Pictures of the People's Action Week against the World Trade Organization's 6th Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, December 11-18, 2005. By Ilang-Ilang Quijano.
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These images, though lovingly composed by myself, cannot possibly capture what the anti-WTO MC6 protests meant to the thousands of people from around the world who went to Hong Kong and the peoples they represent. Though the WTO claims that the talks didn't collapse as expected because of the (very minor) concessions given by US and the EU, the legitimacy of the multilateral trade institution and the process of imperalist globalization itself has crumbled to the ground because of relentless opposition and struggle by oppressed peoples. Masses and mass leaders took to the streets in dissent everyday from December 11 until 18, and many of them engaged in fierce street battle. Simultaneously, forums and discussions on the whole range of people's concerns that the WTO encompasses were held in camps set up at Victoria Park.
It was an honor for me to have the chance to join courageous activists as they fiercely defend and attempt to take back what the WTO has been snatching under their very noses for ten years now: a life of dignity for everyone. I believe that the main fight against the WTO lies in national liberation movements, which thrive in countries such as mine. But what are international gatherings like this for than to revive the spirit, enrich the experiences, and unite people against the common enemy? Especially those whose militancy does not end in speaking at these venues, but whose lives are at stake in real struggles back home.
Enjoy this blog and LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!!!
The Filipino contingent, along with Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong, were among the largest and well-represented groups to participate in the anti-WTO protests.
The International League of People's Struggles on the march during the first day of WTO MC6.
National Democratic Front of the Philippines leader Louie Jalandoni, invited as a speaker in an ILPS forum, were among those who joined the march.
Farmers from the International Rural People's Tribunal marched to the Wan Chai Demonstration Area on December 15. They delivered their GUILTY verdict to WTO and the US government for crimes against humanity that include plunder and loss of livelihoods. The farmers staged six die-ins along the way to protest the six WTO meetings that have transpired against the peoples' wishes so far.
Indonesian migrants, among the liveliest protesters around, on the last march on December 18.
The merry mix of people at the Wan Chai demonstration area.
The great think about marching in Hong Kong is that the people tend to be very warm towards protesters. Some even hold individual anti-WTO placards or raise their fist from their windowsills. Protesters sometimes receive food and water from sympathetic citizens, especially after rough skirmishes with the police. Some citizens even sit-in at the forums held in Victoira Park. But I think that most still treated us as a sort of tourist curiosity, and many, many people flashed their tiny phones and tiny cameras at us as we passed by. Never have they seen so many people of various races and political persuasions massed in their streets.
Several protesters had their faces painted with Junk WTO slogans.
Sinagbayan, a Filipino cultural group, used a wire net over their heads to show how people have been enslaved by various WTO agreements, such as the Agreement on Agriculture.
Sinagbayan performed in Victoria Park a dramatization of the massacre of Hacienda Luisita workers and farmworkers last year.
Members of the ILPS choir performed the newly composed ILPS hymn during the Forum on Trade and War on December 14.
Leaders from Gabriela marched through the streets of Hong Kong on the first day of WTO MC6. They were joined by Coni Ledesma, international spokersperson for MAKIBAKA, the Philippine revolutionary women's organization.
Women from the APWLD's "Women's Village" in Victoria Park patched together an anti-WTO quilt.
A Women's March on December 16 concluded an International Women's Tribunal, wherein the WTO was found GUILTY of all sorts of grave crimes committed against women and children.
Azra Sayeed of the ILPS and Roots for Equity explains the anti-WTO march to an onlooker mother and her kids.
