Doha, Doha, Doha!

Between Nov 9th and 13th, Governments met in Doha, the capital of Qatar for the latest round of WTO trade negotiations. Despite things looking shaky for “The North” following stubborn opposition from both India and the ACP (African/ Carribean/Pacific-Rim) countries, the mainstream media here has largely portrayed the talks as a victory for the EU. Of course it wasn’t just in the talks that dissent against the free-trade steamroller was shown, demonstrations, actions and anti-WTO events happened in over 25 countries across the globe (including in Doha itself) and on the internet.

UK Round-Up

Bangor: 150 people turned out for a rally followed by a march to the town centre (with a samba band)

Bristol: West Country Activist Gathering Guilford: Surrey Activist Group and some WOMBLEs went leafleting and mischief making.

London: Picket of Qatar embassy, RTS benefit gig and teach in.

Manchester: People got suited up and went off for a day in the office. First on the list was the “nasty scummy lawyers firm” Addleshaw, Booth and Co. (heavily involved in PFI and the privatisation of Hackney education). They made it to the 8th floor and spent ten minutes explaining themselves to staff whilst helping with some re-filing, before making a hasty exit in the face of overwhelming security. Also hit were Price Waterhouse Coopers where the 6th floor was reached for some re-filing whilst security were cunningly distracted by (you guessed it!) a samba band!

Newcastle: Over 50 people made a whistle-stop tour of anti-capitalism taking in the Army Recruitment Centre, Burger King, a lap dancing club, Starbucks, McDonalds, Nike and Esso with a samba band, whistles, skateboards and leaflets. This was followed by a number of events at the Eclectic City 3 squat opened specially for the occasion.

Outside the UK events ranged in size from tens to thousands in locations as diverse as New York and Tehran . Very few were met with serious repression.

For more on global protests
http://protest.net/qatar.html
http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article id=15759