[asia-apec 528] Asia-Pacific Peoples' Assembly

[PAN Asia Pacific]

THE ASIA-PACIFIC PEOPLES' ASSEMBLY 
November 10-15, 1998 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


CONFRONTING GLOBALIZATION: REASSERTING PEOPLES' RIGHTS 

Thisyear's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting
wil l be held in November in Malaysia.  Since the first Leaders'
Meeting in 1993, representatives of non-governmental organisations
(NGOs), people's organisations, and social movements have met in
parallel gatherings to highlight concerns about the "free trade,
free market" model of trade and investment liberalisation that APEC
promotes.  Today, a strong global movement continuously monitors,
educates and mobilises people to fight the neoliberal economic
programmes causing untold hardship to workers, women and peoples the
world over.  More than 300 participants from the Asia-Pacific region
are expected to attend the Peoples' Assembly in Kuala Lumpur.  This
year's assembly is of utmost importance given the current financial
crisis in Asia, the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, and the upcoming negotiations at the WTO.

Issues and sector forums, some of which may take place outside of
Malaysia prior to the Peoples' Assembly, will feed into a two-day
plenary session on November 13-14 in Kuala Lumpur.  Each Forum will
be required to commit to at least two specific actions that it can
present at the plenary session.  The plenary will build a common
analysis and a plan of action with the overall objective to
strengthen the peoples' movement against globalisation.

In Malaysia, preparations for the summit have begun.  In February,
over 20 organisations attended a workshop on APEC in Kuala Lumpur.  A
Secretariat and a Working Committee have been formed and local
organisations have committed to hosting various issue and sector
forums.  A national process of events, seminars, and workshops prior
to the summit will raise awareness about APEC and globalisation and
increase local participation in the summit activities.

What is APEC?

APEC is a regional consultative forum that includes Australia,
Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the
Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States,
with Peru, Russia, and Vietnam as new members this year.  APEC aims
for regional free trade by the year 2010 for developed countries and
2020 for developing countries.

"Through APEC, we aim to get governments out of the way, opening the
way for business to do business."- US Assistant Secretary of State
for Econom ic Affairs Joan Spero

APEC is a non-accountable body in which heads-of-state meet behind
closed doors as "Economic Leaders": representatives of economies not
countries. Participation is limited to government, business, and
academia, and, as a result, APEC fails to address the impact of
globalisation on workers, the environment, human rights, women,
indigenous peoples, farmers, and the poor.  The Asia-Pacific
Peoples' Assembly refuses to let APEC ignore these issues. 

Why a Peoples' Assembly?

There is a rush to globalise.  All over the world, governments are
racing to negotiating tables, eager to sign their sovereignty away
for pieces of the economic miracle that globalisation promises.  The
supposed miracle is tempting: rapid economic growth, rapid
development-a gateway to the good life.  It is also threatening:
those who do not join will surely perish in poverty, isolation, and
backwardness.  But the simplicity of its message masks the enormity
of its effect: globalisation may be the most fundamental redesign of
the world's economic, political, and cultural systems ever to take
place. 

Globalisation, through modern communications and through
free trade blocks, multilateral agreements such as the WTO, and
global financial institut ions such as the World Bank and the IMF,
has produced an unprecedented integration of the world economy.
Money, as those in Mexico and Southeast  Asia certainly understand,
can now travel the world in seconds.  Proponents of globalisation
argue that this integration strengthens competition and ensures the
optimum distribution of resources.  They claim it will bring rapid
economic growth and prosperity for all.

But, behind the promises of prosperity there exists a grim reality:
the disintegration of the social order, increasing inequality and
squalor, displacement and landlessness, violence and homelessness,
alienation and growing fear of the future.  Globalisation has also
brought massive damage to the natural world as evidenced by global
climate change, ozone depletion, widespread species loss, water
crises, and numerous forms of pollution. 

Globalisation has not even managed to create the so-called
level-playing field that it promises; multilateral agreements
continue to reflect power imbalances between the north and the
south.  Few southern countries possess the technological know-how
and capital to compete within the global economy, and multilateral
agreements on investments and intellectual property only exacerbate
the inequalities between nations.  Consequently, competition to
attract capital invariably depends on the "environment" for in
vestment; in other words, the cost of labour, the degree of
environmental and safety regulations, and the level of taxation. 
This is not development but a race to the bottom. 

The proponents of globalisation look beyond the current reality;
they speak about how all boats will eventually rise with the tide of
economic growth.  In the meantime, they acknowledge that some people
will have to suffer and shoulder the risks.  These people are
clearly not from transnational corporations, which now control more
than 60% of all global trade.  And, they are certainly not the
wealthy, who can afford the imported food and the newly privatised
services such as health care.  They are farmers forced off their
lands to make way for large-scale monoculture crops for export.  They
are workers who have lost jobs to machines and corporate flight.
They are women forced to sell their bodies in the tourism industry.
They are indigenous peoples forced off their lands for short-term
mining profits.   And, as they wait for globalisation's unseen
rewards, these people are rapidly losing any democratic space that
they may have had to voice their opposition to these policies and to
seek their rightful dues.

Globalisation has to be scrutinised and exposed.  It is a process
that concentrates capital and political control in the hands of the
few, while offering nothing to those most in need.  We must develop
a vision of a radically reshaped international economic and
financial order where economic power, wealth and income are more
equitably distributed and the environment is respected.  This is our
challenge when we meet during the Peoples' Assembly.

Confronting Globalisation: Reasserting Peoples' Rights

1998 marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.  Yet, as we celebrate the recognition of our universal
rights, violations of these rights have increased dramatically this
year.  The current regional crisis has upset economies, communities,
and environments, and has undermined the economic, social, and
cultural rights that we have struggled hard for.  As past People's
Summits have warned, the crisis is the logical outcome of a model of
development that clearly fails to grasp what "human rights" mean. 

Labour

Globalisation was supposed to bring more jobs, at least that was
what was promised.  Instead, workers everywhere are losing work and
settling for less as employers, armed with labour saving
technologies and open markets, surf the world picking the best bid
from countries desperate for investment.  In the name of profit
maximisation and efficiency, workers are told to compete globally,
creating a vicious downward spiral as wages and benefits fall to the
lowest common denominator.  Any opposition to these deteriorating
conditions is met by smug reminders that jobs can always go
elsewhere.  And indeed they do. 
 

While resistance to free trade is met with stiff punishments, the
demand  for common labour standards is given nothing but lip service.
Workers are constantly denied the right of association and the right
to bargain collectively.  Workers taking industrial action are met
with state repression as governments bend to the will of investors.
Globalisation binds the hands of labour as it frees the hands of
capital.

Women

Women suffer most from globalisation.  In Asia, where the economic
crisis has brought massive unemployment, 60% of those retrenched
have been women.  Increasing poverty and a growing lack of resources
have forced women to migrate across borders only to work in harsh and
exploitative conditions without rights to organise.

The New World Order has escalated the trade of women for sex and
bonded or forced labour. And the privatisation of basic services,
especially health care, is a further threat to women's health and
reproductive rights.
 
Food Security

What do the promoters of globalisation envision for agriculture?
They see a world where nations produce what they can produce most
efficiently and trade those products for the goods that they need
from other nations.  In this scenario, some nations may not even
need any agriculture, because they can trade industrial goods for
food.  Small farmers may be forced off their lands, but this is part
of industrialisation.  And if transnational corporations can bring
food to the table more cheaply, then so be it. 

But what happens when your currency crashes and you are unable to
pay for the food or agricultural inputs that you have to import? 
What happens to the millions whose only access to food comes from
their access to land? What happens when most of the world's food
system is controlled by a handful of transnational corporations? 
What guarantees would there be that the food we eat and produce is
safe and sustainable?  And, what kind of free market is there
anyway when the average annual subsidy to an American farmer is
nearly 8 times the annual income of the average Malaysian farmer? 
Indeed, what happens to food security in the global economy?
 
Proposed Programme of the Peoples' Assembly

November 10:    Opening Ceremonies
                Discussion: "Trade and Investment Liberalisation"

November 11-12: Issue and Sector Forums
                Human Rights and Democracy
                Food Security and Agriculture
                The Environment and Sustainability
                Privatisation and Financial Deregulation
                The Arms Trade and Militarization
                The Urban Poor
                Workers
                Globalization and Children
                Strategies for Peasant Movements
                The Media
                Indigenous Peoples 
                Migrant Labour
                Women
                Youth and Students 
                
November 13-14: Peoples' Assembly (Plenary)

November 15:    Final Assembly
                Closing Activity

Interested organisations and individuals from within and outside of
Malaysia are encouraged to join in hosting the Peoples' Assembly.  If
you or your organisation are interested in hosting or assisting with
a Peoples' Assembly event, an issue or sector forum, or a cultural
activity, please contact the Secretariat for more information.  The
intention is to create a genuine space to contest crucial ideas and
issues in an open and participatory way.


The Secretariat 
57 Lorong Kurau,
59100 Luck Gardens, 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 603-283-6245
fax: 603-283-3536
Email: appasec. at tm.net.my
Website: www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/8340