Talk on FTAA, and Plan Puebla Panama
There was supposed to be a presentation on Columbia and discussion
on future cooperation, but the people who were supposed to be doing the presentation
are not here, so missing a lot of practical input.
Proposal for agenda –
- Columbia – in time of urgency of dates - 16th of sep march, 26th
occupation on presidential land, then 1st of nov quito hemispheric conference,
in november also the blockade of the school of americas in the USA(nov 15-17).
- Presentation of other ongoing campaigns like nunca mas and anti-coke followed
by proposal from Olivier about the Chilean person being extradited from
south africa
also have to coordinate the season of struggle – extended period in
which people are mobilising to link and support different actions and thing
going on over the world.
September 16th – Agrarian protest in columbia – calls to action
– one from via campesina, one from someone else (the CNC – nation
org of peasants) . Tryin to propose a new agrarian reform, asking for actions
in all of europe on this dte as there will bea lo of repression, asking for
international presence in columbia. They are going to do something in the
asturias and also probably in amsterdam. As yet no mailing list or website.
Ways to be active – actions against embassies and consulates, sending
letters and faxes within europe to make sure that people are aware of what
is happening. The call needs to be translated. Happening at the same time
as WEF thing in austria, is it posible for people to do an action there at
the same time.
The situation is unimaginably bad in columbia since the elections, analogy
is of germany in 1943. Emptied the prisons in order to make room for all of
the people they are going to arrest. They really need people to call attention
to the repression. Do something, even a small thing.
Can contact local via campesina groups in europe and try and find out what
they are doing and encourage them to do it or join in with them.
Embassy actions don’t have to be huge in order for them to be successful.
How is it posible to contact the people in colombia to let them know of actions
that are happening? When we send around the call, can give details on where
to end info about actions to.
Support groups for columbia in barcelona, cultural and artistic groups, want
to do somethign in the embasy, but also in the civil government place. Was
not just the mobilisations, between then and mid october there will be a big
exhibition about what has happened in the last 30 years in columbia about
the campaigns and alerts.
Working group of people who are interested in being involved – too
many to write down.
- September 26th – ocupation of presidential land in bogota
– some uncertanties
- October 12th – campaign against coca cola
taking place in brussels – international tribunal holding coca cola
responsible for the assassinations of trade unionists in columbia. 3 tribunals
taking place in USA, brussels, and in bogota. This tribunal will be presented
in European parliament. On the 10th the tribunal starts, but they are trying
to mobilise for the 12th I think. There will be three really imporatnt workshops
on repression in columbia and there will be many people active on the issues
present.
- Quito oct 27 – 1st of november – protests and conference
in ecuador against the FTAA.
Mobilisations against alca, especially in LA. Different groups and orgnisation
involved, many peasant and indigenous groups. www.
Have asked us to do gloabl actions in support. Will be a meeting of PGA
LA people there also, possible it might host the regional PGA meeting there.
Activist orgs in canada are suggesting october 28th as the anniversary of
a big stock market crash in the 1920s. Do a search for common frontiers
and FTAAand you should be able to find some more info.
What kind of actions – confuenass is asking for economic support for
the caravans, solidarity actions and also asking people for people to mobilise
to Quito.
FTAA/ALCA don’t have a public face – but a common target is
financial systems and banks, stockmarkets – the people who are really
driving the FTAA agenda. But there is also problems in the approach of attac
in contrasting good capitalism with bad capitalism – is there something
more that we have in common to link with their struggles and our realities.
IN quebec it was easy for the state to contain what it was doing, but it
is harder to guard all of the finanial institutions.
Easy to take so many of the links back to just a few financial groups and
institutions. Don’t have to have the dicourse of attac in order to
do an action on finnial intitutions.
Contrast of amazingly shit things in olumbia, but also some really amazing
struggles and posibilities and stuff in many other places in latin america,
many uprisings that are so massive and ungovernable. Quito has the potential
to really kick off something huge. The medium term objective is a peasant
upising in all the andes.
People from Ya Basta find the lobby groups and corporations who are going
to the official alca conference to do actions on them, so to give it more
reality for the people in italy to do actions on.
Top
author: kev et all, latin-solidarity working group
This document contains a summary of a discussion about Latin
America and the FTAA, as well as specific Latin America trade agreement. It
contains a call to action, a season of action as well.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the speaker who was supposed to attend the
meeting and discuss the current political situation in Latin America was not
present, the meeting elaborated on forthcoming mobilizations and international
solidarity actions.
- September 16th - Day of Protest for Agrarian Reform in Columbia.
On this day, peasants in Columbia will be making actions to call for an
end to the industrialization of agriculture and the increasing concentration
of land-ownership in the hands of fewer people. Since the recent elections
took place, the degree of social and political repression in Columbia has
reached new heights, so it is expected that these actions will meet with
an immediate and brutal response. It is therefore really important that
there are international solidarity actions to bear witness to this repression.
There have been two calls for such solidarity actions, one from Via Campesina,
and another from the CNC (a national organization of peasants).
People could try and contact Via Campesina groups in their own countries
to see if they have an action planned, and if not to encourage them to do
one. Columbian Embassies and Consulates are a 'natural target' - and demos
or actions like this do not even have to be mass mobilized and spectacular
in order for them to have some sort of impact. Even a small number of embarrassed
people waving a barely-dried banner outside, can put diplomatic processes
into action. Because they will have to register the action that took place.
So anything is better than nothing, no matter how small and insignificant
it may seem like at the time.
October 12th - International Tribunal of Coca Cola taking place
in Brussels.
Nunca Mas (Never More) is an international tribunal that holds countries,
corporations and institutions accountable for their human rights violations,
and involves much well-documented evidence and witnesses. Coca Cola are
being brought to trial for their collusion with paramilitary death squads
in having trade-union figures working for Coke assassinated. The tribunal
starts on the 10th of October in Brussels. It takes place in a space in
the European Parliament that has been borrowed from sympathizers within
the Green party, but they are holding some sort of event involving workshops
and discussions on the 12th, involving many key figures within the field
of Columbian solidarity. More information about this campaign can be found
in the current FTAA issue of the Green Pepper ( http://squat.net/cia/gp).
- October 27th to the 1st of November - Hemispheric counter-conference
against the FTAA, Quito, Ecuador.
Without wanting to big it up too much, this could possibly be a really significant
event in the downfall of the FTAA. In contrast to the horrifying changes
of political circumstances in Columbia, much of the Andean region has been
witnessing some incredibly inspiring, widespread and ungovernable social
movements of peasants, indigenous peoples and other socially and economically
marginalized sectors of society. All of these groups will be represented
at the conference, and it represents a fantastic opportunity to consolidate
and coordinate their resistance to the neo-liberal agenda being forced on
them. The organizers have suggested that their medium term objective is
to provoke a massive peasant uprising across the Andes.
The organizers of the event have asked for people to provide financial support
- they are operating on an incredibly tight budget, and especially need
money to fund some anti-FTAA caravan that is taking place around the continent.
Secondly, to do solidarity actions in their own countries and thirdly, to
come and attend the event.
A Canadian group is suggesting to use October 28th as an international day
of action against stock-markets and other financial institutions for their
role in the implementation of the FTAA, as this is the anniversary of a
huge stock market crash (Black Tuesday) that took place in the 1920s.
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