Resistance In Motion Even Before Conference Begins

Long before the first meeting of the WTO’s 5^th Ministerial in Cancun was called to order, hundreds of activists had converged upon the city to help organize a powerful show of resistance against the motives and logic of the conference’s leaders.

For instance, Timo and Luz, founders of the Chiapas Independent Media, went so far as to relocate themselves and their belongings to Cancun months before the conference began. This gathering of progressives facilitated, among other things, the staging of a major conference on indigenous and farming issues in Cancun, weeks before the Ministerial started. That conference successfully brought together over three thousand indigenous people and farmers to discuss goals and issues relevant to their lives.

By the time the conference had begun, a new bond had emerged between several important groups. One was the Korean People’s Action against Investment Treaties and the WTO (KoPA), a coalition group based in Seoul, South Korea consisting of over 40 member organizations and boasting well over a million members. Another was the Via Campesina (Farmer’s Way), an international network of farmers with over a million members. Together, these two groups went on to lead both of the major marches staged in Cancun.

As Ji-Young Park, the interpreter for KoPA explained, “KopA is a large network of citizen-run organizations ranging from social, labor and agricultural issues.” Kyung-Hae Lee, the lifelong farmer and activist for farmers’ rights who publicly took his own life during one of the major Cancun protests, was a member of KoPA, hailing from the ranks of the Korean Farmers’ League (KFL).

The KFL has traditionally been a source of firm resistance to neo-liberal policies. One of the most passionate voices of such criticism from the organization came from the late president of the KFL, Mr. Lee. For instance, in the April 2003 issue of Korea Agrafood, Mr. Lee targeted the WTO as the source of policies and conditions leading to the destruction of traditional Korean village life.

In November 2001, when the South Korean government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry slashed official prices for an 80-kilogram sack of rice by 4-5 percent, a KFL spokesman said, “The people who made such a decision have no idea about the hardships facing domestic farmers.”

First March against the WTO in

Cancun Results in Public Suicide

A number of large demonstrations were planned for the first day of the 5^th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization, including a march organized by Via Campesina and later co-sponsored by KoPA.

Organizers viewed the march as a unified cry against the inclusion of agriculture within the WTO’s jurisdiction, the way in which agriculture is handled by the WTO, and the existence of the Organization itself as a legitimate institution. Intense emotions are not unusual at demonstrations on topics close to the hearts of so many, but no one came prepared for the violent suicide that would come to symbolize the desperation of many in the word’s farming communities.

The march began at approximately 11:00am on the morning of September 10, and soon attracted some 10,000 people. It did not take long for a clash to erupt between the police and the protestors. The local police force had erected a large barricade topped with barbed wire earlier that morning, to which protestors immediately objected. Protestors who tossed rocks over the fence saw them thrown back into the rally by the police, where they fell randomly among the protesters and bystanders. Other protesters hung large signs from the top of the barricade, many of which accused the WTO of killing farmers. Pepper spray soon filled the air, adding further tension to the scene.

At this point Mr. Lee climbed to the top of the fence and gestured emotionally towards the crowd. Meanwhile, a group of protesters from KoPA lifted a symbolic coffin, and attempted to force it through the barricade. Mr. Lee then turned towards the police line and proceeded to stab himself with a small Swiss army knife, as footage shot by the Independent Media Center later revealed.

In contrast to his spectacular death, which for a moment became the object of the media spotlight, Mr. Lee came from a rural background and lived a humble life. After struggling to survive as a poor farmer for many years, he became more interested in the causes of rural poverty. Gradually, he began to work as an advocate for other poor farmers, eventually becoming the president of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation.

Just over two years ago, Carlo Giuliani was killed at the hands of a young Italian policeman during a protest on related issues in Genoa. His funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands of people in Italy, and his death will be remembered as the first fatality since the Global Justice movement first came to prominence after massive protests shut down the WTO’s 1999 ministerial in Seattle.

Sadly, Mr. Lee has now joined him as the second death in the movement for Global Justice. His life, however, will not soon be forgotten: On the day following his suicide, the WTOs trade ministers observed a moment of silence in his memory, and Cancun authorities have agreed to erect a monument to him at the scene of the suicide.