The Unfair Games

international | miscellaneous | press release

Thursday September 11, 2003 02:56

by Ian McDonald - Comhlamh/ Trade Justice Ireland

ian at theplateau dot com

A Trade Justice Ireland event

In solidarity with the struggles of devleoping countries at this week's WTO ministerial in Cancun, members of the the Trade Justice Ireland Coallition will host a series of events to demonstrate the how absurdly unfair the rules of international trade would be if applied to sport.

“2003 UNFAIR GAMES” – SOUTH KING STREET, THURSDAY 11th SEPTEMBER

UNFAIR GAMES TO HIGHLIGHT UNFAIR TRADE RULES

Trade Justice Ireland are hosting the ‘2003 Unfair Games’ outside the Oxfam shop in Dublin’s South King Street on Thursday evening at 6.00 p.m. The games coincide with the latest round of World Trade Organisation (W.T.O.) talks taking place in Cancun, Mexico this week. The purpose of the games are to publicly highlight the enormous disadvantages that poorer countries face in negotiating for just terms of trade and to build up awareness among Irish people of the issues involved. The rules of the games will reflect the unfair rules and processes of the WTO.

Comhlamh will present “Heads-I-Win-Tails-You-Lose Football”, with teams representing rich countries and poor countries matched against each other. If the “Poor Countries” defenders attempt to protect their goal, the “Rich Countries” team will protest vehemently against blatant “protectionism” and can demand that they be sent off. But whenever the “Poor Countries” team come close to scoring, the “Rich Countries” can add defenders and narrow the goalposts!

Oxfam Ireland and Trocaire will highlight the transparency deficit within the WTO with a game of “Pin the Tail on the Unfair Trade Donkey”. Teams representing rich and poor countries will compete to win the prizes of trade but, while the “poor” are blindfolded, the “rich” team can wear blindfolds made of clingfilm. The WTO claims that its decision-making processes are transparent, but in reality many important meetings take place behind closed doors and the poor are left in the dark.

The Debt and Development Coalition will hold a relay race between “rich” and “poor” teams to illustrate the crippling burden of debt faced by poor countries already struggling against unfair trade rules. The “poor” team will be handicapped with heavy loads to symbolise the impact of the international institutions’ policies on poor countries. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank Institutions cripple the health and nutrition of Southern Countries by increasing percentage rates while at the same time the World Trade Organisation keeps the price of commodity products, like coffee, at an all time low.

ATTAC and the Tobin Tax Initiative will transform the WTO Dispute Resolution Mechanism into “The WTO Court Tug of War” game. A strong five-person team will represent the legal expertise of a rich country, while one, small, individual will represent a poor country defending itself in the WTO Court. A “bewigged judge from the WTO” will endlessly badger the poor country team for lack of attention to “due legal process”. He will also try to prevent the audience watching the proceedings, to reflect how the WTO Disputes Mechanism takes place in secret, with no opportunity for public scrutiny. No prizes for guessing who the judge will rule in favour of…