paris, dec 7 1993 (ips) - groups from both north and south took turns tuesday in denouncing the general agreement on tariffs and trade (gatt) in a last-ditch effort to block a conclusion of long- stymied world trade liberalisation talks.

farmers from india, trade unionists from mexico and citizens' groups from the united states joined french farmers, ecologists and consumer groups in paris in condemning gatt which they say usurps each people's right to live its own culture.

the gathering of the anti-gatt groups in paris comes just as u.s. and european negotiators try to to thrash out the various thorny issues that have held up a gatt agreement for years and meet the u.s.-imposed deadline of dec. 15.

''international trade must be organised, but it must be transparent and not knock down each people's right to self-rule,'' said lori wallach of the u.s. federation of public citizens' associations.

gatt, she said, contains hundreds of rules on every country that each nation has controlled through democratic means. ''under gatt, the people's right to self-rule will be surrend-ered to multinational corporations,'' she added.

although france has been the most vocal in its opposition, the french ecological group ecoropa said support has been coming from several countries in a campaign to abort a gatt agreement.

''gatt is the re-colonisation of the third world,'' said vandana shiva of india. the rules on agriculture, she said, will result in the disappearance of farmers worldwide and surrender of the sector to ''a handful of multi-national corporations''.

citing an article appearing in the 'new york times' on oct. 21, 1993, shiva -- an indian environmental activist and writer and well known champion of village community action -- pointed out the contradictions of gatt and u.s. policy.

according to the article, a large part of u.s. farm subsidies went to the principal multinational firms in the market. between 1986-1989, no less than 1.38 billion dollars of public money went to these firms.

''some 600,000 indian farmers will disappear and their disappearance will not allow india to survive,'' she added.

farmers' protests have been strong in india where some 500,000 cultivators descended on the streets on oct. 2 in the state of karnataka to protest the private patenting of seeds.

a majority of indian farmers are illiterate, said shiva. but the village-level organisation attempts succeeded in making them understand the effects gatt would have on them.

although problems with gatt are not due to the impact on agriculture alone, the fears of the negative consequences of gatt on the world's farmers has been one of the strongest arguments against a conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for the liberalisation of world trade.

''gatt is pushing towards specialisation, concentration and uniformisation,'' said jacques lagneaux of the french farmers' group 'coordination rurale'.

''industries do not mind reproducing identical objects in large numbers. but for agriculture and culture, it will be dramatic because life itself is diversity. life cannot be industrialised.''

''agriculture is not an activity like any other. it is the primary base of the independence of a country, without which it would find it impossible to freely decide its policies,'' stressed the paris-based ecological movement ecoropa in a position paper released tuesday.

according to ecoropa, the world's agriculture is deteriorating from year to year and a food crisis is looming by the end of the century.

the united states, said ecoropa, ''perfectly anticipated the approaching crises'' which has led opposition groups to believe that the gatt negotiations are not commercial, but political.

in the years 2000-2100, the production of cereals will increase less rapidly than the world population and the developing countries, who already buy two-thirds of the cereals circulating in the world markets, will be at the mercy of those controlling the market.

ecoropa president teddy goldsmith refuted some economists' predictions of a windfall of profits amounting to 270 billion dollars a few years after a gatt agreement and that gatt will increase employment.

''since 1950, international trade has increased 11 times, yet what do we see now but the deepening of poverty and increasing unemployment?'' goldsmith queried.

''you cannot punish 600,000 indian or one million chinese farmers. that will only result in so much chaos that will lead inevitably to civil war,'' warned goldsmith. (end/ips/ie/ao/mf/93)

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