Jubilee 2000 Cape Town to protest against WTO Head

Jubilee 2000 Cape Town to protest against WTO Head

Jubilee 2000 Western Cape Press Statement
Monday June 19th, 2000
5pm

Activists from unions, churches and other organisations affiliated to Jubilee 2000 South Africa will demonstrate outside parliament on Wednesday against Secretary General of the World Trade Organisation, Mike Moore.

Moore will be in South Africa this week, and in Parliament on Wednesday June 1st to address the portfolio committees on trade and industry, land & agriculture, foreign affairs and finance. The protest will happen from 8:30am till 10am outside parliament.

"The protest is expected to be a symbolic extension of the December 1999 Battle of Seattle where the people of the word rejected the Neo-liberal agenda that seeks to address the interest of Trans-national companies at the expense of the working class," said a Jubilee spokesperson Simphiwe Dada.

At the 3rd Ministerial meeting of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) in December 1999 the people of the world came together and said no to the WTO's so-called "New issues", and demanded the review of the damaged caused by the institution since its inception in 1995.

Through domination of the WTO by rich countries of the North and their transnational companies, the institution (the WTO) is promoting and enforcing trade liberalisation and deregulation through tariff reduction and privatisation. These policies impact negatively on developing countries and communities by causing job losses, depleting resources like fisheries, environmental degradation, poverty and stifling democratic processes.

..../ends For more information, please contact Simphiwe Dada/ Mike Abrahams (021) 685-1565/6 or simphiwe@aidc.org.za

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