World Trade Organization screws us again! We have no right to know where our food comes from.

[Elwood P Dowd]

http://www.citizen.org/tradewatch

Free Trade bits us again. GATT/WTO really isn't free trade though, and none of the other deals with the words free trade are either. They are simply corporate investment/outsourcing scams written to line the pockets of the fat cats at the expense of the American workers and consumers.


The latest email from Public Citizen........

If you thought pink slime in your meat was bad, try not knowing where your meat actually comes from!

Unfortunately, mystery meat is what the World Trade Organization (WTO) wants to serve us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Raise the profile on the WTO attacks on consumer rights — sign the Consumer Rights Pledge.

Last fall, we informed you of a set of WTO rulings against U.S. country-of-origin labels on meat, dolphin-safe labels on tuna, and a ban on candy- and clove-flavored cigarettes.* Each of these consumer safeguards was hard-won by the American public fighting to make informed decisions as consumers and to protect our children’s health.

Time and again, the WTO favors feeding corporate greed, imposing barriers to the public’s will here and in other countries.

That’s why it’s up to all of us to take the pledge and shine a spotlight on the WTO’s outrageous rulings.

Only by taking action can we make sure that the Obama administration and Congress do not bow to the WTO orders to kill our laws. And, by getting our friends and family signed up, we can make sure the administration does not extend these anti-consumer rules in future trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership “free trade” agreement.

[EC]

1. WTO doesn't over-ride our laws.

Meat and produce must be labeled with country of origin, it's now the law. This law just went into effect a little while ago and I don't think Congress will be rewriting because of the WTO recommendations.

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. If we don't change the laws, then we pay millions (or billions?) in penalties

since we are a member of the WTO. We've been hit before because of WTO rulings.

[Zorra]

5. But that's only the paper reality. The WTO seriously undermines national sovereignty. (link fixed)

(This is from back in 1999)

The WTO undermines national sovereignty

By creating a supranational court system that has the power to economically sanction countries to force them to comply with its rulings, the WTO has essentially replaced national governments with an unelected, unaccountable corporate-backed government. For the past nine years, the European Union has banned beef raised with artificial growth hormones. The WTO recently ruled that this public health law is a barrier to trade and should be abolished. The EU has to rollback its ban or pay stiff penalties. Under the WTO, governments can no longer act in the public interest.

(see link below)

The WTO only serves the interests of transnational corporations

The WTO is not a democratic institution, and yet its policies impact all aspects of society and the planet. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative relies on its 17 "Industry Sector Advisory Committees" to provide input into trade negotiations. Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret.

The WTO is a stacked court

The WTO's dispute panels, which rule on whether domestic laws are "barriers to trade" and should therefore be abolished, consist of three trade bureaucrats who are not screened for conflict of interests. For example, in the tuna/dolphin case that Mexico filed against the US, which forced the US to repeal its law that barred tuna from being caught by mile-long nets that kill hundreds of thousands of dolphins each year, one of the judges was from a corporate front group that lobbied on behalf of the Mexican government for NAFTA.

The WTO tramples over labor and human rights

The WTO has refused to address the impacts of free trade on labor rights, despite that fact that countries that actively enforce labor rights are disadvantaged by countries that consistently violate international labor conventions. Many developing countries, such as Mexico, contend that labor standards constitute a "barrier to free trade" for countries whose competitive advantage in the global economy is cheap labor. Potential solutions to labor and human rights abuses are blocked by the WTO, which has ruled that it is: I ) illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced (i.e. with child labor); and 2) governments cannot take into account the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma.

The WTO only serves the interests of transnational corporations

The WTO is not a democratic institution, and yet its policies impact all aspects of society and the planet. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative relies on its 17 "Industry Sector Advisory Committees" to provide input into trade negotiations. Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret.The WTO is a stacked courtThe WTO's dispute panels, which rule on whether domestic laws are "barriers to trade" and should therefore be abolished, consist of three trade bureaucrats who are not screened for conflict of interests. For example, in the tuna/dolphin case that Mexico filed against the US, which forced the US to repeal its law that barred tuna from being caught by mile-long nets that kill hundreds of thousands of dolphins each year, one of the judges was from a corporate front group that lobbied on behalf of the Mexican government for NAFTA.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/WTO_MAI/TopTenReasons_Oppose.html

Just say no to the WTO.

They got real serious at the Battle of Seattle.


They get real serious with Occupy, too; the 1% gets real serious when peasants begin to challenge their *right to the throne*.

The global power of the financial centers is so great, that they can afford not to worry about the political tendency of those who hold power in a nation, if the economic program (in other words, the role that nation has in the global economic megaprogram) remains unaltered. The financial disciplines impose themselves upon the different colors of the world political spectrum in regards to the government of any nation. The great world power can tolerate a leftist government in any part of the world, as long as the government does not take measures that go against the needs of the world financial centers. But in no way will it tolerate that an alternative economic, political and social organization consolidate. For the megapolitics, the national politics are dwarfed and submit to the dictates of the financial centers. It will be this way until the dwarfs rebel . .

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/1997/jigsaw.html

[Elwood P Dowd]

7. There is actually still a small group of longtime DU members who still support this insanity

Last edited Wed Mar 28, 2012, 03:44 PM - Edit history (1)

and loss of freedom called the WTO. Sad isn't it. They are so blinded by the neo-liberal free trade propaganda that they have consistently defended it here many times for many years.

[Zorra]

8. Well,

some people believe the earth is flat.

There are always small groups that can't, or refuse, to see the big picture on many subjects.

[C_U_L8R]

2. WTO doen't override my wallet

if it doesn't meet my standards... I ain't buying it.

[leftyohiolib]

4. thats the point you wont know if it meets your standard b/c you will have nothing to

compare your standards to. the wto doesnt want you to know anything about what youre eating

[snagglepuss]

6. k & r