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 banks. But under the glitz there is another side to Hong Kong, a side of workers having their jobs outsourced to cheaper Chinese workers and factories, of domestic workers brought in from the Philopeans, Indonsia and Thailand to work for rock bottom wages and poor conditions, over one quater are either physically or mentally abused by there bosses, and a side where the mass of people have no say over what there governments and the few tycoons do to them.

This December between the 11th to the 18th, Hong Kong will host the 6th ministerial meeting of the world trade organisation. An important meeting for the delegates as they try to finalise trade discussions which were derailed at the previous meetings by mass protests outside the convention centre. It will also be a vital meeting for the anti-capitalist movement. It will be the largest anti-capitalist protests in Asia and vital for building the movement in this most effected area.

China has about 20% of the wolds population and since their admission to the WTO there have been millions of redundancies in their farming industries and an increased deregulation of their industries, every week there is another tale of a mining accedent killing hundreds of workers. The protest will have a huge effect on the confidence of Chinese workers and farmers to fight back.

In order to facilitate the protests the Hong Kong People’s Alliance on the WTO was set up by local trade union, peace, migrant, student, trade and religious activists. They have organised a number of large protests and meetings in the city to raise the awareness about the protests. They have helped to organise a program of events over the week including a main protest on the Sunday and futher protests and meetings throughout the week. They have negotated a protest venue with police near to the conference centre and camping facilities within the city.

The protests will be enlarged by amongst others a predicted 1000 South Korean peasant farmers, 6000 domestic workers, a delegation of Swiss farmers, and a large number of Asia fisherfolk who plan a harbour side demonstration.

It will be important for everyone who can come in December to come and take another step in the fight for another world.

Fergus Alexander