Local News

The 5th WTO Ministeral meeting at Cancun was quite eventful. Here's a round-up of what took place.

The first major demonstration was held on Thursday the 10th. Lead by the Campesinos, activists marched to the red zone, where police had errected a fence to prevent them from protesting at the location of the talks. Activists clashed with police as they tore parts of the fence down and attempted to get past the police line. The most dramatic action of the day, however, was done by Lee Kyung-hae, a Korean Farmer who climbed the police barrier, held up a sign saying "The WTO Kills Farmers" and then commited suicide by stabbing himself with a knife.
Links:
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Article by Lee Kyung-ha

Actions continued throughout the week and came to a peak on Saturday the 13th - the international day of actions against the WTO. Thousands marched again to the police line and this time the entire fence was torn down by a group made up of only women while punks, black blockers and others provided protection from the police. Meanwhile, other activists diguised themselves as tourists, snuck past the police blockades and disrupted the hotel zone where the meetings were taking place.

Demonstration at the fence,
Actions at the hotel zone:
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Meanwhile, inside the WTO, poor nations formed a tight alliance aiming to remove the rich nations' agriculture subsidies. Initially a group of 21 nations, they grew to be 22, then 23 large. When the US, EU and other large nations refused to give the G23 their demands, the G23 backed out of the talks causing the 5th WTO ministeral to collapse.
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More links:

Summary of the week's events

Letters from Cancun by a Rochester activist:
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Levi Grand was selected in 1917 to fill one of the positions on
the traditional Cayuga council and given the ancient title name of
Deskaheh. After WWI, he journeyed to the League of Nations in Geneva to
file the grievances of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people. The following
is the text of his last speech.

(On the evening of March 10, 1925, suffering from a serious attack of
pleurisy and pneumonia, he made his last speech. It was before a radio
microphone in Rochester. Once more, and more forcefully than ever,
he hurled defiance at big nations who disregard the claims of smaller
peoples.)

Read his last speech

On September 3, 2003 charges that had been filed against a number of peace acivists were dismissed.

Rochester. In March of 2003 several peace protesters were arrested in front of the Kenneth Keating Federal Building in Rochester, New York while praying for peace. The protesters were trying to bring attention to the horror & destruction brought about as a result of the war against Iraq.

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(August 04, 2003) Twenty-some of Rochester's poor decided
to stand out against poverty and the practices of the href="http://www.monroecounty.gov/org658.asp?storyID=2831">Monroe County
Department of Human and Health Services (DHHS) on Monday. They met
at noon at the Liberty Pole to gather for a march and to present their
grievances to all who were willing to hear, stating, "It's time for poor
people in our community to unite and demand our rights to thrive and
live at a standard of Human Dignity, Respect, and Equality." The march
involved members of both Poor People United and the Rochester
Poor People's Coalition and proceeded from the Liberty Pole to the
DHHS offices at 691 Saint Paul Street.

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