Welcome to the WTO

Welcome to the WTO meeting in Cancun! Well, actually, we can't allow you to go anywhere beyond the floor containing the cafeteria, free propaganda, and Telmex / Telcel vendors. Everything else is blocked in this way:

Note the advertisements for Telmex and Xerox on the sign itself! Amazing. Yes, the WTO is all about big business, and they're none too apologetic about that.

There are four floors to the Cancun Convention Center, where the WTO meeting will commence in just 1.5 days. We who have been so lucky as to gain accreditation as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to attend the meeting, are allowed into the ground floor. Of course, no actual meeting will occur there. We may as well be out in the street -- at least the food would be better and cheaper. :-)

People from NGOs are separated from others attending the WTO. We must all wear bright orange badges, and we are only allowed in through certain bridges and doors into the Convention Center. Looking at the arrangements, it appears to me as if other entrances allow the ministers to entirely avoid the ground floor to which we are restricted.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths to which the WTO has gone to avoid any contact whatsoever with the people whom they control. What planet are these folks on, anyway?

That's okay, the people are warmer and friendlier downtown, and the food and music are much better! We're enjoying our time here, even though the heavy police presence may not fully approve.

Smile! It's fun!