The Bangkok Post's reporting of 500 people at the Bangkok US embassy protest underestimated the number of protestors by about 1200 people. Since most protestors were from out of town, organizers have a good count of the people they brought. The Alt Ag Network claimed 1000. The International Transportation Workers, an informal union, claimed another 500. An AIDS network claimed between 200-300 people. Based on my own first hand observations, I'll say that while I don't know how many people were there (I'd guess 2000), I can say with certainty that the Post's estimate of 500 is just plain wrong.

Thai farmers fight for their rice outside US embassy
by Jonathan Werve

Thailand is angry about some stolen rice. "They'll take our boxers next," said Paw Busan, a farmer from northern Thailand. "They'll mutate them and send them back to box against our guys." He had to shout to be heard over the 1700 people protesting the WTO outside the US embassy in Bangkok.

Protestors, most middle-aged or older, gathered Friday morning at Bangkok's World Trade Center and marched four blocks to perform a "ritual condemnation of American pirates" in front of the embassy.

The action hit a chord with Thais angry over a Florida researcher's efforts to genetically modify Thai jasmine rice so it can be grown in America. If the US grants a patent to the modified rice, American growers could flood
the world market, driving down the price of one of Thailand's best export products.

The sweet-smelling rice is a test case for the WTO's TRIPS agreement, which has successfuly protected intellectual property for multinational corporations, but so far hasn't helped Thailand retain the rights to its biodiversity.

From an office tower across the street, American businessmen looked on. "Someone should tell them there's a very easy way to stop someone from reverse-engineering something: sue them." said Ron Henderson, a telecommunications engineer. "We'd sue them if they did this to us."

"If only TRIPS were that simple." says Nicola Bullard, Deputy Director of NGO think-tank Focus on the Global South. "It's a political question rather than a legal one. How willing is the Thai government to push the US? It's got the beginning of a global recession and an economy that is very dependent on the US for it's export market."

The real issue, protestors say, is bigger than just jasmine rice. "We want agriculture out of the WTO and we want medicine out of the world market." said Bamroon Kayutha, a farmer and activist from northeast Thailand. "And I
don't like the way America uses its influence within the WTO to bully small countries. That has to stop."

The nations of the WTO are meeting this week in Qatar. Expanding the WTO's free-trade policies to food is expected to head the agenda.

The event specifically targeted the US's role in the WTO, despite some organizers worries that the anti-American sentiment would be misconstrued. That's not our problem, say the farmers.

"The Americans set up this 'with us or against us' thing," said Bamroon. "I'm not a terrorist, but I don't like that they've stolen our rice."

Some spectators were skeptical. "Who's against negotiations?" says an American student at Tamasat University. "It's easy to demonize some outside monster."

"It's not a perfect world," he says.

But many Thais in Bangkok were sympathetic to the farmers. "If they didn't march like this, the Thai government wouldn't consider the pros and cons of the WTO," says Anatai, an employee of the city electric ompany. "This will help the government realize this is a really important issue."

Even Henderson agreed the protest was a peaceful one. "It's nice to see people can do these things without getting nasty about it," he said.

The protest included more than 1000 farmers from across Thailand, as well as about 500 workers from the International Transport Workers, an informal labor union. The Thai government is responding to IMF pressure to privatize the industry.

"Our government hears the WTO and the G-7 countries, but not their own people," says Boon Choi, a Thai Air employee. "So now we have no job security."

Also present were around 200 people AIDS protesting the US government's support of the WTO's TRIPS agreement, which protects drug companies copyrights from local production of generic drugs. "Not even 40% of the Thai people with AIDS can afford treatment," says Wan, an HIV+ protestor from
Khon Kaen. Thai people's best option, he says, is smuggling cheaper generic drugs from India, which has not yet complied with the TRIPS agreement.

Bamroon's farmers networks have given the US Ambassador seven days to respond to their demands to keep agriculture out of the WTO. Until then, the uncertain future of jasmine rice will worry Thailand's farmers.

"This jasmine rice, it's a Thai thing," says Samai, a farmer from the central region. "It's like Thai boxing. It just doesn't make sense for it to be anywhere else."