customary practices in Tanzania where women are prohibited from owning land despite the fact that they are 75% of all agricultural workers. She described some of the negative impacts of WTO policies on farmers in her country including a shift toward cash cropping, increased foreign investment, the rise of female and child labor, the spread of pesticide use and intensification of environmental pollution.Similar to the St. Lucian case, huge agricultural firms are pushing local farmers into marginal and devastated areas.

Industrialization and Neocolonialism

Marta Ojeda, a maquiladoras union leader in Mexico, turned the discussion toward the feminization of industrial labor and the exploitation of workers. Factory laborers live and work in terrible conditions where they lack running water and electricity. They are granted no benefits and are exposed to chemicals and disease. Marta described one particularly offensive example in which factory workers producing goods for U.S. chain-store, Wal-Mart were secretly fed drugs in the form of “vitamins” so that they would be capable of working excessive hours.

Initial efforts by workers to challenge these extreme forms of neocolonialist exploitation were met with resistance and violence on the part of companies and official unions. Marta described how co-workers and fellow protesters were jailed and wounded merely because they had demonstrated in order to create a union with leadership by election. Devoted union members and leaders like Marta continue to challenge the colonialist practices of MNCs.

Helping the audience to see the disempowering linkages between industrial countries and developing countries, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz from the Philippines provided a broader framework with which to understand the neocolonialist practices which the WTO, as well as other international organizations including the IMF, perpetuate. Vicky questioned policies and treaties which define local practices as “inefficient” and force farmers in the developing world to shift to market-desirable crops. This larger economic system promoted by richer countries not only requires a change from subsistence production to cash crop production, but also makes producers pay more for the products that they themselves are producing as a result of export-import agreements.

In the Philippines as elsewhere in Asia, women in particular have been disproportionately affected by these economic shifts. Women are migrating abroad in large numbers to work as nannies, entertainers and prostitutes. Not only are women burdened with maintaining an income to financially support their families, but also with protecting them from the threatened dignity of their husbands who have lost their role as family breadwinners.

Vicky concluded that it is clear that the economic model being promoted by the WTO is not going to work for the vast majority of women in the world. She claimed that collaborations between the WTO, IMF, and ADB undermine state infrastructure and policy in various countries, resulting in an economic system that oppresses all people, but most especially, women.

Empowering our communities

La Doris Payne Bell, from the United States pointed out some of the problems brought on by WTO policies. She emphasized that it is important to start building awareness and making changes at home, with their own communities. She argued that only from a position rooted in their own communities can women begin to join the larger women’s movement with sisters from around the globe. Moreover, she feels that women’s organizations tackling the issue of WTO must include all women, in particular women of color and poor women.

After the presentations, the moderators emphasized several important points:

To begin with, the free market system is a global war system, especially against women and children. In this system women’s positions are even worse than they were several decades prior. Second, within this system decisions are being made undemocratically, without the input of those who will be most severely affected by them. Third, food security should be at the top of the agenda so as to assure that countries will be self-reliant. Finally, the push by the WTO to liberalize national economies and change national laws must be challenged. Investment decisions should be in the hands of the individual nations, not of the WTO.

The Challenge

While the conference on women, democracy, sovereignty and development sometimes revealed in painful detail, the excessive abuses of the WTO and the cruel suffering endured by thousands of women across the globe, its message was far more subversive. Like many other conferences on and for women, the real purpose was to challenge both women and men, those in the industrialized world as well as in the developing world, to stand and fight together. Based on the knowledge and information shared, we hoped that individuals would be in a better position to evaluate the WTO and similar agencies threatening their livelihoods and human rights.

*LeeRay Costa is a Ph.D candidate at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii.