Balance sheet
Given the deal passed by the WTO, is this an unmitigated disaster for the global justice movement?
Well, yes and no.
For those who looked to the WTO and certain negotiators to deliver trade justice it’s a complete disaster. For those who believed the WTO could help “Make Poverty History” it’s
Balance sheet
It’s certainly the HK authorities strategy to paint a picture of the demonstrations being entirely consisted of outsiders. As I have reported before that became less and less the case as the week progressed. On many occasions, including quite late in the sit-in in Gloucester Road on Saturday night,
Balance sheet
The deal signed at the closing stages of the conference was a disaster for developing countries. The representatives of Brazil (Celso Amorin) and India (Kamal Nath) should hang their heads in shame. They have, as leaders of the G20 Group (that’s the developing countries, as opposed to the less
Defiant protesters arrested for opposing the destruction of their livelihoods
On the night of Saturday 17 and throughout the morning of Sunday 18 December many people were arrested in Gloucester Road, more details about numbers and the treatment of political prisoners have since emerged. There is a clip of the arrests
The latest word is that 14 men will remain in custody to face charges over the demonstration against the WTO. 11 of them are Korean, and they are with one Hong Kong resident, one Japanese and one Taiwanese. They have been refused police bail. They are due in court on
Today’s demo was always going to the the one that counted
Yesterday ensured Hong Kong will go down in history alongside Seattle and Genoa. The determined and disciplined actions of the demonstration (many, but by no means all Koreans) saw the WTO ministerial iminently threatened with invasion.
A protest gathered in Victoria
the focus of negotiators and proesters shifts to a final night showdown
The mood in Hong Kong seemed to change yesterday. Such was the sympathy for the Korean activists who did the three-steps-and-bow, there is a far wider acceptance of the protesters. Each evening there’s been a candlelight vigil near to
The most hectic and vibrant week of protest Hong Kong has ever seen continues….
As I write about five hundred Korean peasants are making very slow progress towards the convention centre. They are marching three steps and then lowering to their knees and bowing their heads to the ground, then repeating
The WTO started today, the protests got off to a good start
The WTO started in Hong Kong today, as did the more confrontational demos. As a speaker from Focus on the Global South announced at a meeting on the evening before:
“Civil Society? Don’t give me civil society! They’re [the WTO]
Got to Hong Kong, and after a slight delay courtesy of the police, am raring to go!
Hong Kong is a very suitable place for the WTO to meet, Disneyland has just set up it’s HK branch, and the streets here in the run up to Xmas are like Oxford Street
A radical demonstration in Seoul today, it seems part of the build up to the Hong Kong mobilisation.
There’s two issues being protested, firstly the rice trade laws, a huge issue amongst the farmers here, and the other is the issue of casualisation. Like many places in the world, short term
The next summit of the Doha ‘development’ round of the WTO promises problems for developing countries, not solutions as they’d like us to believe.
Hong Kong is seen the city of capitalism by many. Its famous skyline created by the huge amounts of investment poured into it by multinational firms and