Dear Renaissance Network list (rn-list), May 19
Richard had a very important week in Geneva and, thanks to his having the
use of the WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
office, was able to send and receive some messages.
Now he is home, going through the hundreds of messages that accumulated
while he was gone and I am finally getting enough courage to write to you.
I want to share with you some of Richard's thinking while on the trip. As
you know, by the time he left, we knew that many people who had been hoping
to attend the workshop would be unable to do so. The need to work away at
keeping up our electronic connections and also those by snail-mail & fax, is
apparent.
And also the need to "rethink"... In one of his messages to me, Richard wrote:
"Yes indeed "rethinking" is alive and well. All of us coming together in
Bear River and surrounding tour will be very important for all of us! It's
just that we don't know exactly in advance what it will mean -- there is
more and more a spontaniety, a discovering. In the beginning I had this
very structured concept and anticipated that it would all happen that way
and now it has not turned out that way. THAT IS ALL FOR THE GOOD. THAT
MEANS IT HAS GRADUATED BEYOND MY ORIGINAL VISION. I sincerely apologize to
you (and many others) for resisting change and not being as open as I could
have been. I can only hope that I have served as a kind of flywheel or
rudder that kept us from drifting or losing hope, and the fact that I
wasn't quite on the right course (!) wasn't really that important!!
Keeping the ship afloat means that when we _do find our right direction, we
have a ship to steer! (Make sense???)"
YES! this makes sense. I (and many others I am sure) need the energy,
conviction and "indomitableness" of the Richards of this world to march on!
As the above snip-it suggests, Richard found something in Geneva which
opened the doors to change. Read on --->
*********************************************************************
Richard meets Sergio Hernandez of the "Peoples Global Action" movement:
"I met someone today who has made the week in Geneva worthwhile even if
nothing else had happened here! His name is Sergio Hernandez and he seems
to be the strategist behind something called "Peoples Global Action" (PGA).
... He is Spanish, and carries forward the tradition of the liberation
movement from the 30s. For anyone who thinks that movment "failed", I would
remind them that it took the combined efforts of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco
and Stalin, with the de-facto support of the US, UK and France, to defeat
the liberation movement. The movement was defeated, but it did not "fail".
The PGA vision has many similarities to the one that has been articulated
for cadre:
1) it aims for radical systemic change
2) it is a coalition of movements, not an organization
3) it emphasizes communication & conferences, not funding &
membership
4) it is creative, well-informed, strategic, and growing
5) it is based on non-violence, although it does not "judge"
other approaches (eg, in Chiapas)
... PGA is affiliated with the Peasants without Land movement in
Brazil, with _very important movements in India, etc. Some of its
coalition meetings have had 4,000 people.
... PGA has organized a _massive demonstration here in Geneva for Saturday.
A special train is coming from Italy, people are coming from every part of
Switzerland, bicycle brigades are coming from Germany. The demonstration is
aimed at making public opposition to the WTO highly visible here in Geneva
prior to the ministerial meetings next week. PGA has also organized a
parallel seminar on "Globalization and Resistance" at the University of Geneva.
(I'll spend some time at both).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard has been VERY impressed with the PGA's manifesto and will be posting
more about possible ways for Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance (cadre)
and the PGA to collaborate.
Since many of us will want to see for ourselves as best we can what this
group is all about, here is their electronic contact information:
email: •••@••.•••
http://www.agp.org
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I will close with something César Roberto Magellan, our main cadre contact
person in Brazil, sent just this morning:
Sergio Hernández [of the PGA, who Richard met with, has a name which is
"homophonal"] of a Spanish Republican poet who wrote a verse that fits very
well both CADRE and PGA struggles: "walker, the walk is making at walking"
("caminante, el camino se hace al caminar"). [Or, how about this
translation: "Walker, the path is made as you walk"? And so, "march on!"]
in solidarity,
César Roberto
1848 / 1998: Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch !
Without fear to be happy! --- Sem medo de ser feliz! (the Workers's
Party motto)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
all the best, rebel Jan
Jan Slakov, Box 35, Weymouth, NS, Canada B0W 3T0 (902) 837-4980
Democratic Renaissance messages: Mail to: •••@••.•••
---
"Seeking an Effective Democratic
Response to Globalization
and Corporate Power"
---
- an international workshop for activist leaders -
June 25 <incl> July 2 - 1998 - Nova Scotia - Canada
---
Restore democratic sovereignty
Create a sane and livable world
Bring corporate globalization under control.
* CITIZENS FOR A DEMOCRATIC RENAISSANCE (CADRE) *
CADRE home page -> http://cyberjournal.org
CADRE library -> http://cyberjournal.org/cadre/cadre-library
PPI home page -> http://cyberjournal.org/cadre/PPI-archives
(Peoples Press International)
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