In what many are hailing as a significant victory for the global justice movement, the 5th Ministerial meeting of the WTO in Cancun collapsed when delegates from an alliance of developing countries walked out after rejecting EU and US efforts to sideline negotiations on key agricultural trade and development issues and impose new rules for investment, competition, trade facilitation and domestic procurement -- concessions that multinational corporations desperately seek to protect their interests in developing countries.

The Cancun WTO Ministerial meetings sparked two weeks of mass demonstrations, rallies, blockades and direct actions by grassroots social justice groups across the globe. [ IMC-Cancun Summary of Events | IMC-Cancun Multi-Media Galleries ] On September 10, the Cancun protests took on added urgency when Lee Kyung-Hae, a 56 year old South Korean farmer and activist committed suicide to protest the WTO's role in the exploitation of the world's small farmers and poor by the rich. [ Photos ]

In the wake of the WTO collapse in Mexico, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced that the U.S. will now focus on regional and bilateral trade agreements like the FTAA -- the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement -- to get what it wants. Global justice groups are already organizing to shut down the Miami FTAA ministerial meetings scheduled for November 20-21. In Chicago, anti-capitalist activists have called for a Consulta on Oct. 11-12 to network with groups planning to mobilize in Miami.

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