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Farmers, NGOs rally for dissolution of WTO
Seeking food sovereignty: Several activists from India stage a demonstration at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center on Tuesday
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Seeking food sovereignty: Several activists from India stage a demonstration at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center on Tuesday. They were demanding food sovereignty, food security and protection for small and marginalized farmers. (JP/Zul T. Edoardo) (JP/Zul T. Edoardo)
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span class="inline inline-none">Seeking food sovereignty: Several activists from India stage a demonstration at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center on Tuesday. They were demanding food sovereignty, food security and protection for small and marginalized farmers. (JP/Zul T. Edoardo)
Yoon Geum-soon relies on yellow melon to support herself, but she thinks that there is no future for her in farming back home.
The 54-year-old farmer blames the World Trade Organization (WTO) for what she calls 'the pain' inflicted on South Korean farmers since the country joined the organization in 1995.
'The population in rural areas, especially of farmers, has decreased significantly to 2.5 million, from 7.5 million, as young people leave for industrialized cities. At the same time, farmers are now burdened with higher debt than before,' she said at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) on Tuesday.
Yoon, a former chairwoman of the Korean Women's Peasant Association, came all the way from Sung-ju county, Kyung-buk province, to Bali in support of a social movement demanding the disbandment of the WTO.
She joined around 50 activists and farmers, including Indian nationals, in a protest in front of hundreds of WTO delegates at the BNDCC after the ninth ministerial meeting was officially opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The protesters spent between 10 and 15 minutes chanting 'Peace clause, rest in peace!' and 'G33, defend food security!' to express their opposition against the WTO's approach on food and agriculture issues, while delegates stopped by and took pictures.
Among the Indian protesters was Krishan Bir Chaudhary from New Delhi-based farmers association Bharatiya Krishak Samaj.
'We object to the existence of the WTO. Agriculture is our way of life, it's not for business,' he said, adding that hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers had committed suicide as they fell into despair because of the worsening agricultural situation in India over the last 15 years.
According to Riza Damanik of Indonesia for Global Justice, one of the protest's coordinators, they had initially planned to hold the protest before the meeting began, in an effort to catch the attention of Yudhoyono and attending ministers.
'But the authorities did not allow us to do that. They also forbade us from holding a rally in Denpasar,' he said.
Riza said that the activists were satisfied enough with the Tuesday's protest at the BNDCC despite the limited time.
'We have other activities to put on,' he said.
In Denpasar, hundreds of activists from various international NGOs staged a separate protest, demanding the dissolution of the WTO.
The protesters came from not only Indonesia but also Thailand, South Korea, Bolivia, Japan, Australia, the United States, Bangladesh and Canada.
Protesters shouted anti-WTO slogans, while raising banners showing their opposition to the WTO.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed to secure the area where the demonstration took place.
