[asia-apec 1407] URGENT SOLIDARITY REQUEST FROM VANDANA SHIVA

[Anuradha Mittal]

Pleased note: The sender requests a response no later than 10 March.

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from:Vandana Shiva

subject: URGENT SOLIDARITY CONVENTION

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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

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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.
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Vandana Shiva
A-60 Hauz Khas
New Delhi 110 016
India
Tel:91 11 656 1868
Fax:91 11 656 2093

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