The poor lose again
There’s an article up over at BBC News which talks about how, once again, the poor countries of the world are getting screwed at the latest WTO meeting.
All the rhetoric from the last big World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Doha in 2001 was that reducing poverty would be at the heart of the current round of trade talks.
This was supposed to be the Doha ‘Development Round’.
But what have the poorest gained since Doha?
Virtually nothing.
It has become increasingly clear that the WTO was formed to help the first world nations remain on top in the world’s economic structure. The WTO has served as a way for the multi-national companies from those nations to be able to more easily exploit the resources and people of poorer nations, free from the troublesome constraints of national sovereignty and local governments. You can learn more about the problems with the WTO, and “globalization,” here and here.