The crisis of neoliberalism has been widely discussed long before the outbreak of the COVID-19. The pandemic has even further exposed deep shortcomings in the dominant mode of global economic and political organizations reflected by the WTO. The free trade agreements brokered and promoted by the WTO have perpetuated this system of inequality between nations of the North and the South.
Treating the current global food crisis as a ‘logistics’ issue glosses over the fact that it roots from decades of imperialist plunder, land grabbing, trade monopolies, and neoliberal policies espoused by International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, and other international financial institutions.
“The farmers-as-importers program is nothing but a legal cover provided by the NFA to rice cartels and smugglers to corner the big bulk of rice importation.” – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
“The Bali meeting is just a last-ditch attempt to push for the liberalization deals that failed to pass in the negotiations in Qatar back in 2001.” – Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan and head of the youth delegation in the People’s Global Camp in Bali
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA — Rosanna Moranto, 28, has been fishing in the freshwaters of Binangonan, Rizal since she was ten. Over the last few years, Moranto complained of a decline in their catch, at an average of one kilo per day. There are times when she could not catch any tilapia, bangus,…
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
In the 17 years that the Philippines has been a member of the World Trade Organization, from being a net importer of rice, it became a net exporter as production fell considerably and land grabbing became rampant. Now, even vegetables are being heavily imported and soon imported fish products would flood the country, all in the name of the WTO.
By IBON Commentary | IBON FOUNDATION Posted by Bulatlat.com The first 100 days of any administration are unique – this is the moment of transition from the old government, and the new administration is at the height of its optimism, trust and popularity. These are all vital political capital for reform. What it does in…
The political dimension of charter change has dominated the national agenda. But the constant driving force behind all the attempts since the last decade to modify the Constitution has been the external pressure coming mainly from the WTO, the US, the EU and Japan to create the sort of policy environment that will allow globalization to fully thrive in the Philippines. (First of two parts)
The collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks last week are pushing Japan to become even more aggressive in seeking bilateral and regional trade deals that advance its big corporate interests. BY IBON FOUNDATION Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 27, August 10-16, 2008 The collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks last…
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, is one of the several supporters of the 2nd Session on the Philippines of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) – where the Arroyo regime, the U.S. government, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (IMF-WB), the World Trade Organization…
The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is a dangerous first step towards complete government renunciation over policy-setting towards the development of the domestic Philippine economy, said IBON research head Sonny Africa. BY IBON FOUNDATION Bulatlat.com The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is a dangerous first step towards complete government renunciation over policy-setting towards the development…