Press Release

Become a Golden Supporter

For Immediate Release: Tuesday 9th September 2003

Photo Opportunity: Wednesday 10th September 2003, Victoria Square, 1200h: Birmingham Friends of the Earth campaigners gather with "Puppet PM" Blair and "Puppet Prez" Bush look-alikes while sinister corporate puppet masters pull the strings.

Blair and Bush in Brum, with Strings Attached

UK Premier Tony Blair and US President George W Bush will be exposed as puppets of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Birmingham on Wednesday, the day the WTO's fifth Ministerial Conference convenes in Cancun, Mexico.

Campaigners from Birmingham Friends of the Earth will be in Victoria Square at midday with the 'Puppet PM' and 'Puppet Prez' to highlight the WTO meeting, at which it believes democratically-elected world leaders will bow to the interests of big business [1], with alarming implications for democracy, people, local economies and the environment [2].

Birmingham Friends of the Earth's Trade Campaigner Karen Leach said:

"Big companies, through their powerful lobby groups, will use all their financial and political muscle to steer the negotiations at the WTO Ministerial in the direction of more 'free trade' and away from effective democracy, human rights, environmental protection and global poverty reduction. While this status quo prevails we cannot have a just system of international trade." [3]

She added:

"Chancellor Gordon Brown and CBI chief Digby Jones have been telling the unions that their demands cannot be met within an increasingly competitive global market. But how long can we accept job cuts, privatisation, loss of democracy, global inequality and environmental damage, just to be more 'competitive', when this benefits only those at the very top? There are alternatives and they start with curbing the power of big business and restoring it to our elected representatives - who currently seem intent on giving it away at Cancun."

Editor's Notes

[1] Friends of the Earth International, the world's largest grassroots environmental federation, and Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), published a report 'Business Rules: Who pays the price?' on August 28th, 2003. The report reveals the reality of the WTO system. Case studies highlight the environmental and social impacts that the corporations and lobby groups have on few key areas: food, health and environmental standards, access to essential medicines, control over foreign investment and access to essential services.

Companies named and shamed include: Pfizer, Suez, Halliburton, Monsanto, Endesa, Shell, Philip Morris, and Exxon Mobil. The corporate lobby groups include the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the European Services Forum (ESF), the US Coalition of Service Industries (USCSI), the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

View the report at www.foei.org/publications/trade/businessrules.pdf

For more information about the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Cancun visit www.foei.org/cancun

[2] Friends of the Earth's key concerns for the WTO Ministerial are that:

• The undemocratic WTO cements existing inequalities that favour rich countries over poor countries and promotes the interests of big business at the expense of people and their environment.
• The secretive WTO is trading away our environment and the rights of consumers, farmers and indigenous peoples, along with democratic policy and decision-making at the local, national and multilateral level.
• The powerful industrialized countries within the WTO, as well as multinational corporations, are pushing for a broad expansion of the WTO's scope to include even more areas of our daily lives and government operations.

Friends of the Earth believes that the WTO mandate should not be expanded with 'new issues' such as investment, competition, and government procurement.

Comprehensive information about the Cancun Ministerial, including publications and resources for journalists (including case studies and photos) will soon be available at www.foei.org/cancun

[3] Friends of the Earth is a member of the Trade Justice Movement, which includes the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Oxfam, Christian Aid and the World Development Movement.