Tom Turner, Earthjustice

Tom Turner is senior editor at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm based in Oakland, Calif. He edited daily newspapers at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. He is the author of many books and articles on environmental subjects, most recently Justice on Earth: Earthjustice and the People It Has Served.

Just about everyone seems to agree that agriculture could easily be the bone of contention here this week, and late yesterday afternoon a determined group of developing country agriculture ministers signaled -- at an overflowing press conference -- that they're willing to stand up to the U.S. and Europe to insist that their views be reckoned with.

Five ministers -- from Brazil, India, China, South Africa, and Costa Rica -- representing a new coalition of 21 nations, which in turn represent more than half of humanity and nearly two-thirds of the world's farmers, said that they are dead serious about reforming trade in agricultural products -- their way. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to have their views considered and acted upon, and they seem to relish a fight with the big guys.

This comes on the heels of a long and difficult negotiation between the U.S. and the European Union trying to resolve their own differences over agricultural policies. Both groups want to gain access to foreign markets and both want to protect their own farmers. In the end, the U.S. and Europe agreed to reduce the subsidies they give domestically and reduce tariffs, so long as the rest of the world agrees to throw open its doors to their agricultural products -- a bit of blackmail.

But this time the rest of the world may not play along. The new Group of 21 has advanced its own draft document, and the draft that is accepted as a starting point for discussions makes all the difference. The draft from the new G-21 provides that developing countries be treated somewhat differently from the way the rich countries are treated in order to protect their "food security" (i.e., make sure everyone has enough to eat) and in order to avoid driving small farmers out of business. Maybe some sort of compromise can be struck, but this has the odor of something that could derail this meeting altogether.

Which would suit Lori Wallach just fine. Wallach, of Public Citizen, was one of a number of speakers who participated in the teach-in sponsored by the International Forum on Globalization yesterday. The teach-in speakers may not all want the WTO to bog down and go home, but they all agree that the trading system as now practiced is fatally flawed and has done vastly more harm than good -- unless you're already rich, in which case you're probably a bit richer thanks to 10 years of the WTO. But the story of the day was censorship of the IFG and its long-planned event.

The teach-in was set to take place in the Teatro Cancun, which is about halfway between the Convention Center and the town. I attended a morning briefing in a hotel near the center, then hopped on a municipal bus for the ride to the theater. A mile or so from the theater, traffic came to a halt, and pretty soon we could see police cars blocking the road, lights flashing. We reached the blockade and I was allowed to get off and walk; the bus was turned around, as were many others. Turned out the federales had blocked traffic there and again where the road meets the town, which made it very difficult to get to the theater and held attendance to a minimum. (In Seattle in 1999, the IFG event sold out a large opera house. In Cancun -- where admission was free -- the place was almost empty.) In addition to the roadblocks, someone phoned the IFG's Debi Barker to report having heard a radio announcement to the effect that the teach-in had been cancelled. The professed reason for the blockades was because there was a protest march in town. We may never know the whole story, but suggestions that the WTO was too nervous and unsure of itself to tolerate informed dissent sounded more than plausible.

And all this before the meetings have even started. Today is the opening ceremony, and your correspondent has it on good authority that there may be a disruption of some sort. We'll be there. Stay tuned.