DearRN list, Feb. 24
This message has been a long time in the making, not just because I have
been very busy lately, but because I consulted with Roberto Magellan in
Brazil and Andreas Rockstein in Germany in writing it and it took a while to
get things right. (May us anglophones be ever grateful to people such as
Roberto and Andreas for being willing to communicate with us in what one
might call the language of globalization: English!)
So, without further ado, here is some encouraging information on resistance
efforts to corporate globalization:
I am excited to see links being built up between various initiatives
to overcome corporate globalization. All the more excited because many of
these links are between citizens and groups I have gotten to know (and
hopefully you too) through this list and the wider cyberjournal/Citizens for
a Democratic Renaissance effort.
Brazil's crisis within the ongoing crisis has been much on our minds of
late. As you will see in the information below, people are organizing
themselves in Brazil to resist the corporate take-over of their economy and
politics.
For starters, a group of distinguished journalists, politicians and
university professors in Brazil is trying to devise intelligent and cheap
ways to breach the
information blockade in cooperation with French anti-MAI activists. This
ATTAC group is not only developing cooperative links with progressive forces
in Brazil but elsewhere as well.
One of these progressive efforts is the June 18 resistance to global
capitalism being organized by the PGA (Peoples Global Action). Here is some
information on this J18 effort:
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 14:17:15 -0600 (CST)
From: thomas christian johansson <•••@••.•••>
Subject: List Global contacts for June 18th action (fwd)
>
>"the collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with
>unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the
>continuation of the present regime." George Soros
>
> Get ready for "June 18th 1999" International Day of Action - Simultaneous
>Occupation and transformation of global financial centres -
>http://www.gn.apc.org/june18
>
> THE RESISTANCE WILL BE AS TRANSNATIONAL AS CAPITAL
>
>Or Go here today: http://www.gn.apc.org/rts/
>
>order your copy of Reclaim the Streets - the Film now -
> from: •••@••.•••
Roberto Magellan (a regular RN list correspondent) sent throughout Latin
America, and specially in Brazil, a bilingual message about the need to
join the June 18th International Action and its manifesto in Spanish.
Answers begin to pour in, being the first of them a very important one, from
Brazil's TDE (the External Debt Court initiative).
What is TDE -- the External Debt Court
***********************************************
TDE is an initiative derived from the 2000 Jubilee of the Roman Catholic
Church and sponsored by several individuals and entities of prestige.
Among these, the Brazilian Lawyers's Institute, trade-unions, MST (the
landless movement), economists' associations and social research
institutions and, last but not least, CNBB (the Brazilian Bishops
Confederation), that is the leading entity of the Roman Catholic Church in
Brazil.
TDE is the first public initiative of the Campaign for Non-Payment of the
External Debt, that is grounded on the Christian tradition of the relief of
debts. Its motto, in four languages, is: FOR LIFE, AGAINST THE DEBT //
Sim à vida, não à dívida // Si a la vida, no a la deuda // Oui à la vie.
Non à la dette.
Its objective is to judge the Brazilian external debt, that is causing havoc
in the nation, and to identify which are the liable people. The panel of
judges include some of the most illustrious jurists of Brazil, including a
former Supreme Court justice. They are: Evandro Lins e Silva, José Paulo
Bisol, Raimundo Faoro, Luiz Vicente Cernicchiaro, Salete Macalóz,
Aristides Junqueira and Herman Baeta.
The Court will hold its sessions in the Rio de Janeiro State University, in
April, from 19th to 21st.
What TDE proposes to PGA
**********************************
In a open letter, TDE proposes to PGA:
a) "To join forces and to work together, since both our
campaigns are related and complement each other."
b) "We have a home page <http://www.jubileu2000.org.br>
that may be used to inform on your campaign. If you are interested, you may
send to us texts, logo, etc., and we will attach them to our home page."
c) "We also propose that we meet in order to incorporate a
PGA's member in the coordination of TDE. Our phones/FAX are:
[55] (021) 262-2535 or [55] (021) 533-2192 "
(let's remember that 55 is the code for Brazil and 021 for the city of Rio
de Janeiro)
d) TDE concludes: "We may and we MUST work together."
(emphasis is theirs).
Another important answer to the PGA call came from the Continental Meeting
on AlternativeLaw (ECDA---ENCUENTRO CONTINENTAL DE DERECHO ALTERNATIVO,
BRASIL 1999)
Derecho Alternativo (Alternative Law // Direito Alternativo) is a
non-conformist juridical doctrinal trend that is not confined only to the
academic world or to the courts but which is being taken up on a grassroots
level as well! It began to be formulated in Southern Brazilian universities
around 1980 and it has now been spreading to other Roman Law System
countries, namely the rest of Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Italy. It
has been gathering thousands of adherents among lawyers, judges, attorneys,
professors and --believe it or not-- even some police comissaries.
A continental meeting will be held in Brazil on October, 1999, in a
MST (the landless movement) camp and in the courtrooms and schools of a
nearby city. Professor Tania Bacelli, who is the head of the ECDA
Organizing Comission, has proposed to work with the PGA as has the TDE
(external debt tribunal) and it has already decided to participate in the
18th June Action too. It has also suggested to create a joint coordination
between PGA, TDE, ECDA and the
Brazilian section of ATTAC to be formed by three people, including RN list
member Roberto Magellan.
While Richard and others, including myself, have had some reservations
about the way the PGA reported on demonstrations Richard participated in
while he was in Geneva last year, another RN list correspondent, Andreas
Rockstein, in Germany, has kept up ties with the PGA and assures us that
this effort is a worthwhile one.
Andreas sends us this message about the PGA:
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 15:31:42 +0100 (CET)
From: Andreas Rockstein <•••@••.•••>
Subject: [Re: Desastre brasileiro] More on PGA actions
Dear Jan,
I think, Roberto is going right whis his opinion, that new
elections, that a new government wouldn't change the situation and that
resistance must going out from the basic, from the peoples. This is also the
philosophy of PGA (http://www.agp.org/agp/). By this reason we are building
a network of basic movements and activists.
I've sent you a mail yesterday concerning
"Inter Continental Caravan" I forgot to tell you thet this action has
it's own URL at
http://stad.dsl.nl/~caravan/
at http://www.gn.apc.org/june18/links.html
you can find the following words:
JAN: So, to follow up on this message, in the next messages I will send you
more information on the Intercontinental Caravan and the J18 (June 18)
resistance efforts. I have also recently found some more information on the
Tobin tax to share with you as well.
all the best, jan
