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THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE #192/193 (Aug/Sept 2006) This issue’s contents:
A development assessment
of the current WTO negotiations The suspension in July 2006 of the current round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks (known as the Doha Work Programme) has given rise to concern as to their future. This article, Martin Khor provides a summary of the state of the negotiations before their suspension and the implications for developing countries of some of the rich countries' negotiating proposals. The adoption of a developmental perspective in this analysis, he argues, is warranted by the fact that one of the mandated goals of the talks is to meet the needs and interests of the developing countries. Hoist with their own petard? In this review of the current WTO situation in the light of past developments, a veteran analyst convincingly demonstrates that, notwithstanding its raison d'etre, the WTO has been anything but a rules-based organisation and a rules-based system. The WTO: what next? Despite the suspension of the WTO talks, developing countries will be well advised not to be complacent but to be prepared for their early resumption, says Bhagirath Lal Das. In explaining the basis for his belief that the talks will be revived in the not-too-distant future, he also provides some suggestions on what the developing countries should do in such an event. Beware of slippery slope
to de-industrialisation Responding to the claim by the WTO's Director-General Pascal Lamy that the price of 'failure' of the current WTO talks would be high, Mehdi Shafaeddin argues that the real failure would come about if the developing countries failed to appreciate the serious implications of accepting the proposals put forward in the talks by the developed countries for liberalising market access for their non-agricultural (i.e. industrial) goods. 'Don't hold out hopes
for the Doha Round' Robert Wade also takes issue with the official claim that the price of failure of the current trade negotiations would be high. That may be so for developed countries, but for developing countries, the current proposals confront them with the risk of de-industrialisation.
The ecology of genocide The current carnage in Darfur has its origins in an ecological and environmental crisis which pitted Arab nomadic pastoralists against black sedentary agriculturalists. The resulting exodus of Darfuri refugees into neighbouring Chad now threatens to engender a similar ecological crisis and conflict. Breaching borders: The
role of water in the Middle East conflict The fight over water resources has been an integral component of the Middle East conflict and there can be no long-term security for the people of the region without a proper settlement of this issue.
What's really behind the
bird flu outbreaks? Wild birds and farmyard chickens are the victims of bird flu, not the perpetrators. Intensive poultry farming and globalised poultry trade are to blame for creating and spreading the virus, but what really causes bird flu outbreaks? Dr Sherri Tenpenny points the finger at environmental pollutants that disrupt the immune system, especially dioxins.
NGOs criticise outcome
of IMF-World Bank meeting The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank held in September in Singapore under repressive and restricted conditions which scandalised the whole world came under fire from the NGO community. Critics assailed not only the choice of the venue but also the failure of the meetings to seriously address the critical problems of financial instability, debt, poverty and economic imbalance plaguing the world today. Tax havens and dirty money The 'secrecy space' offered by financial intermediaries operating in offshore tax havens represents a glaring flaw in the global financial architecture, contends John Christensen.
NAM summit 2006: Making
progress towards a new South Writing on the occasion of the 2006 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Havana in September, Vikas Nath and Joseph Senona argue that the rationale for a broad coalition of countries of the South is probably even stronger today than in the 1950s when some of the principles of the movement were first enunciated at the Asian-African Conference in Bandung. Return of NAM The Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Havana in September came out with a robust response to US hegemony in a unipolar world. The vein of thirty-four
years Some two decades after the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship as a result of a bitter, protracted 14-year struggle, the people of the Philippines now languish in far worse economic and social conditions under a new dictatorial regime. Renato Redentor Constantino ponders on how this is possible. A regime of terror in
the Philippines Political repression has reached alarming levels under President Gloria Arroyo. Oil trip As oil companies celebrate record profits, African communities ostensibly blessed with the curse of oil languish in squalor. Emira Woods, who toured the current and potential oil-producing nations of Nigeria, Chad and Liberia, reports on this sad phenomenon. Anti-debt activists decry
'destroy and lend' policy on Lebanon Lebanon is firmly en route to becoming the third nation in the Middle East after Iraq and the Palestinian territories to experience a devastating Washington-backed war and a massive influx of new illegitimate debt to cover reconstruction expenses, anti-debt activists say.
Guatemala: Death squads continue to benefit from impunity The task of bringing to justice those who committed serious human rights violations during the 30-year 'dirty war' launched in the 1960s by the Guatemalan state against dissidents and insurgents has been far from satisfactory. Despite some commendable attempts at the international level (especially by Spanish courts) to arraign some former top military and state officials for genocide, many powerful interest groups responsible for the horrific crimes committed by 'death squads' have not been brought to book. Above all, those from the US government and corporate groups who trained, organised, financed or backed this 'dirty war' have been left to go scot-free.
Realising women's reproductive
health rights in Africa Ministers of health and delegates from 48 African countries meeting in Maputo on 22 September 2006 unanimously agreed that the right to health is under serious threat in Africa, and that poor sexual and reproductive health is a leading killer. To address this problem, participants in the two-day ministerial conference, which was preceded by a three-day experts' meeting, adopted a plan of action to ensure universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services throughout the continent. In the following article, which is drawn from a paper presented to the conference, Irungu Houghton sets out some of the main threats to the right to health facing women in the continent.
From a jail to a community
radio station The transformation of a former prison in Caracas into a community radio station is testimony to the far-reaching social changes taking place in Venezuela today under President Hugo Chavez. Benjamin Dangl and April Howard speak to the activists at the Cordinadora Simon Bolivar as they struggle to break the stranglehold of larger media operators opposed to such social change. Mapuche, Mapunky, Mapuheavy Activists from the indigenous Mapuche community of Argentina are using new and creative modes of artistic expression to confront the dominant denial of an indigenous presence and identity in their country.
The Pope and Islam Commenting on Pope Benedict XVI's ill-judged observations on Islam, Jeremy Seabrook says that there can no more tragic destiny for a human being than being immured in a faith that blinds him or her to the humanity of others.
Poetry as protest For subscription and enquiries: THIRD WORLD NETWORK Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
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