>
>Paris, 27th November, 1999
>
>PRESS RELEASE
>
>75 000 people in the streets against the WTO
>
>The demonstrations held against the WTO Millennium Cycle, called for
>by ATTAC, the Farming Confederation and the Co-ordination for Citizen
>Control over the WTO, joined by hundreds of associations and unions,
>as well as political parties, were a great success throughout France.
>In all there were more than 75,000 demonstrators in 80 towns.
>
>Its aims appeared so abstract for some that no-one was sure that they
>could be achieved: an audit of an international organisation, an
>assessment of 5 years of liberalisation, and a moratorium. It has now
>been proved that citizens are quite capable of taking over mechanisms
>presented to them as being reserved for the experts, and that they are
>prepared to go out into the streets to demonstrate their convictions.
>ATTAC's message - "to understand in order to act" - got through
>perfectly, and gives a glimpse of even bigger demonstrations for the
>future against all aspects of market dictatorship.
>
>Some of the demonstrations took an original form: from the unexpected
>visit to the Bayonne home of Michel Camdessus, the IMF's resigning
>CEO; to the building of a "globalisation wall" in Rennes which the
>demonstrators then duly brought down. Many of them led to spontaneous
>discussions with passers-by and customers in cafés.
>
>It would appear that an ATTAC "atmosphere" or "style" is coming into
>being, combining conviviality, imagination and pluralism in the
>service of a struggle without concessions against neo-liberalism.
>
>In some towns, local committees report gatherings without precedent
>for many years: 100 people at Le Puy-en-Velay; 600 people in Manosque;
>500 people at Bourges; at La Rochelle the impressive figure of 2,500
>people joined side-by-side against the WTO's pretensions. In Narbonne
>the ATTAC committee, which has put a lot of effort into helping flood
>victims, assembled 150 people despite the circumstances. In La
>Réunion, 300 people demonstrated in Saint-Pierre and Saint-Denis.
>
>There were imposing demonstrations in a number of regional capitals:
>5,000 people in Marseilles; 4,000 in Toulouse; 3,000 in Lyon and
>Nantes; 2,000 in Bordeaux, Grenoble and Le Mans, etc. In Paris, the
>procession that started at La Bourse and ended at La Bastille brought
>together 20,000 people.
>
>At most of the gatherings the presence of European, national
>(including those in the ATTAC committee and French National Assembly)
>and above all local MPs was noted. Almost everywhere, prefectures and
>sub-prefectures received delegations, petitions were handed in and
>appeals to MPs written.
>
>We hope that the great success of this day of action will give food
>for thought to the Government and to European representative Pascal
>Lamy ("The man who said yes*", to use an expression seen on a Parisian
>ATTAC committee placard). They must be aware that the citizens who
>took action today will remain vigilant throughout the days, weeks and
>months to come.
>
>At ATTAC's initiative, a dialogue will be set up between all the
>organisations party to the actions of 27th November, to decide on the
>next steps to be taken in our struggle, and depending on the agenda
>adopted (or not) by the WTO Ministerial Conference. Its main points
>will be presented in Paris during the evening of 15th December, in the
>Bourse du travail (trades union centre) annex, together with a report
>from the delegations attending the Seattle counter-summit.
>
> -----------
>* A reference to "The man who said no", the title of a film on de
>Gaulle currently showing in Paris.
>
>
____________________________________________________________________
David Wood
PhD Research Student ('Intelligence Sites in Rural North Yorkshire')
Centre for Rural Economy
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
0191 222 5305
[log in to unmask]
____________________________________________________________________
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|