From amittal at foodfirst.org Wed Mar 1 06:30:27 2000 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 13:30:27 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1403] The Commonwealth Club debate on GE Message-ID: <0.700000824.683219304-951758591-951859827@topica.com> DEBATE Tuesday, April 11, 2000 The Environment and Natural Resources Section of The Commonwealth Club of California presents: The Risks and Benefits of Genetically-Modified Foods A Debate Featuring: Dr. Martina McGloughlin Director, UC Davis Biotechnology Program and Dr. Peter Rosset Executive Director, Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy moderated by Tom Abate Columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle Many genetically-modified foods are already on the market as well as on your dinner table. Is this technology solving world hunger or creating an environmental hazard? Come hear the experts debate the risks and benefits of altering the genetic makeup of certain foods and learn what the potential effects are on you and the environment. Tuesday, April 11, 2000 Wine/Cheese Reception 4:45 pm, Program 5:15 - 6:30 pm Commonwealth Club Office 595 Market Street at Second, San Francisco Reservations (415) 597-6705 or (800) 847-7730 $6 members, $9 nonmembers, $3 students with school ID Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Want to find the best email lists? Check out the Topica 20! http://www.topica.com/topica20 From amittal at foodfirst.org Thu Mar 2 02:35:34 2000 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 09:35:34 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1404] The Real Enemy is the WTO, Not China Message-ID: <0.700000824.432263313-212058698-951932134@topica.com> (This is being distributed by the Progressive Media Project. If anyone wants to reprint it, please let us know.) The Real Enemy is the WTO, Not China by Anuradha Mittal and Peter Rosset* After a successful battle in Seattle, free trade opponents in the United States have launched the next big fight: No Permanent Most Favored Nation Status for China. Even before Seattle, China's possible integration into the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the signing of a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S., had intensified the debate on human rights in China. The AFL-CIO recently announced a major new multi-year campaign, beginning with the mobilization of working families around the Congressional vote on permanent normal trade relations for China. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney declared China to be one of the worst offenders of human rights in the world, using executions and even torture to maintain order and violating workers' rights. He cited the fact that China has not yet ratified the two United Nations Covenants on human rights it agreed to sign before President Clinton's trip to China in 1998. Finally, the AFL-CIO released the Hart Research Survey which indicates that 65 percent of the registered voters in the U.S. oppose giving China permanent trade access. The debate over China's accession to the WTO and the granting most favored nation status is a crucial one to examine, if we are committed to building an international coalition against economic policies which work against the interests of the world's working poor. This attack on China is a disservice to those in developing countries who are challenging their own governments to ensure basic human rights for all. Third World opponents of the WTO have to defend themselves against unfounded accusations, along with the other protestors who were in Seattle, of working against the interests of the poor, and of promoting a U.S. agenda. The present approach in the U.S., as expressed by the debate on China, labor standards and child labor, is seen by Third World countries as clearly framed to suit rich countries. Northern countries would write a social clause into the WTO, and as a result child labor would be banned (without any guarantee that parents could find jobs), but inhuman treatment of migrant farm workers and other unfair labor practices in the U.S. would not. In fact, linking labor and environmental standards to the WTO would be like a double whammy for developing countries. While the WTO trading rules will open the economies of the poor countries to foreign investment, products and services, Western countries would be able to shut off imports almost at will from any Third World country by invoking these standards. The Third World rightly fears that Northern countries are less motivated by real concern for children and the environment than they are interested in maintaining mechanisms that favor them in trade. Most Third World environmentalists and labor groups have consistently opposed trade sanctions as a way of enforcing environmental and labor rules, because trade sanctions are inherently an inegalitarian tool. They can only be used by rich countries against the poor countries. Any attempt on part of India or Nigeria or Brazil to apply trade sanctions against the U.S., ironically the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, would not get very far. The way the debate on China has been phrased so far, it is a good reflection of the unjust distribution of power in our unipolar world. Private side deals with the U.S. and the European Union are the pre-conditions for China's entry into a global body, despite support from most other nations. The drum beat villainizing China on grounds of its human rights records legitimizes claims by the Third World that the U.S. will impose Western values every time it's self-interest is in play. While the Chinese will suffer from their government's rush to enter the WTO, the Third World will never support an imperial system that gives one country--the U.S.--veto power. Yet that only scratches the surface of the contradictions surrounding this issue. Those castigating China and other developing countries need to recognize that is hypocritical for the U.S. using trade sanctions to punish countries that violate human rights. They forget the fact that the U.S. itself has yet to ratify the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the Convention of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It is not coincidental that the only industrialized country to reject basic human rights also boasts the highest disparity between the rich and poor, and the highest child poverty rate. And yet, the U.S. assumes moral authority when it comes to human rights. Anyone who is opposed to the Chinese joining the WTO, or being granted most favored nation status on the grounds of human rights, needs to be reminded that the U.S. has, in many instances, acted like the rogue nations it criticizes. Since when has the U.S economic system become the paragon of virtue? Maybe other WTO members should be offended by the quasi-slavery conditions faced by farm workers in parts of the U.S., or by prison labor and sweatshops here in America. Any member country could say that U.S. law, which makes it possible to execute a teenager or a grandmother, is an offense against humanity. These and other charges might form the justification for an embargo on U.S. exports or for its expulsion from the WTO! It is not surprising that Western labor unions are concerned about the growing number of jobs leaving their countries. But they need to point the finger at U.S. support for trade agreements such as the WTO and NAFTA, rather than at other countries. Let's not forget that NAFTA-- with its labor side agreement--eliminated over 400,000 jobs in the U.S., and drove some 28,000 small businesses in Mexico out of business. According to a report put out by the U.S. Department of Commerce in February 2000, the manufacturing sector alone lost 341,000 jobs in 1999. Job losses accelerated in 1999 because of the rapid growth of imports from the NAFTA countries as well as China, Japan and Western Europe that competed with goods produced by U.S. manufacturing industries. The WTO and NAFTA are the direct cause of unemployment and poor working conditions, not the tool to correct these problems! Instead of adding hollow social clauses we should block these inhuman treaties. We need to question the leadership of the American labor movement--as they support anti-labor, pro-free trade, Al Gore for President, who claims to support both 'free trade' and 'union solidarity'--without any recognition of the contradictions between them. The labor movement in the U.S. needs to be politically free, able to publicly criticize U.S. policies which hurt working people everywhere, instead of receiving subsidies from the USAID. One might ask what role U.S. labor's long anti-communist tradition plays in China bashing today? If we can accept that corporate globalization will never be effectively countered without a global movement that crosses North-South boundaries, then the American labor and environmental movement needs to give up its single-country bashing history. Of course it is appropriate to castigate China or any other country for accepting only those human rights that suit the regime's political and economic interests. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted to reflect universal aspirations and standards for human dignity. However, a campaign on China is not going to benefit workers in either country. The bottom line is that while China should have the same right as any nation to join the WTO, we should recognize that in fact the WTO is bad for people everywhere, whether they are Chinese, American, Mexican or Indian. It's not China joining the WTO that hurts America workers--it is the WTO itself. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ * Anuradha Mittal and Peter Rosset are based at Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy in Oakland, CA. They recently published "America Needs Human Rights" (Food First Books, 1999). Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Want to find the best email lists? Check out the Topica 20! http://www.topica.com/topica20 From rcpd at info.com.ph Sat Mar 4 03:25:03 2000 From: rcpd at info.com.ph (eGroups.com Manager) Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 18:25:03 -0000 Subject: [asia-apec 1405] Welcome to the isgn group Message-ID: <89p01v+1b83@eGroups.com> Hello! rcpd@info.com.ph has included you in the isgn group at eGroups.com, a free email service. By joining this group, you can share information, store photographs and files, coordinate events and more! rcpd@info.com.ph says: Dear Friends, In the run-up to the UNCTAD X meeting in Bangkok last February, the International South Group Network (ISGN) organized two forum-workshops as parallel NGO events that carried the over-all theme "People's Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism: Building on the Spirit of Seattle and Sustaining the Momentum of Struggles". These were the: 1) Post-Seattle Forum on Trade and Agriculture: "Advancing the call to Take Agriculture out of the WTO" (held on February 9-10) ; and 2) The Forum on Trade, Finance Liberalization and the Debt Crisis (February 11) >From hereon, we will be publishing the papers presented by speakers in both forum-workshops and subsequently other pertinent articles and information related to ISGN's advocacy on matters of North-South relations, such as trade, land and food security, debt, development, governance, gender equality and environment. For comments, suggestions and articles you want to post in this listserve, you can e-mail the ISGN's international secretariat office based in Manila c/o the Resource Center for People's Development (RCPD) at rcpd@info.com.ph. You can also visit our website: www.isgnweb.org for more information about ISGN. TO Unsubscribe: Click Reply in your email program and then Send. eGroups.com asks group moderators to not add anyone to their group who does not wish to join. If you believe this policy has been violated, please notify us at abuse@egroups.com Welcome! eGroups.com - The easiest way for groups of people to communicate! http://www.egroups.com From amittal at foodfirst.org Thu Mar 9 05:59:19 2000 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 12:59:19 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1406] Challenge Grant: Support Food First Message-ID: <0.700000824.2140016866-212058698-952549159@topica.com> SPECIAL ONE-TIME CHANCE TO SUPPORT FOOD FIRST DURING MARCH 2000 Allan Shawn Feinstein Third Annual Matching Challenge Grant Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy is a leader in the fight to eliminate the injustices that perpetuate hunger amidst plenty. I know that you support our work, and I want to invite you to participate in a challenge that will double all donations (all are tax deductible) we receive during the month of March, 2000. Hunger philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein has announced a one million dollar challenge to double every special gift given during March 2000 for the special "March to Fight Hunger" challenge. Food First is proud to have been selected to participate. Gifts made by California residents will also be matched by Terrence Caster, who is donating an additional $1 million dollars. For Minnesota residents, John Lavender is matching gifts with $1 million, and Horace Kimball Foundation will match $1 million for Rhode Island resident’s gifts. That’s a total $4 million dollar challenge. If you can afford to send a gift in March, it will be matched by Alan Shawn Feinstein, and others, whatever the amount. Remember, your special matching gift must be received in the month of March to count toward these challenge grants. You can donate by credit card number either on our web site or by mail (simply send us your card number and expiration date). Or you can simply write a check made out to Food First for this challenge grant. This is a chance to double the impact of your support. I want you to know that we sincerely appreciate the support you have already provided to our work. If you have friends who would like to participate, please share this form with them and make sure we get their name and address so we that can thank them. Thank you so much, Peter Rosset Executive Director *********************************************************************** You must include this coupon with your tax deductible gift to qualify for the matching challenge. send to: Peter Rosset Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy 398 60th Street Oakland, CA 94618 Ph: 510-654-4400 Fax: 510-654-4551 web site www.foodfirst.org e-mail: foodfirst@foodfirst.org MARCH FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER CHALLENGE [ ] Peter, enclosed is my check as a donation made out to "Food First" for $________ to be matched by $4 million that has been pledged by Alan Shawn Feinstein, Terrence Caster, John Lavender and Horace Kimball Foundation to fight hunger in the U.S. [ ] Peter, please charge my []visa []mastercard $__________ as a donation to Food First to be matched by $4 million that has been pledged by Alan Shawn Feinstein, Terrence Caster, John Lavender and Horace Kimball Foundation to fight hunger in the U.S.. name on card ____________________ card number ____________________ exp _____ signature ____________________ Name ____________________ Address ____________________ City/State/Zip ____________________ *********************************************************************** Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Want to find the best email lists? Check out the Topica 20! http://www.topica.com/topica20 From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Mar 10 02:45:27 2000 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 09:45:27 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1407] URGENT SOLIDARITY REQUEST FROM VANDANA SHIVA Message-ID: <0.700000824.631311022-951758591-952623927@topica.com> Pleased note: The sender requests a response no later than 10 March. *********************************** from:Vandana Shiva subject: URGENT SOLIDARITY CONVENTION ************************************ Dear Friends, We enclose a US - India citizens declaration for a new solidarity and a Citizens Vision Statement for a new Millennium to articulate the India US partnership at the people's level to reverse globalisation. This statement has been prepared jointly by a wide spectrum of Indian movements and trade unions who are organising the Solidarity Convention on 11th March and by the IFG (International Forum on Globalisation) team in Delhi just now for the Convention. The IFG team includes David Korten, Edward Goldmsith, Colin Hines, Debi Barker and Mohd. Idris of Third World Network. The Declaration and Statement have been written in the context of Clinton's visit to India, when Clinton and Vajyapee will issue their vision statement based on commerce and corporate interest. Please circulate the statement and send your endorsement to us at the earliest so that we can issue the Statement on 11th March. Please remember we are nearly 12 hours ahead, so your endorsement should us by 10th. On behalf of IFG and Indian Solidarity team. Sincerely, Vandana Shiva ******************************************** UNITED STATES - INDIA CITIZENS' DECLARATION FOR A NEW SOLIDARITY We, the citizens of the two largest democracies of the world, India and the United States of America, are committed to deepening and defending the democratic rights of citizens guaranteed by our Constitutions. The democratic rights of citizens both in the North and the South are being undermined as corporate rule is established worldwide through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the rich G7 countries. This dominant world view puts global trade above all other economic activity, and places the market above society, and profits above people and the environment. Human lives are being rendered dispensable in the ruthless pursuit of limitless market share, profits, and economic growth. The U.S. government in particular has promoted the globalisation of corporate rule and used its foreign policy and trade laws to colonise the markets of Third World countries for transnational corporations, especially in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, power, information, and communication. There is a growing sense among citizens of diverse countries and cultures that globalisation is corporatisation and that the U.S. Government is using free trade treaties to establish a new global empire in which not only land and markets are colonised by global corporations, but knowledge as well. It is an economy that delinks financial gain from productive contribution. While wages, labor unions, and the prices of basic commodities are suppressed, corporations collect rents on knowledge through the monopolization of intellectual property rights and speculators seek endless profits in the global financial casino by creating and bursting financial bubbles. North-South inter-governmental relationships are being increasingly re-molded from relationships between sovereign countries into relationships between a global corporate empire and the colonized people of both the geographical South and the geographical North. As citizens of free societies we do not believe that the 21st century and new millenium can be founded on extending the life of colonialism against which the world's freedom movement fought so valiantly. We are committed to continuing the citizens' agenda for democracy laid out on the streets of Seattle to make the global trade subservient to principles and values necessary for the protection of the of the environment, livelihoods and our diverse cultures. We seek to assure the protections that guarantee sustainability, justice and peace are achieved through open and democratic processes within each of our societies--not through imperialistic measures such as U.S. trade sanctions linked to labour and environmental standards set by the WTO as was proposed by President Clinton in Davos in response to the Seattle protests. The institutions and procedures of democracy are being set aside in both our countries as our government have given up their duty to protect the environment, jobs and livelihoods on the ground that these are barriers to free trade. Since ecological and economic security are foundations of our democratic freedoms and our very survival, defining them as "trade barriers" to be dismantled for the sake of corporate profits reveals the perversity of the globalisation paradigm and the free trade rules set and enforced by the WTO. These rules must change, as must the relationship between the governments of the United States and India. The sovereign democratic space of peoples is being invaded by the WTO in both the North and the South. This is manifest in the distancing of people from the decision making processes on economic issues both within and between nations. This is a serious threat to the democratic principles embodied in both the Indian and the U.S. constitutions. International trade treaties should not be allowed to undermine our rights as members of democratic societies to participate in economic democracy by having security of livelihoods and the guarantee that our socio-economic needs will be met in accordance with our priorities, cultural preference, and available environmental resources. Both in India and the United States, our governments have stopped representing the people even though it is the people that elect them to power. The U.S. government has long assumed that what is good for General Motors is good for America. As the U.S. government presses globalization on the world, it seems to assume that what is good for U.S. corporations such as Monsanto and Cargil is good for the United States, India, and the rest of the world. The interests of global corporations are, however, in deep conflict with the interests of the world's people, who are paying a heavy price in terms of economic insecurity, environmental decay, social disintegration and growing polarisation and inequality. Large numbers of people are being politically and economically excluded by a system that caters only to corporate well-being to the disregard of citizen well-being. Instead of bringing enhanced prosperity to all, as it claims, the WTO has in the five years of its existance concentrated ever more of the world's wealth in the hands of a favored few, further impoverished the majority of the world's people, and contributed to globalizing the environmentally unsustainable patterns of production and consumption of the rich industrialised countries. The Uruguay Round Agreements have functioned principally to pry open markets for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of national economies; workers, farmers and other peoples; and the environment. In addition, the WTO's rules and procedures are undemocratic, non-transparent and non-accountable. We see that economic globalization is increasing global economic instability, inequality and environmental and social degradation everywhere in its wake. Yet the governments of the North that dominate the WTO, especially the United States, have refused to recognize and address these problems. Instead they push for further liberalisation and seek to expand the mandate of the WTO by defining "trade related" in ever broader terms. At each step the resulting actions exacerbate the crises that the processes of economic globalisation and the WTO have wrought. We will no longer allow the protection of our rights and freedoms to be labeled as trade protectionism. Trade ought only to be a means for achieving just and sustainable development for people of the North and South equally rather than perpetrating ever greater inequalities at all levels. We therefore join in solidarity to put forward the principles of an alternative vision to guide cooperative relations between the peoples of our two countries. INDIA-U.S. CITIZENS' VISION STATEMENT FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM Following their meetings March 20 to 25 Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee and U.S. President Clinton are expected to issue a statement setting forth their vision of a new relationship between our two governments. While we agree that a new relationship is long overdue, we are concerned that so long as peoples voices are excluded from their dialogue their vision will reflect the interests of global corporations and financial institutions to the exclusion of those of the people of our two countries. Thus in our capacity as citizens of India and the United States we present here our vision for a new relationship between the peoples based on principles of democracy, equity, partnership, and respect for life. Furthermore, as citizens of India and the United States we declare our commitment to work with one another and with the citizens of all other nations to replace the institutions of global competition and domination with institutions of global cooperation and partnership. To this end we set for the following principles to guide our relationships in six areas. Democracy and Governance We believe that democracy grounded in the sovereignty of the people must be the foundation of all relationships between our two countries. Negotiations between us must therefore be subject to open public debate and agreements subject to open and public review by established democratic processes. As the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a non-democratic and basically illegitmate organization created outside the framework of the United Nations, we do not accept WTO rules or decisions as an appropriate framework for cooperation between our countries. Economy and Commerce We believe that the interests of all people are best served when each nation is able to meet its own basic needs through its own industry and resources without excessive dependence on the economic resources of others. We further believe that each community and nation has the right to determine what it will trade with whom and under what conditions. Similarly, each community and nation has the right to decide on what terms, if any, it will invite others to invest in its economy. Such decisions must be made freely and democratically with full and open public debate by the people concerned. We consider trade to be a means, not an end, to be welcomed only when it improves the living standards of all concerned and contributes to ecological sustainability. Science and Technology We believe that beneficial indigenous and scientific knowledge and technology are the common heritage of all humanity and should be freely and equitably shared accordingly based on mutual respect, reciprocal exchange and recognition of diverse knowledge systems. While it is appropriate to provide incentives for true innovation, the rights to intellectual property must be limited to those necessary to spur innovation and must be subordinated to the larger needs of society. In respect to the sanctity of life patenting of life forms, including genetic sequences, should be prohibited. We recognize potential benefits in molecular biology, but also recognize the need for extreme caution and strict safeguards at both national and international levels and call for a halt to any release of GMOs into food supplies or the environment until reliable public safeguards are in place and any GMO products are clearly labeled to allow informed consumer choice. Further, an international mechanism must be established under the United Nations to review and prohibit all research and production of technologies that present a universal threat to the life of the planet, such as the terminator gene. Energy and Environment Climatic changes resulting from a fossil fuel intensive economy based on cheap oil is creating increasingly severe environmental disasters around the world. Given the status of the United States as the leading economic and scientific power among Northern countries and India as a leading economic and scientific power among Southern countries we call for an open and equitable partnership between our two countries in leading the way toward converting our economies to a primary reliance on solar energy sources and the use of environmentally friendly renewable materials and technologies. This partnership should give due consideration to the important contributions of indigenous knowledge and technology to achieving sustainability. Because of the growing environmental interdependence of all nations, there is an essential need for international cooperation under the United Nations in setting and enforcing environmental standards. International agreements dealing with trade must necessarily be considered subordinate to international agreements on environmental standards. Education and Culture We rejoice in the rich cultural diversity of our two countries and in open cultural exchange. At the same time we affirm the right of every people to define and protect their cultural heritage from unwanted intrusions on their cultural integrity from global corporations, advertising, and foreign media. We further believe that education should prepare children to live fully as whole persons both within their own cultures and as citizens of an interdependent world. Education should be the province of public or private nonprofit schools and be free of advertising or other for-profit corporate influence. Health and Food Security Secure access to healthful food, a clean environment, and a healthy lifestyle are the foundations of good health. Governments therefore have not only the right, but also the responsibility, to secure such access in the face of often conflicting corporate interests. Food production to meet domestic needs properly takes priority over production for export and domestic producers are properly protected from unfair import competition arising from dumping of subsidised commodities. Furthermore, governments have a responsibility to protect agricultural ands and keep their ownership in domestic hands, encourage natural, diversified agricultural methods that require minimum chemical inputs, maintain maximum biodiversity, and favor small farmers. Governments also have a responsibility to protect their citizens from the advertising and sale of harmful products such as tobacco, and to prohibit the pirating and monopolization of indigenous knowledge through patenting, and to assure the availability of low cost generic drugs. Peace and Demilitarization We stand firmly opposed to the military expansion plans of both India and the United States and to the corporate promotion of cultures of violence in both our countries through advertising, media programming, and computer games. We believe that any military cooperation between our two countries should center on military demobilization and the transition to peace time economies. AN IMMEDIATE APPEAL TO PRIME MINISTER VAJPAYEE AND PRESIDENT CLINTON In line with these principles we call for immediate action by Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Clinton on the following issues; 1. Freeze the implementation of TRIPS pending public review and put in place measures to end the piracy of indigenous knowledge and the world's biological heritage by U.S. corporations. 2. Sign the Protocol on Bio-Safety and implement strong biosafety regulations. 3. End any introduction of GMO seeds and foods into India and phase them out in the United States. 4. End government subsidies for the introduction of E-commerce and assure that E-commerce carries its same rightful share of taxes as any other marketing channel so that small business and local economies are not undercut by unfair, subsidized competition. 5. End the import of subsidized agricultural commodities into India to the detriment of India's small farmers. 6. End government support for environmentally damaging projects such as the Enron project that the United States forced on India. 7. Assure that all trade between the United States and India contributes to the increased well-being and improved labor, social and environmental rights of people in both countries. 8. Commit to relations of peace rather than relations of militarization. ______________ Vandana Shiva A-60 Hauz Khas New Delhi 110 016 India Tel:91 11 656 1868 Fax:91 11 656 2093 ************************* Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Want to find the best email lists? Check out the Topica 20! http://www.topica.com/topica20 From amittal at foodfirst.org Tue Mar 14 01:33:44 2000 From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 08:33:44 -0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1408] SIGN-ON: Demands to IMF/World Bank - April 3, 2000 Deadline Message-ID: <0.700000824.643034275-951758591-952965224@topica.com> SIGN-ON: Demands to IMF/World Bank - April 3, 2000 Deadline [This is a call for endorsements of demands that 50 Years Is Enough Network is making to the World Bank and IMF in relation to their semi-annual meetings in April. We encourage broad circulation and sign-ons by ORGANIZATIONS supporting the mobilization and/or who support global socio-economic justice.] Please return it to: demands50years@yahoo.com . PLEASE DO NOT SEND RESPONSES TO THE LISTSERV! ********************************************** 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice OUR DEMANDS OF THE IMF AND WORLD BANK March/April 2000 On the occasion of the first meetings of the governing bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 21st century, we call for the immediate suspension of the policies and practices that have caused widespread poverty, inequality, and suffering among the world's peoples and damage to the world's environment. We assert the responsibility of these anti-democratic institutions, together with the World Trade Organization, for an unjust world economic system. We note that these institutions are controlled by wealthy governments, and that their policies have benefited international private sector financiers, transnational corporations, and corrupt officials. We issue this call in the name of global justice, in solidarity with the peoples of the Global South and the former "Soviet bloc" countries who struggle for survival and dignity in the face of unjust, imperialistic economic policies. We stand in solidarity too with the millions in the wealthy countries of the Global North who have borne the burden of "globalization" policies and been subjected to policies that mirror those imposed on the South. Only when the coercive powers of the international financial institutions are rescinded shall governments be accountable first and foremost to the will of their peoples. Only when a system that allocates power chiefly to the wealthiest nations for the purpose of dictating the policies of the poorer ones is reversed shall nations and their peoples be able to forge bonds - economic and otherwise - based on mutual respect and the common needs of the planet and its inhabitants. Only when integrity is restored to economic development, and both the corrupter and the corrupted held accountable, shall the people begin to have confidence in the decisions that affect their communities. Only when the well-being of all, including the most vulnerable people and ecosystems, is given priority over corporate profits shall we achieve genuine sustainable development and create a world of justice, equality, and peace where fundamental human rights, including social and economic rights, can be respected. With these ends in mind, we make the following demands of those meeting in Washington April 16-19, 2000 for the semi-annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund: 1. That the IMF and World Bank cancel all debts owed them. Any funds required for this purpose should come from positive net capital and assets held by those institutions. 2. That the IMF and World Bank immediately cease imposing the economic austerity measures known as structural adjustment and/or other macroeconomic "reform," which have exacerbated poverty and inequality, as conditions of loans, credits, or debt relief. This requires both the suspension of those conditions in existing programs and an abandonment of any version of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative which is founded on the concept of debt relief for policy reform. 3. That the IMF and World Bank accept responsibility for the disastrous impact of structural adjustment policies by paying reparations to the peoples and communities who have borne that impact. These funds should come from the institutions' positive net capital and assets, and should be distributed through democratically-determined mechanisms. 4. That the World Bank Group pay reparations to peoples relocated and otherwise harmed by its large projects (such as dams) and compensate governments for repayments made on projects which World Bank evaluations rank as economic failures. A further evaluation should determine which World Bank projects have failed on social, cultural, and environmental grounds, and appropriate compensation paid. The funds for these payments should come from the institutions' positive net capital and assets, and should be distributed through democratically-determined mechanisms. 5. That the World Bank Group immediately cease providing advice and resources through its division* devoted to private-sector investments to advance the goals associated with corporate globalization, such as privatization and liberalization, and that private-sector investments currently held be liquidated to provide funds for the reparations demanded above. 6. That the agencies and individuals within the World Bank Group and IMF complicit in abetting corruption, as well as their accomplices in borrowing countries, be prosecuted, and that those responsible, including the institutions involved, provide compensation for resources stolen and damage done. 7. That the future existence, structure, and policies of international institutions such as the World Bank Group and the IMF be determined through a democratic, participatory and transparent process. The process must accord full consideration of the interests of the peoples most affected by the policies and practices of the institutions, and include a significant role for all parts of civil society. The accession to these demands would require the institutions' directors to accept and act on the need for fundamental transformation. It is possible that the elimination of these institutions will be required for the realization of global economic and political justice. We commit to work towards the defunding of the IMF and World Bank by opposing further government allocations to them (in the form of either direct contributions or the designation of collateral) and supporting campaigns such as a boycott of World Bank bonds until these demands have been met. *The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a division of the World Bank Group. Also included is the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA), which insures private investments in Southern countries. SIGNED: 50 Years Is Enough Network Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) - Cape Town, South Africa Anti Debt Coalition - Indonesia Campaign Against Neo-Liberalism in South Africa (CANSA) - Johannesburg, South Africa Campaign for Labor Rights - Washington, DC Ecumenical Support Services - Harare, Zimbabwe Focus on the Global South - Bangkok, Thailand Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy - Oakland, CA (USA) Freedom from Debt Coalition - Manila, Philippines Global Exchange - San Francisco, CA (USA) Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project - Washington, DC Jubilee 2000 Afrika Campaign - London, UK Jubilee 2000 Afrika Campaign (USA) - Pittsburgh, PA Jubilee 2000 South Africa - Cape Town, South Africa Kenya Action Network - Washington, DC (USA) Kenya Human Rights Commission - Nairobi, Kenya LALIT - Port Louis, Mauritius Nicaragua Network - Washington, DC (USA) NICCA - Oakland, CA (USA) Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt & Development - Harare, Zimbabwe Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org. _____________________________________________________________ Want to find the best email lists? Check out the Topica 20! http://www.topica.com/topica20 From bayan at iname.com Wed Mar 15 06:35:42 2000 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 05:35:42 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1409] Philippines: Women's Day Protest Message-ID: Philippines: CALLS FOR ESTRADA'S RESIGNATION RING ON WOMEN'S DAY An estimated 15,000 women together with supporters joined nationwide protest actions led by the militant women's group GABRIELA in commemoration of March 8 International Day of Women. Reverberating with calls for President Joseph Estrada's resignation, almost 20 separate women's protest actions of GABRIELA chapters and member organizations took place in Baguio City, Bicol, Cavite, Cebu, Davao City, General Santos, Isabela, Iloilo, Pampanga and the National Capital Region. This year, women in Batangas, Laguna and Mindoro Occidental joined the ranks of GABRIELA women in a militant commemoration of March 8. In Manila alone, 3,000 protesters led by GABRIELA marched from Welcome Rotonda to Mendiola in a wave of purple banners calling for President Estrada's ouster. "Women all over the country have had enough of the daily tortous life of dealing with scarcity, of being subjected to various forms of degradation just to survive. A government that does not move towards resolving this situation of crisis must step down" said GABRIELA Secretary General Liza Largoza Maza. Leaders of GABRIELA marched the street in purple shirts forming the words ESTRADA RESIGN! This regime's political patronage of the Marcoses and underworld "kumpadres", endorsement of the VFA and ushering the return of martial law are blows aimed to knock women out" added Maza. The women protesters, in a program held in Mendiola, displayed the many ways women intend to oust the current administration. An oversize prescription pad diagnosed President Estrada as "mentally and psychologically unfit" and recommends the president's "forced resignation". A satire judgment meted out lifetime imprisonment with "no conjugal visits from legal spouse or otherwise". Carrying large replicas of a woman's shoe, eraser, schoolbook (entitled GO BACK TO SCHOOL), hammer and broomstick, the women's group shoved the reclining Estrada effigy from its pedestal and burned the seal of the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Aside from GABRIELA's member organizations, the militant women's group was joined by the Sandigan ng Manggagawa sa Shoemart, SAKAMAY, COURAGE, ACT, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusan ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas as well as other organizations under Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN). In Bohol, some 2,000 members and supporters of GABRIELA staged a die-in and a noise barrage this afternoon in protest of the intensifying militarization in the area under the government's OPLAN MAKABAYAN which has displaced a number of women and thier families from their homes and livelihood. While in Iloilo City, GABRIELA women staged a "Hukumang Bayan" (Peoples' Court) at the Freedom Grandstand with the Estrada administration standing in trial for its crimes committed against the Filipino women. "March 8 traces its roots from thousands of women workers dissatisfied with their working situation in New York and Europe more than a century ago. Today, Filipino women are continuing this tradition of militancy in the midst of people's growing discontent over the inutile and despicable Estrada administration and women clamoring for a substantial change in our lives" said GABRIELA chairperson Sr. Mary John Mananzan. From rcpd at monumento.info.com.ph Wed Mar 15 12:58:34 2000 From: rcpd at monumento.info.com.ph (rcpd) Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 11:58:34 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1410] Solidarity with Mozambique Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20000315115834.00862100@pop.info.com.ph> Philippine-Asia Jubilee Campaign Against the Debt (PAJCAD) c/o the Resource Center for People's Development (RCPD) E-mail: rcpd@info.com.ph and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish E-mail: "Fr. Albert Suatengco" AS415@info.com.ph [PAJCAD is a coalition of churches, lay organizations, social movements and NGOs in the Philippines working for total and unconditional cancellation of third world debts. It is convened by 35 Catholic and Protestant bishops led by His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu and several leaders of people's organizations and NGOs in the Philippines.] =========================================================== Statement of Solidarity to the People of Mozambique We call for a Total and Immediate Cancellation of all Mozambique Debts! No to World Bank-sponsored Moratorium and HIPC/PRSP Conditionalities! March 13, 2000 No words can aptly express our deepest sympathies to the people of Mozambique who continue to suffer the aftermath of the devastating floods that hit their country these past weeks. Over a million homeless, thousands of hectares of agricultural lands destroyed, not to mention the thousand of lives lost that continue to increase as the days move on. But what is more tragic for the people of Mozambique is the World Bank's hard-line stance to simply give only a one-year moratorium on debt payments, despite strong appeals for immediate and total debt cancellation by the Mozambique government and people, supported by international Jubilee campaigns and civil society organizations. Furthermore, the World Bank, trying to appear charitable in helping the people rise from the catastrophe, merely gives out new loans instead of grants to Mozambique to cope with the emergency situation. As of 1998, Mozambique has a total debt of $8.3 billion ($4.3 billion in bilateral debt, $2.1 billion in multilateral debt and $2 billion private debt). Certain creditor-governments in the North have made pledges to cancel Mozambique's bilateral debt, with UK taking the lead to cancel $ 150 million. But one wonders, where this bilateral debt cancellation goes. Will it be another drop in the ocean of third world debts that is intended to beef up the HIPC Trust Fund for Mozambique to make it appear that all debts remain legitimate after the one-year World Bank moratorium is up? And as such, will this be tied up again to implementing structural adjustment programs renamed now as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers as a basic requirement or conditionality for "debt relief" under the HIPC and Cologne Initiative? And what about the multilateral debts owed by Mozambique to the IMF and the World Bank that remain "untouchables" as far as debt cancellation is concerned? The HIPC and Cologne "debt relief" initiative is not only proven inadequate but also immoral and self-serving for the interests of international finance institutions (IFIs) who wanted to maintain the legitimacy of debts already defaulted by HIPC countries for years now. And the IFIs call it debt cancellation when in fact it is plain and simple facelifting of their books to ensure "sustainable debt servicing" by HIPCs based on structural adjustments. It is even worse because structural adjustments leave HIPCs in a no-win situation where the countries are pulled further down into perpetual indebtedness and underdevelopment at the mercy of global monopoly capital. Mozambique's experience on HIPC is telling enough. After passing to be qualified for HIPC, Mozambique is still left with annual average debt payments of $73 million (or $ 1.4 million a week) while its annual budget for primary health is only $20 million and a mere $32 million for primary education. Initial estimates put the cost of reconstruction and relief operations at hundreds of million of dollars. The full magnitude and long-term scars of the flooding has yet to be ascertained. Given this appalling situation, it is completely impossible for Mozambique to rebuild itself unless their scarce resources are channeled into the real needs of its people. There is simply no way they can pay these debts, which, in the first place, have been paid a thousand times over by the Mozambican people. It is immoral and unjustifiable on the part of the IFIs and creditors to continue collecting debt payments and add on its emergency aid as new loans, even if this is collected after a year of moratorium. The experience of Honduras and Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch are enough to say that unless genuine total and immediate debt cancellation is made, no genuine reconstruction is possible at the cost of further indebtedness. The World Bank is now recycling for Mozambique the same package it did for Honduras and Nicaragua. The Philippine-Asia Jubilee Campaign Against the Debt (PAJCAD), in solidarity with the people of Mozambique and the appeals already made by the international community, urges the international financial institutions and creditor countries to immediately cancel all bilateral and multilateral debts of Mozambique with no conditions attached. The IMF and the World Bank must cancel all debts owed to them by Mozambique given the vast assets and resources they have at hand and should stop from peddling around "moratoriums" or bilateral debt cancellations as charitable acts in the name of Jubilee and emergency aid. And worse, putting all this in the basket of the HIPC initiative as conditions for debt cancellation. In this light, PAJCAD reiterates its demand for the immediate and total cancellation of all Third World debts, and its total objection to the HIPC or its other namesakes such as PRGF/PRSP as a sham that completely negates the spirit of Jubilee. We support the Mozambican people and the Mozambique government in their option of unilateral debt repudiation as an exercise of sovereign right as a nation and people, should the IFIs insist on their insidious position and refuse to heed the legitimate and moral basis of total and immediate debt cancellation. Fr. Albert Suatengco National Coordinator Philippine-Asia Jubilee Campaign Against the Debt (PAJCAD) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: mozambiquesolidarity.doc Type: application/msword Size: 10322 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/asia-apec/attachments/20000315/a0ee78cf/mozambiquesolidarity.doc -------------- next part -------------- International South Group Network (ISGN) Secretariat Office c/o Resource Center for People's Development (RCPD) # 24 Unit 7, Mapang-akit St., Pinyahan, Quezon City, 1101 PHILIPPINES Tel/fax: (632)436-18-31 e-mail: rcpd@info.com.ph, isgn@tri-isys.com website: www.isgnweb.org From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri Mar 17 08:15:00 2000 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 07:15:00 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1411] Vandana Shiva in anti-IRRI forum in April Message-ID: KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) News release 15 March 2000 INT'L FORUM vs IRRI SAYS DEATH BEGINS AT 40 LOS BA?OS, LAGUNA -- WORLD renowned scientist-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva will make sure the crimes commited by multilateral research institutes against the world's poorest farmers will be highlighted in the 40th anniversary of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is based in this Philippine university town (about 50 kilometers southeast of Manila) Shiva and other activists from Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Canada will join the People's Forum on 40 Years of IRRI organized by Masipag Farmer-Scientist Partnership and the KMP (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas) on 3 April, a day before the IRRI throws a party for Manila government VIPs with dubious claims about raising rice productivity for the world's hungry and poor. IRRI's theme 'Rice Research for the New Millennium' will be graced by among others Philippine Department of Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, one of IRRI's Board of Trustees and pet peeve of the local anti-biotechnology movement. >From the University of the Philippines campus here, Shiva is expected to keep stoking a global crusade based in India against corporate biotechnology, gene piracy and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are new but also becoming raging controversial issues in the Philippines. In a recent attack against IRRI, she exposed as a hoax the genetically engineered Vitamin A rice, a new variety the agency proclaimed as a miracle cure for blindness, which according to the UN affects 2 million children. The IRRI has been writing glowing press stories about the rice variety, but former employees are afraid the agency is already moving out seedlings and its equally controversial cousin Bt-rice into open fields secretly, to dodge press attention and an increasingly hostile consumer reaction to GMOs. "More than $100 from the Rockefeller Foundation have been spent over 10 years to fuse genes of rice with those of a bacterium and daffodil to create a yellow rice with high levels of beta-carotene, which could prove to be another health hazard." Shiva wrote for the non-government organization Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. She said especially children tend to accumulate the oil-soluble vitamin in the liver and can cause the reverse of deficiency, which is hypervitaminosis A, since rice is a staple eaten in large quantities in Asian societies "Excessive intake of vitamin A especially among those who do not lack the nutrient causes even more health problems manifested by abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, oedema and bulging fontanelle. If this goes on, can lead to chronic toxicity that is felt as bone and joint pain, hair loss, dryness and fissures of lips, hypertension, pruritis, weight loss and hepatosplenomegaly (liver and spleen swelling)," Shiva warned. IRRI director Pinstrup Anderson has said that Vitamin A rice is necessary for the poor in Asia, because "we cannot reach very many of the malnourished in the world with pills." "In the first place, it was the reductionist IRRI technology that promoted widespread use of weed killers and pesticides and wiped out cheap alternative sources for vitamins that Indian mothers used to turn to, like our own leafy green vegetable called bathua from North India and the frogs, fish, snails and edible insects," Shiva retorted. Anderson has suggested that the "vitamin A rice could provide a public relations boost for biotechnology, which has been criticised by environmentalists and consumer activists for promoting 'Franken foods.' " Common market items such as liver, eggs, chicken, meat, milk and butter are rich in vitamin A, while its precursor beta-carotene is provided by dark green leafy vegetables, spinach, carrot, pumpkin, mango and malunggay, thus there is no obvious need for vitamin A enriched rice. Manny Yap of the Los Ba?os-based Masipag said that only genuine land reform and patriotic food programs for each nation will provide billions of peasants worldwide with inceased incomes to be able to afford these traditional foods and remain reasonably healthy.. "If allowed to destroy the remaining farmland it missed during its 40 years, IRRI's technology will eventually destroy all our traditional nutrient sources and further plunge billions of peasants into harsher poverty and landlessnes," said KMP chair Rafael Mariano who echo Shiva's positions. The People's Forum will also feature horror stories about experiences with the IRRI- backed Green Revolution presented by peasants from the Asian region. # # # Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) Peasant Movement of the Philippines URL: http://www.geocities.com/kmp_ph Subscribe to the KMP mailing list to keep you informed of the latest campaigns in support of land struggles in the Philippines. Just send a blank email to kmp-subscribe@topica.com Tell your friends about it! From sap at web.net Sat Mar 18 04:49:57 2000 From: sap at web.net (Faruq Faisel) Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 14:49:57 -0500 Subject: [asia-apec 1412] Fw: PDFORUM-L Making People Count--Invitation to a Presentation Message-ID: <009901bf904b$49f679e0$1a0000c0@web.net> Faruq Faisel Canadian Program Manager South Asia Partnership (SAP) Canada 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 200 Ottawa Ontario K1N 7B7 Canada Phone: (613) 241 1333 Fax: (613) 241 1129 URL: www.sapcanada.org ----- Original Message ----- From: PD Forum To: Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 10:18 AM Subject: PDFORUM-L Making People Count--Invitation to a Presentation > The Participatory Development (PD) Forum and South Asia Partnership (SAP) > Canada Invite you to a Mid-day Presentation: > > MAKING PEOPLE COUNT: > Challenges and Dilemmas In Using Participatory Methods For International > Financial Institution Projects in Pakistan > > Date: Wednesday March 29, 2000 > Time: 12 to 2 PM > Place: Room 202, 1 Nicholas Street, Ottawa > > Presenters: David King and Gary Holm, Agrodev Canada Inc. > > The presenters will share their experiences from two projects. > > 1. Northern Resource Management Project, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Pakistan. > > Over 4 years, Agrodev assisted the Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir > (AJK) in the sustainable management of land and other natural resources in > one of Pakistan's poorest and most environmentally vulnerable areas. The > project sought to improve the policy framework that influenced the use and > conservation of natural resources while strengthening and restructuring the > main institutions in charge of managing the natural resources of AJK. > > The project tested, on a pilot basis, programs whereby communities took > management and financial responsibility for identifying, planning and > implementing activities geared towards sustainable resource development. > > The technical assistance was part of a larger World Bank loan developing > rural infrastructure; restructuring the departments of Agriculture and > Animal Husbandry, including the privatization of agriculture input supply; > and developing a community-led extension strategy. > > Agrodev assisted the Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the > sustainable management of land and other natural resources in one of > Pakistan's poorest and most environmentally vulnerable areas. > > 2. NWFP Barani Area Development Phase-II Project Preparation Technical > Assistance Project (PPTA) > > Agrodev is just completing this 7 month project to design a rural community > development project for the Asian Development Bank (and IFAD) funding and > implementation in rain fed > areas of 10 districts of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. An > earlier project implemented in 4 districts is nearing completion, as well. > > This earlier project was implemented by government line agencies in > collaboration with a Rural Support program (responsible for community > organization) and national banking /commercial banking agencies (providing > the financing for the small scale credit program. The PPTA required that > the experience of this earlier project be built upon, and extended to a > (much) wider area, focus more directly on women participants and more > effectively target the poorest of the poor. Productive opportunities for the > poor household targets of the project had to be identified and their > economic, financial and technical feasibility assessed. The capacities of > rural support organizations to meet the community organization needs of the > proposed project and whether the rural support organization(s) should also > be involved in the micro credit program appraised. > > Sustainability of resource use also had to be appraised: - Soil loss, loss of > tree cover and other forms of resource degradation in upland areas and deep > water tables with high costs of water extraction are all key concerns in > > various parts of the project area. Finally economic detailed economic > analysis had to be carried out on each proposed component to ensure that the > project meets Economic Internal Rates of Return (EIRR) standards for ADB > approval and financing. > > Both the presenters were involved directly with these projects. This forum > will give us opportunity to understand their lessons and doubts. There will > be an opportunity for the participants to take part in an open discussion > after the presentations. > > A $2 donation to the PD Forum will be appreciated. > > Space is limited. Please confirm your attendance in advance to Christa > McMillin at the PD Forum: or by phone (613) 792-1006. > > > --------------------- > Upcoming PD Forum Events: > > In collaboration with the Gender Equality Division at CIDA, Rieky Stuart > and David Kelleher will be discussing their new book "Gender at Work" which > is about gender and organizational change. April 13, 12:30 - 2pm, at > CIDA (200 Promenade du Portage, Hull), Room 501. > > Bessa Whitmore and Maureen Wilson of the Canadian Consortium for > International Social Development will be discussing their new book "Seeds > of Fire: Social Development in an era of globalization". April 27, time > and venue to be confirmed. > > > > > > From kevin.li at graduate.hku.hk Mon Mar 27 20:23:52 2000 From: kevin.li at graduate.hku.hk (Li Yuk Shing Kevin) Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 19:23:52 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1413] CHINA: Email Protest Campaign Against Chicco - Sample Letter Message-ID: <38DF44C8.A329B140@graduate.hku.hk> This is a petition letter to the Italian toy company - Chicco. This company has not compensated to the victim workers and their relatives who suffered or died in the fire incident happened in Shenzhen Zhili Factory 6 years ago. This email campaign is initiated by The Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toy (c/o. Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC)). We are seeking your support. Please follow the instructions to fill in the blanks and mail to artsana@tin.it if you wish to show your support. For further information: The Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toy http://members.hknet.com/~hkcic/ The letter is as follow: ===== by fax, e-mail and/or by post (Name of your Group/Organization) (Address of your Group/Organization) (Date) Director Artsana S.p.A./Chicco Via Saldarini Catelli No.1, 22070 Grandate Como, Italy e-mail: artsana@tin.it Dear Mr Catelli, In 1997, your company promised to compensate the victims of the Zhili Factory Fire happened in Shenzhen in 1993. However, we are indignant at the decision of your company to divert the compensation fund to other unrelated purposes. As a ……... group/organization in Hong Kong, we ……….. …..(write something about your group/organization to make the company know your public standing) ….. We strongly demand your company to stop such misuse of the fund, and to take immediate actions to compensate the Zhili Fire victims already identified by the Hong Kong Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toys, and take all possible official or non-official measures to look for other victims. (sign/title/name of your group/organization) c.c Mr Fabrizio Goldoni General Manager Caben Ltd 9/F TAL Building 49 Austin Road Kowloon, Hong Kong fax: 2375 4411