Protesters Swarm the Streets at W.T.O. Forum in Cancún

Developing nations lost the trade battle this weekend in the WTO talks, as richer countries pushed through a proposal that kept most of the 3 billion dollars worth of agricultural subsidies intact. Defending the subsidies, which nations in Africa and Latin America consider akin to "dumping practices" and which the US and EU states call necessary, wealthier nations called on groups such as African cotton farmers to switch crops. The proposed trade legislation would also expand the WTO's sovereignty to include investment policies—an issue that again creates a fissure along a rich-poor axis. Rich states want to open developing nations to more foreign investment whereas other nations (as well as anti-globalization protesters) proclaims such a move would damage valuable human rights and environmental legislation as well as violate state sovereignty. Outside the tension-filled conference halls, protesters used attention-grabbing techniques to call for various modifications to the current global trading system; these activists from some 20 countries reacted against what they see as favoritism to richer countries within the WTO. – YaleGlobal