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WTO Listening Session
Burlington, Vermont
July 19, 1999

Speaker: Sarah Desantes

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MR. ALLBEE: Thank you. Sarah Desantes and Suzanna Jones.

You're just by yourself. After three minutes I'll ask you to summarize.

MS DESANTES: Thank you. My name is Sarah Desantes. I'm an organic vegetable farmer here in Vermont. And I also work with the (inaudible). What I'm coming here to do is ask you all each a favor. Looking at you four men, you have a lot of power in this world. And me living in this so-called democratic nation, I really don't have much power. I have the power of my words, and I try to do activism. I do activism. (inaudible) But sometimes I don't see it unfolds either way. I would love it to. So what I'm asking you is to really feel the consequences that you have on your shoulders.

You're making decisions for the whole world, the World Trade Organization, and you work for the USDA. And I really want you to think about the implications of the decisions that you make. Passing international trade policies, and allowing genetic engineering and really feeling, really feeling what effect that has on the earth and on human populations throughout the world. What I'm asking you to do is to take a break from your lives at some point and find a quiet space and really sit down, away from your family, and really sit down and concentrate and feel what the earth and what these world populations are going through. And use that to help make your discussion at some point. And try to set aside the tendencies that might be irking your mind and really just think about the environment, about social issues. So that's all I wanted to say.

MR. ALLBEE: Thank you.

MR. CUMMINGS: May I just ask -- have a moment of clarification. It seems that some of the speakers perhaps are confusing the U.S. Trade Representative's office with the WGO. And we are not one in the same. The USTR is part of the U.S. government and we are -- the U.S. government is a member of the WGO. The two are not the same. I am, however -- the two gentlemen to my left are part of the U.S. government. And we make the (inaudible) work with us and not the other way around. I just wanted to clarify that.

MR. SCHUMACHER: Which town are you from?

MS. DESANTES: Burlington.

MR. SCHUMACHER: Burlington. You're farming down in the intervale?

THE WITNESS: Well I work at Jericho.


Last modified: Friday, November 18, 2005