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I have participated in many UN meetings over the years, either as a journalist or communication rights activist, always with a constructive perspective.  I have never expressed disruptive attitudes, much less advocated violence.  Therefore, the only explanation I can find for my deportation from Argentina is that the government finds my opinions and analysis “disruptive” (to use the term employed by a member of the foreign ministry) of its neoliberal and pro-corporate agenda.  Some of these ideas might include:

- That issues of grave importance for humanity, with implications for human r

Around the world, chronically low crop prices are keeping farmers from making a living despite record harvests

TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues

10 December 2017

Third World Network, www.twn.my

Is “gender” a Trojan horse to introduce new issues at WTO?

Buenos Aires, 10 December (Roberto Bissio) – A “Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment” co-sponsored by Iceland and Sierra Leone is estimated to have already received the backing of more than one-third of the World Trade Organization (WTO) members and might get official approval during the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) that starts today in the Argenti

See also Sharan Burrow’s video message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAq1b-JpdMM&feature=youtu.be

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION

ITUC OnLine

Argentina’s WTO Civil Society Ban is Outrageous

Brussels, 8 December 2017 (ITUC OnLine): Argentina’s decision to ban civil society advocates from participating in meetings at the WTO Ministerial Conference which starts on 10 December is bizarre and anti-democratic.

Petter Slaatrem Titland, leader of the Norwegian organisation Attac Norway, is now held on the border to Argentina on his way to the WTO summit.

- How can the Norwegian foreign minister negotiate in the WTO on behalf of the Norwegian population while Norwegian civil society is denied accreditation to the summit and entry into Argentina, said Titland in a comment earlier today.

This happens as Argentinian authorities have withdrawn accreditations to the summit for several NGOs, including Attac Norway.

Dear Mr. Roberto Azevêdo,

Greetings from Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network. We are writing to remind you that we are awaiting a response to our letter, and to bring additional facts to bear on our predicament.

We fully understand that in the case of the banned civil society representatives, that they had been duly accredited by the WTO, and that the decision to revoke the accreditation lies with the Argentine government.

Last week, 453 civil society groups including trade unions, farmers, environmentalists, public interest groups and development advocates from over 150 countries wrote an urgent letter to members of the WTO to “express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO.” This is the largest number of endorsers on a letter about the WTO in the last decade and is a signal of the dire situation

Biraj Patnaik the Principal Adviser in the Office of the Supreme Court commissioners on the Right to Food narrates, how Sitharaman Served Up India Instead of Using WTO High Table to Block US Agenda.

Don't buy the spin: The WTO talks in Nairobi ended badly and India will pay a price India's Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, invited into a select group to negotiate the final text of the Nairobi agreement, let the rich countries have their way.

Article by Biraj Patnaik and Timothy A Wise

USA’s price suppression and market distortions in cotton is threatening Indian and African producers.

As we approach the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial on December 15-18 in Nairobi, India is leading a group of developing countries insisting that the development goals promised in Doha in 2001 be achieved. On the other hand, the US, European Union (EU) and Japan have called for a “recalibration” of that agenda, one that leaves agriculture largely off the table. India is right to lead the fight for reforms in developed countries’ agricultural policies.

Cotton should be at the centre of those reforms. A recent study suggests that US subsidies under the 2014 Farm Bill will continue to suppress global cotton prices. Recognising this threat, Africa’s so-called Cotton 4 (or C-4) – Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad – tabled a proposal in October calling on the US and other WTO members to make good on the longstanding commitment to address the cotton issue.