News and Analysis • Volume 9 • Number 7 • 2nd March 2005
Civil Society Meets to Plan Activities For Hong Kong
At a 26-27 February meeting in Hong Kong to coordinate their activities in the run-up to the WTO Ministerial Conference to be held there December, representatives from over one hundred civil society organisations discussed the progress of the ongoing round of trade negotiations and addressed organisational questions about activities surrounding the meeting (see BRIDGES Weekly, 2 February 2005). They also reiterated their commitment to peaceful demonstrations.
The two-day conference, organised by the Hong Kong People’s Alliance on WTO (HKPA), brought together 250 participants representing 110 organisations from 23 countries. The HKPA is an umbrella group of Hong Kong-based social movements, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and labour union groups that is coordinating the Ministerial Conference-related work of international civil society organisations with that of their local counterparts. It is in close contact with the Hong Kong government officials in charge of organising the December summit in order to facilitate this work. Participants at the meeting decided not to set up an International Coordinating Network for civil society organisations as had originally been planned, so the HKPA will continue to play the role of logistical coordinator.
Meeting discusses ongoing round, course of action for Hong Kong
The meeting opened with presentations on progress in the Doha round negotiations since the Cancun Ministerial Conference in September 2003; the WTO accession process; trade union concerns about the effects of the WTO negotiations on public services and employment; bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs); and the consequences of unfair trade rules. The conference split up into ‘thematic’ working groups, largely for the purpose of information sharing. Four focused on specific areas of the WTO talks, i.e., non-agricultural market access (NAMA), agriculture, trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS), and services. Other groups focused on FTAs and the links between trade, development, and security. Sectoral workshops also discussed the effects of WTO rules on groups such as labour, peasants, children, students, indigenous people, fisherfolk, and environmental organisations. The first day’s proceedings were open to the press, in part to serve as indication that participants were not planning violent protests.
On the second day, participants established working groups on programmes, mobilisation/actions, documentation, media relations, outreach, logistics, and funding. They discussed procedural issues such as how to run the working groups between now and the December Ministerial Conference. They also discussed activities that could be organised during the meeting as well as in the run-up to it. The latter may potentially be clustered around mini-ministerial meetings and the end-July meeting where WTO Members are supposed to produce ‘first approximations’ of a final deal to be adopted in Hong Kong.
Also on the agenda was planning for the so-called ‘action week’ — demonstrations, people’s gatherings, and cultural evenings to take place during the Ministerial Conference itself. HKPA spokesperson Apo Leong told that press that he expects 5000 people to take part in the peaceful protest.
Participants commit to peaceful protest; anxious of police overreaction
The Hong Kong police’s recent statement that they were stocking up on rubber bullets and tear gas in preparation for protests during the WTO meeting was a source of significant concern. "We have made clear to all overseas activists who want to work with us that we are peaceful and non-violent," HKPA chair Elizabeth Tang told a press conference following the meeting, "we want to communicate effectively with the police and we hope they won’t overreact."
The Hong Kong government assured civil society that peaceful demonstrations would be allowed — and facilitated, by diverting traffic from a designated protest route.
Another concern at the weekend meeting was that would-be protesters would be denied entry to the former British colony during the Ministerial Conference. The HKPA is discussing visa issues with Hong Kong’s immigration authorities.
The HKPA will make the proceedings of the conference publicly available; these will serve as the basis for a programme of activities that is being articulated by each of the working groups from the meeting. The working groups are open, and will solicit input from other interested organisations while developing the programmes.
ICTSD reporting; "Activists to converge on HK to protest at WTO meet," REUTERS, 28 February 2005; "5000 anti-globalisation protestors expected for Hong Kong WTO meet," AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, 27 February 2005; "WTO protesters fail to allay violence fear," THE STANDARD (Hong Kong), 1 March 2005.