En Route to Seattle: International Caravan Brings "No WTO" Message to Los Angeles Rally at Occidental Petroleum Highlights Horrors of Corporate Globalization | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

En Route to Seattle: International Caravan Brings "No WTO" Message to Los Angeles Rally at Occidental Petroleum Highlights Horrors of Corporate Globalization

November 17, 1999 | For Immediate Release


AMAZON WATCH

For more information, contact:

presslist@amazonwatch.org or +1.510.281.9020

A caravan of about two dozen international activists affected by corporate globalization will be arriving in Los Angeles this Thursday, November 18, on their journey across the United States to the upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle. Joined by scores of local labor and environmental activists, the leaders of the Caravan will hold a rally at the Westwood headquarters of Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) from 11.30 am to 12.30 p.m., and then march to UCLA for a “Teach-In” on the impacts of globalization from 1 till 3 p.m. at the Grand Salon, Kerkhoff Hall.

The caravan, dubbed “The Road to Seattle: An Educational Road Show on Corporate Globalization,” includes men and women from Bolivia, Britain, Canada, India, Israel, Pakistan, Panama, and the United States. The participants represent environmental, human rights, labor, fishing and family farming movements. Their aim is to educate the public on how the upcoming WTO talks in Seattle sow the seeds for further erosion of human rights, environmental protections and health and safety standards.

The caravan’s rally at Oxy’s offices is in solidarity with the U’wa people of Colombia, who are threatened by Oxy’s plans to drill for oil on their traditional land. U’wa leaders were invited to participate in the caravan, but due to Oxy’s imminent drilling plans on the U’wa territory, the U’wa are instead mounting a resistance in Colombia. Just yesterday, more than 200 U’wa began a non-violent occupation of Oxy’s proposed drill site in the Samore block. Oxy received its drilling license on September 21st and is planning to begin drilling by the year’s end.

“The U’wa are one of many examples of communities and ecosystems affected by unchecked corporate globalization in remote resource rich forest frontiers around the world,” said Atossa Soltani from Amazon Watch.

“We want people in the United States to hear about the horrors of globalization from the people who are on the front lines,” said Michael Morrill, of the Pennsylvania Consumer Education Project (PCEP), the caravan’s principal organizer. “People are dying, land is being confiscated and destroyed, and democracy is being trampled in countries across the globe. All in the name of profit.”

“Most Americans are unaware of the havoc being wreaked by globalization,” added Joy Marcotte, Caravan Coordinator. “The purpose of the caravan is to help Americans understand that the corporations destroying the economy and environment in our communities are doing the same thing to Asians, Africans, Europeans and Latin Americans.”

The ultimate destination of the Caravan is the World Trade Organization in Seattle where trade ministers and heads of state from the 134 members of the WTO will be meeting from November 29 until December 3. The caravan participants oppose plans to adopt new trade rules which will limit the scope of government in areas such as food safety, workers’ rights, health standards and environmental laws. Caravan participants and organizers unanimously oppose these measures. They agree that the WTO is fundamentally flawed, is beyond reform and must be abolished.

The caravan is being organized by the Pennsylvania Consumer Education Project (PCEP) and the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network (PCAN) and is a project of Peoples’ Global Action (PGA), a gathering of peoples’ movements fighting corporate globalization. The rally is endorsed by more than 30 Los Angeles social justice and environmental organizations.

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