>Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 23:19:48 -0400 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >From: Robert Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: FWD: International press release >MIME-Version: 1.0 >X-Sender: Robert Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-To: Ecological Economics <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by csf.Colorado.EDU id >VAA01295 > >Here's a trade-related press release that is likely to be of interest to >some of you. > >Robert Cohen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Boulder, Colorado > >================================== > >Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 10:50:19 +0200 (MET) >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peoples' Global Action Secretariat) >Subject: International press release > >May 18th, 1998 > >3rd international PRESS RELEASE >by Peoples' Global Action > >Today the Second Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization >(WTO) starts in Geneva, in the context of a hundreds of protests all over >the World. > >Nearly a million of people from all social sectors (farmers, indigenous >peoples, workers, women, ethnical groups, unemployed and many other groups) >are expressing since the 1st of May our rejection to the WTO, the >multilateral trade system, and neoliberal policies - participating in the >first international days of action of Peoples' Global Action (PGA) against >"Free" Trade and the WTO. > >Selection of actions during the G8 Summit in Birmingham (16th/17th May) and >during the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva (18th-20th May) > >On Saturday, at the same time as the beginning of the G8 Summit, over >hundred thousand people throughout the world protested against the WTO and >their neoliberal policies: > >Global Street Parties were celebrated in 35 cities all over the world, for >example in Geneva, Birmingham, Sydney, Toronto and Prague with several >thousand people in each town. > >In Brazil, a protest march of 40 000 landless and homeless people reached >the capital Brasilia; 10 000 unemployed joined them on Monday. On >Wednesday, >the final day of the WTO conference, a demonstration through the government >district of Brasilia is planned. > >In India, 23 regional conferences against the WTO are occurring today. In >Hyderabad, WTO symbols are being burned in several public places. On >Saturday, there were more than 100 actions against the WTO and on May 1st, >hundreds of thousands of peasants and workers urged the Indian to withdraw >from the WTO in a massive national rally. > >In Canada, a protest against the planned Multilateral Agreement on >Investment (MAI) is scheduled for today. There will be further >demonstrations and direct actions in different Canadian cities on >Wednesday. >The OECD meeting starting this weekend in Montreal shall be blocked >throughout its duration. > >On "Peoples Trade Day today, actions are being carried out in the United >States and in Geneva against different symbolic centers of global >capitalism. > >Meanwhile, an incredible wave of repression is hitting Geneva: throughout >the town, people are being stopped by the police at random, arrested and >jailed for hours without any given reason - without judicial basis. Foreign >persons which "do not carry enough money on them" (about 500 SFrs.) are >registered for police records and then deported with a prohibition of >re-entry. > >Many people got heavily injured by the police on Saturday evening, although >they behaved passively. At least one young man from Geneva still is in >intensive care due to inner bleeding. The bicycle caravan "Money or Life" >organized by WiWa Wendland in Germany was already stopped before reaching >Geneva, all foreign participants were arrested, deported and are not >allowed >to re-enter Switzerland for two years. 40 Italians were arrested on their >arrival at the train station in Geneva and also deported. > >On Sunday afternoon, the caravan traveled to the French border to return >the >wagons, tractors and further equipment back to the German participants >banned from Switzerland who were waiting at the other side of the border. >On >their way back to Geneva, ten people were arrested, among them two >journalists from Switzerland and from Berlin. These were also registered >for >police records and had to spend hours in a freezing cold civil service >building wearing summer clothes. After this custody they were given a paper >written in French accusing them of having participated in all actions and >demonstrations and were urged to sign it. > >We condemn these arbitrary acts of the Genevan police and justice. These >arrests are clearly illegal. We especially protest against the detention of >journalists. > >Peoples Global Action is a worldwide alliance of organizations and >grassroots movements that was formed the last February in a conference >where >representatives of grassroots movements from 56 countries of all continents >came together. The conference produced the Manifesto of the PGA (available >at www.agp.org) that states: > >"We live in a time in which capital, with the help of international >agencies >like the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund >(IMF), the World Bank (WB) and other institutions, is shaping national >policies in order to strengthen its global control over political, economic >and cultural life. > >Capital has always been global. Its boundless drive for expansion and >profit >recognises no limits. From the slave trade of earlier centuries to the >imperial colonisation of peoples, lands and cultures across the globe, >capitalist accumulation has always fed on the blood and tears of the >peoples >of the world. This destruction and misery has been restrained only by >grassroots resistance. > >Today, capital is deploying a new strategy to assert its power and >neutralise peoples' resistance. Its name is economic globalisation, and it >consists in the dismantling of national limitations to trade and to the >free >movement of capital. > >The effects of economic globalisation spread through the fabric of >societies >and communities of the world, integrating their peoples into a single >gigantic system aimed at the extraction profit and the control of peoples >and nature. Words like "globalisation", "liberalisation" and "deregulation" >just disguise the growing disparities in living conditions between elites >and masses in both privileged and "peripheral" countries. > >() > >Land, water, forest, wildlife, aquatic life and mineral resources are not >commodities, but our life support. For decades the powers that have emerged >from money and market have swelled their profits and tightened their >control >of politics and economics by usurping these resources, at the cost of the >lives and livelihoods of vast majorities around the world. For decades the >World Bank and the IMF, and now the WTO, in alliance with national >governments and corporate powers, have facilitated maneuverings to >appropriate the environment. The result is environmental devastation, >tragic >and unmanageable social displacement, and the wiping out of cultural and >biological diversity, much of it irretrievably lost without compensation to >those reliant on it. > >() > >The WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and other institutions that promote >globalisation and liberalisation want us to believe in the beneficial >effects of global competition. Their agreements and policies constitute >direct violations of basic human rights (including civil, political, >economic, social, labour and cultural rights) which are codified in >international law and many national constitutions, and ingrained in >people's >understandings of human dignity. We have had enough of their inhuman >policies. We reject the principle of competitiveness as solution for >peoples' problems. It only leads to the destruction of small producers and >local economies. Neo-liberalism is the real enemy of economic freedom. > >() > >The need has become urgent for concerted action to dismantle the >illegitimate world governing system which combines transnational capital, >nation-states, international financial institutions and trade agreements. >Only a global alliance of peoples' movements, respecting autonomy and >facilitating action-oriented resistance, can defeat this emerging >globalised >monster. If impoverishment of populations is the agenda of neo-liberalism, >direct empowerment of the peoples though constructive direct action and >civil disobedience will be the programme of the Peoples' Global Action >against "Free" Trade and the WTO." > >In a press briefing that took place today at United Nations the >representatives of PGA declared: "The struggle that takes place in these >days will continue until the disappearance of the WTO and all other >institutions and agreements that cause misery and death. It is part of a >process of convergence of millions of people fighting all over the planet >for a just society in harmony with the environment. The movements that >participate in this process want to send a clear message to the WTO: we >will >not allow economic globalisation to destroy our environment, our culture, >our future, our lives. Consequently, we reject the treaties of the WTO and >we will not allow their implementation". > >For more information please contact our press office: phone: (0041) 22/ >344 >47 31 fax: (0041) 22/ 940 20 70 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
