>X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 5.5.3.1 >Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 10:53:39 -0400 >From: "Charles Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Open Letter To The World Trade Organisation And The World Economic Forum >21 June 2000 > >The South African Communist Party writes this open letter to the World Trade >Organisation and the World Economic Forum on the occasion of the conference >convened by the World Economic Forum starting today in Durban, South Africa. > >The World Economic Forum should be a forum for addressing the needs and >interests of developing economies and their people. Instead, the World >Economic Forum is best known for its annual tribute to the forces of global >capitalism in Davos, Switzerland, the very forces that make life for the >billions of people in the South increasingly desperate. The promoters of >global capitalism have targeted the South, and Africa, the most impoverished >continent, for more of their destructive attention and programmes. > >According to a report released yesterday by the International Labour >Organisation (ILO World Labour Report - Income Security and Social Protection >in a Changing World), globalisation has led to job losses and increasing >poverty for people in developing cou ntries. The report also states the >following: > >A quarter of the world's population of 6 billion lives on less than $1 a day >During the past five years the world's poor have increased by 200 million >In the developing world, nearly a third of the population has no access to >drinkable water >More than 40% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia live in poverty >and this proportion is rising >Out of the world's 150 million unemployed, no more than a quarter have some >unemployment benefit >On the occasion of the Durban conference, we therefore denounce an economic >system that continues to shift opportunities, resources, and power away from >those most in need. We reject the policies of structural adjustment and trade >liberalisation which the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund >coerce most of the world's countries into adopting. We call for the reversal >of these policies and the introduction of humane policies which place people >before profits and which rejects the "race to the bot tom" which animates the >process of corporate globalisation. > >To place the challenge of the continent as that of privatisation and fitting >to the agenda of global capitalism is really to set up the continent for sale, >to be plundered by transnational corporations at the direct expense of the >poor. As the SACP we are writing this letter to this conference to say, Africa >is not for sale. Transforming Africa's economies must be through state-led >infra-structural growth, development and poverty eradication and not through >deregulation and economic liberalisation. > >We oppose the continuing pressure on impoverished countries to accept the >imposition of "intellectual property rights". This will deny developing >countries access to basic and necessary commodities for a tolerable life and >their advancement. An example of this is the continued denial of developing >countries access to affordable medicines because of "intellectual property >rights", which in reality are protection for drug companies and their massive >profits. > >We call for the cancellation of the burden of debt currently imposed on the >countries of the South. > >The World Economic Forum meeting in Durban can either be an occasion for >genuine engagement with the issues that matter to the South or for another >round of bland assertions, in contradiction of evidence available directly >outside the meeting site, that gl obalisation will benefit the South. > >We believe that if the Durban meeting fails to consider the points raised in >this letter and the demands being made by the increasingly strong global >movement for economic and social justice, it will be a lost opportunity. > >For socialism! > >BLADE NZIMANDE >GENERAL SECRETARY SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY > > >CONTACT >Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara) >Department of Media,Information & Publicity, SA Communist Party >Tel: 27 11 339-3621/2 >Fax: 27 11 339-4244 >Cell: 083 651 0271 >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >or >Smiso Nkwanyana >SACP Provincial Secretary KwaZulu Natal, Durban >Tel: 27 31 301 3806 >Cell: 082 468 7184 > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
