Things are heating up in in Cancun. Body and Soul has an excellent selection of links on this important meeting of the WTO. The little people are fighting back. A must read.

Cancun

All you people who claim to care about fairness for the developing world, and who say that trade rules often end up being sticks to beat back the poor, and that the interests of multinational corporations weigh far more heavily than those of workers, listen up: You're old. You're boring. Your chic moment -- if you ever had one -- has passed. Capitalists are younger, better looking, and more glamorous than you are. And if you don't understand that youth, looks, and glamor are important -- well, that just goes to show how out of touch you are. Machine tool tariffs and wheat grass subsidies! Honestly, people, don't you understand how unfashionable that is?

I just love the junk that shows up in the Washington Post. They can find humor in just about anything.

At least the New York Times acknowledges that "globalization remains a flawed game whose rules have been fixed by rich nations," and demonstrates the effect of the rigged game on a Ugandan cotton farmer (on top of an extensive analysis of trade subsidies yesterday). At least someone recognized that ultimately it's not about wheat grass subsidies, it's about human beings.

Of course, suffering human beings are not as amusing as wheat grass subsidies.
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How serious are the little people taking this?

Farmer commits suicide at protests

A South Korean farmer died last night after stabbing himself in protest against WTO policies in south east Asia.

Lee Kyoung Hae of Jeompbuk province stabbed himself on the police lines as hundreds of international protesters tried to pull a security fence down. "Korean farmers' lives are devastated by WTO policies," said a colleague, Kim Seok, from a group of Korean trade unionists with Mr Hae.

"Their lives are getting worse. There is a huge amount of debt. Sometimes the farmers commit suicide at home. No one knew he was going to do this, but he did it to express his anger."

Last night a vigil was being held at the fence in Cancun, with demonstrators in tears.

The death cast a long shadow over a peaceful march by 10,000 peasants, unions and students from more than 30 countries. It ended in a two-hour pitched battle between police and a small group of demonstrators, with police firing tear gas into the crowd.
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