I recently found out about the "watch list" prepared by Mexican authorities, purportedly to quell the voice of civil society at the upcoming WTO Ministerial in Cancun.
Despite hefty expenditures of tax money on intelligence gathering (both Mexican pesos and US dollars, some of which, we are confident, find their way to Mexico's security forces!), we are concerned that you were only able to find 60 internationals and 20 Mexicans who are opposed to the World Trade Organization. Haven't you noticed that the tide of public opinion is turning decidedly against the WTO? Don't you remember the WTO Ministerial in Seattle, when over 50,000 workers, students and environmentalists brought the meeting to a halt?

Please add my name to your "watch list" immediately!!
Nothing less is acceptable in a true democracy.

Or perhaps that's the point. After all, the WTO is one of the least democratic organizations in the world. Corporate members of America's Business Forum write the trade rules, while security forces spend our tax money keeping people like myself as far from the process as possible.

If you are unwilling to add my name to the list, then I must insist that you remove those singled out for special attention. I can assure you that we have similar views - we are all opposed to the WTO and a "free" trade agenda that impoverish the majority of us while enriching a few corporations. And I can also assure you that repressive measures directed against these few will have little impact in Cancun. Thousands of us will be in Cancun, representing millions around the world. Our collective voices will say NO to the WTO. A better world is possible.

PS Perhaps the funds that were used so ineffectively for intelligence gathering could be mobilized instead so that the Mexican government can comply with its commitments in the National Agreement on the Rural Crisis, signed recently by El Campo No Aguanta Mas and the Fox administration. Since WTO policies helped cause the rural crisis in the first place, it would only be just. We would be happy to see the portion provided by US security forces spent on programs for campesino corn producers.

But check with the corn producers first ? they might not want dirty money.

Sincerely,