Alert! Visit of Mike Moore (WTO)

Reproduced on behalf of GATT Watchdog

Open letter to the Director of the NZ Security Intelligence Service

Re: the NZ visit of WTO Director-General Mike Moore

Mr Richard Woods
Director of Security
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service PO Box 600
WELLINGTON

3 August 2000

Dear Mr Woods,

We write to draw the attention of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service to the upcoming New Zealand visit of Mr Mike Moore, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and to urge your Service to act swiftly to protect New Zealand's international and economic wellbeing from the impact of the foreign-influenced capabilities, intentions or activities generated by Mr Moore and the WTO. We believe that Mr Moore and the WTO constitute "a range of new and emerging external threats to New Zealand's security" (Security In New Zealand Today; NZSIS;1998; p13).

We understand that New Zealand's small intelligence and security community aims to "protect and promote New Zealand's defence, foreign policy and national economic interests". Being an intelligence organisation, the NZSIS must know all about the devastating impacts that trade and investment liberalisation is having on communities throughout New Zealand. Beginning with the job losses caused by tariff cuts, the frighteningly high level of transnational corporate ownership of vital infrastructure, the land sold to infamous criminals like the Suharto family, increasing income disparities between rich and poor, and so on. These kinds of things are often justified in the name of New Zealand's commitments to the global free market economy which the WTO maintains and promotes.

In Parliament, Mr Moore was a strong supporter of the NZSIS. But he has now gone on to ther things. He is the figurehead for a powerful international organisation which operates in a clandestine, unaccountable manner, which makes enforceable decisions that can undermine existing national laws and which could well constrain future governments from charting their own course of economic, political and social development.

The WTO claims to operate by consensus. Yet really it is dominated by a "quad" of powerful governments (USA, Japan, the EU, and Canada) who then try to impose their decisions on other WTO members. Negotiating positions and the contents of agreements at the WTO are closely guarded secrets until they have been signed when it is far too late for any of us to do anything about them.

Indeed even former Director-General of the GATT Secretariat, Arthur Dunkel, at a seminar of prominent WTO supporters last year, raised the question regarding the WTO "who is driving the process in trade policy - governments or the business community?"

The NZSIS takes an active interest in "the threat to New Zealand's security from extremist groups dedicated to overthrowing or undermining parliamentary democracy" (p13 Security In New Zealand Today). The WTO, along with other vehicles which promote the global free market economy clearly threatens "parliamentary democracy". It is hardly surprising that the Clerk of the House, David McGee, said that "international agreements are driving domestic law to a far greater extent than they were before".

The WTO is clearly a subversive organisation. This has been corroborated internationally. We note that last week in Islamabad, Pakistani organisations concerned about the impact of WTO agreements on Pakistan described Mr Moore as a "terrorist", and the WTO as a "terrorist organisation".

The WTO acknowledges that it undermines Parliamentary democracy. For example, last year it published "The 10 benefits of the WTO Trading System" (available on its Website) which conclude: "Quite often, governments use the WTO as a welcome external constraint on their policies: "we can't do this because it would violate the WTO agreements.""

Given that the WTO operates in "clandestine ways to achieve their objectives" (p17, Security In New Zealand Today) we presume you will seek a warrant to intercept Mr Moore's communications now and in the future. We would however suggest some prior training in the art of breaking and entering as we are a little concerned at the level of skill level displayed by some of your officers in the past.

Besides his involvement in a very shadowy organisation, in his role as Director-General of the WTO, Mr Moore's appearance incites trouble. We are sure that the Service will have noted the mass mobilisations of many thousands of people in Seattle at last year's WTO Ministerial Meeting and perhaps similar events surrounding his various international fixtures since becoming WTO Director-General.

We realise we have not always seen eye to eye with your Service. But as your predecessor Don McIver states, the NZSIS relies "on the support and assistance of other ordinary New Zealanders to do our work effectively" (Security In New Zealand Today, p6), and we are just trying to do our bit.

We attach a copy of GATT Watchdog's factsheet on the WTO to help you and your organisation plan your operations against Mr Moore and the WTO.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further information about Mr Moore and his dangerous organisation.

Sincerely,
Aziz Choudry
GATT Watchdog, PO Box 1905, Christchurch, Aotearoa / New Zealand

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