At global trade summit, strange new bedfellows

As the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit kicked off Wednesday in Cancún, Mexico, 20,000 police officers kept "globophobes" - farmers, unionists, and students - in the streets away from government delegates. Still fresh are memories of the 1999 Seattle summit, when some protesters trashed the city.

But inside, some of these traditional foes were warming to each other.

Smaller countries at the summit are increasingly working with protest groups to get a fair shake from the world's global trade giants - much the way black South Africans looked to international activists to help overthrow apartheid. This week, the Group of 21 developing nations, which includes China, Brazil, and India, announced an alliance with Oxfam, an international humanitarian organiza- tion based in Oxford, England. The alliance was billed as a bid to unite antiglobalization opponents with developing nations.

As well, from Latin America to Africa, poor countries are banding together, forging new accords and larger trade blocs in an effort to maximize their negotiating leverage. It marks a profound shift from the days of every man for himself - with the advantage usually going to the big guys.

"What Africa has done to a much greater extent than ever before is it's gotten its act together and done as much research and consulting as humanly possible," says Steven Gruzd, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg. "On an organizational level, there is much more appreciation of how serious the implications of trade are and what is at stake. And there is a coming together and sharing of ideas."

While their goals may be different - "globophobes" want to end unchecked development while smaller countries want freer access to markets for their goods - the growing unity represents a recognition that neither side can get what it wants by going it alone.

At the top of the developing world's agenda at Cancún is the elimination of tariffs and agricultural subsidies in America and Europe. Small nations say that government payments to Western farmers artificially drive down prices, preventing small farmers from competing in global markets. The US and Europe subsidize their farmers to the tune of $45 billion. Western trade representatives say they are being unfairly targeted, noting that countries like China have tariffs more than three times as high as those of the US.

Earlier this month, South African President Thabo Mbeki surprised the world when he suggested that antiglobalization protesters might be an important ally. "They may act in ways that you and I would not like - breaking windows in the street and this and that - but the message they are communicating relates to us," Mr. Mbeki told a seminar in Malaysia during a visit earlier this month. "We need to link up with our constituency in the developed world," he added, referring to antiglobalization protesters living in the West.

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