World Trade Organization 5-27-2007

27, May 2007 World Trade Organization

More and more cases are emerging exposing the dark side of The World Trade Organization (WTO)  – a sinister acronym used to promote trade by rich countries to the detriment of the poor nations of the world. Increasingly, rich counties are flexing their economic muscles to bolster their trade with the emerging markets of India, China and Brazil The WTO is meeting in Brussels to craft a new strategy to increase commerce with the primary focus on bolstering agricultural exports. These unfair trade practices are having a devastating impact on Indian farmers who are unable to complete with heavily subsidized agricultural products from Western nations. Indian farm products do not enjoy the price support practices that are largely taken for granted by European and US farmers. The Indian government has ignored the desperate plight of Indian farmers and has instead stockpiled with cheaper imported wheat products from Australia and the US. This is but another glaring example of the predatory practices of the WTO. The long term effects for the Indian economy will be devastating. 

Many Indian farmers have been driven to suicide, others have been forced to assume heavy debt or forced to sell their land to commercial interests. For example, shopping malls have been built on prime agricultural land to satiate the voracious appetite of the noveau rich middle class. Vandana Shiva, a vehement critic of WTO, decried the plight of the Indian farmers stating, “The farmers are spending 10 times more for their costs of production, and earning 50 per cent to 70 per cent less than they were earning before. They are getting squeezed. And there's a magical word that the WTO has floated on the horizon called competition; if you get wiped out, it was your fault, not the twisted trickery of the WTO rules." Soon, laments Shiva, “the flour mills may become a farming relic displaced by cheaper foreign imports.” Kasmir Singh, a 40 year farmer crushed by a staggering loan of $12,000 he paid for his tractor ended his life by drinking pesticide crop he had brought for his fields. His grieving wife, Satvinder Kaur, is now condemned to a life of punishing poverty, another victim of globalization that pits poor countries against the trade practices of the US and European consortium. Similar agricultural repercussions are occurring in Africa. 

It is tragic that the ‘haves’ of the world are able to satiate their appetite for rampant consumerism on the backs of the ‘have nots’ under the much touted umbrella of globalization. As we drink our lattes in the comfort of Starbucks cafes dressed in our Nikes, slacks and designer shirts we should take pause and reflect on the exploited sweat shop slave labor, which enriches corporations and allows us maintain our high standard of living. Perhaps the Bible said it best, “on to he that hath it shall be given, on to he that hath not, it shall be taken, even that what he hath.” Let us jettison the siren song of unfettered wealth and work to creating a world based on fairness and justice for all.