Call for the 3rd gathering in Europe of the Peoples' Global Action (PGA) network
Location: the industrial zone surrounding Belgrade, Post-Yugoslavia
Date: from the 23rd - 29th of July, 2004
Peoples Global
Action is a global network of local struggles, a worldwide network that works
towards a durable political, social, borderless and directly democratic alternative
to capitalism and all systems of oppression, far away from the logic of parties,
states and ideological frameworks of the state (statist trade unions, NGO's
etc.). It is a space where anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist initiatives
meet.
PGA hallmarks:
The purpose of PGA exchanges
and the PGA network is to connect local groups that agree with the PGA’s
hallmarks:
- A very clear rejection
of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions
and governments that promote destructive globalisation.
- 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.
- 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.
- A call to direct action
and civil disobedience, support for social movements’ struggles, advocating
forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples’
rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.
- An organisational philosophy
based on decentralisation and autonomy.
PGA is a tool for coordination,
not an organization. PGA has no members and does not have and will not have
a juridical personality. No organisation or person represents PGA.
The Drugaciji Svet je Moguc!
(DSM!) coalition is the European convener of the upcoming PGA conference. DSM!
invites all those who identify with the PGA hallmarks to take part in organization
process.
We would like to emphasize
that at this point we are only sending a call out, and that more detailed information
on thematic areas, travel, logistics etc. will be available soon online or in
newsletters.
Why?
- Because in a time of
increasing economic exclusion and social marginalisation, y there is an urgent
need to organise an alternative, radical political conference that clearly
rejects the false dilemma of nationalism vs (and) neo-liberalism.
- Because of the PGA network:
we strongly believe that presence of PGA in the Eastern Europe has great importance
for the expansion and improvement of our network.
- Because in a period
of military actions and US militarism, it is important to organize a European
conference of radical political movements that question the false alternatives
based on a new European nationalism and Euro–centric perspectives.
- Because it is equally
important not to accept the false promise of a domestic economy providing
any protection against the economic titans that are the USA and European Union.
- Because of the Eastern
European political struggle: there are many Eastern European organisations
operating under the principles of the PGA that are not part of the PGA network.
Organising this conference in the territory of Ex-Yugoslavia will strengthen
relations with and among Eastern European organisations. - We firmly believe
that the time has come for us to transcend the hopes of global demonstrations
as the only solution by placing more emphasis on the global networking of
local struggles.Eastern Europe, at the moment, seems to be particularly rich
in these local struggles, particularly the territory of Ex–Yugoslavia.
Today, Post-Yugoslavia is
an area with 250,000 people that were killed in the war (from 1991 to date),
while a million and a half internally displaced people did not return to their
homes, meaning that their repatriation remains politically impossible. The number
of people who have emigrated is close to this figure and still rising, as people
prepare every day to cross the border of the new Berlin wall into the Schengen
state, which separates the (new) Roman empire from the (new) "Barbarian
menace". The number of missing people fluctuates on a daily basis, with
the exhumation of mass graves and remains of the unidentified victims lying
in white body bags, pushed from one administrative form to another to get their
"case closed" (Tuzla).
- The most important news
is not to be found on the cover pages, but tucked away in the back of newspapers,
somewhere between the sports and culture section, in the array of classified
ads: legal and illegal visas, human trafficking, laid-off people accepting
any available job, renting a workforce, as well as trafficking in human organs
(it is often the case that the invisible offer their kidneys for sale in order
to provide their children with education, a trade that is still legally prohibited
in Yugoslavia).
- Many of those who have
committed crimes are still free and at large, while the agents of the "civil
society" (read: bourgeois middle class) and their chief promoters - foreign
NGOs fighting for "human rights" - - are exactly those who would
have to pay for the change in status quo and the real improvement of life
conditions in our country, with the loss of their several hundred thousand
jobs and mega-wages; in one phrase "nonsense as a political category"
rules our lands.
- This brings the paradox
to its pinnacle, because capitalism brought "peace." The western
media and the international community of course have made a great effort to
present the model liberal-capitalist, in whose times the greatest initial
robbery of public property, privatisation and fortune-making took place -
i.e. Slobodan Milosevic, as the "last communist of the century",
connecting his overthrowing with the importation of liberal democracy, even
with the use of bombs.
- Despite 10 years of
isolation and a large amount of enthusiasm for a decisive capitalist "liberation",
in the last elections, 45% of the population boycotted parliamentarian democracy.
Confusion is at its peak in post -Yugoslavia today.
Civil war, military aggression
(by its own military in its own country), embargo, NATO aggression, NATO occupation,
reconstruction, parliamentarianism, negationism, rampaging capitalism, ethno-fascism,
modern atavism, atavistic modernism, mass destitution (ie. the worst European
nightmare since WWII) are only a few of the reasons for the Yugoslavs' feeling
of complete misunderstanding with those parts of Europe, which have not experienced
a civil war and the listed political nonsenses in the past ten years.
The absurd feeling of returning
to something that already existed, the bloody breaking up of the United Yugoslav
states in order to enter the United States of Europe Inc., are just some of
the elements that consist of the average, post-Yugoslav's feeling of hopelessness,
driven into the "joyful expectation of the "civilized ""Europe".
That's why we feel it is extremely important to promote direct democracy and
self-organisation as legitimate resistance and possible "alternative way(s)
and direction(s)", spreading among our population the idea that behind
the big and unanimous flag of propaganda, another, darker side of capitalism
exists.
Because our country has
been put up for sale and faces mass deregulation of worker's rights, which is,
paradoxically, something that the citizens of West European countries have to
worry about as well.
Because DSM, as the convenor
of the next PGA conference in Europe, feels that our country has been given
the role of a filtering corridor and courtyard before the gates of Schengen
Europe. According to the last United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
statistical data, the population of Serbia and Montenegro rank third in the
world in seeking asylum in other countries! For this reason, this location provides
common ground for tackling the crucial issue of immigration, which is equally
important for East and West.
Because it is high time
to shift the European radical movement from the place of occasional victories
(Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil...) to the ground of its total defeat, ie.
post-Yugoslavia
When and Where?
July 23 to 29, 2004 in Resnik, Rakovica,
industrial zone surrounding Belgrade (Post Yugoslavia)
But who are we?
Many of you still do not
know us. So who are we?
DSM is a group of groups,
collective of collectives united under the slogan "Drugaciji Svet je Moguc!".
Together, we are striving to create a new political space unaffiliated with
political parties or the so-called non-governmental sector. This new space prefers
direct political action to generally accepted forms of engagement, such as lobbying
or voting.
We insist on a social dialogue that is different from the one proposed by our
government and the NGO sector. The horizontal social dialogue we would like
to be part of involves marginalised social groups that are systematically prevented
from exercising their basic rights. We also distance ourselves from the concept
of civil society and instead suggest the concept of a "participatory society".
Despite being a relatively young movement, DSM has managed to attract a significant
number of persons with various social and professional backgrounds. Our diversity
provides us with a steady flow of ideas, which we have started to carry out
through short and long-term projects and activities.
We have been isolated for
a very long time and what we need most is a wake up call. And this is what we
are doing and will continue to do - by providing information, through direct
action and an open-minded approach that will try to convince us to co-operate
in building a new society, rather than to compete for the crumbs contemptuously
tossed to them by the ruling oligarchy.
In conclusion, we hope that
all who are concerned can trust our incentives and positive plans for action
and can get involved to organize a successful conference in our ex-future country.
Mail to: drugacijimejl(at)yahoo.com
(Administered by: BLOC ! Collective, member of DSM! coalition)
Go to: http://www.agp.org
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