ABSTRACT
On 10 September 2003, a 56-year-old rice farmer from South Korea stabbed himself in the heart in a dramatic protest against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) during a meeting in Cancún, Mexico. In this action, Kyung-Hae Lee symbolised so much of the growing global despair over the spread of the ‘free market’ and the institutions such as the WTO that represent the interests of global capital. Lee, former president of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation, was protesting against policies of the WTO which would reduce government subsidies to South Korean farmers and institute the ‘laws’ of the free market. For Lee and his supporters, these policies would make farming economically impossible and would drive farmers in South Korea and many other poorer countries into poverty: hence the slogan: ‘WTO Kills Farmers’ and his protest against the WTO.
