Delegates are sent
to Doha by their governments, paid for
by the taxpayers. The international media
are sent here by their companies. But many
of the nongovernmental organizations representatives
are financed by the goodwill of their donors..
While
the majority of civil society represented at the Fourth
Ministerial World Trade Organization Conference in
Doha represent industry, such as the pharmaceuticals,
or food manufacturers, those who represent the non-profit
NGO's are here on a shoe string budget, if at all.
"I can't even afford to buy lunch here," said
Jagjit K. Plahe, Policy and Campaigns Officer for
the Australian office of the international humanitarian
organization, World Vision. "I'm staying at
the Museum apartments here which costs US$200 a
night, which I share with some other people-so
my share is US$70 per night. Still with six nights
that's $420. All in all I was given US$450, so
you can imagine my budget."
World Vision gets
its funding from donations to its developed world
offices-either child sponsoring
campaigns, or emergency relief drives all done
through the media. "A very small percentage
of those funds, less then five percent, goes into
salaries and advocacy to influence policies that
have an indirect or direct effect on poverty such
as WTO agreements," said Plahe.
Plahe said that she is lucky, though, as she knows
many other NGO's, especially those from the developing
world, couldn't afford to send anyone. Jo Dufay
from Greenpeace Canada echoed Plahe.
"I have to say that Greenpeace amongst NGOs
is not wealthy, but we have more money then some
of the smaller NGOs. Oxfam Quebec told me that
it's too expensive to send someone from Canada,
and they were even invited to be a part of the
Canadian delegation," she said.
Dufay is also staying
at the Museum apartments, but her and her three
other colleagues there have
single rooms. "We're still negotiating the
price with the hotel because originally we wanted
to share."
Greenpeace has
a larger representation here, including the thirty
crew members of the 'Rainbow Warrior,'
which set sail from New York harbor on September
15 in order to arrive in Doha for the WTO conference.
They sleep on the boat, for the most part. The
International Greenpeace Director Gerd Leipold
also sleeps on the boat. Leipold is one of the
seven accredited Greenpeace representatives at
the conference. "We would have liked to have
sent more, but it was a problem with accreditation," Dufay
said. "Only one person from each of the six
national offices was granted accreditation."
With their presence
thus limited, Greenpeace staff divide their time
carefully. "I'd say that
we spend about 35 percent of our time with delegates,
15 percent with briefing each other and our home
offices, 15 percent with other NGOs, 5 percent
on the media, and 20 percent just walking around.
Transportation here has been really difficult," Dufay
said.
Vandana Shiva doesn't split her time up as much
any more. Shiva, from India, is the founder and
head of her own NGO, the Research Foundation for
Science, Technology, and Ecology. A doctor in physics,
she funds herself through her own speaking and
writing engagements.
"I decided to break out of that cycle. I
was a university professor and I was constantly
being controlled by other people. Now what I can't
afford to do, I don't do," she said. "We
don't have a budget because we can't figure out
where the money comes from." She has on office
of 10 people, two secretaries, two researchers
and five others who volunteer their time.
"I wanted to send two younger girls, but
we were only allowed to send one person," she
said. "I don't want to be here, but I have
to be here."
Vandana knows the
WTO scene very well. She began writing about
Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights and Public Health 13 years ago, and has
attended every ministerial meeting so far. "In
1993 I organized the first ever WTO protest, 500,000
people in India," she said proudly showing
pictures of her latest rally of 100,000 people
in India that took place on November 6. "Before
I spent a lot of time with the delegates, going
over the issues with them. Now they have more support-there
are more NGO networks. So I spend my time with
them," said she pointing at the crowds. "I
am drafting an NGO resolution; so now I chose to
spend my time really keeping up the solidarity
of the NGOs because so few were allowed to come
here, they must have a unified message. I tie together
all the fragments," she said. "I am confident
about my role. Believe me we have tiny resources,
but a huge impact on the work here. We substitute
money with creativity and hard work."
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