A speech by Representative Cynthia McKinney supporting the withdrawal from the World Trade Organization.�
WITHDRAWING APPROVAL OF UNITED STATES FROM AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (House of Representatives - June 21, 2000)
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Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, the World Trade Organization is in need of serious reform. Interestingly, while Western economists are proclaiming that foreign investment and trade have been a blessing for the world's poor, we hear quite a different message coming from the poor themselves.
The recent meeting of developing countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America known as the G-15 saw host Hosni Mubarak say that despite assurances early on that globalization would lead to an improvement in living standards, instead, imbalance in the world economy is increasing instead of decreasing. In fact, in 1999, 45 percent of the world's income went to the 12 percent of the world's people who live in rich, industrial nations. The three richest Americans own more than the world's 20 poorest countries.
Mr. Speaker, developing countries were sold a bill of goods, but so were we.� Corporations, with the help of the WTO, have forced workers throughout the world into a deadly game of chicken. The WTO should protect basic social services and prioritize human rights and the environment in an environment that is democratic and transparent. Instead, it hurts the poor, benefits the rich at the expense of us all, and it does it in secret and in back rooms.
Mr. Speaker, this is no way to build a new world order. We need to put our money where our professed values are: fair trade, democracy, respect for workers, sensible environmental standards, and allowing poor countries to� grow.
Mr. Speaker, I have introduced the Corporate Code of Conduct Act because I do not think that freedom, equality, human dignity and human rights are for sale. Unfortunately, the folks at WTO do not agree. They have unleashed unbridled corporate excess on all of us. The current system is wrong and in need of a serious fix.
�Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
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