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In the spirit of internationalism

Swim Back in Hong Kong, protests are still being organized in support for the South Korean farmers who joined in the Siege of Wan Chai and are now detained by the HK police.

I’ve read a few blogs from so-called concerned citizens who are ‘outraged’ and ‘appalled’ by the ‘violence’ of the anti-WTO Sokor protestors. They say that (1) the South Koreans really should’ve been arrested; (2) the South Koreans planned on getting arrested to gain more media mileage; and (3) the protest actions did more harm than good and took the attention away from the discussions on the WTO.

What a truckload of crap.

These same freaking people say nothing about the violence being done to the poor and working people all over the world — hunger, homelessness, poverty, disease, etc etc- by governments who implement the WTO’s policies on trade, finance and agriculture. Is it really so surprising that people — they be South Koreans, Indians, Vietnamese, Canadians — would also show violence against the WTO and do everything they can to stop it?

I take my hat off to the Koreans for upping the standards on street protests — they showed true passion, creativity and undeniable militancy in all their demonstrations. There are some things I do not agree with in their conduct of their rallies (for instance, last Dec. 13, they failed to communicate their plans to rush at the police barricade to the other protest-contingents, and thus the program put together by the Hong Kong People’s Alliance or HKPA was shot to heck. But that’s something that could’ve been remedied easily, and I think that they, the South Koreans, have taken note of that failing.); but on the whole I  am in awe of them and their demonstrations.

(I don’t agree with having protestors immolate or stab themselves as expressions of their protest against injustice or inequality; but I will not criticize the Koreans if that is a form they see apt to show their anger and outrage. I can’t help but wish that they WOULDN"T resort to such means, though.)

It should also be said that the People’s Action Week (PAW) against the WTO did not only feature demonstrations and rallies. There were also fora and symposia on the poli-econ situation in the countries where the WTO and US imperialism crack their whips of slavery; there were cultural events like pocket concerts, poetry readings; and most important, people were talking to beat the band: making connections, building networks, coordinating actions all geared against exposing the WTO and the lies of globalization.

Post MC6, the challenge is to continue exposing and opposing the continued attempts of the WTO to bribe the resisting member-nations and make them settle for so-called development packages in exchange for their agreement to the new text.

Even the more pro-WTO country-governments have found reason to oppose the proposals in the MC6. Even they have seen that to acquiesce to the WTO is to sign the death certificates of their own economies,  the employment of their workers, their countries¡¦ food security, the basic social services and utilities. Even these governments now declare their resistance to the WTO, but the WTO will use all available resources to manufacture consensus, including giving key underdeveloped countries what they want in some areas of negotiation in  exchange for supposed "development packages." The WTO also continues to threaten underdevelopment countries, raising the bogey of a global economic crisis or imposing outright political pressure.

In the last 10 years of the  WTO’s existence, the poor and working people of the world battled it every step of the way. They  have not allowed it to wreak chaos and devastation in the lives and welfare of the world’s oppressed and exploited majority  without opposition. While it is true that the WTO is a powerful institution, it is only as powerful as the working people are weak. The WTO’s weakness lies also in the countries where it imposes, enforces its policies against the will of the people. By battling the WTO’s  policies and the collusion of our respective governments with the WTO and also with the IMF and the WTO, the people  attack the WTO at its weakest points, and strengthen the global  campaign to put an end to it once and for all.

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I didn’t get to buy anything electronic in Hong Kong.

For one thing, I didn’t have money; (But even if i had money, I probably wouldn’t have gotten anything still) and for another, I didn’t feel like lugging anything heavy, or worrying about anything crushing or breaking.

Wood I got a nifty Japanese kaleidoscope though; and for my husband I got those wooden Chinese puzzles that would drive impatient people like myself to the brink of homicide. My husband managed to take them apart and put them together in less than 10 minutes, though. He muttered all the while, talking to the interlocking pieces ("ikaw, dito kWoodena; ikaw, wag kang kakalas…") .

What I really wanted to get though, was one of those porcelain cats shop-owners put on their window display cases. I know they’re supposed to be lucky or bring luck to the shop; but mostly I like them because they remind me of my pet cats Mao and Mariah: they used to raise their paws in the air whenever they wanted to call our attention. Lucky_cat

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 at 7:06 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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