I just heard the news on local the radio. It was mentioned that the WTO summit came to an end, detailing negotiations, the obstacles, etc. However, there was nothing on the actions of the representatives of the NGOs, even though they might not have been very large, and especially nothing about the actions which took place everywhere on the planet. Nothing! Not even a small mention.
In Seattle, there were 50 000 people? When WTO decided to go to Qatar, what was evident, underlined by all, was that the WTO went there to avoid the problems related to the demonstrations and to the "violence" of Seattle. The big public relations operations of the WTO, subtle as never, nevertheless managed to divert the attention of the mainstream media. Even the most investigative journalists seem to have understood nothing.
And if, the summit had not been somewhere in a far of country in the desert, how many people been there? 200 000, 300 000, more? Would newspapers have avoided that? Would they have avoided the demonstrators to speak only about negotiations (and from the point of view of the official delegates)? This seems to be about what just happened. The mainstream media did exactly what the governments and the multinationals wanted it to do while a unprecedented worldwide action against the WTO took place in the streets all around the world.
It seems that when Mike Moore choose Qatar, he had as he claimed "learnt lessons in Seattle". There would be no public criticism of the WTO, and this anti-democratic organisation would get back to business and be the one setting the agenda; not those violent anarchists in the streets?
From the 9th to the 13th, people everywhere took to the streets to show their opposition at the Qatar summit. In spite of a total absence of information about the demonstrations, one of the biggest movements of global dissent made its opposition known, and no major source of information mentioned the fact that hundreds of thousand of people showed up almost everywhere in opposition to the WTO.
The reports of demonstrators indicate that in more than thirty (maybe over 40) countries and in more than 100 cities, people united their efforts to lead coordonated actions for the Global days of action against the WTO.
What is it exactly that happened?
Here's summarized rundown of the actions that went on all over :
In Doha, where only 300 NGO representatives were able to go, there were some small demonstrations. French farmers-activist José Bové was brutalised by the police when he tried to bring a message from the demonstrators to the WTO delegates, this, while off coast Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior broadcasted critical points of view via the combined Greenpeace-indymedia project, "No new round " radio.
In Europe, walks took place in almost all the main cities. In Germany alone, there were demonstrations in almost all the main cities of the country. Only there, the list is already rather long : Frankfort, Hamburg, Munich, all the cities are there,? and even Uelzen, a small town in the North of Germany, 200 people walked. In Berlin, according to reports, around 7 000 people walked. In Switzerland, in Geneva, in spite of the cold temperature, there were 8 000 people, others in Bern. In Austria the demonstrations took place in Vienna, Salzburg and Linz, celebrating the fact that WTO was "sent to the desert ". In Prague a group of activists claims to have made a media offensive, in Bulgaria thousands of people came to the action, in Russia as well. In Denmark about fifty activists occupied a ferry demanding that the Danish government pay their transport to Doha. In Finland as well, people held street actions.
Let's go south a bit.
In France, they celebrated the "burial" of the WTO in Ales, and through the A.T.T.A.C. network there were demonstrations or conferences in Nimes, Reims, Gap, Foix, Marseille, Nimes, Grenoble, Montluçon, Manosque, Toulouse, Metz, Lille, Colmar, Valencia, Foix, Carcassonne, Montpelier, Paris,?and, in total, in 43 cities! A.T.T.A.C. claims to have organized 120 events in 13 countries. Also, there were several demonstrations in the Basque country. The Spanish were also very present in several cities; apparently they were 1000 in Barcelona. In Great Britain, in Manchester a small group of activists claims to have gotten up very early on Friday mornings to disturb the bureaucrats of PriceWaterhouseCooper, a private firm which apparently does consulting work for the WTO (see Greg Palast's report on his web site). There were actions to Guildford and Newcastle.
Reclaim the Streets participated in the festive Trade Justice Parade in London where 5 000 people got together? In Rome, according to the newspaper Il Manifesto, 100 000 persons would answered call for a global action by demonstrating against the WTO, but also against the war (shaming the 40 000 who walked with the president Berlusconi FOR the war) In Ireland, there were a lot of people in Dublin ? And I should not forget Greece where thousands of persons took to the streets, also in the Netherlands, in Slovakia, in Slovenia, in Stockholm, etc.
Let's change continents.
In Australia people organized a week of solidarity against the WTO and as well against the war (and I'm sure there's more). In Wellington, New Zealand, speeches against the WTO were held in the street. In Christchurch as well there were demonstrations. There was stuff in the Philippines, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in Indonesia, in Hong-Kong... And let's take a look at Bangkok. There, members of the Assembly of the poor protested with 1000 other people took the streets. In Korea, an amazing 20 000 walked against the WTO, the war and US imperialism. The message even got to Mongolia where members of the confederacy of Mongolian syndicates claims to have gathered 300. In Bangladesh there were demonstrations in the cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet. In India from 50 000 to 100 000 walked in New Delhi. There was aslo a demo in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. In Iran, 500 walked from the university of Teheran ? In Ankara, Turkey, 10 000 employees of the public and private sectors confronted about 5 000 cops.
Ok! Now for Africa.
There were demos in South Africa, in Burkina Faso, in Cameroon, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Nigeria, in Tunisia and doubtless in other places too ?
In North America, in Canada after a caravan against the WTO toured the main cities throughout the country, there were demonstrations in Edmonton with the Ragging Grannies, in St - Johns, Newfoundland, in Quebec, in Ottawa and in Montreal where between 500 and 700 persons united with the international effort. But, for sure, there's more even though the winter is setting in? In the US, there were demos in several big cities, notably in Washington, in New York, in Palo Alto and in San Francisco where seven were arrested after they showed up with 500 others in front of a Chevron oil refinery.(Was there more?)
Even in the Barbados people decided to take the streets ?
To Latin America now.
In Brazil, a group named the "Bloco independente apartidário" from Rio claims to have met with anarchists, socialists, feminists, punks and anarco punks for an action... There were aslo street actions in Sao Paolo and in Fortaleza. In Bolivia, where the demonstrations are already numerous since a little while, people blocked roads. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, where, there as well, there were big demonstrations recently, there was an anticapitalist action and people claim to have been beaten up by the police. There was stuff going on in Ecuador and Costa Rica as well.
Finally, --and although this is not totally related with the WTO actions-- we should not forget that in Colombia, in demos against the "imperialist war of the U.S." three students where killed. The first one, Carlos Geovanny Blanco Leguzamoa, was killed by the police in Bogota, and two others were killed in support action in Medellin.
It is likely that between the 8th and the 11th of November more than 300 000 persons went almost simultaneously in the streets of the planet. How many exactly? One day maybe we will know. Without a doubt, this just was the biggest coordonated global action of it's kind.
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