Singapore shoots down "rumor" of APEC attack plot
Singapore has downplayed media reports of a plot to attack an Asia-Pacific summit in the city-state in November, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Monday.
"The rumors are rumors. You check it, if it is unverifiable, you know you can't be chasing after every rumor,' Second Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam was quoted by the daily as saying during a mock terrorist attack exercise on Sunday.
The Singapore Police Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs were not available for immediate comment.
An intelligence analyst from the Center for Intelligence and National Security in Indonesia told Reuters last week probes into last month's bombings in Jakarta had uncovered a plot to target the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.
U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders of the 21-member APEC group will attend the mid-November summit in Singapore, a regional financial center and shipping hub.
The investigation also revealed that terrorists planned to use snipers to attack Obama's convoy during a planned visit to Indonesia around the same time.
Shanmugam said Singaporean authorities took security "very seriously."
"Wherever the President of the United States, or various heads of states visit, you obviously take the appropriate security precautions," he said. "For a small country like us, this is not just an issue of preparing against terrorist attacks, it's creating a mindset and understanding within our population that (in) any kind of emergency, we are all able to respond," Shanmugam said.
Labels: APEC, Obama, Singapore, United States of America
APEC to Fight Protectionism Through Concrete Plans
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies will take concrete measures to fight protectionism, provide fresh momentum to the Doha Round talks and enhance regional economic integration, trade ministers from the region agreed here on Wednesday.
Trade ministers from 21 APEC economies have gathered here for the two-day Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting to discuss policy responses to the economic crisis as well as to prepare for recovery in the longer-term.
During the meeting, which kicked off on Tuesday, the trade ministers said that sustaining trade and investment flows remains critical to the future prosperity of the region.
According to WTO's annual world trade report launched on the sidelines of the meeting, the world merchandise trade volume is expected to decline by 10 percent in 2009.
The trade ministers noted that while pressures for protectionism were greater during these difficult times, the political resolve to resist them must be even stronger.
China's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming stressed that China will continue its mutually-beneficial opening policy and actively support the agreement reached by G20 summit leaders to fight against protectionism. He called on APEC economies to make continuous efforts to enhance free trade and trade facilitation.
In order to restore trade and spur economic recovery, APEC trade ministers said that they will take concrete measures to combat protectionism.
They agreed to extend till end of 2010 the commitment made in Lima last year by APEC leaders to refrain from raising new barriers to trade and investment in the region, adding that they stand ready to extend the commitment further if necessary.
They shared the view that the main threats to a revival of trade flows include rising protectionist pressures, and continued delay in concluding the Doha Round.
"Concluding the Doha Round by 2010 will be the most effective way to resist protectionism and strengthen the multilateral trading system," they said in a statement after the meeting.
They will accelerate efforts to conclude modalities in Agriculture and NAMA, and utilize all possible avenues of engagement to encourage greater transparency and understanding of what is on the table to fill the remaining gaps in the negotiations as soon as possible.
They also discussed ways to strengthen the region's competitiveness by accelerating integration efforts, which will position the Asia-Pacific for a strong and sustained recovery.
In achieving this, the minister agreed to accelerate trade at the border with simpler customs documentation procedures, to reduce regulatory impediments behind the border, and to improve connectivity across the border by identifying the checkpoints in trade logistics and reviewing logistics policies.
The ministers also touched on the issues of climate change, anti-terrorism, food security and dealing with global pandemic, pledging to ensure that the APEC economies' growth strategies are sustainable.
The Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting is the first APEC Ministerial Meeting of APEC 2009. Singapore is playing host to the APEC meetings held from February to November 2009. They will culminate in the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, where leaders of APEC's 21 member economies will meet in Singapore from Nov. 14 to 15 this year.
Labels: APEC, Climate Change, Food Security, Singapore
R.P. pitches aid, stimulus issues for APEC meet
MEMBER-countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) will meet for the second round of discussions on what more they should do to mitigate the ill effects of the global recession, and the Philippines has raised the burning issues of more relevant official development assistance (ODA) and a more efficient release of stimulus funds from international donors.
Philippine head negotiator for Apec Edsel Custodio said the discussions and exchange of information on fiscal, monetary and social resilience measures will be held during the Apec senior officials meeting (SOM) mid-July this year in Singapore. The first round was held at the Apec SOM retreat in March.
“Senior ministers [of Apec] recognized the need to facilitate trade financing, as well as financing to support other activities. The SOM chairman noted the SOM retreat had seen strong and broad consensus on the need for speedy replenishment of the Asian Development Bank’s funds,” stated an Apec report.
The report added the SOM chairman “has noted Japan’s proposal to expand its initiative of an Asia Pacific Trade Insurance Network to facilitate cooperation among export credit agencies to include all Apec economies.”
Custodio, also Foreign Affairs undersecretary for international economic relations, said the global economic crisis is not so much about Filipino migrant workers losing jobs abroad, but the need to salvage the dying local industries in the Philippines and other developing Apec members.
The worst impact of the global financial crisis, he said, are on the local industries like the export sector; thus the need to focus on financing small and medium enterprises that in the case of the Philippines comprise more than 90 per cent of its industries.
He said the crisis is also driving many rich economies to source talents and skills abroad because they could no longer live up to the high salary expectations of their own workers. “The economic crisis is actually an opportunity for us because we can supply the human resource needs of the rich countries.”
Custodio said since there are not many Apec programs for SMEs—very much needed by developing countries—the Philippines will greatly push for the support of microfinance programs within Apec.
Apec is composed of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
Labels: APEC, Philippines
APEC — A Pretty Empty Chatter
OLD jokes are best. If they are remembered it is because they are funny, and if they are funny, it is probably because they are at least partly true. So it was when Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister, called APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) “four adjectives in search of a noun”.
Last weekend’s APEC summit in Sydney showed that nearly 20 years after its foundation, the group has yet to decide on its noun (what it is), let alone its verb—what it actually does. The 21 Asian and Pacific leaders (including one embattled American president) who descended on Sydney required nearly $150m worth of security arrangements, including a five-kilometre-long, protester-proof fence dubbed the “great wall of Sydney”.
Press coverage centred on local disgruntlement at the disruption, on an embarrassing security breach by somebody disguised as Osama bin Laden (shown below), and on speculation as to how Australia would fulfil the tradition of a group photograph in “national dress”. (Since this quaint custom appears designed solely to make the leaders and the American president look silly, it is to be regretted that John Howard, Australia’s prime minister, rejected the idea of a swimsuit parade.)
Diplomats will tut-tut: how the press trivialises these important international gatherings! But the opposite criticism is more valid: the press took the summit too seriously. It earnestly relayed the leaders’ call for a rapid conclusion of the stalled Doha round of trade talks; and it dutifully recorded their “aspirational goal” (ie, meaningless wishful thinking) to limit greenhouse-gas emissions.
There is no evidence that agreements reached at APEC serve any purpose other than providing a basis for discussion at the next summit. To report them as if they did is misleading.
But does APEC have other uses? Indeed it does in theory, but none that stands up to scrutiny. First, when Australian prime ministers pushed the idea of a pan-Pacific summit two decades ago, they wanted to ensure greater American engagement in Asia and the Pacific. Particularly after the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, there was a worry that America might neglect the region in favour of its domestic concerns and Europe.
But the world has changed. The rise of Asia—and of China in particular—is not something that any American leader can now ignore. Of course Asia’s prominence raises an array of issues, but most are bilateral or multilateral. Dealing with them (or rather, failing to deal with them) regionally is not helpful.
Second, there was a fear that Asian prickliness might lead to the growth of a strong regional grouping that excluded America: the economic “caucus” (without the Caucasians) championed by Mahathir Mohammad, a former Malaysian prime minister. But that, in the form of the “East Asian Summit” is happening anyway.
But surely, say APEC’s fans, it is at least a good thing that these leaders meet and chew the fat? At times, it can even be opportune: last year in Hanoi, the leaders issued a statement condemning North Korea’s test of a nuclear device the previous month. But that coincidence seems a pretty thin excuse for a huge international event, and the statement had no noticeable effect.
It is not just that APEC has no obvious function. It is worse than that: it actually has a pernicious effect. Its very existence creates the illusion that something is being done and so weakens other efforts to reach meaningful agreements on, for example, climate change and trade. This joke has gone on long enough.
Technorati Tags: APEC, 2007 and Sydney.
Labels: 2007, APEC, Sydney
A Peaceful Demostration for APEC 2007
Scuffles between police and protesters broke out after a smaller than predicted number of demonstrators staged a short and peaceful march in central Sydney against the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
A massive police presence contained the largely good-natured crowd that had included families and children.
Police fears of widespread violence did not eventuate, but there was some trouble.
A police spokesman said five marchers had been arrested and two officers were injured when some trouble flared. One officer was hospitalised with unspecified head injuries. No further details were available.
About two hours after the march ended in Hyde Park, police detained another three men.
Two of the men, who were named on an APEC blacklist, were dragged away by officers, placed in a police bus but later freed.
Paddy Gibson - who had helped organise today's march - said he was in cafe in the park when he saw police grab and take away one man.
"When I started complaining and they said 'take him away as well'," he told smh.com.au.
Witnesses saw Mr Gibson grappled to the ground and then escorted from the scene. Both men were released 20 minutes later.
This afternoon lines of police were deployed on Elizabeth Street near the Sheraton on the Park Hotel, where some APEC delegates are staying. About 200 protesters remained in the park.
Organisers estimated that 10,000 people took part in this morning's march. Earlier in the week, police had ominiously predicted 20,000 might show up and warned of the danger of rioting.
Protest organisers pointed to the general good behaviour of the crowd and accused authorities of overreacting and deliberately exaggerating security concerns.
They said police had tried to browbeat demonstrators by putting hundreds of officers on the streets at huge expense to taxpayers.
"It's been an absolutely fantastic rally you should all be congratulated," Alex Bainbridge of the Stop Bush Coalition told the crowd.
As APEC leaders - including US President George Bush and Prime Minister John Howard - met at the Sydney Opera House for their summit, riot squads with shields and were deployed in some parts CBD.
The protesters gathered at Town Hall and moved slowly towards Hyde Park following a police-approved route.
Lines of police funnelled the crowd down Park Street towards the park as helicopters hovered above.
Seven buses, converted into oversized police paddy wagons, were parked in a line that blocked George Street outside the Queen Victoria Building. The recently acquired NSW Police water cannon was stationed nearby.
There was little trouble among protesters as their march took on an almost festive air.
One woman was seen being led away by officers near the QVB.
In another incident, five policemen grappled one male protester to the ground on Park Street. The man was led away by other officers as surrounding demonstrators chanted: "shame, shame".
One witness later alleged that the man had been throwing objects at some marchers in an bid to provoke trouble.
Police also led away a man who was naked except for a strategically placed sock. Across his bare chest was written: "Hey (Police Commisioner Andrew) Scipione, where's my concealed weapon?"
Many of the protesters carried placards reading: "End the occupation of Iraq", "Save the planet", "Drop Bush, not bombs" and "Put the water cannon to good use. Give Morris Iemma an enema".
Others chanted: "We are peaceful, Bush is not".
Before the rally, NSW Police Minister David Campbell said people would be free to use their democratic right to protest but officers also had a responsibility to ensure the safety of international visitors and the public.
Mr Campbell told ABC Radio organisers of the Stop Bush Coalition demonstration faced a challenge to keep the protest peaceful and not allow other groups to cause trouble.
"Of course the concern is there are other people from other organisations such as Mutiny, another group called AC/DC and a group called Resistance, who said they would come to Sydney intent on violence," Mr Campbell.
"There is concern that they might just join that demonstration and then try break out of it in some way."
The commander of the Public Order and Riot Squad , Chief Superintendent Stephen Cullen, said he feared anarchist groups would infiltrate the protest and whip it into a violent mob.
But Mr Bainbridge said police predictions of violence had been "propaganda".
"They're trying to use the talk about violence to disguise the real issues we're raising at the protest rally," he said.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Peaceful, Protest, Police and Bums.
Labels: APEC, Bums, Peaceful, Police, Protest
Howard Pleas on YouTube
To catch the bus from Canberra to APEC Protest, please call Farida on 0412 109 160.
Rest assured that peaceful protests will not lead to arrests.
APEC says so.
Australia's PM John Howard Pleas on
YouTubeTechnorati Tags: StopBush2007, Sydney, APEC and Protest.
Labels: APEC, Stop Bush 2007, Sydney, Town Hall
Police Blacklist to be Defied by Activists
Four of the Sydney people on the Police Security Blacklist last night challenged the list as unconstitutional, but their legal arguments were rejected by the NSW Court of Appeal, sitting in an extraordinary evening session. Despite losing the legal argument, the four men - Dan Jones, Paddy Gibson, Dan Robbins and Tim Davis-Frank - have declared they will defy the ban and participate in Saturday's anti-war march by the Stop Bush Coalition.
The lawyer for the four, Geoff Kennett, argued that the ban was an unconstitutional restriction of political communication, and that the NSW Police blacklist went beyond the powers of the NSW Parliament. The three Appeals Court justices said that the banning of a limited number of potentially dangerous people from a protest, in a limited area, for a limited amount of time, served the legitimate purpose of responsible government.
Police have recieved unprecedented powers in the APEC MEETING (POLICE POWERS) ACT 2007 of stop, search and detention, and confiscation of items from people, and the blacklist to exclude people from declared areas (a much wider area than restricted areas).
The Police Blacklist is believed to contain the names of 34 activists. On Tuesday 5 more people, who are associated with the FLARE in the void Convergence, were added to the list. "All of the people who are associated with the conference will defy the order,'' said spokesman Rishin Sing in a Herald report.
This morning Daniel Jones told the ABC "This march will go ahead. I think this is going to be a large demonstration and I think this will be a peaceful march," he said. "I think this will be a march that actually will show [Prime Minister] John Howard and [Opposition Leader] Kevin Rudd exactly who the opposition in Australia is. It is the public opinion... which will be represented on the streets of APEC."
Daniel Jones accused the Police list of being disciminatory as it lists people without criminal records and stops the their right of free speech. "This list is not a list of violent people that are threatening," he said. "If it was there would be rapists... on this list. I mean a rapist has more rights in the Sydney Central Business District at the moment than we do. We believe we are on this list for political reasons. We are planning only to have a demonstration, I mean, we've made no secret of that all long."
Back in June 2007 one of the four, Daniel Jones, was approached by Police Intelligence to spy on fellow activists and in return "arrangements" could be made about charges Mr Jones faces over his participation in G20 protests in Melbourne in November 2006. Rather than be co-opted and spy on his mates, Daniel took his story to the newspapers.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Protest, Blacklist, Activist and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: Activist, AgentProvocateur, APEC, Blacklist, Protest
Bush Slams Burma
Bush attends APEC in Sydney, obviously all of us would want to take to the streets and be heard. John Howard implements all sorts of "security equipment" tall fences, water canon and even a ban list.
Now Bush goes to Sydney and slams Burma for their crackdown on protest marches. The sheer irony.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
US PRESIDENT George Bush has slammed Burma's military regime, promising to use the APEC conference to speak out against a crackdown on protest marches.
"It's inexcusable that we've got this kind of tyrannical behaviour in Asia," Mr Bush said at a press conference with Prime Minister John Howard.
Small bands of Burmese took to the streets of the capital, Rangoon, to protest at a Government hike in petrol prices. In some cases, the cost of fuel soared by five times. In response, regime-sponsored gangs beat protest leaders. So far, the military has stayed in its barracks.
The Burmese junta is sensitive to organised protests, fearing they could become a campaign for political change.
Protests in 1988 opened the way for elections two years later, won by the National League for Democracy, the party led by Nobel peace prizewinner Aung San Suu Kyi. The military refused to accept the result, keeping Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest for much of the time since.
Mr Bush yesterday said people in free societies needed to speak out against human rights abuses.
Australia has a ban on military exports to Burma and visits by senior regime figures. Last week, Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, called on the Government to condemn the latest crackdown.
Technorati Tags: APEC, GeorgeBush, Burma, JohnHoward and Protest.
Labels: APEC, Burma, George Bush, John Howard, Protest
APEC, Sydney and the Australian Corporate Dystopia
Dan Matthews writes about his Australia
I've been away from Australia for a while. Every time I come back, the country seems to have edged a little closer towards a corporate utopia – or dystopia, depending
on your point of view – and this week is the height of it.
I arrived at Sydney airport prepared for the customary transit ritual whereby one gets off a plane, goes through a security checkpoint, and then gets back on a plane. One is often greeted by sniffer dogs, but always by massive billboards lining the airport corridors, always advertising some financial institution or luxury product tailored to the high-end audience presumably passing through. This time there were no dogs, but the advertising was spot-on. Welcome to the APEC Australia 2007 Business Summit, it announced. Sponsored by Chevron. Ah, perfect.
* * *
APEC was essentially an invention of the Australian Labor Party, in particular of Paul Keating, who wanted to be able to promote neoliberal economic policies in the Asia Pacific region. Like the World Trade Organization and the international financial institutions, APEC was explicitly created to promote neoliberal economic policies at the international level – the same 'free trade', investor rights and freedom of capital that have decimated peoples all over the world. Unlike the WTO, APEC delivers no treaties or binding declarations, just meetings, discussions and non-binding statements. If the WTO is brazenly transparent with its quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial mechanisms, APEC is insidiously opaque with its back-door, diplomatic route to the same goal.
APEC does not have member nations or countries, but it does have 21 Member Economies. The website of the summit announces a wonderful egalitarianism to treat nations equally, according “equal respect for the views of all participants
regardless of the size of their economy” – not regardless of their size, or their population, or anything with moral value. There is Mexico, brutally repressive of the uprising in Oaxaca last year, suffering from NAFTA, debt crises, superexploitaion in the maquiladoras, the collapse of social expenditure, ruthless foreign competition, and mass urbanisation and megaslums; led by Felipe Calderon, elected last year under dubious conditions. There is Hong Kong, with an undemocratic government subservient to China, failing to observe basic human rights; led by its “Chief Executive” Donald Tsang. There is Malaysia, corrupt, authoritarian, holding
prisoners without trial, jailing bloggers. There is Thailand, still under military rule, heavily censoring the media, the internet, under martial law, repressing dissent; led by “Interim Prime Minister” Surayut Chulanon. There is the Philippines, where state security forces are accused of brutal murders of of activists, community
workers, and the media, and as a result an ally in the 'war on terror'; led by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. There is Peru, impoverished and superexploited by international capital; led by Alan Garcia, who refused to implement the National Human Rights Plan. There is Brunei, still a sultanate in the 21st century. There is Russia, engaging in brutal repression in Chechnya with impunity, clamping down on freedom of expression, disappearing and torturing. There is Indonesia, murdering and torturing in West Papua, authoritarian, prosecuting people for expressing opinions; led by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general who served under accused war criminal Wiranto in East Timor. There is China – viciously repressive, viciously capitalist, viciously industrializing and leaving the global climate in its wake. Of course there is Australia – stealer of East Timor's oil, regional US sheriff, and declining democracy. And there is the USA – world emperor, imperial invader, torturer and increasingly security state.
Even the supposedly less criminal elements cannot escape blame. Canada's troops are implicated in dozens, possibly hundreds, of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. Chile, still coming to terms with years of brutal dictatorship, represses student protests and ill-treats detainees. And so on. There are no good guys. But then again, history should teach us that, at least so far, we should not expect any.
The economic policies prescribed by APEC are widely discredited and have ceased to be taken seriously by those concerned for the economic development and future of the world.
Though of course it is impossible to capture the full situation in all its complexity here, one can consider two broad sets of economic policies characterising much of the world, particularly the developing world. The first set is that promoted by APEC along with other international institutions like the WTO, World Bank and
International Monetary Fund: namely, opening markets to free trade, ending tariffs and subsidies, shrinking the public sector and public services, wholesale privatisation, and for the indebted third world, restructuring the economy as a debt repayment machine, exporting cash crops and raw materials for hard currency; while the same rules are never applied to the industralised world. Then there is a second
broad set of policies, without official sanction from the 'winners', the creditors, and those who have the power to write the rules of global economics: building a public sector to provide essential services and protect the least well off; state investment in housing and welfare, and research and development; protection of new and emerging industries until they are globally competitive; capital and foreign exchange controls; developing internal consumer markets – in general, taking the notion seriously that economics in the real world is not as simple as 'market knows best', and that state intervention and social programmes can guide social and economic development. Almost without exception, those nations which have
followed the first set of policies have suffered massive failures: suffered vast and worsening levels of poverty and inequality, suffered financial crises, and those crises have provided opportunities for creditors and international institutions to stack the tables further against them. Almost without exception, those countries which are rich or developed applied the second set of policies through most of their development.
Almost without exception, when free trade has been forced on poor nations, they have been forced to compete with rich nations whose competing industries are subidised,
protected or highly technologically developed. When poor nations are forced to restructure their economies to prioritise export industries, they are denied the opportunity to develop internal consumer markets and hence develop the demand that will pull national industries up to viability. When poor nations are opened up as cheap sources of labour for multinational corporations, working conditions
are oppressive and profits are repatriated elsewhere. The 'liberalisation' of capital and oppressive debt obligations ensure that entire national economies can be ruined by 'free' flows of transnational capital – and capital will flow speculatively and irrationally, and will flee in panic at the slightest hint of
'instability', whether from popular uprisings, military conflict, or
nationalist policies.
But these are only the broadest brush strokes of the international situation, which varies widely with local conditions, markets and institutions. It is true that there are cases where free trade has improved economic growth in some poor nations. But as we should expect from a cursory examination, such growth tends to be captured by an elite of owners, shareholders and foreigners. Repressive conditions ensure that only the minimal portion of growth goes to workers in the form of increased wages; and
the threat of capital flight ensures that conditions remain regressive and repressive. Where growth comes, it is growth for the rich, growth that comes with inequality, growth the comes with mass poverty, massive population transfers as industries are laid to waste, and the growth of vast mega-slums in major cities all around the world.
Above all, whatever mechanisms of development are possible and available, and were used by the presently rich nations, they are systematically denied to the third
world today. The third world today remains crippled by debt, forced to repay odious debts at interest, forced to accept international exploitation, prohibited from taking collective action for national economic self-defence, permitted only to resume their traditional colonial roles as exporters of raw materials, trapped in permanent impoverishment.
* * *
Even in the rich nations, pursuing this first set of policies – 'neoliberal' policies, as they have become known – has deeply disturbing effects. Even when you can win at the game internationally, turning the whole of society into a market game
has broad antisocial effects, for both obvious and subtle reasons. Australia, it seems, is just such an example of a society slipping ever more entirely into the ideal of a neoliberal society – a corporate utopia, or a social dystopia, depending on one's point of view.
What should we expect from the wholly neoliberal society? In its ideal form, there are no citizens, just consumers and workers; everything is consumption or production; everything is a market; everything is to be treated 'rationally',
applying an irrational and pathological calculus of extreme self-interest. Consumers should consume, including consuming entertainment, and meekly accept the prepackaged happiness that is offered to them in the appropriate markets. Workers should be
flexible, flexible to be hired and fired at will at the market rate, with no oppressive monopolies such as unions to distort the market. Nor should governments distort the market with such interventions as social welfare, unemployment assistance, job retraining or other indicators of minimal civilization. Workers should accept their contracts, expect no favours or assistance from the state, and
compete with their fellow workers for jobs. All of society – that is, all of the economy – should be a competition; co-operation becomes cartel behaviour. Increases in efficiency should not lead to increased wages – that is, after all, wage inflation – but such increased wealth should go towards investment and 'growth', that is, capital. There will be growth, as long as growth does not go towards
wages or towards social programmes. Wages are perhaps supposedly constrained by a minimum for nourishment and survival – but when wages are set at a market rate, with a pool of reserve labour set to drive down wages, and without any collective action possible to apply bargaining pressure, that such constraints apply is not clear.
That in the approach to corporate utopia, one can expect layoffs from businesses pitted against subsidised international competitors, layoffs from a downsized public
sector and private industries unable to compete with cheap industries, massive increases in inequality, increases in poverty, and vast inflows of wealth to a narrow elite, is empirical truism – but in a market utopia there are opportunities for everyone who is prepared to work enough and out-compete the rest. It does not matter if many, even most, are 'losers' – as long as there is the possibility of winning, we can obediently compete and play to win. We are to consider only our economic self-interest, maximising our wealth as best we can. To consider, rationally, our other interests, or even, heaven forbid, the interest of others, is 'irrational'. We should all try to be winners, not losers – the possibility of a
situation where there are no losers never arises. The philosophy permeates even supposedly non-economic activity, with our latest acquisitions and our prepackaged consumer entertainment, whether sport, movies, or celebrity gossip. There is no room for social connection, no room for political connection, no room for acting as a
human being concerned for all human beings – for that is deviant behaviour.
But this will be well-known to all those in the Western world. It is certainly dominant and mainstream in Australia.
Of course, the indicators of this descent of Australian society are manifold. They are both causes and effects of the rolling back of social democracy in the country. They are seen in economic statistics – poverty, real wages, inequality, unionisation. They are seen in upturns in xenophobia and racism. They are seen in the recent phenomenon of patriotic racist riots where young white males wrap themselves in Australian flags and bash Australians of other colours. They are seen in the language used in the dominant discourse in media and electoral politics, which is now almost exclusively the language of business. They are seen in the
fixation on interest rates in electoral politics and by citizens who respond to them. They are seen in the absence of any real political opposition, other than perhaps the Green party; not even from academia, from the labour movement, or elsewhere. And they are seen in the language of leaders, the declarations of leaders, and the substance of meetings such as the APEC summit.
* * *
APEC, like other summits elsewhere, concerns itself with the approach to corporate utopia, and the continuance of the outrages of neoliberal economic policies
throughout the Asia-Pacific region. From those who understand such policies – such as those who are on the receiving end – outrage is visceral, outrage beggars belief, we choke with rage. Massive protests erupt. The protests are of a very pure sort – for the symbols of the system congregate in one place, and the protest is
against both their individual crimes and the Idea they promote, with all its associated catastrophe.
For those who are not on the receiving end, those who can live in rich ignorance, the global elite who benefit from the policy, the view is somewhat different. An army of professional economists is deployed to justify the unjustifiable,
with theories divorced from reality, with assumptions cloaking humanity in crude materialism, with insanity masquerading as 'rationality'. The mainstream media cannot report on the effects of the policies, which are too obviously horrible, too obviously unjust, upon any more than a cursory examination – and more, undermine the
comfortable apathetic lives which are best for sales, undermine the system of exploitation which allows them and their societies to prosper, exposes the corporations which own them, and undermines the global structure of economics itself. Of course in democracies journalists are perfectly free to tell the truth – but self-censorship of the substance of international trade summits is clear to anyone reading mainstream newspapers.
Instead, the media finds a distraction. On the one hand there are photo pportunities and handshakes and press conferences, dutifully relaying the official version of events. On the other hand there are the protestors. Since the inequities of
global trade policy are never mentioned and carefully avoided, then there must be nothing to protest about, and the protestors, therefore, must not be legitimate, but violent thugs set only on causing destruction.
It is not always fully appreciated how much words construct reality. This is true in the philosophical or psychological sense that they we construct our thoughts and mental pictures through the power of words. It is also true in the concrete
physical sense that those words lead to actions which make those words come true. And the issue of violence at protests for global justice is a prime example. It is a fascinating example of a self-referential loop – but the philosophical curiosity in this case has devastating consequences.
Anyone who has ever gone to a protest of any but the most acceptable sort – that is, any protest which actually protests those with power – will know that the mainstream media coverage of the protest, and the protest itself, are barely recognisable as the same event. If there are a hundred thousand peaceful demonstrators and ten
who get in a scuffle with police, one can rest assured where the coverage will lie. If there are only peaceful demonstrators, in fact, with less than about a hundred thousand one is barely assured of any coverage at all. If the protest confronts an acceptable event involving the powerful, the event will be covered dutifully, with a
sentence or two as footnote noting the violence which marred the pleasantries. And when the violence is covered, one can rest assured that it was caused by protestors, who are accused of attacking police, even as footage rolls showing unarmed protestors being clubbed with batons. It will usually turn out that protestors are
cleared of charges; it often turns out that the police planted agents
provocateurs; unsourced allegations of protestor provocations usually turn out to be false.
In the mind of the police, one expects violence, because such protests are overwhelmingly described as violent, even if in fact they are overwhelmingly peaceful, and even if the violence is the fault of the police. In the mind of the
neutral public, protestors are violent thugs because they are always described as such in the media, without contradiction. In the mind of protestors, as a result, the mainstream media is a lost cause, essentially functioning as a propaganda organ, and cannot be trusted; and the violence, if it resonates as reality, displays the brutality of police repression. Minimal violence creates exaggerated talk of
violence, which in turn engenders violence.
And so it goes, in the lead up to a global justice protest. Well in advance, reports circulate of violent groups planning disruptions – no source usually given. Police warn the public. Police warn against violence. Police obtain new equipment
such as water cannon, clear jail cells, set up mobile prisons, obtain special powers; protest is everywhere associated with violence. Fears of terrorism are raised, conflated with the fear of protestors; indeed, draconian police powers used against protestors derive from anti-terrorism legislation. The substance of the summit is never discussed beyond approving cliches of official propaganda usage; on
the rare occasions that the subject matter is discussed, economists or other 'experts' are called in to ridicule the misguided irrational protestors; the protest is never credited with legitimacy. The unknowing public trembles in fear, at best confused, at worst grateful for the authorities' efforts; the knowing public, including protestors, knows to expect police repression. Violent words resonate
and associate with protests. Peaceful protestors are scared off. Those with a mistrust of authority have their suspicions confirmed by the obvious propaganda and demonisation, encouraging extreme actions. Violence itself becomes more legitimate, the authorities forfeiting their legitimacy. For protest organisations to declare the protest 'peaceful' becomes an act of surrender to illegitimate authority –
is it not, after all, merely a tactical choice not to confront authorities which have declared moral bankruptcy? Tactical discussions ensue; violent factions are strengthened, possibly with the help of police provocateurs; peaceful factions become just another faction. Protestors may split; they are always wary of police
infiltrators. Reactionary media reports gleefully any indication of violence, further proof of intended thuggery. Politicians rail against the disruptors of their precious events; always they affirm the right to protest but only as long as it is done peacefully; the insinuation being that the planned protests are violent, and therefore illegitimate. As the day approaches, protest groups are scrutinised for hints of violence.
Police warn they cannot guarantee public safety if the protest becomes violent. A whole aura of tension, fear, power and violence permeates both sides of the issue; and as these tense struggles proceed, the original injustice of the summit is duly forgotten. It is forgotten that the true violence is perpetrated on a global scale;
it is forgotten that the worst criminals wear suits, possess affable personalities, and have control over the authorities, effective control over the media – indeed, control over the truth. Violence becomes more likely at the protest itself; and the cycle begins anew.
It has become completely familiar to those interested in global justice and who have followed the global justice movement, and there is no difference in Sydney. The police have obtained new water cannon. The city is walled off by 5 kilometres of 2 metre high fencing, truly a triumph of democracy.
Police, using new powers, issue exclusion orders, banning specified individuals from the area, without any judicial process. Police circulate rumours of manuals published by protest groups advising violent tactics. Talkback radio is clogged with debates on the various evils of protestors. Protestors are reported to corrupt the
youth by persuading them to come and protest. Not one word of the outrageous content of the meetings. Not one word of the counter-summits and teach-ins and lectures given by activists and others who understand the situation. Fighter jets fly sorties over Sydney Harbour. Helicopters hover above. The city is shut down, essentially a post-apocalyptic militarized zone.
* * *
Shouldn't world leaders, however illegitimate, be allowed to meet and discuss international co-operation? Even if the agenda were benign – which it is not –
the leaders and their crimes would be no more legitimate. Coming to a democratic nation, illegitimate and criminal leaders should expect utter disbelief on the part of the citizenry, that matters have been able to come to this.
Illegitimate leaders should expect nothing less than the outrage of the population at their presence; illegitimate leaders promoting illegitimate policies, even more so. There is nothing to be gained from violence except greater repression and revocation of non-violent principle; but equally so, there is no reason to offer any welcome.
* * *
A congregation of criminals awaits. Several among them – including the host – could surely be charged with the crime of aggressive war, the supreme international crime,
the same crime for which the Nazis were hanged at Nuremberg. Several more could be responsible for grave war crimes and breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law. Others are real live dictators, their existence an affront to history, unthinkable in the twenty-first century.
Where are we? Is it a war crimes trial? Will they be arraigned, interrogated and prosecuted?
No, it is an international economic summit. They will be lauded, pampered, and congratulated. And they will continue to pursue policies that entrench vast global injustice, vast iniquities, and refuse to take action to avoid environmental
destruction.
It is up to concerned citizens to do something about it.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Dystopia, Arrest and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: APEC, Arrest and Agent Provocateur, Dystopia, Sydney
APEC: Police Want Court Order Against Protestors
New South Wales Police will today seek a Supreme Court order to prevent the biggest APEC protest planned for this Saturday.
Police have been in discussions with the Stop Bush Coalition for weeks over their proposed route for a protest march this Saturday.
There is a clear signal today that those negotiations have failed, with police confirming they will take the issue to the Supreme Court.
The group's leader, Alex Bainbridge, says police gave him a letter last night to say he would receive a court summons today.
Mr Bainbridge says the group is ready to take on the legal challenge.
"We have lawyers that are prepared to work with us because they also believe in the rights of the democratic protests," he said.
Police object to the proposed route because it includes the declared APEC zone of Martin Place.
In declared zones, officers have more powers to search people and move them on.
But Mr Bainbridge says it is not a restricted area and protesters should be allowed to be in the same space as the rest of the public.
"We are planning to enter the declared area, which is open to the public," he said.
"It's nowhere near the restricted area or any of the APEC venues, and what we believe is that nowhere that is open to the public should have protests banned or free speech restricted."
The Stop Bush Coalition has said it was always prepared for court action.
The group is hoping to attract up to 10,000 people to the demonstration.
Meanwhile, the Roads and Traffic Authority says there are extensive delays for northbound motorists on Sydney's Eastern Distributor because of the installation of a security fence for APEC.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Protest and CourtOrder.
Labels: APEC, Court Order, Protest, Sydney
APEC Draws Exclusion List
The New South Wales Police Minister, David Campbell, says people on an exclusion list for the APEC week will know they are banned from certain areas in Sydney.
Mr Campbell says when police finish compiling the list they will contact the individuals and tell them they are not allowed to enter the restricted APEC zones.
Roads will be closed within restricted zones and police will have more power to search people.
The Minister says people on the list have a record of violence and trouble-making at major events.
"We know that there are people, for example, who can be excluded from the Sydney Cricket Ground because they create too much grief at a sporting event," he said.
"I'm not saying that they're the people on the list but those people who are on the list, they'll know who they are because they've done this sort of thing before.
"But equally, police will be contacting them and saying, 'We believe that you are an excluded person'."
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Banned, Exclusion and List.
Labels: APEC, Banned, Exclusion, List, Sydney
APEC: Undercover Policemen and Restriction Pamphlets
APEC, the 8 day long meetings have Sydneysiders issued with restriction pamphlets in their home ground. The NSW police indicate that they "will do everything in their power to ensure that the public are safe from violent protests during APEC". Will there be an agent provocateur? To this, they do not say.
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NSW Police have hit back at concerns that undercover officers might be planted among APEC protesters to provoke violence.The concerns have been raised by the NSW Greens after Canadian Police admitted planting undercover officers at a protest against a North American leaders' summit in Quebec last week.
Demonstrators claim the undercover officers were trying to provoke violence while Quebec police officials said their officers were mingling with protesters to identify those who might become violent, The Toronto Star reported.
The NSW Greens today called on the NSW Premier to guarantee that there would be no undercover police nor other security agents attempting to provoke violence during APEC demonstrations.
"In light of the admission by Canadian police that the men photographed with bandanas and rocks were undercover police officers, I call on the Premier give a public assurance to the people of NSW that similar tactics will not be employed by NSW Police or other security agencies during the APEC meeting," Greens member Sylvia Hale said.
"I have been concerned about the provocative nature of many of the recent statements by the Premier and the Police Minister and I want an assurance that the police will not be trying to manufacture an excuse for giving their new APEC powers and weapons a workout."
Ms Hale admitted she had no evidence any Australian police or security force would plant "agent provocateurs" in the crowds at APEC demonstrations.
"I don't have any direct proof. I'm definitely not saying that I have any evidence that this will happen."
NSW Police and the State Government have denied that police would provoke violence during the demonstrations.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said: "NSW Police Force does not use its officers to provoke violence in any situation."
Deputy Premier John Watkins said any protester who broke the law would be dealt with in terms of special APEC laws.
"NSW Police will do everything in their power to ensure that the public are safe from violent protests during APEC," he said.
"NSW Police have been working hard with protesters in the lead-up to APEC to minimise the disruption to Sydneysiders."
The main APEC protest is planned for Saturday, September 8, when thousands are expected to gather at Town Hall for a march.
The Quebec provincial police were forced to admit last week that they had planted undercover officers amid protesters after a damning video surfaced on
YouTube, The Toronto Star reported.
The video shows three masked men being confronted by a protest organiser.
The organiser makes it clear the men are not welcomed and tells the crowd they are police officers.
Confronted by the crowd and the organiser, the men - one of whom is holding a rock in his hand - push towards the police line where they are shoved to the ground and handcuffed.
A photo that emerged last week shows the soles of the men's boots adorned by the same yellow triangles that a police officer kneeling next to him has on his boots, the paper reported.
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Sydneysiders to receive APEC restrictions pamphletRelated Story: More APEC restrictions announced for Sydney Residents in 16 postcodes around the Sydney CBD should this week receive a brochure explaining changes about traffic and transport during the APEC summit.
The four-page pamphlet includes maps, access to public venues and contact details.
The Federal Government spokeswoman for APEC, Anne Fulwood, says residents in Bondi will also be letter-dropped.
"The most important parts of that would include road closures and access to their residences and so on," she said.
"That's probably the most important thing during those days when areas might be closed off, for example, on the Sunday in Bondi when Icebergs is hosting Mrs Howard's leaders' spouses luncheon - there are certain restrictions then."
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Restriction, Police, Protest and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: AgentProvocateur, APEC, Police, Protest, Restrictions, Sydney
"APEC Protestors, It's All Your Fault"
On the forthcoming APEC meeting, Australia first blames the protesters for the increased security. They then inform the people that the fireworks are not for the eyes of the public. What's next Howard?
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Violent Protesters Blamed for Tight SecurityPrime Minister John Howard says violent protesters are to blame for the severe security measures in place for the APEC meeting in Sydney.
New South Wales police have installed a security fence around parts of the Sydney central business district, acquired a new crowd-control water cannon and freed up prison cells in anticipation of a large number of arrests.But Mr Howard denies the severe measures might actually incite violence.
"That is a common excuse by those who seek to take the law into their own hands," he said.
"If people didn't violently demonstrate, these precautions would not be necessary.
"But they violently demonstrated in Melbourne, police were injured and I fully support the efforts of New South Wales and Commonwealth police.
Mr Howard says he will be meeting with United States President George W Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the Saturday of the APEC weekend.
He says he will be hosting an informal breakfast with both leaders as part of the trilateral security dialogue.
Mr Howard says the two visiting countries have much in common with Australia.
"That dialogue is not aimed at anybody but it expresses the fact that as strong cooperating democracies we do have some common interests in the Pacific region and it's an opportune time to have that meeting," he said.
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APEC Fireworks "Not For Public Consumption"The New South Wales Government has confirmed that it wants the public to stay away from the fireworks planned for the APEC long weekend of September 7-9.
The fireworks will be launched from barges to the east of the Harbour Bridge, as a backdrop for delegates having dinner in and around the Opera House on the Saturday night.
The New South Wales Deputy Premier, John Watkins, says the display will only be small and access to vantage points will be restricted.
"There'll be little to see and the security precautions will be tight," he said.
"The Commonwealth has confirmed their display will only be a small event for the APEC delegation, similar to those held for private parties or other exclusive events on the harbour.
"It's not really something we're encouraging people to come and look at."
Mr Watkins says it will be nothing like the New Year's Eve fireworks and he does not want people to be disappointed.
"I understand that the APEC fireworks will be 5 minutes or less, whereas the fireworks on New Year's Eve - there are two lots and they go for, I understand, 25 minutes or so," he said.
He says people should also avoid the CBD during the long weekend because street closures, parking restrictions, the heavy police presence and APEC protests could disrupt their plans.
The APEC summit runs from September 2-9.
Technorati Tags: APEC, JohnHoward, Sydney, Protest and Fireworks.
Labels: APEC, John Howard, Protest. Fireworks, Sydney
APEC Protest Group Swells
Activists and unions expect more than 10,000 to protest during APEC. The main student protester organisation, the Stop Bush Coalition, had originally estimated that 5000 people would March on Saturday, September 8.
The APEC Taskforce expects 5000 summit-related delegates to attend the summit, while there will be a contingent of more than 5000 police and defence force in Sydney during Leaders' Week from September 2 to 9.
A meeting on Monday night which included the Fire Brigade Employees Union and the Maritime Union of Australia decided to change the route of the protest to avoid a direct confrontation with police, according to an attendee.
The protest group originally told police that the march would start at Town Hall, in George Street, go down to Circular Quay and then stop outside the Opera House for a festival.
The Opera House falls within an APEC restricted area and police have said entry will only be allowed to accredited individuals.
It is understood the unions favoured a more conservative route that would avoid a direct confrontation with police, according to an attendee at the event.
The protesters now intend to march from Town Hall, in George Street, to outside the US Consulate in Martin Place - in the APEC declared area - before having a festival in Hyde Park, according to an attendee at the meeting.
Police have extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals in the declared area during the APEC summit.
Protest organisers are frustrated with police from the APEC command who have yet to respond formally to their Schedule One despite the document being submitted in May.
"We're going to put every effort to get over 10,000 marchers," said the attendee. "I suspect you will see people also having smaller protests there on the Friday.''
The protesters are also angry with police who accuse them of planning violent protest during the summit.
"The police have been characterising the demonstrators who will be protesting outside APEC as having a violent agenda and of wanting a confrontation with police," said Jim Casey from the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union.
"At best police are misinformed and at worse they are trying to paint us as something we're not. We're extremely clear that this will be a peaceful demonstration.''
smh.com.au reported last week that a training video used by riot police feature members of the MUA and implied they would take part in violent protest.
Mr Casey said the new route would reduce the chance of a direct confrontation with police.
"It was simply felt that police were being hypersensitive and the Martin Place was seen as more inoffensive proposal," he said. "There's real concern because we have an open and public commitment to engage in peaceful demonstration on the eighth of September.''
The head of the police APEC command, Peter Lennon, said in a July interview he expected violent protest.
"I think there will be a violent protest but my appeal to the people is, is there any other way that we can just sort this out whereby we do it in a mature fashion, where we allocate you the space where you can stand on that corner and walk on that street and you can have your protest and there will be media because protesters gather media," he said
Mr Lennon also said at the time that protesters would not be able to reach the Opera House.
"Getting to the Opera House I think there are going to be some difficulties because they're getting close to a venue where these leaders are," he said.
While Mr Lennon said he expected violent protest he also admitted there was no black list of banned protesters because they had not identified anyone dangerous enough.
"If we found someone who we would have to exclude, then we would have to go and inform that person,'' he said. "But we have not come across any people that come anywhere near that."
Technorati Tags: IMF, WTO and Protest.
Labels: APEC, Protest, Sydney
Zoellick Premieres This APEC
World Bank President Robert Zoellick is expected to be the star turn at a meeting in Australia this week of finance ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific countries, officials said Sunday.
Zoellick is in his first month as head of the World Bank and this is his first overseas trip since replacing fellow American Paul Wolfowitz.
The meeting starts Monday at a seaside hotel at Coolum on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Australia is this year's host of the series of meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping of regional economies that ends with the leader's meeting in Sydney in September.
Zoellick is well-known in the region, having served as a US deputy secretary of state and also as President George W Bush's top trade negotiator.
'Ten years after the East Asian financial crisis the region has become an important source of growth and dynamism,' Zoellick told reporters in Washington before setting off on a trip that will also take him to Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan.
'I look forward to exchanging views with APEC partners on ... sustaining growth and overcoming poverty while increasing energy efficiency and environmental protection in a region where demand is growing rapidly.'
The new World Bank president has said he would be pushing on with Wolfowitz's focus on tackling corruption and solving governance issues.
'I want to try to stress the overall rule of law, good governance, the openness of a society and how it can contribute to development and opportunity,' he said at the press briefing.
In Cambodia and Vietnam, big recipients of World Bank loans, Zoellick will visit projects and meet government officials, business leaders and civic groups. Zoellick said Cambodia was 'emerging as a vibrant economy, having posted double-digit growth for the past three years.'
Zoellick praised Vietnam, last year's APEC host, saying it was a 'great development story from which many other developing countries can learn.'
Japan is the second-largest World Bank donor after the US, and a key member of APEC along with the US, China and Russia.
'I'm interested in trying to get the sense of priorities that Japan sees in the development area,' Zoellick said.
In the weeks before he took over at the World Bank, Zoellick visited Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney and RobertZoellick.
Labels: APEC, Robert Zoellick, Sydney
Mass Protests Planned for APEC
THOUSANDS OF people will attend protests during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Sydney, Australia, on 7-8 September 2007. Amongst them will be trade unionists, students, socialists, community activists and others who oppose the neo-liberal policies of cuts, privatisation and workplace deregulation.
Despite the massive police operation, activists will be there in force to defend their democratic rights and voice their opposition to the APEC leaders such as George Bush and also their policies.
APEC is an economic body consisting of Pacific Rim countries including the US, Japan and Australia. According to the World Bank, these countries represent about 60% of the world economy. From its beginning in 1989, APEC was designed to assist the rich elite in boosting their already massive profits by forcing more 'Third World' countries to open their markets for 'First World' goods and services. Such economic 'liberalisation' not only undermines local industry, but it devastates agriculture on which their struggling populations depend.
APEC leaders from the world's most powerful economies, along with key regional leaders, will, once again, discuss 'trade liberalisation' with no consideration of human rights, labour rights and the environment. APEC has denied any formal engagement with the labour movement, or civil rights groups. Not one organisation from the labour movement has been invited to any of the APEC meetings!
However, APEC leaders are keen to have big business input through the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the Energy Working Group, which welcomes contributions from the private sector. These forums receive substantial inputs from big companies such as, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Chevron Oil Company. The APEC Energy Working Group rejected the Kyoto Protocol Strategy and the proposed alternatives to 'clean' fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
The anti-APEC protests in Sydney, in September, present an opportunity for the Australian labour movement to mobilise against this anti-worker forum, including protesting against Howard's anti-worker Industrial Relations laws - some of the most draconian pieces of anti-union legislation in the industrialised countries.
Thousands of anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist youth will take part in mass protests. To strengthen the anti-APEC demonstrations means the active involvement of the organised working class. The working class has the potential to bring society to a halt and can lead the struggle against the APEC leaders and the bosses' system they represent.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Australia and Bush.
Labels: APEC, Australia, Bush, Sydney
APEC: Save DOHA
As the Doha round of global trade talks flounder, Asia-Pacific commerce ministers said they will do their best to make them succeed -- while at the same time exploring plans for their own free-trade area.
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, which accounts for half the world's trade, urged its 21 members to exert ``political will'' to push the troubled Doha negotiations in Geneva. The group also said ``the time is right'' to pursue regional economic integration and a possible free-trade zone in the Asia- Pacific.
``We discussed various ways to achieve free trade in the region, including the possibility of a free-trade area of the Asia- Pacific as a long-term prospect,'' APEC's trade ministers said in a communique at the close of a two-day meeting in Cairns, Australia.
The Doha round of global trade talks, which are expected to add hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce and lift millions of people out of poverty, came close to collapse two weeks ago in Potsdam, Germany, over disagreements among the U.S., European Union, Brazil and India.
If not successful this year, the World Trade Organization negotiations on freer global trade ``will go into hibernation,'' U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said yesterday in Cairns.
Talks have stalled over the failure of the U.S., the European Union, India, Brazil and China to open up agricultural and industrial markets and end subsidies.
`Urgent Need'
``There has never been a more urgent need to make progress,'' APEC said in a special statement on the Doha talks. ``We need to make cuts in agricultural and industrial tariffs.''
``We will demonstrate the necessary political will and flexibility, and call upon other World Trade Organization members to do the same,'' the statement read.
Australian Trade Minister Warren Truss released the statement in Cairns yesterday and said: ``It's stronger than any language we've previously used.''
According to Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, APEC members in Cairns agreed to exert ``political will'' by individually lobbying Geneva negotiators with their offers for expanding trade and cutting tariffs. ``This is the only real window of opportunity,'' she said.
As many as 30 trade officials are scheduled to meet in Geneva later this month to thrash out differences over agriculture and manufacturing in a bid to arrive at a final series of ``text'' agreements.
Regional Trade Zone
On the group's exploration of an Asia-Pacific free-trade zone, which was discussed at the summit of APEC leaders in Hanoi last year, the group said ``scope exists for more intensive activity across APEC's agenda in support of regional economic integration.''
In Cairns, Schwab said APEC is focused on the Doha round, and the prospect of an Asia-Pacific free-trade zone was remote. ``We're a long, long way from an Asia-Pacific free-trade area,'' she said. ``But you have to do some of the analytic work now. We're talking many years out.''
Lim Jock Seng, Brunei's deputy minister for foreign affairs and trade, said the group was just studying the concept of a free- trade area. ``This is basically preparation,'' he said.
``Our priority remains with the Doha round,'' Truss said today.
``This will be about the fourth or fifth time APEC trade ministers or leaders have called for change in Geneva and it never follows,'' Alan Oxley, Chairman of the APEC Study Center at Australia's Monash University in Melbourne, said in an interview yesterday. ``The key problem is the European community. Until they act significantly to cut their trade barriers in agriculture, things won't move.''
2007 Deadline
APEC was crucial to saving the previous set of trade talks, called the Uruguay Round, in the 1990s, which also floundered on agriculture subsidy issues.
The ambitious and troubled Doha agenda, launched six years ago, has stalled over a failure to reach deals on rice, poultry, bananas and manufactured goods, among others.
The 150-nation World Trade Organization has set a 2007 deadline for the Doha round. Ideally, the framework of a deal should be complete by early August.
The World Bank said in 2005 a successful implementation of Doha could reduce the number of people living in poverty by 32 million within 10 years.
APEC also said it would implement measures to reduce trading costs among its members by 5 percent by 2010, primarily through more transparent import-export procedures.
Trade Costs
Australia's Truss said the standardization of customs procedures across APEC economies, and the better use of the group's business travel cards, among others, could save member economies US$170 billion.
``Implementation of the plan will keep APEC at the forefront of international work to reduce trade transaction costs,'' Truss said.
APEC includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S. and Vietnam.
Technorati Tags: APEC and DOHA.
Labels: APEC, DOHA
APEC Protest List
Another country attempts to drown our voices
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Protest groups have accused police of drawing up a secret list of demonstrators ahead of September's APEC summit in Sydney.
They claim the basic democratic right to demonstrate is being undermined by new legislation on police powers now before the New South Wales Parliament.
Protesters fear those on the list will be arrested and denied bail for the duration of the APEC conference.
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has challenged the government to reveal whether the Australian Defence Force would invoke their shoot-to-kill powers.
She has also called for the names on the list to be disclosed as she, and other members of parliament cannot be sure they are not included.
'How will somebody know whether they're on the list, and why don't they have a right of appeal about their placement on the list?' she demanded.
Finance Minister Senator Nick Minchin says he is unaware of such a list but promised to report back to the Senate on the matter.
Technorati Tags: Australia, Sydney and APEC.
Labels: APEC, Australia, Sydney
