What now, Mr. Lamy?
By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General

Issued Date: e-CIVICUS 400, 1 August 2008

Dear friends and colleagues,

This week, the Doha round of talks on world trade became another casualty of reusal to compromise on the part of a few countries protecting narrow national interests or, even worse, protecting the interests of powerful elites within those countries. Not even the spectre of the food crisis that is currently pushing millions over the margin of survival into starvation, malnutrition and indebtedness, and threatening to reverse such gains as have been made since the start of this millennium, proved a strong enough incentive to overcome these narrow interests.

And, as with other global negotiations, the countries with the most to lose had the least leverage in the negotiations. African nations, for instance, were reduced to mute spectators, as global powers, established and emerging, played power games with their fates.

When he spoke at the recent CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow, Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organisations (WTO) sounded confident that a deal was imminent. He also said he believed that smaller nations had the combined clout to ensure their interests were not sacrificed to the economic powerhouses of the world. Clearly his optimism was ‘unjustified’.

Just how many such demonstrations of untrammelled power and callous indifference to the plight of the most poor and marginalised will it take before civil society finds the collective will and the strategy to unite across national borders and particular areas of sectoral focus? When will enough be finally enough, to galvanise a civil society response of the width, depth and intensity required to demand accountability from those entrusted with the responsibility to represent the interests of ordinary citizens at home and at the global level?

With gratitude, faith and solidarity,

Ingrid Srinath,

CIVICUS Secretary General 

To send your comments, suggestions or contributions of articles to e-CIVICUS, e-mail editor@civicus.org.

For previous articles from the Secretary General, see details below: 

. "If CIVICUS didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it"

. Beyond G-8: At the table? On the table? Whose table?

. Beyond G-8: Civil society challenges

. Recalling the Day of the African child

. CIVICUS 2008 World Assembly, a unique opportunity to effect real change

. CIVICUS new Secretary General appointed. 

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