Vancouver: Poverty Hurts and Dumping Sucks

Current WTO trade rules allow rich countries to heavily subsidize their produce, paying large corporate farms to produce more for less. These same trade rules force poor countries to open their markets by eliminating tariffs, so rich countries can dump their subsidized farm produce and commodities.

To illustrate the impact of dumping on Third World producers, the Vancouver Make Poverty History Coalition performed a Make Trade Fair action skit in front of the main library. Cotton was used as an example. The United States spends $4 billion dollars annually on cotton subsidies. Because of this, over 10 million families in Burkina Faso and other West African nations who depend on cotton are on the verge of starvation because they can no longer compete in the market. The coalition that includes the PSAC, Oxfam, CoDevelopment Canada, the BCCIC and others handed out Poverty Sucks lollipops, and launched their letter-writing campaign to International Trade Minister Jim Peterson. The campaign aims to pressure the government into taking a position in favour of trade justice during with the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong on December 10-18, 2005.

Photo one: PSAC member plays the role of the WTO

Photo two: Cotton farmer rebels and dumps cotton on the WTO