International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

The 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar tends to be remembered purely for the fact that it resulted in the launch of a new round – the “Doha Round” – of trade talks. Yet Doha marked an important point in the evolution of the global justice movement and also in the ongoing tension between northern and southern governments in the WTO. Campaigners in advance of the ministerial suspected that Doha had been specifically chosen as a location in response to major civil society protests at previous summits. Holding the conference in a country where public activism and protest were as good as forbidden was assumed to be a reaction demonstrating that those in power were on the run and showing their true anti-democratic colors. The decision to hold the conference in Doha was widely condemned by civil society groups, but official reaction was dismissive, stating that governments are the chosen representatives of the people and that civil society groups are not a necessary part of the process. Clare Short, UK secretary of state for international development at the time, argued in a BBC interview that “governments represent the people in an open way that listens to civil society at home and having loads of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] squawking all over the place does not represent the poor of the world. The governments of developing countries do” ... log in or subscribe to read full text