Publication

Beginners Guide to Trade

The ‘Seattle to Brussels Network’ (S2B) was formed in the aftermath of the World Trade Organisation’s 1999 Seattle Ministerial to challenge the corporatedriven agenda of the European Union and its Member States aimed at the progressive and far-reaching liberalisation and deregulation of global trade and investment flows. The S2B network joins together more than 50 organisations in 19 European countries and serves as a tool to coordinate and develop critical analyses and joint lobby and advocacy campaigns on European trade and investment policy. S2B comprises organisations working for development, the environment and human rights, women and farmers organisations, trade unions and social movements as well as research institutes, who work together to open up the EU’s corporate trade agenda to economic alternatives and more heterodox policy options, with the aim of transforming it into a truly sustainable, gender-just development framework. S2B’s political objectives include the ambition to roll back the power and authority of the fora and agreements used to implement the EU’s corporatedriven trade and investment agenda; to expose and challenge the undemocratic nature of EU decision making on trade issues; and to promote a sustainable, socially and democratically accountable system of trade. S2B engages in coordinated campaign activities with broad participation that focuses on activities Introduction. 9 where pan-European civil society activity is essential for challenging decisions taken at the European Commission and Council level and works to ensure that the network activities are co-ordinated with those of other global networks and reflect the concerns of Southern groups.

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