From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sat Oct 2 12:21:32 1999 From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group) Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 20:21:32 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1317] WTO - Fears that opponents have upper hand Message-ID: <000d01bf0c85$3a9e4da0$ac3261cb@notoapec> >Clinton urged to help 'sell' global trade >Political leaders fear opponents have gained upper hand > >Thursday, September 30, 1999 > >By MICHAEL PAULSON >SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER >WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT > > > > > >WASHINGTON -- Concerned that critics of the World Trade Organization have >taken over the debate and may eventually take over the streets, political >leaders in Seattle and Washington, D.C., are expressing growing >consternation that the Clinton administration isn't doing an adequate job >defending global trade. > >Several Democratic officials in Washington state, including Sen. Patty >Murray, King County Executive Ron Sims and Rep. Adam Smith, are critical of >the administration for allegedly failing to reach out to Democratic allies >in the environmental and labor movements who are critical of the WTO. > >And at a Senate hearing yesterday to discuss preparations for the World >Trade Organization meeting that begins in Seattle Nov. 30, several top >administration officials and senators agreed that U.S. public opinion has >turned against unfettered global trade. > >"To be frank with you, this has not been an easy sell," Commerce Secretary >William Daley said. "Many people see only layoffs. They don't see the >payoffs of this open trading system." > >Clinton administration officials promise high-ranking Cabinet members will >visit Seattle soon to outline the case in favor of global trade. They boast >that, at the insistence of the United States, the WTO has agreed to devote >the day before the ministerial meeting in Seattle to listening to the >concerns of critics. They also promise that President Clinton will speak out >in defense of free trade, and even yesterday Clinton spoke briefly about his >plans for Seattle, saying that he hopes to use the WTO meeting "to raise >working conditions for all." > >But state Democrats, who generally are in lockstep with the Clinton >administration on trade policy, say they have two sets of concerns: that the >mainstream environmental and labor groups planning peaceful protests are >raising legitimate criticisms that are not getting adequate attention from >the administration, and that the more radicalized protesters planning >disruptive activities will sully Seattle's reputation in the eyes of the >world. > >The hand wringing from Seattle began two months ago, when Murray called on >Clinton to meet with labor, environmental and consumer groups in an effort >to "lessen the chance of disruptive confrontations." In a letter to the >Clinton, Murray expressed "deep concern" about the planned protests, warned >that Seattle companies are wary of supporting the WTO because of fear of >repercussions, and told the president "a public defense from you is >warranted and necessary." > >In an interview yesterday, Murray said her concerns have eased since August, >but she remains concerned that disruptive protests could harm Seattle's >image. > >"The labor community is going to have a demonstration, and that's great, the >environmentalists will do the same, and that's a good way to express >opinion, but what I don't want the outside world to see is burning of cars >or something that presents the wrong image," she said. "I am worried that >extreme outside groups may come in and give a flavor that isn't reflective >of who we are to the outside world." > >Sims, who serves on an advisory panel to the U.S. Trade Representative's >Office, said he has been holding a series of meetings with White House >officials in recent weeks demanding more attention to the concerns of WTO >critics. Many of the critics argue that the organization is inattentive to >environmental and labor concerns, and that the United States is surrendering >its values in order to open markets for multinational companies. > >"These are not just global discussions, they're local discussions," Sims >said. "What are they going to do to engage labor and environmentalists more >fully than they have? Who's going to do it, and when are they going to do >it?" > >Sims called on protesters not to interfere with the WTO proceedings, saying >many of the rules to be negotiated are important to Seattle-area companies. >But he said the trade ministers also need to heed the protesters. "The >issues of human rights should not be ignored," he said. "The issue of what's >happening to the environment, and our demand that other countries not denude >their forests, those are legitimate issues. You can't ignore them." > >Smith yesterday met with other centrist Democrats to begin planning for what >he said will be a meeting with U.S. trade officials to seek greater >attention to the concerns of WTO critics. Smith last year refused to back >the Clinton administration on a key trade vote, saying that labor and >environmental concerns were not adequately addressed. > >Like Murray and Sims, Smith said he welcomed "a lively debate," saying "it >would be bad if everybody just showed up and said trade is great, so let's >have a weeklong cheerleading exhibition." But he said he worries that the >administration is not adequately separating isolationists, who he thinks are >not helpful to the debate, from those who support global trade but have >concerns about the WTO. > >"The U.S. trade representative could be doing a much better job at listening >and trying to understand what some of the protests are about," Smith said. >"Yes, some of these people (protesters) are just off the map and want to go >back to the sixth century, but the bulk of them have legitimate concerns >that the U.S. trade representative would be well-served doing a better job >of addressing." > >The concern got unusual support at yesterday's Senate hearing. Agriculture >Secretary Dan Glickman said "out there amongst the average people there is a >tremendous distrust and fear and negative feeling" about global trade, while >Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., said, "We have lost the support for >trade liberalization in this country." > >Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., called for a >stronger defense of free trade: "Protectionism is once again on the rise in >both political parties. . . . If there ever was a time to call those who >believe in free markets to the ramparts, now is the time." > >U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky defended the WTO, saying that >it "has fully proven its value to Americans and to the world." > >But she also took steps to address concerns, announcing that representatives >of many organizations will be allowed to speak directly to the trade >ministers the day before the formal meeting opens. > >"We will be looking for ways to deliver the message ourselves, and to help >other people deliver the message as well," said Barshefsky's spokesman, Tom >Tripp. > >"Everybody understands that it's important to make the connections for >people about what trade means to them every day," Tripp said. "Those >messages can and will be delivered by the president and his administration, >but they also need to be delivered at every level of the economy, right down >to the shop floor." > >Barshefsky's office also employs a full-time liaison to non-governmental >organizations, such as labor and environmental groups, and a top labor >movement official acknowledged that the Clinton administration is attentive. > >"The Clinton administration has been responsive to labor concerns . . . but >we face enormous obstacles at the WTO in making progress with worker rights >issues," said Thea Lee, assistant director of public policy for the AFL-CIO. >"Are we making enough forward progress? No, and our prospects for making >progress in Seattle are dim." > >Some local officials are unfazed by the debate. > >"People in my view are a little bit overreacting to this," said Rep. Jim >McDermott, D-Wash. "I lived through the Vietnam era, so I don't get panicked >when people say they're going to make their wishes known." > >Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., is also not particularly worried about the >protesters, and suggested the news media should do the same. > >"We have to hope the local media doesn't spend all its time talking about >protests," she said. > >But Dunn also said that in a meeting last week with top officials of The >Boeing Co., she urged the company to do more to communicate with its >employees about the value of trade. > >Mayor Paul Schell says he plans to welcome the protesters, saying "that's >the American way. > >"We're trying to get people to see the positive side of this debate," he >said. "Being the center of ideas only enriches our lives." > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- - >---- > > >P-I reporter Michael Paulson > >can be reached at 202-943-9229 or michaelpaulson@seattle-pi.com > > > > From panap at panap.po.my Thu Oct 7 14:08:10 1999 From: panap at panap.po.my (PAN Asia Pacific) Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 13:08:10 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1318] POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT Message-ID: POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific Penang, Malaysia POSITION Programme Coordinator RESPONSIBILITY The appointee will be responsible in providing technical support in the pesticides issue, carry out research on community monitoring with strong emphasis on gender issues. QUALIFICATION Masters in Environmental Studies/pesticide toxicology or Agriculture and/or senior grassroots experience in community research and monitoring. Experience in writing, editing, research and training. Excellent command of English, and/or communication and computer skills is compulsory. SALARY Will commensurate with background and experience. APPLICATION Applicants are to submit application letter and resume to Executive Director PAN Asia and the Pacific PO Box 1170, 10850 Penang, Malaysia Tel: 60-4 6560381 Fax: 60-4 6577445 CLOSING DATE 31st. October 1999 Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific is one of the five regional centres of PAN International, a global coalition of citizens' groups and individuals who are working to promote sustainable agriculture, and oppose the use of pesticides. PAN Asia and the Pacific is dedicated to ensuring the empowerment of people, especially women, agricultural workers, farmers and peasants. We are especially committed to protect the safety and health of people, and the environment from pesticide use. PAN Asia Pacific P.O. Box 1170 10850 Penang Malaysia Tel.: 604-6570271 604-6560381 Fax.: 604-6577445 http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Oct 8 02:27:50 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 10:27:50 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1319] Alternative Nobel Prize Goes to Cuban Group Promoting the Organic Revolu Message-ID: <0.700000824.1907616542-212058698-939317270@topica.com> PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 7, 1999 Alternative Nobel Prize Goes to Cuban Group Promoting the Organic Revolution STOCKHOLM and OAKLAND: The Grupo de Agricultura Organica (GAO), the Cuban organic farming association, which has been at the forefront of the country's transition from industrial to organic agriculture, was named as winner of a major international prize--the Right Livelihood Award--commonly known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize.' The Grupo de Agricultura Organica is one of four winners of the 1999 Right Livelihood Award, chosen from more than 80 candidates from 40 countries. GAO brings together farmers, farm managers, field experts, researchers, and government officials to develop and promote organic farming methods. Its aim is to convince Cuban farmers and policy-makers that the country's previous high-input farming model was too import-dependent and environmentally damaging to be sustainable, and that the organic alternative has the potential to achieve equally good yields. "This award is truely an honor for Cuba, for GAO, and for all the farmers, researchers, and policy makers who have struggled to make organic farming work in Cuba," said Dr. Fernado Funes Aguilar, President of GAO. "We hope that our efforts will demonstrate to other countries that conventional chemically-dependent agriculture is not the only way to feed a country." During the 1990s Cuba overcame a severe food shortage caused by the collapse of its trade relations with the former Soviet-bloc and the on-going U.S. trade embargo. Self-reliant organic farming played a significant role in overcoming the crisis. GAO was founded in 1993 as the Asociación Cubana de Agricultura Organica (ACAO), but recently changed its name when it was legally incorporated as part of the cuban Association of Agricultural and Forest Technicians (ACTAF). Over the past five years it has built up an impresive program of lobbying, training courses, workshops, documentation centers, demonstration farms, and exchange visits for farmers, and has held three international conferences. "I hope this award will awaken the world to the amazing achievements Cuba has made in organic farming and food security", said Martin Bourque, Sustainable Agriculture Program Director of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy. "Through their hard work,innovation, and scientific excellence, GAO and the whole Cuban agricultural sector have demonstrated that low-input sustainable agriculture can work on a national scale." Food First has had a scientific and technical exchange program with GAO, and will co-sponsor GAO's Fourth National Encounter on Organic Agriculture in May of the year 2000. GAO is the first Cuban winner of the Right Livelihood Award. It shares the prize money of SEK 1,800,000 (approximately USD 225,000) with a Colombian network, Consolidation of the Amazon Region (COAMA), working for indigenous rights and biodiversity, and with Chilean-Spanish lawyer Juan Garces, who is honored for his untiring efforts over many years to bring the former Chilean dictator, General Pinochet, to justice. One of the world's leading promoters of solar energy, Hermann Scheer, receives an honorary award. The prizes will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 9, the day before the conventional Nobel Prizes. Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Award has honored more than 80 outstanding individuals and organizations for work contributing to a better future for the world. Peter Rosset, executive director of Food First, said: "This award shows the enormous potential of sustainable agriculture, so underexploited in other countries. The whole world should learn from Cuba." Dr. Rosset went on to say that "in Cuba, organic is for everyone, not just for those who can afford it." For more information on GAO or Food First, you can contact Food First staff members who are available for comment, and access the following website: http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/cuba Grupo de Agricultura Orgánica (GAO) Tulipán 1011 e/Loma y 47 Apdo. Postal 6236C Código Postal 10600, Nuevo Vedado Ciudad de La Habana CUBA Phone: +53 7 845 387 Fax. +53 7 845 387 Email: actaf@minag.gov.cu Right Livelihood Award Administrative Office P.O. Box 15072 S-104 65 Stockholm SWEDEN Tel: +46 (0) 8 702 03 40 Fax: +46 (0) 8 702 03 38 E-Mail: info@rightlivelihood.se http://www.rightlivelihood.se Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy 398 60th Street Oakland, CA 94618 USA Phone: (510) 654-4400 Fax: (510) 654-4551 Email: foodfirst@foodfirst.org http://www.foodfirst.org ### _______________________________________________________________ Planning a vacation? Join the 'Travel Extras' list to receive exclusive travel offers from Topica's partners! To join, visit http://www.topica.com/lists/travel-extras From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Oct 12 02:59:46 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 10:59:46 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1320] Genetic Engineering Ads in the NYT Message-ID: <0.700000824.1991130487-212058698-939664786@topica.com> Genetic Engineering Ads in the NYT Check out the Turning Point Project's second ad series, which is devoted to the subject of genetic engineering, which begins today (Monday, Oct. 11) in the New York Times. Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy is a member of the Turning Point Project, a coalition of more than 60 non-profit organizations that favor democratic, localized, ecologically sound alternatives to current practices and policies. This week's ad: Who plays God in the 21st century? The genetic structures of living beings are the last of Nature's creations to be invaded and altered for commerce. Now they're being seized for corporate ownership. Nothing will ever be the same, and we approach the gravest moral, social, and ecological crises in history. You can find a copy of the ad in the front section of today's New York Times, or download it from the Turning Point project's website at www.turnpoint.org. Remember to keep watching the New York Times every Monday or check Turning Point Project's website for additional advertisements on genetic engineering. For more information contact: The Turning Point Project www.turnpoint.org e-mail: info@turnpoint.org Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Oct 12 08:01:27 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 16:01:27 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1321] STOP THE EXECUTION OF MUMIA! Message-ID: <0.700000824.1032412821-212058698-939682887@topica.com> Emergency Call to Action STOP THE EXECUTION OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! *this message contains details of "day after" demonstrations for Mumia Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Ridge is about to issue a warrant for the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His order will set a specific date for Mumia's execution by lethal injection Mumia will be immediately placed under 24-hour surveillance in a special cell under Phase II conditions, or "Suicide Watch." Governor Ridge and the death-seeking forces that stand behind him will have issued an unprecedented challenge to our movement and to all those who cherish democratic and human rights. The Governor's heinous deed will demand of us a united response that must be heard in every quarter of our society. Mumia's fight for life will be placed at center stage of U.S. politics. With unshakable confidence, we will now take the next critical steps toward the building of a nationally coordinated, broadly-based, mass movement to weigh in on Mumia's behalf. We are pledged to make the contemplated murder of Mumia Abu-Jamal a political price that is unquestionably too high to pay on the part of the powerbrokers who currently oversee the unfolding battle. They will learn that Mumia's case represents an irresistible challenge to the credibility of their "criminal justice system." The National Coordinators of Mumia's defense issue this call for emergency protests in the U.S. and internationally for "The Day After" a warrant is signed in as many cities as possible. (See below for additional details regarding regional actions in Philadelphia and San Francisco.) The death warrant is doubly outrageous because Governor Ridge knows full well that within days Mumia's legal team, headed by Leonard Weinglass, will be filing for a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal District Court. This will initiate the federal appeal's process and, at the same time, secure a stay of the Governor's warrant for Mumia's execution. The defense team will request an evidentiary hearing in order to present to the Federal District Court vital material that was banned from the State court records by the actions of Judge Albert Sabo. Mumia's case has now entered a qualitatively new phase. While it is impossible to predict a time line, all agree that the legal proceedings have entered the "fast track." At the extreme, the Federal District Court may invoke the "presumption of correctness" standard of the 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act and refuse both an evidentiary hearing and a Federal District Court review. Such an action would restart the countdown on Mumia's life. There are a number of legal options available in this eventuality, including an additional appeal to the Federal District Court for a three-judge hearing, and, if, necessary, subsequent appeals to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court. The time period for these appeals could be collapsed into a matter of months. A longer scenario, however, is certainly not excluded. The immediate mobilization of Mumia's supporters in the days ahead is our top priority. Based on the major achievements of Mumia's freedom struggle over the past years, we will then proceed with a comprehensive and united plan of action designed to bring to bear the full power and influence of all those who seek justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Stop the Execution! For a New Trial Now! Philadelphia Regional Protest: If a warrant is signed on Monday - Thursday the "Day After" demonstration will be that Saturday in Philadelphia. If a warrant is signed on Friday, the demonstration will be on the second "Saturday After" (eight days) in Philadelphia, assembling at: Pennsylvania State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, 11 am. People are riding the train down and there will be buses from NYC. Call the Hotline 212-330-8029 and the In'tl Action Center 212-633-6646 for more info. For Philadelphia information: International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal: 215-476-8812. San Francisco: If the warrant is signed, call: The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal: 415-695-7745. THE SCENARIO If a death warrant is signed, there will be (1) local demonstrations on the next day (2) regional (Philadelphia and San Francisco) demonstrations on the next Saturday (unless it is signed on a Friday, then it's 8 days later) In New York City: (1) The next business day, gather in front of the PBA, 40 Fulton St., 1-2 pm; at 2 pm, march to Times Square; at 4:30 pm, demonstrate in Times Square. (2) The next Saturday, travel to Philadelphia. WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you're involved in a Mumia coalition, let us know what your local demo details are so we can publicize them. Call, email, or check the web sites for details in your city. Call or email to get on the Emergency Response Netowork. If there is nothing planned in your city for the day after, call something now. Organize transportation to Philadelphia or San Francisco for the regional Saturday demonstrations. Stay in Touch! For more information, contact In Philadelphia, call International Concerned Family and Friends at 215- 476-8812. In New York City, call the IAC at 212-633-6646 or email iacenter@iacenter.org, or call the Free Mumia Coalition hotline at 212- 330-8029. National Peoples Campaign/Millions for Mumia 39 West 14th Street, #206 New York, NY 10011 212 633-6646 212 633-2889 FAX email: npcny@peoplescampaign.org http://www.peoplescampaign.org Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From rverzola at phil.gn.apc.org Tue Oct 12 20:11:25 1999 From: rverzola at phil.gn.apc.org (Roberto Verzola) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 20:11:25 Subject: [asia-apec 1322] Copycat Currency Trading Raises Market Questions Message-ID: <199910121318.VAA00657@phil.gn.apc.org> >Subject: Copycat Currency Trading Raises Market Questions >Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 08:57:10 +1000 >From: "nettime's roving reporter" >Sender: owner-nettime-l@bbs.thing.net http://www.stratfor.com/asia/specialreports/special91.htm Copycat Currency Trading Raises Market Questions October 7, 1999 Summary Similar movements in the Philippine peso and Thai baht have led to currency trading based on superficial, short-term similarities. Peso trading has mirrored the baht, despite the rather obvious fact that they are two separate countries with different economic policies and considerations. Recent fluctuations in the peso reflect the Thai economy more than that of the Philippines, raising questions about the stability of Asian financial markets. Analysis For the past three months, fluctuations in the Philippine peso have reflected those of the Thai baht. This is not altogether unreasonable, as the two nations have similar export-based economies, compete in the same markets and are similarly affected by global events. However, events in the past week show an overestimation of these similarities by the financial community as it focuses on short-term patterns rather than the domestic economies of each country. >From July to mid-September, the Thai baht depreciated nearly 12 percent, going from around 37 to 41.5 baht to the dollar. The Philippine peso likewise depreciated, dropping nearly 7 percent, from about 38.3 to 41.2. The peso not only mirrored the baht’s general trend, but also mirrored most of the bumps along the way. The baht dipped in late July, peaked in mid-August, and hit another local peak in early September. The peso did likewise, always just a day or two behind. Astute observers caught this pattern and bought and sold the currencies based on it. These transactions further increased the synchronicity of the currencies. Toward the end of September, the two currencies moved almost simultaneously as the peso became increasingly responsive to the baht’s fluctuations. Peso traders paid greater attention to influences on the baht, rather than focusing on the peso and the Philippine economy. However, monetary conditions in the two countries were not the same. The Thai government, no doubt still smarting over the effects of the baht’s meltdown in 1997, was setting up light currency controls prohibiting foreign investors from borrowing more than 50 million baht unless backed by trade or investment activities in Thailand. No such controls were planned by the Philippine government. When these controls were imposed on Oct. 5, the baht abruptly reversed its weeklong trend of appreciation and quickly depreciated, losing about 2 percent of its value in two days. True to form, the peso made a similar move and depreciated as well. Here lies the rub. The baht’s shift was due to an internal monetary policy decision by the Thai government, a decision that altered borrowing patterns and purchases of the baht. The peso’s shift was due in large part to currency traders focused on the baht and ignoring economic signs in the Philippines. If the baht dropped, they figured the peso should as well, even though it had no reason to do so. This logic led to a peso that did not reflect Philippine economic conditions. One of the largest economic factors in the Philippines is a debate over constitutional changes designed to attract foreign investment. We see no evidence of that debate reflected in peso trading. Philippine President Joseph Estrada has been advocating the amendment of a constitutionally mandated limit on foreign investment in the Philippines. Currently, foreigners are barred from owning land and may only own up to 40 percent of certain businesses. Estrada’s proposal would remove many of these restrictions. This is an extremely emotional issue in the Philippines, dividing the country. The result of this debate is of course critical for the future of the economy. In the past week there were two developments in this debate: a legal attack on the amendment process and a committee formed to expedite that same process. The peso did not deviate from the baht’s pattern at either one of those events. Philippine newspapers have not missed the discrepancy, quoting traders who admit their attention is focused on the baht. This behavior is disturbing. While the Philippine and Thai economies are admittedly similar, they are not integrated. Their currencies should be traded due to the strengths and weaknesses of their domestic economies, not due to short-term, self-fulfilling, unsustainable trends. The short conclusion to draw from this behavior is that their currency markets have not yet matured since their "recovery" from the financial crisis. The longer conclusion is a bit more disturbing, and questions the basis of that recovery. info@stratfor.com © 1998, 1999 Stratfor, Inc. All rights reserved. # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net From amittal at foodfirst.org Thu Oct 14 05:30:54 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 13:30:54 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1323] Mumia's Death Warrant Signed Message-ID: <0.700000824.1568275089-212058698-939846654@topica.com> The Governor's Office has sent out a release announcing that the Governor has signed a death warrant for Mumia. The execution is set for December 2, 1999. Leonard Weinglass will file on Friday of this week. Please forward this message. Free Mumia! End the Rascist Death Penalty. Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From amittal at foodfirst.org Thu Oct 14 08:02:10 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 16:02:10 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1324] Action Alert: Protest Mumia's Death Warrant Message-ID: <0.700000824.2087251822-212058698-939855730@topica.com> October 13, 1999 Gov. Ridge has signed the death warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal. His execution date is set for December 2. There will be demonstrations across the country on Thursday, October 14. There will be regional demonstrations in Philadelphia and San Francisco on Saturday, October 16. Stop the Execution! THE SCENARIO The death warrant has been signed! (1) local demonstrations Thursday, Oct. 14 (2) Saturday, Oct. 16: regional demonstrations in Philadelphia and San Francisco Thursday, October 14 Check the Mumia web pages for demonstrations going on across the country. www.mumia.org www.peoplescampaign.org www.iacenter.org In New York City, Thursday, October 14 (1) The next business day, gather in front of the PBA, 40 Fulton St., 1-2 pm; at 2 pm, march to Times Square; at 4:30 pm, demonstrate in Times Square. (2) Saturday, travel to Philadelphia. Call for bus info. Saturday, October 16 Philadelphia Regional Protest is assembling at Pennsylvania State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, 11 am. For Philadelphia information: International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal: 215-476-8812. For NYC and national bus information, call the IAC at 212-633-6646 or email iacenter@iacenter.org, or call the Free Mumia Coalition hotline at 212-330-8029. Saturday, October 16 San Francisco: regional march and rally on Saturday, October 16 assembling at Powell and Market. Call: The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal: 415-695-7745. Stay in Touch! For more information, contact In Philadelphia, call International Concerned Family and Friends at 215- 476-8812. In New York City, call the IAC at 212-633-6646 or email iacenter@iacenter.org, or call the Free Mumia Coalition hotline at 212- 330-8029. National Peoples Campaign/Millions for Mumia 39 West 14th Street, #206 New York, NY 10011 212 633-6646 212 633-2889 FAX email: npcny@peoplescampaign.org http://www.peoplescampaign.org Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From putratan at indosat.net.id Fri Oct 15 15:49:47 1999 From: putratan at indosat.net.id (North Sumatra Peasant Union) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 13:49:47 +0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1325] [Fwd: No more power to IMF] Message-ID: <3806CE8B.F6FEC4F9@indosat.net.id> -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Bob Olsen Subject: No more power to IMF Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 00:28:01 -0400 Size: 7719 Url: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/asia-apec/attachments/19991015/e8f3e66e/attachment.mht From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Oct 19 05:46:20 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 13:46:20 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1326] Take Action on GE Foods Message-ID: <0.700000824.1002542616-212058698-940279580@topica.com> Great opportunity to take action on GE foods Genetic Engineering Action Alert! Call for Labeling! The following advertisement is in today's (Mon. Oct. 18) New York Times: Unlabeled, untested… and you're eating it. In secret, genetically engineered foods are showing up on American grocery shelves. Though other countries now label biotech food, the U.S. FDA still does not require labels or safety tests. Don't you have the right to know what's in your food? And if it's safe for your family? (You can find a copy of the ad in the front section of today's New York Times, or download it from the Turning Point Project's website at http://www.turnpoint.org.) CALL TO ACTION: *Cut out the Turning Point Project ad from the New York Times and bring it to your grocery store manager. Ask that the store label all genetically engineered foods, and that they require food companies to do the same. *Cut out another copy of the ad and mail it with a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the agency responsible for labeling your foods as genetically engineered). In the letter, mention your support for the lawsuit asking for stronger safety testing and mandatory labeling of all genetically engineered foods. Mention the following case name and docket number: Alliance for Bio-Integrity v. Shalala, Docket Number 98-1300 (CKK). Mail to: Jane Henney, Commissioner Food & Drug Administration 5600 Fisher Lane, Room 1471 Rockville, MD 20857 *Contact the EPA in support of the lawsuit that asks the agency to take GMO crops that contain Bt (corn, cotton, and potatoes) off the market until further testing is done to evaluate their environmental risks and potential threats to organic farmers. Mention the following case name and docket number: Greenpeace International v. Browner, Docket Number 99-389 (LFO). Mail to: Carol M. Browner, Administrator Environmental Protection Agency 401 M St., SW, Room W1200 Washington, DC 20460 *The following companies were among those listed as having products that tested positive for genetically engineered ingredients. Please call them and express your concern. Nabisco (Snackwells granola bars): 1-800-8NABNET (1-800-862-2638) General Mills (Total Corn Flakes, Bac-Os bacon bits): 1-(800) 328-1144 Heinz (Heinz 2 Baby Cereal): 1-800-USA-BABY (1-800-872-2229) Kellogg's (Corn Flakes): 1-800-962-1413 Nestle (Carnation Alsoy Infant formula): 1-818 549 6818 Visit www.turnpoint.org for more phone numbers, or to get a complete list of foods that tested positive for genetically engineered ingredients. More Ways You Can Help: *Write a letter to the Editor of the New York Times or your local newspaper. Refer them to the ad you saw. Tell them you support our advertisements and would like to see follow-up stories on these topics. Letters to the New York Times can be sent to: Letters to the Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 Fax (212) 556-3622 e-mail: letters@nytimes.com *Eat organic foods. No private organic certifier in the U.S. allows genetically engineered foods to be considered organic. Currently, eating organic is the only way to insure G.E. free food. *Keep organic organic. Write a letter to the US Department of Agriculture and demand that no loopholes be included in National Organic Standards that would allow any genetically engineered foods to be considered organic. Here's the address for the USDA National Organic Program: Keith Jones Program Manager, USDA-AMS-TM-NOP Room 2510 - S AG Stop 0275 PO Box 96456 Washington D.C. 20090-6456 Or e-mail: TKeithJones@usda.gov *Invite a speaker from one of the groups listed in our resource guide to come and give a talk to your community about issues of genetic engineering that affect you. *Hang these ads in your office, school, church, and home. Help spread the word about genetic engineering. *Ask all candidates for office where they stand on genetic engineering. Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From deom at jps.net Wed Oct 20 02:34:16 1999 From: deom at jps.net (David E. Ortman) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 10:34:16 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1327] Re: Antonio Tujan (IBON) on Alternatives To The APEC Agenda In-Reply-To: <001701bf036d$1a264ee0$633261cb@notoapec> Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19991019103416.00704a64@mail.jps.net> FR: David E. Ortman, Seattle, WA (APEC '93, NGO Coordinator) (deom@JPS.NET) CORRECTION: Alternatives to APEC began with the Seattle, WA (USA) APEC '93. Labor, environmental and human rights groups joined together to protest the "Hidden Costs of Free Trade". A four issue ECO-APEC Watch was published (e-mailable copies available). East Timor people and their supporters played a large part in raising human rights issues. An NGO delegation made up of labor, environmental and human rights organizations demanded and got a two-hour meeting with the APEC Secretariat to present our views. =========== At 06:36 AM 9/20/1999 -0700, APEC Monitoring Group wrote: > >Alternatives to the APEC Agenda >Antonio Tujan Jr. > > > >ALTERNATIVES TO THE APEC AGENDA > >At every APEC Leaders' Meeting from Bogor, Indonesia to the present here in Auckland, New Zealand, the East Timor people and their supporters have hounded the APEC leaders to protest and demand action on the issue of Indonesian invasion and genocide in East Timor. They have been told instead that as an association of economies, the APEC involved simply with economic matters and they should take their case elsewhere. > >We know, of course, that the issue of East Timor is not simply about colonial expansionism and genocide, but is about economy. The reason behind the Indonesian occupation of East Timor is not to save East Timor from the Portuguese or reclaim it, but the age-old reason behind colonial expansion: to take control over the rich natural resources of East Timor. > >And what prevents the APEC powers from intervening in the issue in the name of humanity is not respect for Indonesia's sovereignty, just as the US did not bother to consider Yugoslavia's sovereignty in engineering a NATO bombing and invasion. It is hypocrisy to blame the so-called militias for the carnage and wait for Indonesia's invitation when it is plainly clear as confirmed by independent observers that the Indonesian military is responsible for these militias and is directly involved in killing civilians. > >The reason for this is also economic. APEC powers such as the US, Canada, Australia and Japan, as well as New Zealand are keenly aware that their billions of investments and trade with Indonesia could be jeopardized if they should step on the toes of the Indonesian elite still dominated by Suharto and the military bureaucracy. > >APEC is indeed not simply about economic concerns because the APEC agenda for free trade and globalization affects our very lives and the fate of our communities. This agenda is putting the corporation and its greed for profits over every facet if our lives. APEC is putting the agenda of the corporation to amass superprofits above the interests of the people, above our welfare, social services and security. > >It has been often been mentioned how important the APEC is because of the economic clout of the Pacific rim countries that comprise it. Indeed, the APEC brings into its fold many of the world's major economic powers and emerging major economic players like China and the ASEAN. The Asia-Pacific is a broad and complex grouping of diverse countries, a fact that makes the APEC a challenging and formidable project, and at the same time, an important international political economic instrument - whether for the interest of developing economic cooperation between countries or something more. > >Whatever were the intentions of the academics and technocrats who conceptualized the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation as an international organization, and the political intentions of the governments which initiated it, economic and technical cooperation in the APEC soon gave way to the exigencies of real politik in the Asia-Pacific. The APEC became a convenient counterfoil to an emerging Japan-ASEAN force in the Western Pacific, in this manner serving US interests for hegemony in the Pacific. > >An effective tool for neoliberal globalization > >Beyond the interplay of regional and interregional issues in the APEC are the major issues that dominate the APEC: the promotion of free trade and the whole program of neoliberal globalization and through this, the promotion of the US agenda for hegemony in the Pacific. Ever since Seattle, when the US altered the political and programmatic agenda of APEC along the lines of free trade, the APEC has evolved into an important international tool or mechanism for neoliberal restructuring of Pacific rim countries. > > The APEC has served to broadcast in its early years the powerful message for globalization and the myth that this is an inexorable process brought about by technological revolution. The layman and even a number of NGOs have bought this lie that since technology is for development and the welfare of humankind, then globalization is good. And since business controls technology, then they must be given free rein to invest, trade and supposedly develop our economies. And There Is No Alternative. > > For many countries indebted to the IMF and the World Bank, globalization was implemented through the Washington consensus that imposed policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization as components of the Structural Adjustment Programs. For many others, an elaborate campaign and diplomatic offensive was utilized that used the example of the so-called Asian tigers as an attraction, or used the example of the economic collapse of the Soviet blocs countries as supposed proof of the superiority of the market. In most cases, the globalists just plainly threatened everyone with even more crisis if they do not jump unto the globalization bandwagon. > > The APEC is an important mechanism to sustain a momentum for neoliberal restructuring for an important economic chunk of the globe. This is achieved by creating an overall political atmosphere and pressure for liberalization, especially in trade. It has been effective in drawing in such politically difficult countries like China and Malaysia and dealing with regional economic interests of Japan, ASEAN or Australia. Besides such measures as insisting that it is an association of economies, the APEC has achieved this by using herd tactics, actually calling working group leaders as "shepherds" headed by a "lead shepherd". > >Additionally, liberalization is achieved through specific political pressuring and commitments for sector liberalization and country programs. The annual Leaders' Meetings provide an occasion and, in a sense, a deadline towards hammering out specific agreements and commitments on particular key issues such as country commitments in Manila, trade in information technology and telecommunications in Vancouver or Early Voluntary Sector Liberalization for a number of commodity lines in Kuala Lumpur. > >Liberalization of the Asia-Pacific countries is also further achieved insiduously through programs involving economic and technical cooperation that are meant to ensure that protectionist policies are removed from legitimate social and environmental concerns. Such is the policy handling of marine resources conservation, or promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for example. > >Another aspect that makes the APEC distinct is its concern for trade facilitation. Beyond implementing economic policies, the APEC addresses such issues as harmonization of standards and procedures among many others that actually make the difference in realizing free trade. > >Finally, the APEC is more than just trade liberalization. When it raised the slogan of "APEC means business!" in 1996 in Manila, the APEC clearly proclaimed its dictum of corporate rule. The overall APEC objective is to realize not simply the promotion of business among APEC countries through increased trade and investment, but unabashedly uphold the primacy of business interests in the formulation of economic policy. > >This is not to mean that corporate control has not been present in our governments this century. What it simply means, is that under globalization, monopoly capital has become more aggressive and blatant in exercising control over the state in order to erode social protection and services over nations and peoples. > > Among multilateral and plurilateral organizations, only the APEC has so far gone beyond the tenets of neoliberalism and exposed the hand of monopoly capital in enshrining the concept of corporate-state partnership through the ubiquitous role of the ABAC in its affairs. The ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) has become something of an arbiter of what should be done and what is right in the various working groups and committees of the APEC. > > The APEC has openly provided monopoly capital, in the guise of the ABAC, direct hand in influencing or determining the policies APEC countries must take in order to facilitate business. In this way, the APEC becomes an effective tool in harmonizing and restructuring countries in the Asia-Pacific in order that monopoly capital realizes faster the benefits of globalization. Under the baton of the US, this can only mean providing the US monopoly corporations the competitive edge in the Pacific rim. Thus trade facilitation over and above economic and technical cooperation makes the APEC more powerful than simply implementing liberalization. > >Some quarters have opined that the APEC has lost its direction and has reached a cul-de-sac in its development. It may be true that the APEC has failed in its principal mission of fastracking trade liberalization. But the US as the dominant force in determining the development of APEC remains aggressive in pushing forward the agenda for liberalization in the APEC member economies, as shown in its initiatives such as that on e-commerce, IT products, and the EVSL (Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization) initiative. > >However, the APEC has not been able to follow the pace that the US wants as its initiatives face the difficulties in the diversity of reactions and complicated processes among member economies. Furthermore, as an organization for liberalization, economic cooperation and trade facilitation operating in several sectors and issues or concerns as the same time, the APEC has evolved into more than two hundred projects, many of them overlapping, giving the impression of confusion. But these initiatives are all moving, albeit in extreme difficulty, in the direction of of realizing the goals set forth in Bogor and Manila. > > As the initiatives for expanding and accelerating the overall process of neoliberal globalization moves to the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle this November, the APEC has not become lost. It has simply taken a back seat to the WTO. And the APEC continues to play its supportive role in realizing the US agenda in the WTO. > > The Seattle Leaders' Meeting did not only bring forth a new APEC that put Japan and Mahathir's Malaysia in its proper place under US Pacific hegemony. The APEC also became a foil that pushed the European Union back to the negotiating table for the final Uruguay Round agreement of the GATT. Since then, the APEC continues to reflect the top issues in the US agenda for the continuing process of globalization. As the Seattle Ministerial Meeting comes near, the APEC meetings increasing echo the forthcoming issues in the effort to accelerate the process of liberalization in such crucial areas as government procurement, e-commerce, investment, and competition policy. > >The APEC cannot be reformed > > The APEC Leaders' Meetings have served the purpose of grandstanding the APEC agenda for globalization as well as push for specific policy initiatives for trade liberalization. However, these media events have also become an occasion that has drawn the various political issues in the various APEC countries creating much political difficulty for organizing these circuses. The recent example in Auckland is the issue of East Timor. More importantly, these occasions have also provided the people's movements in various APEC countries an opportunity to develop their solidarity and raise an increasingly loud voice of protest that serve to delegitimize APEC. > > The APEC is deceptive because of the agenda for economic and technical cooperation and trade facilitation built into its program of liberalization. Furthermore, the APEC has responded into such social concerns as the environment, migrant labor and women. But in each case, government-business partnership that makes the APEC has succeeded in turning its supposedly egalitarian social and economic concerns into a triumph of the market each time. > > The APEC must be junked as an instrument of globalization and corporate power. It is intensifying the people's difficult plight through its agenda for monopoly capitalist profiteering in partnership with government. It is a tool to destroy the sovereignty of nations through various ways and guises in advancing superpower domination. Globalization and trade liberalization continues to marginalize and impoverish our peoples, destroying their jobs and livelihood. > > For example, the Philippines has been an exporter of sugar since the nineteenth century. This century it has been a major global exporter at the rate of two million tons annually at its peak in the 1970s. But semifeudal conditions in the production of sugar have eroded this productive capacity and now the Philippines is hardly self-sufficient in sugar. On the other hand, reduction of tariffs under the GATT and the AFTA has resulted in the massive inflow of cheaper Australian and Thai sugar. As a result, the hundreds of thousands of small and medium farmers are facing bankruptcy while the even more numerous farmworkers stand to lose their jobs. > > Another urgent issue is corn. Corn has been left rotting in the fields in Cotabato, south of the Philippines, in this year's harvest season. The reason being peddled in Manila is that there is a lack of postharvest facilities since the warehouses are bulging with newly harvested stocks. What is not being revealed is that livestock raisers are no longer buying this corn since they have been allowed to import US corn at less than P5 per kilo, even lower than domestic production costs. Warehouses are full of newly harvested corn because no one is buying the more expansive local yellow corn. > >New issues in the WTO Seattle Ministerial Meeting > >In the whole framework of trade liberalization and globalization, the APEC is directly linked to the GATT Uruguay Round and the WTO. As the preeminent multilateral framework for trade liberalization, the WTO sets general standards for liberalization in the APEC. On the other hand, the APEC helps pushes the US agenda in the WTO against EU and other countries. Furthermore, the APEC can and does serve to protect and strengthen US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. > >The Seattle Ministerial Meeting of the WTO is exceedingly important because of the EU and US agenda to push for a Millennium Round in order to expand liberalization to new areas. This is over and above their intention to strengthen the effectivity of the current agreements covered by the built-in agenda for review such as the Agreement on Agriculture, the TRIPS and the General Agreement on Trade in Services. > >There is a growing movement among farmers and peasants all over the world led by La Via Campesina demanding that the agriculture must be taken out of the WTO. Third World agriculture, in particular, has been ravaged by trade liberalization through the GATT Agreement on Agriculture. Through this agreement, self-sufficient agricultural systems in Third World countries are being destroyed through competition from cheap subsidized agricultural imports from the First World countries. Furthermore, transnational corporations like Monsanto and Cargill are creating massive restructuring of agriculture, controlling inputs and trade and marginalizing small farmers in the process and leading them to bankruptcy. > >There is also a growing global movement calling upon governments to reject the US and EU pressures for a new so-called Millennium Round. This round must be prevented in order that their objectives to negotiate new agreements are foiled. Among these new agreements are the effort to bring a multilateral framework on investment to replace the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment. On this point alone, the Millennium Round must be stopped. > >But other equally damaging agreements to expand the scope of trade and investment liberalization are in the works. The proposed agreement on competition policy is not about curtailing global monopoly transnational corporations of the First World, but about dismantling the effort of Third World countries to temporarily cushion the impact of trade liberalization by instituting controls such as import licensing. > >There are also negotiations towards a new agreement for the liberalization of government procurement. Previously privatization of the government in utilities and infrastructure besides states assets and social services has resulted in the megasales that have expanded the horizon for monopoly capital investment, and added tremendously to the phenomenon of commercialization under globalization. Now, the proposed liberalization of government procurement will ensure that transnational giants are able to wrestle their way into a major area for business transaction and trade in the procure of government supplies and equipment like computers, telecommunications and even office supplies. > >More agreements are being proposed, including an agreement into e-commerce which would provide tremendous economic advantage to US corporations in banking and finance as well as in the software and information trade. Another one is also bring brought forward into the APEC and the WTO which would ensure the free trade in products made from genetically modified organisms or what is euphemistically called trade in biotechnology products. > >People's Alternatives to Trade > > Trade is necessary because of differences in our communities. While New Zealand produces dairy products, trade brings these products to the Philippines where tropical conditions do not make it very efficient to raise dairy cows. On the other hand, the Philippines raises tropical fruits like pineapples which would not grow very well or would have to be grown under very inefficient utilization of energy in temperate New Zealand. > > Trade allows the equalization of these differences where trade is conducted between communities and countries under conditions of equality, cooperation and mutual benefit. In this manner, trade not only directly benefits the people who can enjoy these products but also can be made a contributory factor for economic and social development. > > Trade, however, can also be made and has historically acted as a force to perpetuate inequality among communities. It has promoted this inequality and has become an instrument for economic subjugation of weaker communities, of colonization. The principal reason for this is that trade is not simply an egalitarian intercourse between communities most of the time, but between merchants or by merchant entities who trade for profit. > > Under monopoly capitalism, trade becomes a powerful economic tool of imperialism. Free trade for monopoly capitalism means giving free hand to monopoly capital to expand its monopoly and increase the extraction of superprofits from the colonies and semicolonies. Trade not so much about exchange of commodities between countries as exchange of commodities between transnational corporations which control a full two-thirds of world trade. And if we take into account the fact that one third of world trade is conducted as intra-TNC transactions, then trade clearly takes on a new dimension of corporate exploitation of labor and resources in weaker countries. > >The APEC Agenda for Imperialist Globalization > > We all know that the APEC is not just about trade liberalization. When we planned for the APEC protests and conferences in Manila we decided that APEC's agenda for imperialist globalization best captures the totality of the issue that APEC means for the people of the Asia-Pacific. But some of us said that globalization, per se, is nothing new. It has come in waves of imperialist colonization since the 19th century. > > But what is new with this new wave of globalization is that it has a neoliberal agenda to realize the objective of expansion of markets for trade and investment and intensification of exploitation for superprofits. This phenomenon can best be summed up in four points: First, a global crisis of overproduction that has reached critical proportions in the devastating recessionary crises in the 80's provides the conditions for intensifying competition among TNCs and the impetus to open up countries for more trade and investment. > > Second, globalists have foisted new myths of neoliberalism to justify the globalist economic policies. These are the myths that would have us believe that globalization is about technology and is good, that globalization is about increased business and is absolutely necessary to survive, that there is no alternative to the inexorable process of globalization. > > Third, for the same objective to expand markets for goods and investments, colonizers utilize new instruments of liberalization of trade, investment and finance, deregulation and privatization. Some have called this process recolonization. However, for the Maori and Filipino peoples, for example, who have remained neo-colonized, this process is the intensification of this neo-colonialism. > > Fourthly, this is the neoliberalism of monopoly capital for whom it principally benefits. Small and medium capitalists have been marginalized or even dispossessed in the rapacious process of accummulation as a result of the opening of markets and the resulting destruction of productive forces in various globalized countries. This neoliberalism is an oxymoron, for these are monopolists utilizing liberal phraseology and policies in order to remove barriers to their monopoly operations. > >As a natural result, we are witness to a rapid process of even greater concentration of wealth and resources in monopoly conglomerates. Every industry and sector of economic activity in the world today is monopolized further by a smaller group of supermonopolies, so to speak, as mergers and acquisitions continue everyday. This also means the greater concentration of power and greater danger of fascism in the world today. > >Alternatives to the APEC Agenda of Globalization > > Our response to neoliberalism cannot simply be a return to Keynesian economics of greater state intervention to prevent unbridled monopoly capitalism. Neoliberalism has in fact exposed in all its nakedness the violence and greed of capitalism. It is not our wont and interest to strengthen capitalism through Keynesian neo-classical policies. > >Neither can our response be to seek narrow nationalist protection from foreign inroads without critically pursuing equitable social benefits from trade and other economic endeavors for our peoples and communities. This would simply be strengthening and protection our own bourgeoisie which are actually tied to global monopoly capital and whose interest is simply protecting itself while ensuring the opening up of other countries for their own benefit. > > Governments and the elite talk about economic development or even sustainable development as their goal. We cannot disagree with this although we would emphasize that sustainable economic development must fundamentally be rooted in social development and the achievement of equity, soveriegnty and liberation, even. > > They say the objective to achieve this goal is through continuous economic growth while we say that the objective should be to ensure social development, food security, social services and welfare and so on. They assume then that the key to continuous economic growth is business as the engine of growth while we say that the key to social development is people supported by a pro-people policy of governance. > > Naturally, if these neo-classical economists want continuous economic growth through business development, then the problem lies in the lack of efficiency in various economic sectors, an inefficiency that is also brought about by protectionism. We say this means colonization and monopoly. What is needed is the dismantling of monopoly and the institution of social protection and welfare. > >We must fight for the people's alternatives to globalization. I will not go into specific models of the peoples' alternatives. It is for us to develop these models, to work on these models as we advance our resistance to globalization. In fact, this resistance stands as our first and most important alternative to globalization. > >Models for working alternatives to globalization are also drawn from our own daily experiences and from that of our communities. And finally, these models are rooted in our histories as peoples and as communities. > >In developing these models, we draw guidance and inspiration from fundamental principles that put the people first in our agenda and underscore our opposition to globalization. First is equality. Our economic alternatives must be founded on the objective to achieve equality of access to resources, opportunity to livelihood and economic well-being, and share in the social fruits of labor. > >Second is power. Related to the issue of equality is the issue of distribution of power over resources and production, and over the fruits or bounty of society. Related to this issue is the objective of achieving sovereignty for the people and their empowerment in the society's economic, social, political and cultural life. > >Third is democracy. The foundation of democracy is of course the people's empowerment, that sovereignty resides in the people and not simply on discrete political institutions of government. And this is why I usually talk of the myth of democracy, not only in Third World countries like the Philippines which is obviously not democratic, but more so in the developed countries in the Free World where democratic institutions supposedly exist and the people enjoy democracy. > >Sovereignty rightfully resides in the people and therefore it must be reclaimed, asserted and expressed by the people. Assertion of the people's economic sovereignty means reclaiming their control over the communities' resources, ensuring the people's livelihood and economic welfare, achieving economic development for our societies and implementing the equitable redistribution of resources, opportunities and the products of society's labor. > >Sometimes I wonder which country is more democratic. Or maybe the people in the First World enjoy only a little more democracy than the Philippines. Our country is so obviously not democratic that we do not take democracy for granted and must fight for it all the time. Thus our media is very boisterous and also very precious for freedom-loving Filipinos. > >This is the reason why we have this funny concoction called "people power" where if one feels oppressed then one finds recourse not so much in government or the justice system but in the streets through militant protest. This situation has reached absurd proportions where government officials who feel they have been wronged by higher officials resort to "people power" by their supporters in order to find redress or even to pressure higher offices of government to grant their demands. > >We now have the case of Charter Change which is a very big issue in our country. The democratic forces are fighting the government's effort to globalize the Constitution and in the process extend the term of President Estrada and his party. I was asked in a forum by a fourteen year old high school student why we should bother preventing charter change when the constitution is not at all good and is not being respected in the first place. > >Indeed, the Cha-Cha as it is called in the Philippines, is not a grand democratic process of fighting for a better, democratic Constitution. Rather it is simply a political fight between neo-liberals who want to globalize the Constitution and the progressive movement which is simply trying to prevent the Estrada government from turning this Constitution into a worse one. In this way, we hope to protect what little Constitutional or legal protection we still have for national patrimony and the people's economic rights. > >For example we have an Indigenous People's Rights Act in the Philippines which does not really give the indigenous peoples their democratic rights and ancestral domain, but instead provides the opportunity for corporations and individuals to legally take away the indigenous people's ancestral domain from them. Thus we have many cases of indigenous peoples such many Manobo tribes in Mindanao which have decided not to deal with this law nor with the government and would rather fight in the towns and in the forests to keep their ancestral domain. > >Finally, we have solidarity. A people's solidarity founded on equality underpins our national and international relations and struggles. This solidarity can only be achieved until those who are dominant whether by class, gender, race, ethnicity and so on recognize their dehumanization by their dominance or are dethroned by those they dominate. > >For example, many men activists in the Philippines fashion and call themselves feminists in recognition of the gender issue and women oppression. I may be recognized as one of the foremost supporters of the women's movement in the Philippines but I have come to realize in time that I am only a theoretical feminist. That one can become a true feminist if one has fully understood and felt the pain in being a woman in this patriarchal world. > >It is easy for us to talk about strengthening the public domain, or of making public key industries, assets and enterprises for the public good. But unless the foundation by which this public sector is based on genuine solidarity and equality, is based on struggle to achieve that equality, then what is made public simply becomes new structures for domination. > > Indeed, the struggle is also within ourselves. But this struggle and our objective can only be achieved as we struggle against all forms of domination and subjugation, against colonization and imperialism. > >Auckland, 11 September 1999 > > From amittal at foodfirst.org Wed Oct 20 11:05:26 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:05:26 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1328] Food First Releases "America Needs Human Rights" Message-ID: <0.700000824.28239158-212058698-940385126@topica.com> For Immediate Release Contact: Ms. Anuradha Mittal October 19, 1999 Tel: (510) 654-4400 New Book Offers a Fresh View of the State of Our Union, Based on Human Rights: Does Deepening Poverty Amid the Plenty of a Booming Economy Violate Human Rights? Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy releases: America Needs Human Rights Edited by Anuradha Mittal and Peter Rosset "America Needs Human Rights provides a cogent analysis of fundamental problems that disfigure our society, along with guidelines for addressing them in a constructive way. It is accessible, informative, and compelling." - Noam Chomsky, Nobel Laureate "I have seen hunger and starvation emerge as primary weapons used to rob entire populations of their will, their dignity, their health, and their freedom. All persons of good will and democratic ideals must recognize the right to food as one of the great challenges of the next millennium. America Needs Human Rights places economic justice at the forefront of the struggle for universal human rights." - John Conyers, Jr., Member of Congress, Michigan Oakland, CA-The Oakland-based policy think tank, Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, today released a book that takes a fresh look at hunger and poverty in America, this time through the lens of human rights. The editors of the book conclude that current social policy in the United States violates universally recognized human rights standards, and call for a human rights-based movement to change these policies. America may be in the midst of an economic boom, but millions of Americans are not sharing the benefits. While the wealthy grow richer, millions of poor working Americans grope for their infinitesimal share of the boom. The gap between rich and poor in America is approaching its worst point in fifty years and is the largest such gap among eighteen industrialized countries. Despite glowing media reports on our economy, hunger affects an estimated thirty-six million Americans, at least fourteen million of whom are children. One in five children under the age of five lives in poverty-the highest rate among industrialized countries. The number of uninsured Americans has increased to over 44.3 million. It doesn't have to be that way in a nation like ours. America Needs Human Rights is a call to reverse those priorities. In America needs Human Rights, editors, Anuradha Mittal and Peter Rosset argue that the wealth and resources clearly exist in the U.S. for every man, woman and child to have a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, and access to decent education, health care, and a job that pays a living wage. Ms. Mittal, Policy Director at the Institute, explains that, "the very survival of our democratic system depends on breaking out of the narrow confines of conventional political views. We need to focus on public policy issues affecting hunger and poverty in America as social and economic human rights issues. Organizing and creating new alliances, and shifting basic terms on which America's public debate takes place, using the framework of human rights, is the hope that guides us into the new century," said Mittal. America Needs Human Rights argues that it is a systematic and widespread violation of the most basic of human rights for so many to go without, amid so much plenty. In the past, the U.S. government has applied the framework of human rights selectively to mostly Third World countries. "The time has come," said co-editor Rosset, who is the Executive Director of the Institute, "to take a hard look at our human rights record right here at home. "It matters to Americans whether or not our nation lives up to the international human rights standards to which we subscribe," he said. "Americans do believe in fairness and justice. Whether our nation live up to its beliefs matters morally, in terms of right and wrong, and also in terms of the spirit and quality of life that a nation and its people enjoy." America Needs Human Rights lays out the depth of the crisis being faced by so many Americans, and clearly explains the causes of this crisis, and issues a powerful and moving call for change. Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy-founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins after the success of Diet for a Small Planet, is an 'outside the beltway' policy think tank that carries out research and education-for-action. Food First works to identify the root causes of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world, and to educate the public as well as policymakers about these problems and alternative solutions to them. About the Editors Anuradha Mittal is Policy Director at Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy. She is also the coordinator of the national campaign "Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!" Peter Rosset is the Executive Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, and teaches at Stanford University. He co-authored the recent book, "World Hunger: Twelve Myths." ### America Needs Human Rights Anuradha Mittal and Peter Rosset, editors. ISBN 0-935028-72-2 (paperback) 1999, Food First Books, 237 pp., $13.95 Individual orders may be placed at http://www.foodfirst.org Distributed by LPC Group 1-800-243-0138 Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sun Oct 24 02:03:43 1999 From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 10:03:43 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1329] Fw: PMO "directly involved" in APEC security Message-ID: <000901bf1d78$906ff2c0$433261cb@notoapec> > >PMO 'directly involved' in APEC security > >RCMP documents: Legitimate protesters removed for political reasons: >Mounties > >Mark Hume >National Post >October 22, 1999 > >PHOTO: >Colleen Kidd, the Province >Students at the University of British Columbia set up a make-shift >campground to protest the APEC summit, being held on the campus. Police and >protesters clashed violently at the end of the summit. > > >VANCOUVER - The Prime Minister's Office played a direct role in security >efforts at the 1997 APEC summit here, according to confidential police >documents that have been obtained by the RCMP Public Complaints >Commission. > >The commission, chaired by Ted Hughes, British Columbia's former >conflict-of-interest commissioner, is conducting an inquiry into police >actions at the international economic conference, which was marred by >violence when RCMP riot squads clashed with protesters at the University >of British Columbia. > >The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, >have long denied being involved in security issues at the summit. > >Questioned in the House of Commons on Sept. 23, 1998, Mr. Chretien said >allegations of his involvement [in security operations] were "based on no >facts at all." > >But the newly revealed documents show the PMO was so deeply involved that >senior police officers in Vancouver were routinely calling Ottawa. > >RCMP telephone and radio transcripts for Nov. 21, the day the prime >minister was due to arrive, show the police removed demonstrators from a >conference site at the University of British Columbia, not for security >reasons, but because Mr. Chretien's office would have ordered them "outta >there." > >In a conference call, the RCMP security experts fret over the legal >ramifications of moving in on a group of youths -- who had pitched a >single tent near the UBC Museum of Anthropology -- who were doing nothing >illegal. Legally they could not justify it, says the transcripts, but >politically they knew Ottawa would demand they act. > >"From a police point of view we're caught between a rock and a hard >place," Superintendent Wayne May, chief of APEC security, says in the >transcript. > >At one point Supt. May says in a conference call with other RCMP officers >that the usual rules of conduct don't apply, because of the level of >intense Ottawa involvement. > >"We know how we normally ... treat these things ... but ah then the ah, >prime minister's not directly involved, when we're, ya know, in, in >dealing with ah, tree huggers and that sort of thing. But ah, right now >the prime minister of our country is directly involved and he's gonna >start giving orders, and it might be something that ah, we can't live with >or er, that's gonna create us a lot of, a lot of backlash in the final >analysis so, we've got to try to develop a strategy," he said, referring >to the problem of protesters. > >One officer described them as "naive kids," who merely wanted to make a >point, and who would probably move if they were asked to. > >But with the prime minister and his aides due to visit the site on a >pre-conference inspection tour, police felt they were under enormous >pressure to take action. > >Supt. May looked for legal ways to get the protesters off the site, while >at the same time trying to fend off demands from the PMO, which wanted >them evicted. > >Speaking with other officers on Nov. 21, Supt. May said the prime minister >would not be pleased when he heard there were protesters camping at the >UBC site. > >"Even they [the prime minister's staff] say they're not concerned with the >security aspect of the prime minister's visit there, but it's the >perception, it's, it's, the ah, um, it's the ah politics of it if you come >right down to it, an, an, their concerned that ah, ah, ya know when the >prime minister's told of this he's just gonna tell 'em, whatever it takes >get 'em outta there." > >In another call police officers say "we've got pressure from the PMO" and >"Wayne May is obviously just getting pummelled by the PMO people." > >The transcripts also imply that the RCMP was in turn put under pressure by >Ottawa to tell UBC officials to evict the students. The university >administration at first resisted the Mounties' attempts, saying the >students had a democratic right to protest as long as they obeyed the law. >But eventually, officials agreed to a police suggestion that the UBC site >be temporarily leased to the federal government, who could then evict the >students for trespassing. > >Speaking on the telephone from the command centre, Brian McGuinness, >deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department, tells a lawyer that UBC >has agreed to the deal and the site will be turned over the next day. > >"We are getting a great deal, well the prime minister's office has said, I >want them removed so we're trying to dance around that because we're >saying, 'Hey, there's laws of the land here that the prime minister's in >charge of and we're trying to find a way that we can legally remove them.' >" > >Deputy Chief McGuinness said that in the meantime, UBC had agreed the >police could move in if the demonstration at the museum escalated. > >"We're trying to take that back to the prime minister to see if he'll live >with that," he said. "That's just a proposal, like I said we're trying to >get that past the prime minister." > >Later Bill Ard, an RCMP Inspector, tells another officer that, "the prime >minister wanted everybody removed ... OK, well that was the deal, he >wanted everybody removed, and we're feeling that there's no legal way to >do that at this point, so there's been a compromise at UBC." > >The tension that was building at the RCMP command centre is obvious when >Supt. May and a fellow Superintendent, Vince Casey, talk about how the >number of protesters at the museum site has grown from four people to a >dozen. > >The next day Jean Pelletier, the prime minister's chief of staff and Jean >Carle, his chief of operations, were due to visit the site -- and they >were sure to see the protest camp. When Mr. Carle testified at the inquiry >last August, he denied giving orders to the RCMP on security issues -- >saying he merely expressed his opinion. > >"I did not give instructions [to the RCMP]," said Mr. Carle. He conceded >he may have been "forceful" in his recommendations to police, but insisted >it was still "the RCMP [that] makes the decision." > >Mr. Chretien had also been due to go along on that visit, but had >cancelled at the last minute. > >"And, that's gonna put Carle in a bad spot," says Supt. Casey. > >Supt. May agrees and worries that the PM's staff "may overreact." > >Replies Supt. Casey: "Do you want me to call Trevor, and if there's any >excuse to remove these people at all, to remove them?" > >Supt. May: "Ya ... The slightest bit of excuse they give us, let's get 'em >'outta there." > >Supt. Casey then calls Trevor Thompsett, another superintendent at the >RCMP command centre: > >"Ya Trevor, I was just talking to Wayne, and he's got a little bit of a >political problem developing tomorrow morning or has developed. He's >taking the number two and number three man for the prime minister out >there tomorrow ... they may react if these protesters are there, he may >have a little bit of a problem on his hands ... Now he's indicating we >should almost have these guys out of there even before they get out there >tomorrow morning." > >Supt. Thompsett: "Holy shit ... like according to the agreement we had >[with UBC] they're gonna have to do something, either multiply or do >something wrong eh. I mean don't get me wrong, I'd like to get the suckers >out of there too." > >Supt. Casey: "They're just causing us one damn headache." > >Supt. Thompsett: "Wouldn't you believe it eh, I mean a handful of kids >they can disrupt a whole incident like this." > >Supt. Casey: "This is unreal." > >In another conversation, Supt. Thompsett tells Supt. Casey: "I mean these >are peaceable, I mean they're more of a nuisance than anything, they're >kids like, but they're just nuisance that's all." > >Supt. Casey agrees, saying, "They're not a threat in any way ... they're >not a concern security-wise ya know." > >Supt. Thompsett says Supt. May had tried "to coach" the prime minister's >office out of demanding action on the protesters, hoping that police could >talk the students into leaving voluntarily. > >In the end, police arrested four protesters at the museum site and removed >the tent. Four days later, at the close of the APEC conference, police >clashed violently with hundreds of protesters blocking a nearby road. > > > > > From amit at corpwatch.org Sat Oct 23 07:40:17 1999 From: amit at corpwatch.org (Amit Srivastava) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 15:40:17 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1330] Corporate Watch in Japanese Launched Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19991022154017.006864cc@pop.igc.org> Corporate Watch Launches Sister Website in Japanese October 5, 1999 San Francisco - Corporate Watch, the US-based Internet magazine and resource center has just launched a unique, ground-breaking partnership between Japanese and US social movements. Corporate Watch in Japanese (CWJ) -- http://www.corpwatch-jp.org -- is designed to use the Internet as a medium for information exchange, and linking like minded citizens across borders. An in-depth English outline of CWJ can be found on Corporate Watch at http://www.corpwatch.org/japan At a moment when Japan has just suffered the worst nuclear accident in its history at the Sumitomo-owned Tokaimura uranium processing plant, CWJ aims to provide the Japanese public with timely and valuable information on corporate accountability and economic globalization issues in Japan and from around the world. "Language and cultural barriers have been serious impediments to building effective and sustained partnerships between Japanese and US social movements," said CWJ coordinator Amit Srivastava. "CWJ bridges those barriers by providing a common platform for discussing international concerns that affect us locally in very similar ways. We are using the Internet to build a bridge of friendship and cooperation," said Srivastava, who has created the website together with colleagues in Japan. CWJ, together with its sister website Corporate Watch document how global corporations, from the US, Japan and elsewhere play an increasingly powerful role in all areas of the world economy. The websites show how the pursuit of profit comes at a staggering cost to human rights, labor and the environment. CWJ profiles over 30 campaigns against corporations including Shell, Union Carbide, The Gap, Kajima Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical and Shin-etsu Chemical. In each of these cases corporate policies threaten traditional forms of livelihood, uproot families, increase the gap between the rich and the poor, and destroy communities. "Citizens in Japan and around the world have to educate themselves about corporate led globalization, and begin to join people from around the world to mobilize for greater democratic control over these transnational giants," said Yoichi Kuroda, an adviser to CWJ, the founder of the Japan Tropical Forest Action Network and 1991 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner. "Corporations, government agencies and global financial institutions have to be monitored, regulated and held accountable for their actions. Japanese citizens have to hold Japanese corporations accountable for their actions both at home and overseas," said Kuroda. "This," says Srivastava, "fits into Corporate Watch's global work which envisions replacing the current structures of the global economy which favors corporate profits over community needs, with a system that respects human rights, ensures labor rights and preserves the environment. Citizens have to be involved in all stages of a transparent and democratic decision making process." "CWJ provides a tremendous opportunity for citizens to network globally and strengthen their local movements. By highlighting citizens' initiatives to hold corporations accountable, CWJ will encourage people in Japan to take action for social change," said Motoyama Hisako of the Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center, a human rights organization. CWJ plans to work regularly with movements in Japan, the US and elsewhere in the world. Corporate Watch is a project of TRAC--the Transnational Resource & Action Center, based in San Francisco, USA. =================================== Amit Srivastava International Programs TRAC- Transnational Resource and Action Center P.O. Box 29344, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA Tel: 1 415 561 6472 Fax: 1 415 561 6493 Email: amit@corpwatch.org Web: http://www.corpwatch.org =================================== From bayan at iname.com Sat Oct 23 14:33:48 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (bayan) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 13:33:48 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1331] HUGE RALLY FOR P125 WAGE HIKE WITNESS TO =?iso-8859-1?Q?ESTRADA=92S?= LOST POPULARITY Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19991023133348.0069be44@pop.skyinet.net> From: BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) Date: 13 October 1999 HUGE RALLY FOR P125 WAGE HIKE WITNESS TO ESTRADA?S LOST POPULARITY Whatever remaining popularity President Estrada has with the people has now completely vanished as thousands of workers, teachers, government employees, peasants, urban poor stage a huge rally at Mendiola Bridge today to press for a P125 wage hike, protest the scrapping of amelioration pay and bonuses, and the never ending series of oil price hikes. ?We have gathered here at the doorstep of Malaca?ang to express our outrage over Estrada government?s bias towards his cronies, big business, multinational corporations and its subservience to the IMF, World Bank and WTO,? said Bayan Secretary General Teodoro Casi?o. ?When his cronies and multinational corporations ask something from Estrada, he wastes no time in granting it even to the extent of breaking standard legal processes. But when it comes to workers, teachers, health workers and other government employees demanding something that is rightfully theirs, he rejects it and concocts thousands of excuses,? he said. Bayan described the measly P15 to P20 hike in the minimujm daily wage in Metro Manila as ?pro-capitalist.? It was closer to the wage proposal of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), and a far cry from the P125 demanded by workers. Casi?o raised fears that workers in other regions will be getting an even smaller amount, especially the poor regions of Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Central Mindanao that got the lowest of ECOP?s proposal at P4.74 to P13.73, P4.23 to P9.05, P5.15 to P5.59 respectively. And since it will not be an across-the-board increase, other workers whose limited income equal to or higher than the current measly minimum wage will not benefit. He assailed the Estrada government for sacrificing the interest of the thousands of underpaid and overworked teachers and government employees just to comply with an IMF-World bank conditionality. ?This government didn?t even try to bargain with the IMF-World Bank technocrats on this matter,? he said. The rally was led by KMU (May First Movement) and joined by the other members of BAYAN. Similar rallies and protest actions are also being held in different parts of the country today. ### From rcollins at netlink.com.au Mon Oct 25 15:39:19 1999 From: rcollins at netlink.com.au (rc-am) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 16:39:19 +1000 Subject: [asia-apec 1332] Democratic Trade Union Responses to Globalisation Message-ID: <003801bf1eb3$f35cfcc0$a9e13ecb@rcollins> The rest of the paper can be read online here: Democratic Trade Union Responses to Globalisation: A Critique of the ICFTU-APRO's "Asian Monetary Fund" Proposal Gerard Greenfield 1. Introduction: Control in the Global Economy When we talk about "control" in the global economy, we can identify two forms of control: corporate control and popular democratic control. Corporate control involves the increased power of corporations and the subordination of all aspects of social life and the environment to private profit. In direct opposition to this, popular democratic control is based the subordination of private profit to democratically-determined collective needs and interests, particularly the advancement of the livelihood and well-being of working people. These two forms of control are clearly in conflict. Corporate control relies on the ever-increasing freedom of capital in a "free market", backed by government support for private corporations and the repression of labour and social movements. Popular democratic control, on the other hand, is clearly incompatible with corporate power and the "free market." As such, any initiatives or proposals put forward by the labour movement as a strategy for responding to globalisation must be assessed in terms of whether or not it shifts the balance in favour of greater popular democratic control, and less corporate control. ... Unfortunately, most of the proposed strategies arising from the trade union movement at the regional level are based on a short-term view of the crisis and a flawed understanding of its real causes. In particular, there is a tendency to place the blame solely on speculative financial capital, while ignoring the role of industrial and banking capital. In this paper we assess the most recent regional trade union strategy - the creation of an "Asian Monetary Fund" - and argue that its over-emphasis on speculative capital as the cause of the crisis leads to false solutions to very real problems. Providing more "liquidity" to bail out corporations and banks in the region at public expense ignores the failure of the export-oriented industrialisation model, and the massive over-production by corporations and over-lending by banks which underpins the crisis. The proposed "solution" serves only to increase corporate welfare at a time when social welfare continues to be cut back. Bailing out corporations with public money does not guarantee jobs or income security, especially since these bailouts involve even more corporate restructuring and `labour flexibility' that further undercuts trade union and worker' rights and interests. ... It is often assumed that the Japanese government's proposal for an AMF was "progressive" simply because it was opposed by the US government and the IMF. Since the labour movement opposes the IMF and its neoliberal structural adjustment policies, it is assumed that anything the IMF opposes must therefore be good for the labour movement. Of course, this is a based on an over simplistic logic. The conflict over the AMF idea was based mainly on two issues: First, the IMF bureaucracy felt threatened by a regional fund that would take over its activities in Asia. Second, since the Japanese government would control the AMF in the same way that the US controls the IMF, the Japanese government was challenging US economic power in the region. In this sense, the Japanese government was seeking to extend its influence over economic policy in the region, advancing the interests of Japanese corporations and banks through the AMF - just as the US uses the IMF to advance the interests of US corporations and banks. >From this point of view, it is clear that the AMF concerns a fight over corporate power and does not seek to limit corporate power. ... From tpl at cheerful.com Tue Oct 26 08:22:35 1999 From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 07:22:35 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1333] October Peasant Campaign in the Philippines Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19991026072235.006b9bbc@pop.skyinet.net> KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) 22 October 1999 News Flash !!! News Flash !!! News Flash !!! News Flash !!! PHILIPPINE PEASANT CAMPAIGN FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER: NO TO 100% FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF LAND! STRUGGLE FOR GENUINE LAND REFORM! TAKE AGRICULTURE OUT OF WTO! END IMPERIALIST GLOBALIZATION! NO TO US-ESTRADA REGIME'S RISING TYRANNY! THE MONTH OF OCTOBER is a traditional peasant campaign month in the Philippines. Yearly, it is marked with activities featuring peasant protest actions such as vigils, pickets, camp-outs, motorcades, marches and rallies all over the nation. This peasant campaign has been going-on for 24 years, consistently spearheaded by the KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and participated in by PAMALAKAYA (national alliance of fisherfolk organizations). It is consistently supported by friends and allies from other sectors who also advocate thorough-going agrarian reform and are opposed to the rising tyranny of the Estrada regime which has proven subservient to foreign, especially US, dictates. KMP's PHILIPPINE PEASANT CAMPAIGN for 1999 carries both and links KMP's local and international campaign themes. One, it carries its continuing struggle for genuine land reform which is continuously undermined by the Philippine government and the local big landlords and agro-business corporations. Recently, a broad coalition called "Solidarity Network in Defense of Land" (STAND FOR LAND) was formed to register its opposition to the current move to allow 100% foreign ownership of land under the proposed charter change and the rising militarization in the countryside being carried out by the Estrada regime primarily against the peasantry, indigenous peoples and the fisherfolk. Second, the local campaigns are part of the International Campaign Against the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) and the WTO being spearheaded by KMP, AMIHAN, PAMALAKAYA and GABRIELA. It is one of the components of the continuing global People's Campaign Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) being led by BAYAN. PCAIG was launched in 1996 with the Anti-Imperialist Peasant Summit, the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization and the Anti-APEC People's Caravan to Subic, the site of the 1996 APEC Leaders Summit. The anti-AOA/WTO campaign's culminating activities for 1999 are the October 20 peasant march, motorcade and vigil, the October 21 multisectoral march-rally led by the peasants and the November 28-30 Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally Against the AOA/WTO to be held in Seattle. The campaign's call ranges from taking agriculture out of WTO to dismantling WTO and fighting imperialist globalization. The October campaign is also KMP's participation and support to LA VIA CAMPESINA's ongoing international campaign for agrarian reform. Special activities are those to be held on October 15 with the theme World Foodless Day. They are a counterpoint to the UN observance of the World Food Day. Calendar of Activities !!! Calendar of Activities !!! October 12 - Launching of the broad coalition, STAND FOR LAND (Solidarity Network in Defense of Land), composed of church people, health professionals, teachers & university professors, lawyers, women, students and trade unionists. They oppose Estrada's plan of encouraging 100% foreign ownership of land through amendments to the constitution or charter change. October 13 -- Fluvial parade led by PAMALAKAYA. Bancas filled with colorful streamers and banners roamed Manila Bay near Roxas Boulevard protesting the continuing oil price increases by giant oil cartels like SHELL, CALTEX and PETRON. The activity was also the fisherfolk's expression of support to the workers' just demand for higher wages, which kicked off with tens of thousands of workers in a rally in the afternoon of the same day. October 15 - Picket in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to highlight 'World Foodless Day'. Simultaneous picket-dialogue the whole morning by the Bulacan KMP-chapter against the threat of displacement by a subdivision developer, Sta. Lucia Realty Corp. - A media tete-a-tete on AOA/WTO with KMP and BAYAN chairperson Rafael Mariano as resource person. Immediately followed by the re-launching of KONTRA KARTEL (Against Oil Cartels) to protest the monthly price increases of oil products which clearly manifest collusion between the Estrada government and the giants of the Philippine oil industry -- Shell, Caltex and Petron. - A lecture-forum sponsored by KMU in support of KMP's Peasant Campaign, with Rafael Mariano as speaker. October 16 - A forum sponsored by KARAPATAN (national alliance of human rights organizations)- NCR with KMP International Affairs Officer Lu Baylosis as resource person to discuss Philippine peasant situation. - Simultaneous protest action against fish importation in Iloilo City with Ka Rudy Sambajon, chairperson of PAMALAKAYA, as resource person. October 18-19 - Start of the long march/motorcade of KMP-provincial chapters from Ilocos region north of Manila to meet with Central Luzon farmers then proceed to the DAR to keep vigil till the 20th of October. A similar march of peasants from Southern Tagalog proceeded converged with the others at the DAR. October 20 - Friends and supporters form various sectors and organizations arrived early at the DAR office to welcome the arrival of the marchers. A vigil-camp-out in front of the DAR office and a solidarity program followed. The solidarity program featured various cultural groups, greetings and reading of solidarity messages from here and abroad, speeches, and small group discussion within the camp-site. The activity linked the peasants and their supporters from the city like the youth and students, workers and professionals. To ensure the physical well-being of the peasant-marchers, volunteer doctors, nurses and medical students doing community-based health programs put up a clinic at the camp-site. Food was cooked at the compound of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP). October 21 - March/rally towards the presidential palace thru Menidola bridge, the site where 13 peasants were killed and scores of marchers where felled by bullets from automatic rifles from the military and police in 1987. Speeches denouncing the continuing landlessness and poverty of the peasantry, the adverse impact of globalization, the rising militarization and human rights violations in the countryside and the need to persevere in the struggle for genuine land reform and liberation from local and foreign domination. International solidarity and cooperation among peasant movements also highlighted. About seven thousand peasants and their advocates joined the march-rally towards Malacanang, the presidential palace. ### From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Oct 26 10:06:23 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:06:23 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1334] Food First Ad in The Nation! Message-ID: <0.700000824.1128849665-212058698-940899983@topica.com> Food First Announces Their Second Ad on Poverty This ad may be found in the October 25, 1999 issue of The Nation and on the Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First's website at: http://www.foodfirst.org/media/ads/nation-10-99.html It may also be seen in full color in PDF at: http://www.foodfirst.org/media/ads/nation-10-99.pdf Here is excerpt from the ad: [ Why are the poorest people in the United States women caring for children? A surprising explanation from FOOD FIRST...and a powerful solution you can be part of: ] Should America be measured by three women CEOs in the Fortune 500 ...or by 13 million women in deep poverty? With all due respect to their career achievements and personal sacrifices, even one hundred women advancing in power would be insignificant compared to millions of American women now being shoved backward into deeper poverty. Increasingly, America's growing Hunger Class are women and their children. For twenty-five years, Food First- Institute for Food and Development Policy, co-founded by Diet for a Small Planet author Frances Moore Lappé, has studied basic links between hunger and poverty in the developing world. Here at home, these connections are just as strong. This, our second ad on poverty in the U.S., focuses on who is poor and why. It bypasses the conventional wisdom. But then, the conventional wisdom on poverty and the public policies based on it are simply wrong. Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Oct 29 10:31:52 1999 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 18:31:52 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 1335] Economic Human Rights Bus Tour Message-ID: <0.700000824.2120873840-212058698-941160712@topica.com> MEDIA ADVISORY FOR NOV. 11-12, 1999 Contact: Anuradha Mittal (510) 654-4400 ext. 108 Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Members of Congress Kickoff the Economic Human Rights Tour in Atlanta Economic Human Rights Bus Tour Calls For Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Health Coverage Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will meet with communities throughout Georgia as part of an "Economic Human Rights Bus Tour". The distinguished delegation will kick off the tour in Atlanta on November 11, 1999, ending in Greensboro on November 12. The delegation will visit a soup kitchen at Antioch Baptist Church/Food Pantry, a health care coalition at Grady Memorial Hospital, Georgia Citizen’s Coalition on Hunger, among others, to highlight the dire need of national policy initiatives that could make a real difference in peoples' lives. These stops will feature personal testimonies from mothers on welfare, black farmers who have filed a lawsuit against the USDA and members of health care, workers rights and living wage coalitions. America may be in the midst of an economic boom, but millions of Americans are not sharing the benefits. Over 36 million do not have adequate access to food. In Georgia alone, an estimated 9.7 percentage of households have uncertain access to food. 44.3 million Americans are uninsured. This trend can be attributed to cuts in social safety net. This past year, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta has lost some $16.3 million in funding due to reductions in Medicaid and Medicare. Grady projects that nearly $55 million will be lost over the next five years. The gap between the rich and poor in America is approaching its worst point in fifty years. Hundreds of thousands of people are still facing unemployment, substandard housing conditions and racial discrimination. The tour is calling for: o More adequate federal funding for education, healthcare, childcare and living wage; o Measures to address the relationships between race and poverty; o A reordering of our federal priorities toward meeting the needs of our nation’s poor; o Ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. TOUR PARTICIPANTS: Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA), Rep. John Lewis (GA), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), Rep. John Conyers (MI) and President Jimmy Carter (Invited). TOUR SCHEDULE: Thursday, November 11, 1999 12:00-2:00 pm: Site Visit at Antioch Baptist Church/Food Pantry Location: 540 Kennedy Street, NW, Atlanta, GA Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Rev. C.M. Alexander (Chairman, Antioch Baptist Church); Bill Bolling (Director, Atlanta Community Food Bank); Weekly Clients (Eloise Hopper, Sydney Peterson, John Fletcher, Marvin Jones, Lynthiea Bates) Focus: Increasing hunger and homelessness in Georgia 2:30-4:00 pm: Site Visit at Grady Memorial Hospital Location: 800 Butler Street, SE, Atlanta, GA 30335 Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Dr. Sam Newcom; Jeff Graham (Executive Director AIDS Survival Project); Julia L.Perilla (Hispanic Health Coalition) Focus: Crisis in healthcare o 5:00-6:30 pm: Public Event, Georgia Citizen's Coalition on Hunger Location: 9 Gammon Avenue, SW, Atlanta, GA Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Tameka Wynn (Co-manager Umoja Farmers Market); Carolyn Pittman (Chairperson Georgia Human Rights Union); William Allen (volunteer); DeWayne Boyd (President National Organization of Black Farmers and Legislative Assistant for Congressman John Conyers Jr.); and workers from soon to be closed down Levis factory. Focus: Income inequalities, growing hunger and poverty, welfare reform are violations of most basic human rights. Friday, November 12, 1999 9:00-10:00 am: Hip Hop 2000 School Event Location: South West Dakalb High School, 2863 Kelley Chapel Road, Decatur, GA Speakers: Stanley Henson (Principal); Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA); Patricia Ireland (President, NOW); John Cavanagh (Director, IPS) Focus: Education equity and need for head-start programs and universal pre-school education. 1:00-2:30 pm: Black Farmers Forum Location: Greensboro, GA Speakers: Melvin L. Bishop (President, Black Farmers Agriculturists Association); Beverly Butler (Black farmer); Cornelius Key and Heather Gray (Federation of Southern Cooperatives) Focus: Racial discrimination faced by the Black farmers. 2:30-3:30 pm: Textile Factory Site Visit Location: Greensboro, GA Speakers: Workers adversely affected by the global economy Focus: NAFTA and its impact on American workers, labor rights and need for a living wage. The Economic Human Rights Tour is co-sponsored by the Institute for Food and Development Policy and the Institute for Policy Studies. ### Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Got a Favorite Topic to Discuss? Start a List at Topica. http://www.topica.com/t/4 From tpl at cheerful.com Sun Oct 31 09:31:11 1999 From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 08:31:11 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1336] Fwd: Corporate Hospitality at the WTO Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19991031083111.006b3084@pop.skyinet.net> >>Forwarded for your information >>by BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) >>Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 20:48:56 -0400 >>Sender: corp-focus@essential.org >>From: Robert Weissman >> >>Corporate Hospitality at the WTO >>By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman >> >>Tired of getting fundraising letters in the mail? >> >>Just imagine how hard it would be to be a corporate CEO. Not only does >>virtually every politician come hat in hand seeking a campaign >>contribution, but you are besieged by a long line of nonprofit >>organizations seeking support for their charitable endeavors. Then your >>fellow bosses hit you up for contributions to support one or another >>political lobbying effort. And now there is a new panhandler that CEOs >>must handle: the mega-intergovernmental conference. >> >>The latest example: The World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting >>in Seattle, to be held in late November and early December. >> >>"I know you are on the receiving end of many requests for support from >>organizations and events, but the hosting of the WTO Ministerial is truly >>a unique opportunity," wrote Lawrence Clarkson, chair of the fundraising >>committee of the "WTO Seattle Host Organization" in a March 15 fundraising >>appeal to corporate executives. Host Organization co-chairs are >>Microsoft's Bill Gates and Phil Condit, CEO of Boeing. >> >>"The Seattle Host Organization is committed to ensuring that the private >>sector is an integral part of the events surrounding the Ministerial. We >>are working very closely with the USTR [Office of the U.S. Trade >>Representative] and WTO officials every step of the way to coordinate >>schedules and venues to maximize interaction between the officials and the >>private sector." >> >>The corporate-sponsored gathering in Seattle is no groundbreaker, as Susan >>Kruller, media and public relations director for the Seattle Host >>Organization, notes. >> >>When NATO gathered for its fiftieth anniversary blowout in Washington, >>D.C. earlier this year, a dozen companies contributed a quarter of a >>million dollars each to have their CEOs serve as directors of the NATO >>Summit's host committee. Others kicked in smaller amounts. >> >>Similar arrangements have been made at a recent G-7 meeting in Denver >>(presidents and top officials of a group of the world's most powerful >>countries meet at the G-7) and a Summit of the Americas in Miami. At a >>1996 National Governors Association conference focused on education >>issues, each governor was paired with a CEO from their state. >> >>Corporate sponsorships of mega-event host committees are now routinely >>structured into event planning by the U.S. government, Kruller says. >> >>In agreeing to host the WTO meeting in the United States, the U.S. >>government obligated itself to pick up the incremental costs between >>holding the meeting in Geneva at the WTO's headquarters and locating the >>gathering away from the WTO's home, Kruller says. The U.S. government >>turns to the private sector to help defray resulting taxpayer expenses. > >>The private sector is set to kick in $9.2 million to defray the >>ministerial's costs. >> >>When the news first broke of the Seattle Host Organization's request for >>contributions, a controversy ensued over Clarkson's letter's promise that >>high donors would be able to attend a conference at which "the private >>sector will meet senior U.S. trade officials to discuss priorities for the >>upcoming Round." That offer drew a rebuke from the Office of the U.S. >>Trade Representative, and the promised meeting was cancelled. >> >>Corporate contributors are not being denied all goodies, however. Those >>donating at the Emerald Level, a $250,000 contribution, are entitled to >>send five guests to the Host Organization's opening and closing receptions >>and to an exclusive ministerial dinner. They can send four guests to >>private sector conferences the Host Organization is arranging. They are >>provided with briefing updates on the ministerial's progress, assistance >>with room reservations, media assistance and hospitality service. Their >>logos are permitted to appear on the Host Organization's web site and they >>are given signage and display of corporate materials. Companies at the >>Emerald Level are Allied Signal/Honeywell, Deloitte & Touche, Ford, GM, >>Microsoft, Nextel, Boeing, US West, plus the State of Washington. >> >>Lesser benefits are conferred on those making less generous donations. The >>Diamond Level supporters ($150,000 to $249,999) are Activate.com, UPS and >>Weyerhaeuser. Platinum Level supporters ($75,000 to $149,999) are AT&T, >>Bank of America, Columbia Resource Group, Eddie Bauer, Expeditors >>International of WA, Hewlett Packard, Seagram's, Preston Gates & Ellis and >>The Production Network. Gold Level supporters ($25,000 to $74,999) include >>Caterpillar, IBM, Lucent and U.S. Bancorp. >> >>In addition to an extra opportunity to rub shoulders with policymakers and >>high-ranking bureaucrats, what the corporate contributors to the Seattle >>event and similar events really get in exchange for their dollars is a >>sort of hyper-niche image advertising, with a group of hundreds of >>policymakers as their target. >> >>In most instances, at least, the corrupting element is not a quid pro quo, >>but rather something more profound. Corporate sponsorships at the Seattle >>trade ministerial and other meetings are another indicia, another >>reinforcement, another reminder to the government officials of their >>obligations to Big Business. The sponsorships are a corruption of >>atmosphere and place. >> >>Happily, the Seattle meeting will include a counterbalancing factor: tens >>of thousands of activists who plan to take to the streets to protest the >>WTO's record of riding roughshod over consumers, workers, the environment >>and any non-commercial values. Hopefully this mass citizens' mobilization >>will force the trade officials to confront their collective betrayal of >>the public trust. >> >>Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime >>Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based >>Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The >>Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common > >>Courage Press, 1999; http://www.corporatepredators.org) >> >>(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman >> >>--------------------------------------------------- >> >>Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber >>and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or >>repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on >>a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us >>(russell@essential.org or rob@essential.org). >> >>Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve >>corp-focus@essential.org. To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail >>message to listproc@essential.org with the following all in one line: >> >>subscribe corp-focus (no period). >> >>Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at >>. >> >>Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to >>comment on the columns, send a message to russell@essential.org or >>rob@essential.org. >>