WTO // Current TV

World Traits - Riot in Seattle

The World Trade Organization gets some feedback from the people. Some 200,000 people... more

Rock_Solomon
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4 years ago
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3 comments

James Bond's Jamaica

The island was Fleming’s retreat, artist colony and passion, and he repeatedly... more

covelogibbs
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4 years ago
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Thank you.
Because of you, I have been once again privileged to retain the confidence and trust of the voters in my Congressional District so I can continue serving them and all Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is an honor, and, in these troubled times, a challenge that I am eager to face because I know that I have your support, your encouragement, and your prayers.
I owe great thanks to the people of Ohio's 10th District as they make it possible for me to serve them on a local and a national level. I hope everyone appreciates what a truly special constituency I have, how fortunate we all are for the resolve of those who have chose me again and again to be their representative to Congress.
Every campaign is an intricate jigsaw puzzle of different shapes and sizes that are pieced together to achieve victory. It's people with the ability to contribute to get the message out. It's others willing to invest their time knocking on doors or making phone calls or posting signs in their windows and on their lawns. Still others who inspire us all with their letters and emails of support.
Because of you, individually and collectively, we were able to:
place more than 5,000 yard signs throughout the District
knock on more than 25,000 doors
contact 90,000 households by telephone
deliver campaign literature into almost 100,000 homes
run television commercials more than 800 times on cable channels and dozens and dozens of times during prime time on the major broadcast networks
And because of you, individually and collectively, we won convincingly.
I look forward to continue representing all of you and working to address the major issues of the day: the economy, the foreclosure crisis, jobs, health care, pension and retirement security, and the need to revitalize our industrial base and rebuild our infrastructure.
As we make progress, I will keep in touch. And if progress is too slow or off track, I may reach out to you to ask that you exercise your power as citizens to raise your voices so they are heard in Washington.
I also want to mention the role Elizabeth played in the campaign. She made an outstanding contribution to every aspect of our efforts, including issues development, fundraising, organization and special events. It's one thing to have a spouse be supportive. That is essential. Elizabeth went far beyond that by her spirited, intelligent and selfless involvement. Love abounds and is grand.
We both simply want to say, "Thank you" - for being there, for helping, for standing for what you believe, and for having confidence in me to represent your best interests.

With great appreciation and expectations for the year ahead, I am sincerely yours,

DennisThank you. Because of you, I have been once again privileged to retain the confidence... more

covelogibbs
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4 years ago
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Life and Debt - Globalization and Jamaica

Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text "A Small Place"... more

covelogibbs
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4 years ago
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Obama: China must stop manipulating currency

China's huge trade surplus with the United States is "directly related to... more

Apocalipstick
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4 years ago
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Organized Protest

So, how do you rally 50,000+ protesters around a common cause? "Battle In... more

chapinyoung
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4 years ago
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1 comment

50,000+ WTO Protestors

Director Stuart Townsend ("Battle In Seattle") explains why 50,000+... more

chapinyoung
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4 years ago
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1 comment

The Battle of Seattle

Stuart Townsend, Director/Writer/Producer of film "Battle in Seattle,"... more

chapinyoung
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4 years ago
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4 comments

USA is NOT bankrupt

The American public is NOT bankrupt! It is the the fiat system that has gone bankrupt.... more

onepersonsopinion
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Economic Collapse in Argentina

Eerily similar to what we are going through now

onepersonsopinion
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4 years ago
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Genetically modified seeds pose more problems than natural varieties

The processes of hybridization involving repeated combinations of genetic material were limited for a long time by the fact that natural reproduction only takes place between plants of the same species. But Genetic Engineering took off with the unravelling of the full structure of the DNA 20 years ago. It became possible to insert a gene of one species into the DNA of another, thus offering immense agricultural possibilities.

Some examples include the modification of plants that fix the nitrogen of the air without belonging to the Leguminous family, plants resistant to certain diseases or to dry environments; the possibility of producing drugs and vaccines by genetically modifying bacteria, and many others.

Farmers were thus promised higher incomes; traders were promised lower costs of production and better quality of produce; and the companies producing such foods saw huge profits appearing on the horizon through monopolies and patents of such modified foods. Naturally, their research showed that there was no difference between the natural and engineered foods, that these were safe, and that they would solve the problem of famine in the world.

But if GM foods were all that their producers claimed them to be, why was the process conducted by stealth and sprung on the public without notice? This policy of the fait accompli began with the US government, which neither informed nor consulted its citizens about GM crops nor, worse still, did it require GM foods to be labelled, so as to give the public the democratic choice of whether to buy or not. After this GM foods were imposed on one country after another, in the same utterly undemocratic atmosphere of secrecy.

For a full understanding of the import of GM foods, two sets of results need to be considered: social results on the countries that have adopted them and biological results of the genetically modified foods. Further, GM foods must be analysed as part and parcel of the much touted globalization,to which we now turn.

Dr Vandana Shiva is an India physicist, founder and president of the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, and one of India's leading activists. She describes in one of her papers how the transformation of peasant agriculture in India to a globally industrialized model, which has GM foods as a supporting pillar, has reduced food security, threatened local businesses and biodiversity, driven farmers off their lands, and opened the door for global corporations to take over the nation's food processing.

The common claim by globalization enthusiasts is that it is natural, inevitable, and evolutionary. Dr Shiva sees it otherwise. Globalization is not a natural process of inclusion. It is a planned project of exclusion that has siphoned the resources and knowledge of the poor of India onto the global marketplace, stripping people of their life-support systems, livelihoods, and lifestyles.

Global trade rules, as enshrined in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) and in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement, are primarily camouflaged rules of robbery.

The WTO's overall goal: promoting market competition serves two purposes. First, it transforms culture, biodiversity, food, water, livelihoods, needs, and rights into commodities for sale to be conveyed to markets. Second, it justifies the destruction of nature, culture, and livelihoods in terms of rules of competition.

Its officials attack ethical and ecological rules that sustain and promote life, dubbing them as protectionist barriers to trade.

Globalized food and agriculture in effect, means the corporate takeover of the food chain, the erosion of food rights, the destruction of the cultural diversity of food and the biological diversity of crops, and the displacement of millions from land-based, rural livelihoods.

The processes of hybridization involving repeated combinations of genetic material... more

JanforGore
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4 years ago
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26 comments

Don't pick a fight you can't finish, Mr Miliband

When he visits Kiev, the Foreign Secretary should remember the threats posed by Nato's drive eastwards.

by Anatol Lieven

Before making his speech on policy towards Russia in Kiev, Ukraine, later this week David Miliband would do well to ponder some wise advice from a great predecessor. Lord Salisbury, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister in the days of the British Empire, dispensed immense global power; but that did not mean that he liked playing about with that power.

Faced with proposals for British policy that he understood to be deeply damaging to the interests of other great powers, Salisbury would look his colleagues in the eye and ask simply: “Are you really prepared to fight? If not, do not embark on this policy.”

If the events of the past fortnight in Georgia have demonstrated one thing clearly, it is that Russia will fight if it feels its vital interests under attack in the former Soviet Union - and that the West will not, and indeed cannot, given its conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other Western threats are equally empty. Russia itself pulled out of co-operation with Nato. If a real threat is made of expulsion from the G8, Russia will leave that organisation too - especially since a club that does not include China and India is increasingly meaningless anyway. The threat of being barred from joining the World Trade Organisation is a bit stronger - but Russia has done so well economically without membership that this goal too has lost much of its allure.

Moscow has reminded Nato of the importance of Russian goodwill to secure the supply lines of the US-Nato operation in Afghanistan through Central Asia. Alternatively, Nato can become wholly dependent on routes through Pakistan. From where I am sitting, that does not look like a very good move - and where I am sitting at this moment is a hotel room in Peshawar, Pakistan.

By siding fully with Iran, Russia has the capability to wreck any possibility of compromise between Tehran and the West, and to push the US towards an attack that would be disastrous for Western interests - and enormously helpful to Russia's.

* * * * *

More at link.When he visits Kiev, the Foreign Secretary should remember the threats posed by... more

Vierotchka
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4 years ago
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6 comments

Weapons of Mass Intolerance at DNC

Oh, they're getting ready alright... it looks to me like cops and media are going... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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Premiere - Battle in Seattle poster

The official key art was released today for Battle in Seattle. Battle in Seattle... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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Vandana Shiva - Exclusive Footage - WTO's Intellectual Property Rights Agreement

Sturt Townsend interviews Vandana Shiva for the new 1999 WTO protest resource page.... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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Vandana Shiva - Exclusive Footage - Her Experience in Seattle at the 1999 WTO Protest

Stuart Townsend interviews Vandana Shiva for the 1999 WTO protest resource page.... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Maude Barlow - Exclusive Footage - Can Trade and Protectionism Co-exist?

Stuart Townsend has interviewed Maude Barlow for the 1999 WTO protest resource page.... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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Victor Menotti - Exclusive Footage - Police Targeting "Leaders"

Stuart Townsend interviews Victor Menotti for the 1999 WTO protest resource page.... more

whocontrolstheworld
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4 years ago
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Farmers voice concern over WTO talks in Geneva

Swiss farmers have warned that the current round of negotiations at the World Trade... more

Vierotchka
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4 years ago
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"Battle in Seattle" film about WTO riots to be released in September

"In 1999, five days rocked the world as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organization. Among them are Django (Andre Benjamin), Sam (Jennifer Carpenter), Lou (Michelle Rodriguez) and Jay (Martin Henderson). United in their desire to be heard and to make a difference, for these protesters, this is very personal and the stakes are higher than mere politics. A peaceful demonstration to stop the WTO talks quickly escalates into a full-scale riot and an eventual State of Emergency results. The streets are mayhem, the WTO is paralyzed. Caught in the crossfire are Seattle residents, including its beleaguered mayor (Ray Liotta), a riot cop on the streets (Woody Harrelson) and his pregnant wife (Charlize Theron). The choices they make will change their lives forever.

With his ensemble cast writer/director Stuart Townsend intertwines different points of view from a cross section of society - from protestors and police to delegates and doctors - who intentionally or accidentally find themselves on the streets of Seattle in those last days of the millennium. Townsend seamlessly merges footage of the real event with his fictional narrative and, ultimately, Battle in Seattle illustrates that, even against incredible odds, ordinary people can change the world."
(End of excerpt from BattleInSeattleMovie.com)

For more information please visit http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/

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Excerpt from C. Robert Cargill's critique from Movie.com:
"[I]t very much was like Crash and Bobby, except much better than I found either of those films. Centered on the infamous 1999 Seattle WTO riots, it follows the point of view of protest ringleaders, the mayor, two police officers, a news crew, two WTO representatives and a pregnant housewife. We watch as these characters are forced into conflict in one way or another. From the rioters engagement with the police to the mayor trying to hold the city together to the WTO members undercut by a riot separating them from achieving their goals, this film shows the many facets of people all trying to save the world amid a very bad situation.

The result is an enthralling explosion of conflicting ideologies each executed by someone who believes they are doing their part to make the world a better place: from the officers trying to keep the peace to the mayor, who feels both parties should have a say, to the protesters trying to send a message while having to fight against the destructive anarchists in their midst. Battle In Seattle presents a series of very complicated issues that all point towards one conclusion –- that maybe having an unelected governing body control the commerce of all the most powerful nations in the world isn’t such a good idea..."
http://www.film.com/movies/story/review-battle-seattle-worth-fighting/13668289/20928153"In 1999, five days rocked the world as tens of thousands of demonstrators took... more

Hawkmang
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4 years ago
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12 comments

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