NEW DELHI - At an international trade campaign conference in northern India last week, 100 activists from 50 countries across the world decided to launch a united global campaign of week-long protests against the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) efforts at pushing what they describe as "enforced liberalization."

Organizers of the campaign state that for a week every year, people from different parts of the world will take to the streets together to protest WTO measures that affect the poor.

"The exact week of the campaign will be decided at a later date, along with other groups ," says Tom Palukudiyil, the South Asia director of Christian Aid, a global non-profit body. It may possibly be finalized by participants at the World Social Forum/Mumbai (web site down 12/5-12/6) in the western Indian city of Mumbai next month.

The decision for united action was taken last week at a conference held in Manesar, on the outskirts of the Indian capital of New Delhi.

"We are for protecting the livelihoods of people, but against enforced liberalization," says Palukudiyil.

A global social juggernaut rolled through Paris last week, challenging neo-liberal globalization and imperialism on its way to the next World Social Forum in India. (AFP/Joel Saget)

The conference held a global forum, regional platforms and national group discussions. Experiences were shared with a view to strengthening disparate campaigns in the world under a huge umbrella campaign for trade justice.

"To tip the balance of international trade rules in favor of the poorest we must build the global trade campaign and focus on practical campaign actions that can reach right across the world as well as into every village," says Martin Gordon, international campaign manager for Christian Aid.

The conference was held two months after developed nations and rich countries failed to come to a settlement on trade practices at a WTO round in Cancun in Mexico.

"The conference was particularly timely," say the organizers of the meeting in a statement. "The significant developments and the collapse of the trade talks in Cancun demonstrated the growing determination of developing countries to no longer accept international trade rules dictated by rich countries for their own benefit."

The organizers - among them leading global nongovernmental organizations like Action Aid, Bread for All and Christian Aid, and regional bodies such as the Caribbean Policy and Development Center, India's Center for Education and Communication, Thailand's Focus on the Global South and the Social Enterprise and Development Foundation of Ghana -- stress that Cancun has paved the way for a united campaign against unfair trade practices.

"The tables are starting to turn, but for international trade to truly work in the interests of the poorest, more co-operation is needed between the different trade campaigns and the global trade campaign needs to be the largest the world has ever seen," they stress.

The campaigners are working to curb measures that force poor countries to open their markets to the developed world. They are also championing the regulation of big businesses to ensure they do not adversely affect local communities and the environment.

"We went to ensure that trade policy is made in a fair, transparent and democratic way," they say.

"The present trade rules affect the poor," says Shatadru Chattopadhyaya, program officer for trade and labor rights at the New Delhi-based Center for Education and Communication. "Our movement is aimed at changing the rules," he says.

The campaigners seek to do this by sharing information on successes and strategies of local movements in different parts of the world.

"It is crucial that we don't lose sight of what is going on elsewhere in the world and take all the opportunities we can for linking up and closer cooperation when this is beneficial," the statement says.

Palukudiyil adds that while the campaigners are stressing on the need for a united move, local campaigners will also be given freedom to lead their movements in their own way.

"Groups in New Delhi, for instance, can conduct a campaign the way they wish to and those in Jharkhand (an eastern state) will conduct it in their own way," he says.

"We have the greatest respect for flexibility and room for creativity," he remarks.

This was highlighted in New Delhi last Thursday when over 700 participants from across the world held hands to form a human chain.

"We pledge to intensify our united struggle against the unjust WTO regime," said the placards held by the participants.

©2003 OneWorld.net

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