A DIGEST OF EVENTS IN SEATTLE, 1999, APPEARS BELOW:

December 17, Reuters
WTO to resume post-Seattle talks in January
Member countries of the World Trade Organisation, holding their first meeting since the failed Seattle meeting, agreed on Friday to resume talks in January on the thorny issues blocking the launch of a new liberalisation round, a spokesman said. Full story. The Ministerial Draft of 3 December is now available.

December 15, Reuters
WTO website survived attacks
Using professional help, the WTO site stayed on air. Between November 30 and December 6, there were nearly 700 strobe attempts (vulnerability probes) and 54 penetration attempts using common hacker tactics in a continuing effort to bring down the site. On December 3, the site repelled a 32-megabit ``smurf attack,'' an attempt to flood the site provider and disable it. The attack was capable of saturating the equivalent of 20.5 T1 circuits. Full story

December 5, Perth. (Dec 4, Seattle)
Action to free 600 arrestees
There is an urgent action to phone the Seattle mayor and demand that all arrested be released without charges. The arrestees are holding as a block and refusing to give names as part of the DAN strategy. They are a committed, non-violent and courageous group of people - many young.  Seattle has been a horror show of police brutality and indiscriminate arrests. We need to get them released. Phone mayor at 206-684-4000.
Go to earlier jail report with UPDATE.
UPDATE (5 Dec) Deal to free all protesters (SeattleTimes story)
UPDATE (5 Dec) Civil-rights groups call for investigation of police actions (Seattle Times story)

December 5, Perth. StopMAI MEDIA RELEASE
Seattle failure spells the end of 'free trade'
and the birth of 'fair trade' principles
StopMAI Australia welcomes the refusal of developing nations to be bullied by the rich countries into accepting a new round of 'liberalisation' at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in Seattle. Full statement

December 4 (Dec 3 Seattle)
WTO WATCH analysis of WTO Seattle failure
By Daniel Pruzin, Gary G. Yerkey & Mark Felsenthal -- Detailed wrapup of views of delegates and the critics
RELATED ACCOUNT: Bridges Final Update --In the words of Ambassador Barshefsky (US), Chair of the Conference, 'we found that the WTO has outgrown the processes appropriate to an earlier time'.
MASS MEDIA: London Observer - Britain calls for change after Seattle fiasco ; London Guardian - Week of division on and off streets -Nightmare talks humiliation for US and power brokers

December 4 (Dec 3 Seattle)
They blew it!
Delegates unable to agree on a basic agenda [have] failed to produce a new round of global trade talks.Friday night, WTO opponents sang, ``Ding Dong, the round is dead!'' Others danced in the streets, playing drums, cheering and high-fiving each other. WTO officials, meanwhile, blamed the organization's growing complexity and intractable national differences, not the protests, for their failure to produce a new round of negotiations. Reuters story
SEATTLE TIMES: WTO talks collapse; no accord reached
A draft document put together earlier yesterday showed the WTO was ready to begin a minimal round of negotiations on agriculture, manufacturing and services. But then negotiations over agriculture broke down in squabbling between the U.S. and the 15-nation European Union.
POST-INTELLIGENCER: The meeting of the World Trade Organization, hampered throughout the week by sometimes violent protests, broke up just before 10 p.m. when delegates from 135 nations said they could not agree on an agenda for future trade talks. [President] Clinton yesterday intervened personally to try to rescue the U.S. agenda, telephoning foreign leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and European Union President Romano Prodi.

December 4 (Dec 3 Seattle)
"Defend Forests. Clearcut the WTO" protest
A small group of protesters infiltrated the Convention Centre during WTO proceedings and unfurled banners protesting against the U.S. initiative to reduce tariffs on timber and paper products. Environmentalists oppose the move because it would boost the rate of deforestation overseas and hobble domestic forest-protection laws. (Post-Intelligencer story)

December 4 (Dec 3 Seattle)
Third world threatens to withhold new-round consensus
The Organization of African Unity has issued a statement of dissatisfaction about the marginalisation of developing countries and the pressure for them to adopt measures which they do not fully understand. In particular, there is considerable third-world hostility to the US proposal to regulate labour standards. "Cheap labor does not necessarily mean exploited labor,'' said Amsat Kamaludin, Secretary-General of Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Reuters story
RELATED STORY: Rich countries accused of hijack - Clement Rohee, Guyanese Foreign Minister and leading member of the G77, the grouping of developing nations, said "We came here well prepared and with high expectations. But developed countries have hijacked the process and we've been marginalised." "We're being integrated into globalisation without even being there," said Zimbabwean delegate Yash Tandon: "The green room process is making agreements behind the scenes. The issue of transparency will make or break this ministerial meeting." (OneWorld report.)

December 4 (Dec 3 Seattle)
Japs get US dumping loophole on the agenda!
A senior Japanese trade official said early on Friday that the latest draft of the agenda for a new round of global trade talks called for negotiations of anti-dumping rules, over U.S. objections. Rules that allow the United States to impose punitive tariffs or duties on foreign-made goods it deems are being sold below fair market value have come under sharp fire from its trading partners. Many countries are beginning to imitate the practice. Full story (Reuters)
RELATED STORY: The US is generally on the defensive, and has been let down by Charlene Barshefsky. Reuters story.

December 3 (Dec 2 Seattle)
Citizens must be heeded - editorial
The Toronto Star said in an editorial on Dec 2 "The message that the protestors were trying to send - that citizens are not prepared to surrender control over their future to global dealmakers - is one that politicians must heed."
". . .Western leaders ought to have learned that lesson from last year's debacle over the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.

Eyewitness account of protests, by British folk musician Theo Symon

December 3 (Dec 2 Seattle)
Little progress, much controversy in negotiations
From Bridges, 2 Dec On Singapore Issues, Members discussed Investment and Competition, and while some Members (such as the EU) argued for inclusion of these areas in a Declaration, Members remained far apart on agreement, such that one WTO official noted that there was 'substantial opposition to going forward with this issue.
Speculation was rife as to what the EU might have received in exchange for the concession on the biotechnology working group, which had until then essentially been sought by the US and Canada. The latter two are vocal members of the Miami Group of biotechnology exporters, which wants to keep any potential trade restrictions out of the Biotechnology Protocol. Some conjectured that there was an understanding that the EU would find less resistance to the inclusion of the precautionary principle in WTO rules if it agreed to the working group proposal.
EU Draft's Environment and Development Provisions: The 17-page draft Ministerial Declaration released on 30 November by the European Commission, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Turkey, contains substantial provisions in the areas of development, environment, agriculture and biotechnology. The section on agriculture mentions the 'reduction of all forms of assistance to exports' and 'further reductions in trade-distorting domestic support'. Non-trade concerns including the concept of multifunctionality are also included. The draft's investment and competition policy provisions are not substantially different from the EU's earlier proposals.
Development Round advocated: Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchapakdi pleaded for 'flexibility, compassion and courage' that would lead to the 'launch of a successful Development Round', where 'early concrete results should be weighted more in favour of the developing countries'.
Workshop on the TRIPs Agreement:
The Third World Network, The Council for Responsible Genetics, The Washington Biotechnology Action Group and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy presented their case against the WTO on 1 December in a workshop on TRIPs. Vandana Shiva (from the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, India) labelled the TRIPs Agreement as "biopiracy". She stresses the views of most NGOs dealing with patents and TRIPs that no one owns or can own life forms; and that they belong to everyone, not to multinational corporations or organisations. Shiva argued that plants, seeds, organisms and other life forms cannot be sold or bought.

December 3 (Dec 2 Seattle, 7.17 pm)
Protesters surround jail demanding release of colleagues
Hundreds of anti-WTO protesters marched to the King County Jail in downtown Seattle today, calling for the release of other demonstrators who were arrested earlier in the week. "Let them go! Let them go!" the protesters chanted as they drummed and danced. Post-Intelligencer story.
RELATED STORY: Cops screwed up badly.
Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper acknowledged [to the Seattle Times] that some officers may have attacked innocent bystanders. Protesters had to obtain a court order requiring authorities to give defense lawyers access within eight hours to the 587 people who had been arrested. Many of those arrested may have to be released because police can't make a case against them, said a highly placed law-enforcement official, contending that officers failed to follow basic procedures linking most of the misdemeanor suspects to a particular action or to an arresting officer. "With at least 200 people and as many as 300, they have no idea who arrested them or why. It was just a total screw-up in planning," the official said.
UPDATE: Distressing reports and images from inside and outside the jail have been posted by a legal helper.

December 3 (Dec 2 Seattle)
Gore election takes a hand - Clinton plays labour rights card!
Rocking his own US negotiators, President Clinton told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that he wanted a multilateral agreement on labour standards and that trade sanctions should be applied against countries violating any part of it. It was "the strongest statement in seven years" from the administration, according to James Howard of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Developing countries, who make up three-quarters of the WTO membership, are almost unanimously opposed to linkage of labor standards to trade deals, seeing it as a potential discrimination against their goods simply because they are produced more cheaply. ""Labor standards or environmental standards can very well become a trade barrier," whined Edgardo Angara, secretary of the Philippine's Department of Agriculture. This view is backed by many other industrial powers, including Japan and Australia which have investments in cheap-labour countries. Forced labor exists in 15 to 20 countries from gold mines in Peru to factories in Pakistan. In Burma, soldiers routinely round up villagers and force them, among other things, to build roads to enhance the country's tourism infrastructure.Seattle Times

The drive for further global trade liberalization alienates labor unions at a time when Vice President Al Gore, Clinton's choice for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, is counting heavily on labor support. See Reuters story.

December 3 (Dec 2 Seattle)
Hypocrisy seen in lip-service to child labour
President Clinton on Thursday (Dec 2) signed an international treaty that seeks to ban the worst forms of child labor and spare children a life of misery as slaves, prostitutes, soldiers and indentured servants. ``This is a victory for the children of the world, and especially for the tens of millions of them who are still forced to work in conditions that shock the conscience and haunt the soul,'' Clinton said as he signed the Child Labor Convention on the sidelines of the WTO meeting. Story (Reuters)
CRITICISM: Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch director Lori Wallach said: "President Clinton's PR stunt on the child labor treaty is the height of hypocrisy, given he knows that [in the absence of] major WTO changes - which he has refused to demand - countries are explicitly forbidden from prohibiting child labor products from entering their markets."
Seattle Times story: "More than 15 million children worldwide work for companies that make products for export, said Bill Jordan, secretary-general of the International Confederation of Trade Unions.

Clinton supports protestors, attacks WTO exclusiveness, secrecy
Iignoring the massive police crackdown, hundreds of well-organized protesters, carrying signs and chanting, said they opposed the impact on the environment of free trade deals being worked on by the WTO. Full story (Reuters). President Clinton defended the right of peaceful protest and told trade ministers lunching in the Spanish Ballroom of the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel that global commerce is no longer the exclusive domain of trade ministers, heads of state and chairmen of great corporations. The WTO should "open the meetings, open the records and let people file their opinions" on major trade decisions, he said. Full story (Post-Intelligencer).

December 2 (Dec 1 Seattle)
Other forums more appropriate for protest - Kofi Annan
At an evening meeting in Seattle (30 Nov), UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan said a better place to resolve issues raised by WTO protesters is with national policy-makers and through other organizations. He told a group of 120 he has proposed that businesses work in partnership with the United Nations on human rights, labor rights and environmental standards. He said countries had signed agreements on those issues, and that those agreements needed to be followed. Full story (ST)

December 2 (Dec 1 Seattle)
Clinton - Moore wills WTO to throw in the towel?!
"I want to say that I agree that Mike Moore is the ideal person to head the WTO because he has a sense of humor -- and, boy, do we need it right now. Did you see the gentleman holding up the big white napkin here before we started? He was doing that to give the light for the television cameras. But he was standing here holding the napkin and Mike whispered to me, he said, well, after yesterday, that could be the flag of the WTO." From President Clinton's luncheon speech.
"Development Round" rhetoric
In calling for a "development" round, Clinton said: "I do believe, after the Uruguay Round, when we set up this system, that we did not pay enough attention to the internal capacity-building in the developing nations that is necessary to really play a part in the global economy. And I am prepared to do my part to rectify that omission. We also must help these countries avert the health and pollution costs of the industrial age. We have to help them use clean technologies that improve the economy, the environment, and health care at the same time." luncheon speech.. See also Support for Market Access.

December 2, Sydney Morning Herald
Canberra backs working party on GM foods
Australia will back a move to have the World Trade Organisation regulate genetically modified (GM) foods, despite strong concerns from environmental groups. A WTO working party will examine GM foods as part of an extensive agenda agreed to in Seattle on Tuesday that also includes investment, e-commerce, government procurement and the transparency of the WTO, as well as previously mandated issues such as farm and services trade barriers. Australia, which initially resisted cluttering up the Seattle summit with GM and other issues outside those already mandated, has agreed to its inclusion in exchange for US support for eliminating agricultural subsidies. Full report. See also related story below
Comment by Australian Conservation Foundation: ACF’s representative in Seattle, Anna Reynolds said, “if this GMO deal gets through we can forget about having our own national laws on dealing with these controversial products. The trade in GM foods will be fast tracked through the World Trade Organisation. There will be more of these foods on our supermarket shelves.” Go to full statement.

December 2, Sydney Morning Herald report
Grunge City v World Greed: restless in Seattle
As tear gas canisters exploded and armed police were dealing with with rioters a few blocks away, the Bangladesh trade delegate Mr Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhuy was telling demonstrators a little about his homeland and why he was in Seattle. ''You are very poorly informed,'' he told them. ''In my country, people are starving, they drink water from the river. 'That is why we are here. We want market access to the rich countries. Until we have done these things, poor people will stay poor and they will still be drinking from the well and the river and getting sick.'' Full report.

December 2, from Bridges report, Dec 1
EU Reverses Position on Biotechnology
According to sources close to the negotiations, the establishment of a working group on biotechnology is a near certainty. Reversing its earlier opposition, the EU joined the United States, Canada and Japan in backing the initiative, although the US and EU still disagree on the group's mandate. According to European Commission officials, the EU's goal is to inject the 'real concerns' of consumers and environmentalists into the debate.
UPDATE: At a meeting on Wednesday, all 15 EU trade ministers took European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy to task for negotiating beyond his mandate. Environment ministers of France, Denmark, Belgium and Britain opposed the idea. ``There was quasi unanimous criticism of the concession made to the United States ,'' a diplomat told Reuters
U.S., EU on Sustainable Development and Environment
U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, in an effort to address concerns of protestors massed in the streets of Seattle, emphasised in a press briefing that the world trading system should be guided by sustainable economic development.
Robert Madelin of the EU delegation gave a briefing for non-governmental organisations where questions on the EU's position on environment were raised. On multilateral environmental agreements, Madelin outlined the developing country approach as one of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' . He indicated that the U.S. is not as committed to multilateralism as the EU would like, implying that this is not a priority issue for the Clinton administration.
Transparency A Key Target Of Protests
Transparency and public participation issues took on a heightened sense of urgency among government delegates and NGOs as protests brought the first day of the WTO Ministerial conference to a halt for much of the day. Bridges report

December 1, from Bridges report, Nov 30
WTO - No Promises on Implementation
Despite the often vibrant rhetoric in favour of a 'development round' or better integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system, government answers to specific questions relating to the implementation of existing WTO Agreements remain evasive. So far, neither developed Cairns Group members, nor the United States or the European Union have indicated a willingness to address any of the long list of demands put forward by developing countries with regard to exemptions from obligations negotiated during the Uruguay Round or extension of deadlines for compliance.

December 1, Seattle Times of 30 Nov
N30 - Civil emergency declared - curfew imposed
Mayor Paul Schell declared a state of emergency Tuesday night and, at his request, Gov. Gary Locke called in the National Guard to help control protestors in downtown Seattle. (action photo) "The last thing I ever wanted to be was the mayor of a city where I had to call out the National Guard, where I had to see tear gas in the streets. It makes me sick," said Schell, who pointed out that he was an anti-war demonstrator in the 1960s. Story by Mike Carter. Also Post-Intelligencer, Jonathan
TV coverage of the events made it very clear that use of excessive force and weaponry by police provoked angry reactions.
FOLLOW-UP: Police action became tougher (photo) and the curfew was extended to a second night. Reuters story.
UPDATE: The curfew order has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (Seattle Times story)
UPDATE: A federal judge has upheld the declaration of a civil emergency and curfew.(Seattle Times)

December 1, Eyewitness account
Seattle protest begins in earnest
Taking to the streets on Nov 30, the world's civil society ignored officialdom and shut down the WTO; ". . .the era when global trade decisions get made without anyone noticing is officially over." - Bill McKibben
"Easy enough to dismiss them as a disparate group of unlikely campaigns, but easier still to see how they fit together--to sense a celebration of the local, the particular, the magic, the democratic, here in the shadow of a giant Niketown, a glass headquarters for sweatshop wages and homogenized taste. As corporations and bureaucracies get bigger, they simultaneously get more powerful and more vulnerable. That’s the gut feeling I’ll take home from the pepper-sprayed streets of Seattle. Here’s a way to understand what I mean: ask yourself what city is going to volunteer to host the next meeting of the WTO." - Bill McKibben
SMH story by Gay Alcorn: Riot police paranoia ; AFP report Meeting postponed ; Opens 5 hours late
UPDATE: Participant eyewitness account of the centre of protest action on the morning of 30 November.

November 30, The Australian
Lamy and Vaile squabble over agriculture protection
EUROPEAN Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the Australian-led Cairns Group would be to blame if the talks collapsed over agriculture. The row between Europe and the advocates of cuts to agricultural protection is looming as the main stumbling block to agreement on a new trade agenda. Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile rejected Lamy's arguments and said EU farm subsidies accounted for 85 per cent of total subsidies worldwide. Full report by Robert Garran.
RELATED STORY: Vaile repeats walkout threat in objection to the EU farm concept of 'multifunctionality'.
RELATED STORY (SMH, Dec 1): Europe attacks Australia for hypocrisy. Story by Tom Allard.

November 29, Reuters
Union to shut US ports in anti-WTO protest
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said 9,600 members would shut down all west coast US ports on Nov 30 in a daylong action in solidarity with the international protest against a new WTO liberalisation round. Full story.

November 29, PRNewswire
General Electric under massive union attack
14 unions representing 40,000 workers will use the WTO fora to pillory GE for "callously shifting its plants and workers to squeeze profits ever higher without regard to the cost to the communities it abandons". Full report.
RELATED STORY: (Seattle Times) Unions press WTO for labor rights while Mike Moore talks the talk.

29 November, Stratfor.com/Defence Systems Daily
WTO and desynchronisation of the global economy
This analysis sees the breakdown of the multilateral trading system as an inevitable, uncontrollable consequence of the growth of regional forces: ". . .the fact is that the WTO is moribund, only a few years after its creation. Its failure is rooted in the fundamental reality of today's global economy: de-synchronisation of regions of roughly equal bulk." Full report.

28 November, Reuters
Labor groups challenge WTO on trade round
SEATTLE, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Labor organizations on Sunday pressed the World Trade Organization (WTO) to safeguard workers' rights, setting the stage for a week of confrontation as WTO ministers meet here to launch a new round of global trade negotiations.
Leaders of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the U.S. AFL-CIO federation demanded that WTO member nations put labor standards on the agenda for the new round, or face a backlash from workers around the globe. Full report, by Adam Entous.

28 November, UK Telegraph
Protests threaten chaos
ANARCHISTS and environmentalists from around the world are planning a series of large-scale protests against the World Trade Organisation which is meeting in Seattle this week. David Wastel's full report.(Registration may be required to read)

28 November
Seattle Media Centre opened by Public Citizen
The world's civil society now has a powerful media coordinating facility at Seattle. Full story. The media centre's website can be accessed by clicking on the item 'Seattle Mobilization' near the top left of this page. (Go to top)

27 November, Seattle Times
WTO opponents sound battle cry at forum
Business writer Patrick Harrington reports on an NGOs' seminar which provided a variety of explanations for why civil society is upset about the WTO. Full story

27 November (News Ltd)
Murdoch Press raises walkout threat
Rupert Murdoch's paper The Australian headlined "an unprecedented threat [by Australia's trade minister] to walk away from the new Millennium Round of world trade talks due to begin next week [sic]." Fears were raised that "the world's trade ministers would abandon the three-year trade talks, which could boost Australia's exports by billions of dollars." Full story.

26 November (Reuters)
Hands off internet charges - Micro$oft
A spokesman for MicroSoft, Bernard Vergnes, says electronic commerce should be on the agenda of the Seattle meeting and of any new trade round. The present moratorium on customs duties should be extended. He opposed an EU proposal that would reclassify electronically delivered software as a service. Software has traditionally been classified as goods.

26 November (Aust DFAT release 25/11)
Australia pushing liberalisation of telecommunications
A statement by Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile hails a new Productivity Commission report "International Telecommunications Market Regulation", which supports further market liberalisation in countries where barriers to effective competition remain. Vaile promises he will be "promoting further liberalisation" at the WTO, and notes that "Negotiations on services, including telecommunications, are already mandated to begin by January 2000." Full release.
RELATED STORY: In a National Press Club Address (26 Nov) Vaile said "Australia, along with the Cairns Group. . .will be fighting hard in Seattle to ensure that agriculture is put on the same trade footing as other industries."
UPDATE: See story above (27 Nov) on "walkout threat" made by Vaile during his Press Club Address.

26 November, Bridges Digest
Developing countries to resist new issues
Since former EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan first floated the idea of a Millennium Round of trade talks, developing countries have remained steadfast in their demand that developed countries honour Uruguay Round commitments before moving forward full force with new trade negotiations. Specifically, developing countries are concerned over developed countries' compliance with agreements on market access for textiles, their use of antidumping measures against developing countries' exports, and over-implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). Full report

Related story: Over 100 NGO representatives from 47 countries have urged the U.S. delegation to acknowledge the rights of nations to control their biological resources; to guarantee the a priori rights of local communities to use, save and exchange seeds; and to provide essential medicines at affordable prices. (Source: Third World Network, 18 Nov, Geneva)

26 November, ICTSD announcement
'Bridges' to produce a daily update on proceedings
The Daily Update will be available in English, French and Spanish and will cover the WTO negotiations and civil society activities. When the service is operative, this page will connect through the 'Bridges' box at the top of this page.

LATEST REPORT, Bridges 24 Nov edition (See also Current issue index)
Though unable to achieve any consensus on the Ministerial Negotiating Draft, WTO Members did agree that negotiations in Seattle would take place in four working groups, open to all ministers. The groups will be agriculture, implementation, new issues such as environment and investment (see related section, this issue), and market access. A fifth group will examine administrative issues at the WTO, such as transparency and integration of developing countries, but it will not be a negotiating forum. A "permanent committee", led by U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and Mike Moore, will meet regularly with ministers to monitor progress. Full report.

26 November (Reminder of coming event)
WTO's Forum for NGOs on 29 November
At this WTO-organised symposium, one of the topics for debate (led chiefly by pro-liberalisation speakers) will be "EVOLVING PUBLIC CONCERNS AND THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM". The main "opposition speaker will be Dr. Claude Martin - Director General, WWF International. More than 700 NGO organizations have been accredited to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference. Official information and agenda.

25 November, Associated Press
Castro preparing to go to Seattle
Cuban officials reportedly have booked rooms in Seattle in case President Fidel Castro decides to go to the meeting, which starts Tuesday, and the prospect has created anticipation both among friends and foes of the Cuban leader. Because the WTO is a U.N.-sponsored organization, the United States cannot deny him a visa under international law. Full story.
UPDATE (30 Nov): Castro backed off because of a possibility that he might be arrested and charged with the murders of four Americans killed in 1996 by Cuban fighter pilots. (Seattle Times story)
UPDATE (3 Dec): In a letter dated 29 Nov to US congressman Jim McDermott, Castro wrote ". . .it would be impossible for me to travel to the United States if official government spokesmen were declaring the visit "inappropriate" or, even worse, if they were consciously involved in a major provocation in Seattle." Full letter.(Independent Media Centre)

25 November, Australian Financial Review
Clinton trying to save WTO talks
Bill Clinton is scrambling to hold together the upcoming round of the World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle which are facing collapse even before they start next week. He has quietly backed away from a last minute attempt to hold a forum of world leaders in Seattle. European Union officials argued that the only reason Mr Clinton was inviting [heads of government] to a summit was so that they would be able to share the blame if the WTO talks fail. Full story.
UPDATE: The White House has issued its own Agenda for Seattle (24 Nov) which includes emphasis on the need for a "human face" in the trade negotiations. The State Department released a "Misunderstandings" Fact Sheet on 23 Nov.
UPDATE: At the White House on 24 Nov, a press briefing on the US agenda was held by National Economic Advisor Gene Sperling and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky.

24 November, Associated Press
Seattle news: 'Boeing to move overseas'!
Pranksters protesting next week's meeting of the World Trade Organization sabotaged copies of Wednesday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer by adding a four-page ``wrap'' with fake stories offering an anti-WTO spin. ``Boeing to move overseas'' trumpeted the headline on the lead story, which claimed the state's biggest employer is relocating to Indonesia. Joe Hill, a union organizer who was executed by firing squad in Utah early in the century, got the byline. Full story.
UPDATE: Executives of the parodied newspaper were not amused and sent for the cops. Full story.
RELATED STORY: Activists scale Seattle building to erect "sweatshop" banner. Picture story

24 November
WTO responds (so politely) to criticism!
The WTO's PR people are fighting back against what they term 'misinformation' and have opened a WTO Fightback Site to rebut same. The 'realities' presented by this dinosaur of insouciant privilege are unlikely to stem the tide of world opinion against global economic totalitarianism. Primary school teachers may find them of use as examples of specious argument.
RELATED STORY: On 23 Nov, WTO chief Mike Moore attacked a lack of transparency in some anti-WTO websites.

CANBERRA, Nov 24 (Reuters)
Minister Vaile expects sleepless nights in Seattle!
- Australia's trade minister said on Wednesday he was confident a new round of global trade talks would be launched in Seattle next week, though admitted finalising a declaration would be tricky.
``What has become apparent is that it is going to be enormously difficult and we are going to spend some seriously sleepless nights in Seattle next week,'' trade minister Mark Vaile told reporters. (Go to full story)
See also Vaile's media release of 24/11, headed 'Seattle Vital for Australian Exporters'

November 23, 11:29 ET
Envoys Fail to Break Trade Round Impasse
After failing to agree on a draft WTO ministerial, delegates at the last-ditch Geneva meeting are now predicting that getting an agreement in Seattle on the launch of a new trade round now appears very difficult. (Reuters)
(See earlier report below.)

November 23, The Express
Anita Roddick attacks WTO
Body Shop founder Anita Roddick has hit out at the World Trade Organisation, describing the free trade group as "blind to injustice". In a speech before the WTO opens new international trade negotiations next week in Seattle, she will say the organisation "recognises profits and losses but it deliberately turns its face away from human rights, child labour and keeping the environment viable for future generations".

Roddick will argue that the WTO has become "our new, unelected, uncontrollable world government", one which puts companies' rights to export above countries' rights to control what they import. For example, the WTO has ruled against governments which banned imports of hormone-treated beef. It has also outlawed an agreement that protects small Windward Island banana farmers against competition from massive banana plantation owners. --RACHEL BAIRD

November 23
Lack of consensus threatens breakdown
Martin Khor of the Third World Network has (on 20 Nov) reported rejection by developing countries of the US proposal to have an agreement signed in Seattle itself on transparency in government procurement, said to be one of their very top priorities to achieve in Seattle. On Thursday 18 Nov the WTO Chairman released "working papers" in lieu of a long-awaited Third Draft of the Ministerial Declaration.  It contained paragraphs on many of the issues that had been in the second draft, BUT excluded the key issues of agriculture and implementation that are very contentious.

ABC radio reports foreshadowed general lack of agreement and possible collapse of the Seattle talks, possibly based on a Reuters story by Robert Evans, in which "European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, speaking in Helsinki, indicated it was still far from certain that what has been dubbed the ``Millennium Round'' would be agreed at all. Negotiators had agreed to meet again in Geneva on Tues 23 Nov to discuss a new draft of the Ministerial Declaration.

23 November
Clinton invites 30 heads of government to summit
ABC radio has carried a report that President Clinton has invited PM John Howard and others to a world trade summit at Seattle during the meeting of the WTO, which could further undermine the importance and credibility of that body. Ironically, at the same time, trade minister Mark Vaile announced a WTO dispute action against the USA over its lamb import tariff.
Clinton's initiative may be connected with his revolutionary Executive Order on Trade and Environment (below).
UPDATE: An article in the Financial Times, 24/11, reported that world leaders are resisting the Clinton proposal.
UPDATE: The Australian Financial Review, 25/11, reported that the White House had dropped the idea.

23 November
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) enters debate
ACF National liaison officer Anna Reynolds is going to Seattle, and has circulated three briefing papers on trade issues of concern to her organisation: Overview Brief , Eco-labeling & Trade and Genetically Modified Organisms

22 November, OECD
OECD pushes for new round
OECD Secretary General Donald J. Johnston will be attending the WTO Seattle ministerial and has called on negotiators to pave the way for an agreement on the start of a new world trade round. Media Release (PDF format).

19 November, UNAA
Australia separates labour and trade
The [Australian] Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, made it clear in a television interview on Channel Nine's Sunday program, that he was not in favour of the US President's emphasis on linking labour issues with trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation meeting later this month. UNAA report. Go to Channel Nine interview transcript (14 Nov).

Non-business NGOs barred from delegation
Australia's Trade Minister has rejected requests by several NGO peak organisations to be included in the delegation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Seattle, but has invited business groups instead. Full report.
UPDATE: (29 Nov) When questioned on this by ABC National talkback presenter Sandy McCutcheon, Vaile in Seattle backpedalled, saying there was now an "inclusive approach" and meetings were being held between the "official delegation" and the "broader representation", the latter comprising non-business NGO staff who had made their way to Seattle.

December 6 Special WTO edition of The Nation (out 18/11/99)
The People v the WTO
". . .The attempt to write a constitution for the global economy that protects property rights but tramples workers' rights and environmental and consumer protections is generating a growing and unrelenting popular opposition. The World Trade Organization must be drastically reformed or it will collapse from its own lack of legitimacy." http://thenation.com/

16 November:
Clinton's Executive Order on Trade and Environment

President Clinton issued an executive order November 16 that commits the 
United States to a policy of "assessment and consideration of the environmental 
impacts of trade agreements." [Official source document] Also available, with Fact Sheets, from USIA. [Not avail at 19/7/00]

Clinton Bombshell - Related Fact Sheets and initial reaction/analysis, with a special report added on Nov 22

A mainstream newspaper, the UK Sunday Independent, has launched a comprehensive exposé of the World Trade Organisation and the proposed New Round.
http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12648

The latest Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme is calling for tougher rules on global governance, including principles of performance for multinationals on labour standards, fair trade and environmental protection.

American and international activists are planning a massive protest siege in Seattle when the WTO holds its big meeting there in November. (Story from Wall Street Journal.) In April this year, Seattle's local government unanimously voted the city as a MAI-Free Zone!

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