Friends - this bulletin is rather long, but fortunately it is organized
like a newspaper artice - you can get the gist in the first page or two and
then get into details according to your interest. - rkm
============================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 06:19:19 +0500
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: "Peoples' Global Action Secretariat" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: PGA Bulletin #4 - part 1 of 3
Mime-Version: 1.0
PGA Bulletin
Peoples' Global Action against 'Free' Trade and the WTO
Issue number 4, October 1999
Contents:
1. Report of the second conference of Peoples' Global Action (23-27 August
1999)
2. N30: Global Day of Action November 30, 1999
3. Actions against the WTO Ministerial in Seattle (29 Nov - 3 Dec 1999)
3.1. Festival of Resistance in Seattle
3.2. "Shut Down the WTO Caravan" in the USA
3.3. Canadian Caravan against the WTO
3.4. Global People's Tribunal on Corporate Crimes Against Humanity
3.5. Call "A 'Humanitarian Intervention' in the USA is Necessary!"
3.6. Live broadcasts from Seattle
4. Other news
4.1. U'wa Defense Working Group Action Alert
4.2. Systematic Killings Unleashed in Colombia to Make Place for a Dam
4.3. Eighteen Wounded in Honduran Peaceful March of Farmers, Indigenous
and Black Communities
4.4. News from the Landless Workers' Movement of Brazil (MST)
4.5. March of the Americas in the USA to Globalise Resistance from Below
4.6. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Meeting in Toronto and
Protest Programme
4.7. Support the Zapatista Communities in Resistance - Oppose the FTAA
- Call to Action on November 4
4.8. Food Not Bombs Activists Arrested for Serving Free Food
4.9. 15th Anniversary of the Union Carbide Gas Disaster in Bhopal, India
4.10. Narmada Satyagraha Concludes with Reassertion of Resolve to Dare
Unjust Submergence and Reconstruct the Narmada Valley
4.11. Philippine Peasant Campaign for the Month of October
4.12. Hot Summer in Kasimov, Russia - Industrialist Mafia vs. Rainbow
Keepers
4.13. Actions against EU racist migration policy
4.14. Columbus & Nestle: Partners in Crime - Zapatista Solidarity
Actions on October 12
4.15. The Cologne EU and G8 Summits and the Expo 2000: two events, the
same system
4.16. People's Culture Cannot Be Closed Down - News from the Spanish State
4.17. Heavy Repression at the Antifascist Demonstration in Barcelona
4.18. Prisoners' Space
4.19. Biotech news flash
4.20. 16th October: Global Day of Action Against Mcdonalds
1. Report of the second conference of Peoples' Global Action
############################################################
The second conference of Peoples' Global Action against 'Free' Trade and
the WTO (PGA) took place in Karnataka (India) from the 23rd to the 27th of
August 1999, hosted by the Karnataka State Farmers' Association (KRRS).
Representatives from farmers' movements, indigenous peoples' organisations,
fisherfolk movements, trade unions, afro-american communities, anti-dam
movements, domestic worker solidarity fronts, landless peasant
co-operatives, environmental organisations, solidarity committees,
alternative media, unRepresentatives from autonomous groups, feminists,
squatters, street reclaimers, gentech-field destroyers and activists of all
sorts came together in the Karnataka Folklore Centre, near the city of
Bangalore, to evaluate the development of the PGA network in its first 18
months, discuss its future and coordinate actions. Many people could not
come due to visa-related problems [as we discovered much too late, if you
apply for an Indian visa saying that you want to attend a conference your
application has to be approved by 3 different ministries before you get it
- about one month later!] and other last-minute troubles. For instance, the
whole delegations of Africa and Central and Eastern Europe / CIS had to
remain home due to those reasons. But despite these unfortunate absences,
the conference was fruitful.
After a day of discussion in small groups, the plenary took the collective
challenge of broadening the function of PGA: it was agreed by consensus
that the network should in the future work as a tool for communication and
coordination for all the struggles against the effects of the global
capitalist regime, not only against the institutions and agreements that
regulate it. This means that the efforts of communication and coordination
will in the future be extended to all the topics related to capitalist
exploitation, as well as its relation with patriarchy, racism, violence,
environmental destruction etc. and the different forms of struggle to
eliminate these forms of oppression. The expectation is that the PGA as a
process will eventually reach a stage in which it is able to articulate
grassroots resistance at global level, working as a global movement, rooted
in the basis of peoples' movements all over the planet, and playing a
direct political role from below (despite not being constituted as
organisation).
This change in the definition of PGA was a continuation of a general wish
that was already evident at the first conference (Geneva, February 1998),
when the first draft of the manifesto, consisting of one and a half pages
focused on the WTO and other trade and investment agreements, grew through
a participatory process to an eight-page text on the impacts of capitalism
on different social groups, the environment, etc. This wish also was
apparent in the projects supported by PGA. For instance, the global day of
action on June 18th was a carnival against capitalism, and the
Inter-Continental Caravan for Solidarity and Resistance had among its 5
main topics of struggle issues such as biotechnology and the nuclear industry.
Another important decision taken by consensus was to include the following
text as a new PGA hallmark, one of the basic points of consensus which will
not be discussed since they are the fundaments on which the network is
built: 'We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination
including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious
fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human
beings.' [This has become the second PGA hallmark, and previous hallmarks
2, 3 and 4 now become hallmarks 3, 4 and 5 respectively.] This hallmark was
introduced due to the fact that the denunciation of 'free' trade without an
analysis on patriarchy, racism and processes of homogenisation is a basic
element of the discourse of the (extreme) right, and perfectly compatible
with simplistic explanations of complex realities and with the
personification of the effects of capitalism (such as conspiracy theories,
anti-Semitism, etc) that inevitably lead to fascism, witch-hunting and
oppressive chauvinist traditionalism. With this new hallmark, PGA
repudiates all reactionary forms of resistance to capitalism.
The manifesto will be reviewed in order to bring it up to date with these
changes, introduce the gender perspective throughout the text and include a
number of statements on issues such as the universalisation of primary
education, the rejection of anti-Semitism, etc.
The conference also took a number of decisions relating to actions. The
call for a global day of action in November 30th 1999 was endorsed by the
whole network, as well as a number of protest programmes against the
Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Seattle, such as an international
anti-WTO caravan in the USA and another one in Canada, the Resist WTO
Roadshow being planned by Art & Revolution, a tribunal judging corporations
and the WTO for crimes against humanity planned by the Council on
International and Public Affairs, etc. Another programme endorsed by the
plenary as a PGA activity was an international conference on training for
movements engaged in civil disobedience which the Collective for autonomous
non-violent actions (CANEVAS) and Operation SalAMI! will organise next year
in Canada. Finally, the initiative 'A "Humanitarian Intervention" in the
USA is Necessary!' was also endorsed by the plenary. [For more information,
see below.]
The election of the new convenors' committee was left to a great extent in
the hands of upcoming regional meetings, to take place early next year.
Only one of the two Asia convenors and the Western European convenor were
elected. These were the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform
from Sri Lanka, <•••@••.•••> and the Italian Ya Basta! network,
<•••@••.•••> and <•••@••.•••>, respectively. The interim convenor
for North America (until the North American regional conference) is the
Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network, <•••@••.•••> .The delay in the
election of most new convenors was agreed in order to let more movements to
participate in, as well as initiate, regional processes within the PGA,
with the ultimate goal of developing a number of interconnected
decentralised networks.
The global PGA secretariat for the next year will be based at the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), 377 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.
The email address of the secretariat remains <•••@••.•••>. The temporary
regional technical secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean will be
based at Güises Montaña Experimental (GME), Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, email
<•••@••.•••>, but only until the regional conference of Latin America
and the Caribbean takes place in March 2000. This regional conference will
also decide where in Latin America the next world-wide PGA conference will
take place.
Finally, the tools for communication of PGA (the web page, bulletin and
other publications) were discussed and working groups were formed with
people who volunteered to produce them, translate them etc. If you want to
join any of these groups, please contact the secretariat (see contact
details above).
A number of visits to different peoples' movements (Adivasis, fisherfolk,
farmers, anti-dam, etc) took place in Kerala and Karnataka just before and
after the conference. Finally, a large group of the participants went North
to the Narmada valley at the end of the second visit in order to show
solidarity with the intense non-violent struggle against destructive
development that has been fought there for over a decade.
2. N30: Global Day of Action in November 30
###########################################
The PGA, at its second world conference in Bangalore, India, called for
November 30 to be an Global Day of Action. Organisations and movements
from dozens of countries enthusiastically endorsed this decentralised
action and pledged to organise local events in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
U.K., Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, Spain, Colombia, etc.
Although most of the actions are being planned for that date, there are
also groups that are responding to the call but staging their N30 actions
in other dates. For instance, in India the National Alliance of Peoples'
Movements has given a call for actions spread over a longer period, from
November 21st (international day of action of fisherfolk) to December 3rd
(anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal). These actions - mass
protests, educative programmes, delegations to the authorities, etc. -will
focus attention on the impacts of globalisation, including the WTO, its
policies and agreements, on various sectors of the population (fisherfolk,
forest produce gatherers and other tribals, women, farmers, industrial and
agricultural labour, etc.), reflected through the struggles such as
opposition to Narmada dams, the struggle against foreign fishing vessels,
displacement due to infrastructure development and mega-cities, and others.
(Contact Mahendra at <•••@••.•••>, tel +91-22-557 4895 for more
information).
Similarly, there will be a big demonstration in Geneva (where the
headquarters of the WTO are based) on the 27th, since this date, being a
Saturday, is more appropriate for the large number of organisations which
are calling it (contact •••@••.••• for more information).
Below you find an edited summary of the call for action prepared by the
November 30 Global Day of Action Collective.
GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION NOVEMBER 30, 1999
**************************************
LET OUR RESISTANCE BE AS TRANSNATIONAL AS CAPITAL!
A Global Day of Action, Resistance and Carnival Against the Global
Capitalist System
Laugh in the Face of the Global Economy!!
Activists from diverse groups and movements around the world are
discussing, networking and organising for an INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION on
November 30th. On this day, ministers of 134 governments will be in Seattle
for the 3rd conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), at which they
will decide on new policies that will further escalate the exploitation of
our planet and its people by the global capitalist system. The 'key
players' (the Northern governments, especially those of the USA and the
European Union) want to push through a new version of the Multilateral
Agreement on Investment (MAI), expand the agreements that grant
agrochemical and biotechnological TNCs new domination rights over the
agriculture and the food systems of the whole world, strengthen
intellectual property rights and patents on life, and further capitalist
globalisation through a new round of free trade talks.
A coalition of radical activists has formed in Seattle to stage actions
against the conference, and activist groups around the world are planning
to converge on the city. Also, the international network Peoples' Global
Action against 'Free' Trade and the WTO (PGA) and the IWW (International
Workers of the World) are planning ACTIONS around the world. Various
grassroots groups prepare to take action in their own parts of the world in
recognition that the CAPITALIST SYSTEM, based on the exploitation of
people, societies and the environment for the profit of a few, is the PRIME
CAUSE of present SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL TROUBLES.
In view of these developments, we now call for SYMPATHETIC COMMUNITIES,
GRASSROOTS GROUPS, AND INDIVIDUALS around the world to organise their OWN
AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS, protests, and carnivals in solidarity against the
capitalist system on November 30th. Our simultaneous TRANSFORMATION OF THE
CAPITALIST SOCIAL ORDER around the world - in the streets, neighbourhoods,
fields, factories, offices, commercial centres, financial districts, and so
on - will contribute to the process of bringing separate struggles together
based on co-operation, ecological sustainability, and grassroots democracy.
This call is made in the spirit of continuing the process of building a
strong, bold and CREATIVE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT against the economic and
political institutions of capitalism. For as we realise that no issue is
isolated, be it the exploitation of workers, the bankruptcy of peasant
farmers, the displacement of indigenous peoples by "development" programmes
or the destruction of our environment, we also realise that we must act
together and UNITE OUR STRUGGLES AGAINST the social, political, and
economic institutions of THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. Only a strong and united
movement of grassroots groups based on mutual respect and solidarity, who
struggle independent of these institutions and seek to effect change
directly through their own autonomous action can dissolve their power and
BUILD A BETTER SOCIAL ORDER based on grassroots organisation.
The actions on the 30 of November will BRING DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS TOGETHER
in solidarity with one another and strengthen the mutual bonds of otherwise
disparate groups - workers, the unemployed, students, trade unionists,
peasants, the landless, fishers, women's groups, ethnic minorities,
indigenous peoples, peace activists, environmental activists, ecologists,
and others. This process will be continued through FURTHER GLOBAL DAYS OF
ACTION IN THE FUTURE - MAYDAY 2000, for instance, has been pointed out as a
perfect symbolic and real opportunity to escalate our resistance.
The PRESENT PROPOSAL of a November 30th global day of action FOLLOWS from
the success of the co-ordinated global day of action on JUNE 18TH this
year, and is intended to expand on it in the same spirit. On that day,
separate grassroots movements in over 30 countries on all continents worked
together and JOINED FORCES AGAINST THE GLOBAL CAPITALIST SYSTEM. The day
saw for instance marches by workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan; a fake
trade fair by Uruguayan activists; thousands of people in a carnival in
London's financial district; occupations and street parties in Spain,
Italy, USA, and Canada; ten thousand people in Nigeria protesting the oil
industry and imperialism; and, in Melbourne, a prominent politician hit
with a cream pie and a logging multinational blockaded with dead wombats.
(For more information, see http://www.j18.org)
The November 30th global day of action would be organised in a
non-hierarchical way, as a DECENTRALISED AND INFORMAL NETWORK of autonomous
groups that struggle in solidarity and co-operation employing
non-authoritarian, grassroots democratic forms of organisation.
Your INITIATIVE AND PARTICIPATION, no matter how small, are crucial to the
success of the November 30th day of action in your location. If your group
or organisation plans an action on November 30th, please let others know as
soon as possible, to FACILITATE NETWORKING and communication, as well as
International media efforts. Please send your contact information to:
•••@••.••• to be included in an international contacts list.
The more detailed information you send (land address, phone number, fax
number, email) the better, but, for your own security, do not include any
contact information that you prefer not to be made public.
We expect to COMMUNICATE INTERNATIONALLY PRIMARILY BY EMAIL, and so
encourage all groups and individuals who plan to take action to subscribe
to suitable mailing lists, and in general make efforts to STAY IN TOUCH
through this and other means. There is a list of available mailing lists in
the appendix below.
Please FORWARD THIS PROPOSAL to appropriate lists and to people who will be
interested, reproduce it and circulate, put it on a web site, and most
importantly, ACT.
NOVEMBER 30 GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION COLLECTIVE
N30 c/o IWW, 5215 Ballard NW, Seattle, WA. 98107, (+1 - 206) 706-6250,
http://go.to/n30
APPENDIX:
I. Mailing lists
THE NOVEMBER 30 DISCUSSION LIST: This list allows for participants around
the globe to co-ordinate and discuss the November 30th global day of
action. Subscribers will receive information and updates about the N30
preparations around the world. To subscribe, go to: http://n30.listbot.com
THE NO2WTO DISCUSSION LIST: This discussion list has been set up to
generate and co-ordinate networking among people interested in radical
mobilisation in Seattle for WTO (as in contrast to the generally reformist
tendencies of the general Seattle coalition). Subscribe and unsubscribe
directly from: http://no2wto.listbot.com/
II. References
NOVEMBER 30 DAY OF ACTION WEB SITE The November 30th website will contain
information and updates about the November 30th preparations around the
world, a regularly updated list of participating groups around the world,
announcements of language specific mailing lists, WTO info, etc:
http://go.to/n30
N30 Website http://flag.blackened.net/~global
N30 call by IWW http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/lobby/8771/iwwwto.html
N30 Seattle Walkout http://walkout.listbot.com
N30 Seattle Direct Action Network
http://www.agitprop.org/artandrevolution/wto
JUNE 18th global day of action: http://www.j18.org/ and
http://www.infoshop.org/june18.html
Peoples Global Action against 'Free' Trade and the WTO (PGA):
<•••@••.•••>, http://www.agp.org
3. Actions against the WTO Ministerial in Seattle
#################################################
The following projects and events against the Seattle WTO Ministerial were
endorsed by PGA at the Bangalore conference:
* The Festival of Resistance in Seattle, organised by The Direct Action
Network against Corporate Globalisation. Includes: the Resist WTO Roadshow
by Art & Revolution (street theater, dance, music, etc. in cities along the
west coast of Canada and the U.S., contact <•••@••.•••>) an action /
street theatre camp in Seattle, the Nov 30 Shut Down the WTO Mass
Nonviolent Direct Action, and different forms of community organising and
agitation. Contact <•••@••.•••>
* The "Shut Down the WTO Caravan" consisting of activists, farmers,
fisherfolk, peasants, labor organisers, etc from around the world in the
USA. Starts in New York on the 28th of October and arrives in Seattle in
time for the anti-WTO protests. Contact <•••@••.•••>
* A Canadian Caravan, similar to the U.S. caravan. Contact
<•••@••.•••>
* A Global People's Tribunal putting corporations on trial for crimes
against humanity. To be held in Seattle during the WTO meeting. Contact
<•••@••.•••>
* Linked to the USA caravan, the call "A 'Humanitarian Intervention' in the
USA is Necessary!". Contact <•••@••.•••> and <•••@••.•••>
You will find more information about these programmes below. Though it is
not related to the PGA, we also include at the end information about live
broadcasts that will be available from Seattle.
3.1. Festival of Resistance * Nonviolent Direct Action * Street Theater
***********************************************************************
Come to Seattle Nov. 29 - Dec. 3, 1999
Increasing poverty and cuts in social services while the rich get richer;
low wages, sweatshops, meaningless jobs, and more prisons; deforestation,
gridlocked cities and global warming; genetic engineering, gentrification
and war: Despite the apparent diversity of these social and ecological
troubles, their roots are the same -- a global economic system based on the
exploitation of people and the planet.
From Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 in Seattle, WA, thousands leaders of
transnational corporations, governments officials and an army of
bureaucrats will come to the World Trade Organisation's Summit to further
their drive for profits, and their control over our political, economic and
cultural life, along with the environment. Their new strategy to
concentrate power and wealth, while neutralising people's resistance, is
called "economic globalisation" and "free trade." But these words just
disguise the poverty, misery and ecological destruction of this system.
Tens of thousands of people will converge on Seattle and transform it into
a festival of resistance: mass nonviolent direct action; reclaim the
streets with giant street theatre, puppets, celebration, music, street
parties and pleasure; vibrant sounds of community, creativity and
resistance and glimpses of life as it could be in the face of hundreds of
deadening businessman, bureaucrats and politicians. A new world is possible
and a global movement of resistance is rising to make it happen. Imagine
replacing the existing social order with a just, free and ecological order
based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. Join us. Come to Seattle.
Here is some of what is planned and what you need to know to come to Seattle:
RESIST THE WTO: ROADSHOW
Art and Revolution Street Theatre Troupe will join a multi-media, giant
puppet and dance performance, teach-in tour of the Western U.S. and Canada
from September 28 to October 18 (in Seattle October 5) to educate, agitate
and organise against the World Trade Organisation Summit. Cosponsored by
Global Exchange.
ACTION/STREET THEATER CAMP NOV. 20-28
We are planning for nine days of street theatre, giant puppet, dance and
music making / skillsharing / performing, nonviolent direct action
trainings and affinity(action) group formations, community building fun,
meetings to coordinate it all and prepare ourselves for the WTO, outreach
and performance around Seattle, and more. Come early and help organise and
prepare. Contact us or check the website for more details.
NOV 30 SHUT DOWN THE WTO - MASS NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION INFO
We are planning a large scale, well organised, high visibility action to
SHUT DOWN the World Trade Organisation on Tuesday November 30. The World
Trade Organisation has no right to make undemocratic, unaccountable
destructive decisions about our lives, our communities and the earth. We
will non-violently and creatively block them from meeting. Hundreds of
people will risk arrest, reflecting the diversity of groups and communities
impacted by the WTO and corporate globalisation. We envision colourful and
festive actions with large scale street theatre as a major element. We
will make space and encourage mutual respect for a variety of non-violent
action styles reflecting our different groups and communities. The WTO
Summit offers a historic opportunity to halt capitalist globalisation and
to help catalyse a widespread mass movement in North America. Cosponsored
by the Direct Action Network (Against Corporate Globalisation), Earth
First!(Seattle), Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network.
ACTION GUIDELINES: All participants in this action are asked to agree to
these action guidelines. Having this basic agreement will allow people from
many backgrounds, movements and beliefs to work together for this action.
They are not philosophical or political requirements placed upon you or
judgements about the validity of some tactics over others. These guidelines
are basic agreements that create a basis for trust, so we can work together
for this action and know what to expect from each other.
1) We will use no violence, physical or verbal towards any person
2) We will carry no weapons
3) We will not bring or use any alcohol or illegal drugs
4) We will not destroy property
JAIL/COURT SOLIDARITY: We will encourage and facilitate jail and court
solidarity for the mass action. This includes: distributing information
about and giving training on jail solidarity (check the web site, or
contact us for solidarity info); setting up spokescouncil meetings to plan
solidarity; providing a legal support team who understands and will help
negotiate solidarity demands. Through jail solidarity we can take power in
a situation designed to make us powerless. We do this by making our
decisions as a group, by acting in harmony with each other, and by
committing ourselves to safeguard each other's well being. Every time there
is a choice in the legal process, activists can either cooperate or make
things more difficult for the authorities. Solidarity tactics mean that
people noncooperate as a group unless the authorities agree to our demands.
An overcrowded, expensive jail and legal system creates additional
pressure. This can give us some control over the legal consequences and
expedite them, while protecting the authorities from singling individuals
out for harsher treatment, resisting fines and probation, and extending the
action to the prison and legal system with the strength of a group, instead
of as individuals. We encourage action participants who are able, to clear
their calendar in advance for several days or a week or so after the action
should it become necessary to use a fill-the-jails tactic to win our
demands. It is likely that those who want or need to leave will be able to
do so.
LEGAL: We will have legal support for those arrested at the mass action
through arraignment: this includes legal and solidarity briefings, a
staffed legal support office, an experienced legal coordinator and lawyers
who can make jail visits.
AFFINITY GROUPS: Everyone participating in the action is asked to form or
join an affinity group (a self reliant action group of 5-20 people, which
includes some support people who do not risk arrest and are committed to do
support before during and after arrest). Affinity groups are the basic
planning and decision making bodies for the mass action. Form an affinity
group with your friends, people from your town, neighbourhood or workplace,
from your organisation or community, with people you share some other
affinity, interest or identity. Two or more affinity groups that have
something in common, or want to do similar actions should work together as
a "cluster" of affinity groups.
Action Spokescouncil: Leading up to the action participants will
coordinate the action and jail/court solidarity through an Action
Spokescouncil, with spokespeople chosen by each affinity group responsible
for carrying their groups plans, opinions and decisions to the
spokescouncil and carrying information and decisions back to their group.
Agenda items and proposal will be available before each spokescouncil so
affinity groups can discuss them. We encourage mass action participants to
try arrive by Sunday November 28, or as early as they can on Monday
November 29 to get briefed and to coordinate.
NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TRAINING: All action participants will be
encouraged to take a nonviolent direct action training to prepare
themselves for both the action and for jail and court solidarity to deal
with the legal system. Trainings are already being set up in many local
communities and will be available in Seattle during the week leading up to
and the day and evening before the action.
HOUSING: If you have any connections in or near Seattle where you can
stay, please pursue them. People for Fair Trade have said they will try to
provide some housing at 1-877-STOPWTO. The Direct Action Network expects to
have some limited housing or camping options during the Action/Street
Theatre Camp and possibly during the WTO, but call write first to check and
confirm space- priority will be given to folks who confirm well in advance.
NEEDS:
* Housing: For Seattle area people: can you put up an out of town activists
before and/or during the WTO?
* Puppet supplies: Backpack frames, bamboo and wooden poles (6 feet and
up), large pieces of ripstop nylon other water resistant fabric, white
sheets, latex (water-based) housepaint.
* Food to share: call for specifics
* Money: we need money for outreach materials, renting street theatre
spaces, puppet supplies, phone calls, mailing, legal support and office
space. Please send what you can. Make checks to "Art and Revolution (WTO)"
and send c/o CAN, 4554 12th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105
DIRECT ACTION NETWORK (AGAINST CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION)
The Direct Action Network is a network of local grassroots groups and
street theatre groups across the Western United States and Canada who are
mobilising our communities to creatively resist the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) and corporate globalisation. We are organising and
coordinating mass nonviolent direct action and large scale street theatre
-- giant puppets, dance, drums, music, spoken word, and graffiti art at the
WTO Summit in Seattle, November 29 to December 3. Our current social and
ecological troubles are rooted in an economic and political system that is
going global. Imagine replacing the current social order with a just, free
and ecological society based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. A NEW
WORLD IS POSSIBLE and we are part of a global movement that is rising up to
make it happen. Join us!
c/o CAN, PO Box 98113, Seattle, WA 98145 USA. Real address: 4554 12th Ave.
NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Tel (+1-206) 632-1656 <•••@••.•••>
www.agitprop.org/artandrevolution
San Francisco (+1-415) 339-7801/ (1-510) 464-5921. Vancouver, Canada
(1-604) 254-3145 <•••@••.•••>
3.2. Shut Down the WTO Caravan
******************************
International Activists Tour U.S. to Counter the World Trade Organisation
Farmers, Indigenous Peoples, Environmentalists, Fisherfolk and Labour
Organisers
will Expose the Horrors of Corporate Globalization
A caravan of two dozen international activists will be crossing the United
States to spread the message that "free trade," or corporate globalisation,
is at the heart of many of the world's ills. Representing every continent,
the activists contend that the upcoming meeting of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) in Seattle could sow the seeds for further erosion of
human rights, food security, environmental protections and health standards.
The caravan, dubbed "The Road to Seattle: An Educational Road Show on
Corporate Globalisation," includes men and women from Bangladesh, Bolivia,
Canada, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama,
the United States and West Papua. The participants are people who have
been directly impacted by corporate globalisation, and represent
environmental, human rights, workers, fisherfolk and farmers' movements.
They represent movements fighting sweatshops in New York, corporate
takeover of family farming in India, the destruction of indigenous
communities in West Papua, the rape of the land by oil companies in
Nigeria, etc.
The caravan will be stopping in about 20 communities, including large
cities, small towns, and Native American reservations. It will start in New
York on October 28 and arrive in Seattle on November 24, in time for the
WTO ministerium and the No2WTO actions. In each community the activists
will participate in community education activities, including teach-ins at
colleges, houses of worship and union halls. They will also hold local
news conferences and appear on radio and television talk shows. The
international activists will join local activists in direct action
demonstrations at sites where there are examples of egregious corporate
misbehaviour. Caravan organisers hope that the activists will have direct
contact with thousands of Americans along the route, dispelling the
American media's perception of opposition to "free" trade as being
isolationist and protectionist and exposing how capitalist globalisation is
killing people, eliminating human rights and destroying the environment all
over the world.
The focus of the caravan, and its ultimate destination, is the meeting of
the World Trade Organisation in Seattle. Among the plans which the caravan
participants oppose include new rules which will limit the scope of
government in areas such as food security and safety, workers' rights,
health standards and environmental laws. Caravan participants and
organisers unanimously oppose these measures. They agree that the WTO is
fundamentally flawed, beyond reform and must be abolished.
The caravan is organised by the Pennsylvania Consumer Education Project
(PCEP) and the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network. (PCAN). Together,
these grassroots organisations work to educate and mobilise people to take
back our democracy from moneyed special interests. The caravan is a
project of Peoples' Global Action (PGA), a gathering of peoples' movements
fighting corporate globalisation.
The caravan is organised under the principles outlined in the PGA hallmarks:
1) A very clear rejection of the WTO and other trade liberalisation
agreements (like APEC, the EU, NAFTA, etc.) as active promoters of a
socially and environmentally destructive globalisation;
2) Rejection of all forms and systems of domination and discrimination
including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious
fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human
beings;
3) A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can
have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which
transnational capital is the only real policy maker;
4) A call to non-violent civil disobedience and the construction of local
alternatives by local people, as answers to the action of governments and
corporations;
5) An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.
The caravan Itinerary (subject to change) is: October 28 New York City /
Oct 29-30 Boston / Oct 31 Western Massachusetts / November 1 Ithaca / Nov 3
Pittsburgh / Nov 4 Oberlin / Nov 5 Columbus / Nov 6 Indianapolis / Nov 7
St. Louis / Nov 10 Oklahoma City / Nov 12 Albuquerque / Nov 14 Phoenix /
Nov 17 San Diego / Nov 18 Los Angeles / Nov 19 San Francisco / Nov 22
Eugene / Nov 23 Portland / Nov 24 arrival to Seattle.
For more information, or to schedule interviews with participants or
organisers, please contact PCAN at 1-610-478-7888, <•••@••.•••> or
<•••@••.•••>.
If you can, please send contributions to: PA Consumer Education Project,
529 Court St., # 509, Reading, PA 19601, USA
3.3. Canadian Caravan against the WTO
*************************************
A caravan will also take place in Canada, in the same style as the US
caravan. It will start in Toronto at the first of November and take part in
the protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Trade
Ministers meeting, including the day of action in solidarity with the
Zapatistas (see sections 4.6 and 4.7). It will wind through rural Canada
and hold public meetings and press conferences around the WTO form the
perspective of workers, students, farmers, etc. We will discuss issues such
as biodiversity, water, trees, health, education, etc in order to expose
the link between global agreements and neighbourhood problems. Several
organisations and unions are involved in the organisation - for instance,
the student union are sponsoring a caravan student representative from the
autonomous university in Mexico where an intense struggle against
neoliberal policies is currently being fought.
The Canadian and the US caravans will come together in Seattle for the
No2WTO protests, where they will be joined by large numbers of protesters
from all over Canada. The Union of Postal Workers will be bussing into
Seattle. The Hospital Employees Union is said to be sending as many as ten
buses!
Along with the caravan and the mobilisation towards Seattle, actions are
being planned in diverse Canadian cities for November 30 - confirmed
actions include Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg. They
involve a whole range of activities from street theatre and teach-ins to
direct action and demonstrations.
For more information, contact David Bleakney, Canadian Union of Postal
Workers, 377 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1Y3 Canada. Phone:
1-613-236-7230 ext 7953, <•••@••.•••>
3.4. Global People's Tribunal on Corporate Crimes Against Humanity
******************************************************************
Seattle, Washington, USA, November 27-29, 1999 (Preliminary Announcement)
Plans are now being made to hold a Global People's Tribunal on Corporate
Crimes Against Humanity at the time of the World Trade Organisation
Ministerial Meeting. The Tribunal will hear testimony and receive other
forms of evidence of crimes against humanity by global corporations as
defined under international and Canadian law on Saturday and Sunday,
November 27 and 28. A decision on whether this evidence is sufficient to
sustain charges of crimes against humanity will be rendered on Monday,
November 29, the opening day of the WTO Ministerial.
The organisers believe that it will be possible to present to the Seattle
Tribunal sufficient evidence to sustain an indictment of those corporations
being examined by the Tribunal for "crimes against humanity." Such crimes
have been defined under Canadian Law C-71 as meaning "... murder,
extermination, deportation, persecution, or any other inhumane act or
ommission that is committed against any civilian population or any
identifiable persons ... and that ... constitutes a contravention of
customary international law or conventional international law or is
criminal according to the general principles of law recognised by the
Community of Nations". This definition is drawn from the Charter of the
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg as subsequently reaffirmed and
extended to acts committed at any time (not just wartime) by the UN General
Assembly. And the UN's International Law Commission has asserted that
"inhumane acts" become crimes against humanity when they are "committed in
a systematic way or on a large scale and instigated or directed by a
Government or by any organisation or group" which clearly includes
non-state actors such as giant global corporations.
This Tribunal will function like a grand jury, considering whether or not
there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges of "crimes against
humanity" on a limited number of global corporations. If the jury decides
that there is enough evidence, the actual trial will take place in other
forums in the future with timely notice to the accused parties which will
be given ample opportunity to present evidence in their defense under
generally accepted conditions of due process.
Between 6 and 12 global corporations will be selected for investigation,
based in part on the ready availability of evidence of "inhumane acts or
omissions". Among those already suggested are Union Carbide Corporation
(perpetrator of the world's worst industrial disaster at Bhopal, India),
Dow Chemical (which gave us Agent Orange and is about to acquire Union
Carbide), Monsanto, Bayer, Unocal, Shell, Rio Tinto, Cargill, and GAP.
Additional suggestions are welcomed. The types of evidence will be written,
oral, and video taped. We will also examine critically corporate
counterclaims to have benefited humanity.
Organisers: Endorsed by People's Global Action at its recent conference in
Bangalore, the Tribunal is being organised by a small group of human
rights, consumer, and trade union activists in the USA and Canada. For
further information, contact the Tribunal Coordinator, Ward Morehouse,
Council on International and Public Affairs, 777 United Nations Plaza,
Suite 3C, New York, NY 10017, Tel. 212 972 9877 or 914 271 6590; fax 914
271 6590; e-mail: <•••@••.•••>
3.5. A 'Humanitarian Intervention' in the USA is Necessary!
***********************************************************
A Modest Proposal to contribute towards the Organisation among the Poor in
the USA,
and to Fuel the U.S. Caravan Against the WTO Summit in Seattle
Much has been said about the eyes of the child victims of the Balkan war,
but little about the eyes of U.S. children.
Some figures about poverty in the USA :
* The USA has set aside $280 billion for war over the next few years, thus
denying a future for a large number of their own people.
* For the next year the expenditure on health and education will be 9 times
lower than on armaments.
* One child in three does not have access to heath care.
* Single mothers have no guarantee of social security.
* Over 3 million children considered disruptive at school are treated with
brain drugs.
* For black children, the future is worse: one out of three is born with
the prospect of a prison term.
* The USA is one of the four countries in the world (together with Iraq)
that legally condemns minors to death.
* In the USA the real salary of young workers (25-34 years of age) below
management level has fallen by 25% over the past 20 years.
This is the model the USA wants to export, with the support of the so
called left-wing politicians of Europe and of many governments in the
countries of the South of the world, in order to expand its policies.
This initiative will give us the chance to explain to people what WTO is,
what neoliberalism is and how it is impoverishing the lives of people all
over the planet. At the same time, it offers the opportunity for people
around the world to share information about the political initiatives they
are carrying out in their own countries.
This "MODEST PROPOSAL" is a sort of provocation, a challenge, by which
poor persons from all over the world (both North and South) send $1 each to
the USA Superpower.
TECHINICAL ASPECTS
Those who want to participate in this initiative should start soon with a
campaign "SUPPORT THE POOR OF THE USA AND FUEL THE ANTI WTO CARAVAN",
perhaps by:
* covering their town with posters;
* setting up points for gathering the money;
* contacting all the possible media to give information about the "MODEST
PROPOSAL";
* involving individuals, groups, social centres, schools, universities,
political parties, unions, associations etc.
Each country or region of course will have its own initiative!
We suggest to collect a symbolic figure of $1 per person, association,
school, social centre, university, union, political party (though if they
want they can also donate other amounts). The money will serve partly to
support the grassroots organisational work of the poor of the USA and
partly to support the USA Caravan against the WTO. We might ask
contributors to sign a declaration stating: 'I/We want to contribute to
build global solidarity by making a payment to support the global caravan
of peoples' movements representatives against the WTO and the work to
organise the poor in the USA being done by the Kensington Welfare Rights
Union. They payment will be done directly to the "Pennsylvania Consumer
Education Project", who will forward part of it to the "Kensington Welfare
Rights Union"', or something similar. Please use this method or any other
to keep lists of the organisations that participate in to the campaign and
also keep track of the amount of persons that contributed, so that at the
end of the campaign (during the WTO Ministerial) we can make public the
number of persons and the list of organisations that participated in each
country.
For those wanting to contribute by check, it should be made out to:
Pennsylvania Consumer Education Project, 529 Court St #509, Reading, PA
19601 - USA
The bank details are: Bank: AllFirst / Routing number: 052000113 / Bank
Address: P.O. Box 17039, Baltimore, MD 21297-1039 USA / Bank phone:
1-800-533-4630 / Account holder: Pennsylvania Consumer Education Project
(PCEP) / Account number: 00982-6013-8 / Address of PCEP: 223 N. Brobst St.,
Shillington, PA 19607-1914 USA / Phone of PCEP: 1-610-478-7888
For more information about this initiative please contact: YA BASTA!
ASSOCIATION - LOMBARDY, ITALY - For the dignity of all people, against
neoliberism. Leoncavallo Social Centre, Via Watteau 7,Milano,Italy. Tel:
+39 02 6705185, Fax: +39 02 6705621, e-mail: <•••@••.•••> and
<•••@••.•••>
3.6. Live Radio Broadcasts from the World Trade Summit
******************************************************
135 governments make up the World Trade Organisation, yet transnational
corporations increasingly influence and benefit from international trade
policy. People from around the world are responding. Critics of the WTO
will be conducting teach-ins, strategy sessions, and massive
demonstrations. This unprecedented gathering will bring together farmers
from India, trade activists from Ghana, peasants from Chiapas, labour
organisers, environmentalists, and social justice advocates from across the
US and around the world. World Trade Watch will air the voices that
Corporate owned media will not.
Be part of the campaign to spread information about the World Trade
Organisation and people's resistance to it. Help get the "WORLD TRADE
WATCH" radio series on your local radio station (micro, macro, or
shortwave.) Let people know it can also be heard on the Internet and tape
recorded off of the internet. Contact us to find out how: (510) 251-1077,
email <•••@••.•••>. Listen to a demo tape at websites below.
Programs are suitable for immediate broadcast or tape delay, and are free
to non-commercial stations.
Co-Produced by the National Radio Project www.radioproject.org ,
Transnational Resource and Action Center/Corporate Watch www.corpwatch.org
, and the Institute for Public Accuracy www.accuracy.org
There are several ways to get the series:
SATELLITE: Live uplink from KUOW Seattle, A67.7 on the public radio
satellite, 13:00-13:59 ET
INTERNET BROADCAST QUALITY: Go to www.radioproject.org. There's a
downloadable version of the programs in MPEG format. See the site for
software and instructions. Winamp is necessary for playback. In order to
take full advantage of MPEG quality a professional sound card is required.
This is great for stations who don't have a sat. downlink. If you're not
already geared up to take broadcast quality sound off the Internet, it's
not that hard -- call us.
INTERNET FOR PERSONAL LISTENING: You can get the WTO series audio in
RealAudio format (not broadcast quality) at the Transnational Resource and
Action Center/Corporate Watch website www.corpwatch.org, or the National
Radio Project web site, www.radioproject.org. RealPlayer is required for
playback. Visit the sites for software and instructions.
Contact us (510) 251-1077, email <•••@••.•••>, www.radioproject.org
(continues in next messages)
*******************************************
Peoples' Global Action against 'Free' Trade
and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Secretariat (for the period 1999-2000):
c/o Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW),
377 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
Email <•••@••.•••> Web http://www.agp.org
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