From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Apr 13 06:00:20 2001
From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal)
Date: Thu, 12-Apr-2001 21:00:20 GMT
Subject: [asia-apec 1751] Support Food First: Challenge Grant
Message-ID: <0.700000824.1796731830-951758591-987109221@topica.com>
For 25 years Food First has been 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 ask you to make a
special donation that will be matched by the Alan Shawn Feinstein
Million Dollar Challenge Grant during March and April, 2001. Food First
is proud to have been selected to participate.
You will also be joining millions of other Americans in sending the
message to President Bush and the U.S. Congress that HUNGER IN AMERICA
IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE. Right now more than 25% of U.S. children are
growing up in poverty. It doesn't have to be this way.
Instead of investing in our children, President Bush and the
Republican-dominated Congress are determined to push through a tax cut
that favors the rich. In 1990, CEOs of U.S. corporations earned an
average of 80 times more than the average worker. That gap increased to
485 times the pay of the average worker by 1999. The federal tax cut
will give a 43% tax cut to the richest one percent of Americans. The
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities indicates that the Bush tax cut
will provide no tax relief for 12 million lower and moderate-income
families.
Today 36 million Americans do not get enough to eat. Demand for food at
food pantries and food banks across the country is the highest it has
been since food banks were started in the early 1980s. Food pantries are
now distributing food in the evening to serve working poor people who
cannot come during weekday hours.
Food First's May 2001 "California Economic Human Rights: The Time Has
Come" bus tour will focus on the needs of those who have been
marginalized by the globalization of jobs and the failure of minimum
wage to keep up with the cost of living here in the U.S.
I hope you can make a special donation to Food First during March or
April for the 4th Annual Alan Shawn Feinstein $1 million dollar
challenge grant. This is a smart way to make your donation go farther.
You can also help put the pressure on Congress and President Bush by
gathering signatures for the petition drive that has been started by
Alan Shawn Feinstein. The attached petition calls upon Congress and
President Bush to make a commitment to ending hunger in America. To get
more copies of the petition, which already has more than 786,000
signatures, go to www.feinsteinfoundation.com.
Remember, your special matching gift must be received here at Food First
during March or April to count toward the Feinstein challenge grant.
You can donate by credit card on our secure server web site -
www.foodfirst.org 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.
Working together we can make our voices heard for the right of all
people to feed themselves.
With respect for justice,
Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director
Here's my March/April 2001 special gift to match the 1 million dollar
Alan Shawn Feinstein challenge to fight hunger in the U.S.
[ ]$50 [ ]$25 [ ]$75 [ ]$100 Other_______
[ ]Visa [ ]MC [ ]AmExpress
Card#
Expires_____________
Name________________________________
Address________________________________________
City/State/Zip_________________________________________
Please make checks payable to FOOD FIRST. Thank You!
http://www.foodfirst.org e-mail: foodfirst@foodfirst.org
--
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact
foodfirst@foodfirst.org.
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org.
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From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Apr 18 05:27:28 2001
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 08:27:28 +1200
Subject: [asia-apec 1752] NZ and Hong Kong announce trade talks
Message-ID: <000a01c0c77c$d6e86340$85cca7cb@notoapec>
New Zealand Herald, Auckland
NZ, Hong Kong get ball rolling
18.04.2001 By JOHN ARMSTRONG
New Zealand and Hong Kong last night agreed to start formal negotiations on a free trade pact.
But unlike last year's Singapore agreement, the Hong Kong negotiations will also cover environmental and labour standards to mute domestic criticism in New Zealand of such trade pacts.
Along with industry groups, New Zealand trade unions will be consulted before the talks start.
The announcement that formal negotiations would begin followed last night's meeting between Prime Minister Helen Clark and Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa.
A closer economic partnership agreement is expected to boost two-way trade in goods and services and increase bilateral investment.
New Zealand exports to Hong Kong last year totalled $772 million and imports were worth $171 million.
From amittal at foodfirst.org Wed Apr 18 12:12:33 2001
From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal)
Date: Wed, 18-Apr-2001 03:12:33 GMT
Subject: [asia-apec 1753] The Global Banquet
Message-ID: <0.700000824.775167421-212058698-987563554@topica.com>
NEW DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS INJUSTICES IN
GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM
Food First to Screen The Global Banquet, Politics of Food
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., April 24 at New College of California
(Oakland, CA) Food First and Maryknoll World Productions announce the
release of The Global Banquet, Politics of Food, a two-part documentary
series which details the ways in which a globalized economy has
exacerbated the problems of hunger and poverty worldwide instead of
alleviating them.
A screening of the documentary will be hosted by Food First/The
Institute for Food and Development Policy on Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30
p.m. in the main auditorium of the New College of California, 777
Valencia Street in San Francisco. Food First’s co-director, Anuradha
Mittal, who is featured in the film, will be on hand to facilitate
discussion. The event is open to the public and admission is free of
charge.
The Global Banquet, Politics of Food begins in rural North America and
demonstrates how a handful of multi-national corporations have come to
dominate our food system, driving small family farmers both in the U.S.
and the developing world out of existence.
Free trade policies have manipulated control of local markets,
destroying the ability of developing nations to feed themselves and
perpetuating structures that promote hunger. Highly industrialized food
production has led to focus on shareholder profits, resulting in a
concentration of wealth, thousands of poverty-wage jobs, and
environmental destruction. The documentary features a variety of voices
from the north and south that expose the injustices and suggest
progressive ways of reshaping the global food system.
"Markets are not the first nor the last word in human development," says
Anuradha Mittal. "Many essentials for human development are provided
outside the market, but these are being destroyed and squeezed by the
pressures of global competition. When the market dominates social and
political outcomes, the rewards of globalization spread unequally."
At the World Food Summit in November 1996, 185 nations declared, "We
consider it intolerable that more than 800 million people throughout the
world, and particularly in developing countries, do not have enough food
to meet their basic nutritional needs."
Delegates at that Summit put forth a plan to liberalize trade and to
increase food production, hoping to cut the number of hungry in half by
2015. This past January, the United Nations World Food Program reported
that the number of people suffering from hunger had soared to 830
million. The Global Banquet, Politics of Food asks the question: how
long can the paradigm of free trade be utilized as a central solution to
the hunger crisis?
"Maryknoll has long had an interest in this issue," says Larry Rich,
executive producer of The Global Banquet and director of Maryknoll World
Productions. "In 1984, we produced a documentary called The Business of
Hunger, dealing with
the impact of export crops on world hunger. This film shows the
continued evolution of the problem, detailing how all phases of food
production and distribution are in even fewer hands today."
Maryknoll World Productions commissioned The Global Banquet, Politics of
Food, which was produced and directed by Anne Macksoud and John Ankele,
collaborators on film and video documentaries for 15 years. Their works
include Arms for the Poor and Cancel the Debt, Now, and have been
broadcast on PBS stations, ABC-TV and cable networks, and shown at the
Margaret Mead and Florence Film Festivals, The Museum of Modern Art and
the Smithsonian.
Food First is an appropriate host for the premiere screening. Since
1975, Food First, as a think-tank and education-for-action center, has
empowered citizens to address the root causes of hunger, poverty and
environmental decline, with a commitment to establishing food as a
fundamental human right.
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy was founded in 1975
by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins following the success of the
book, Diet for A Small Planet. Recognized as "one of the country’s most
established food policy think tanks" by The New York Times, Food First
is a leading progressive think tank and education-for-action center.
The Global Banquet, Politics of Food can be ordered at www.maryknoll.org
or by calling (800) 227-8523.
Maryknoll, the Catholic missionary movement celebrating its 90th
anniversary, includes three distinct organizations: the Maryknoll
Society (Fathers and Brothers), the Maryknoll Congregation (Sisters) and
the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful (lay missioners and
priest and religious associates). Maryknollers have been representing
Catholics in overseas mission since 1911 and currently serve in 39
countries worldwide. There also are 40 Maryknoll Affiliate Chapters in
the United States for persons interested in generating mission spirit in
their local communities. For more information on Maryknoll, consult the
World Wide Web at www.maryknoll.org.
###
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org.
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From notoapec at clear.net.nz Fri Apr 20 15:02:40 2001
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (notoapec@clear.net.nz)
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 06:02:40 +0000
Subject: [asia-apec 1754] NZ Herald Online Story - Asia view: Momentum needed for Asia-Pacific trade talks
Message-ID: <200104191803.GAA16802@waklwh3.wilsonandhorton.co.nz>
The following story has been sent to you by notoapec@clear.net.nz who feels it may be of interest.
Senders email: notoapec@clear.net.nz
---------------------------
New Zealand Herald, Auckland 21/03/01 - Asia view: Momentum needed for Asia-Pacific trade talks By VAUGHAN YARWOOD
Within a matter of weeks, New Zealand and Hong Kong will decide whether to shift their exploratory trade talks up a gear and enter into official negotiations.
A green light for the talks would help the cause of global trade.
Hong Kong appears keen to proceed. It is a free port under the terms of reunification with China, and therefore is entitled to enter into trade agreements on its own account. Moreover, its import regime is similar to that of Singapore, with which New Zealand entered into the groundbreaking Closer Economic Partnership in January.
Though no substitute for comprehensive multilateral trade liberalisation, pacts such as CEP serve to keep the free-trade flame alight while the World Trade Organisation's more ambitious plans are languishing. After the failure of its Seattle ministerial meeting in late 1999, the stalled WTO is desperate to begin fresh negotiations to build on the achievements of the Uruguay Round. The WTO's director general, Mike Moore, wants to get the basis for a new round on the table by the end of July, in time for the Qatar ministerial meeting in November.
Setting an agenda for Qatar has been slowed by foot-dragging on workers' rights and environmental protection among developing countries, and by widespread disagreements on how to handle agriculture and product dumping.
Unexpectedly, these difficulties have won Australia over to the cause of regional trade areas, which it once saw as hindering progress at the global level. It may have been encouraged by the emerging Free Trade Agreement for the Americas. Now Australia has warmed to New Zealand's plan to use CER and the Singapore pact as the nucleus of an Asean free-trade area.
The slowdown in the US economy could be a fillip to such a scheme. Many Asian economies are overexposed to the downturn in US technology spending and will be coming under increasing pressure to stimulate trade and investment through structural changes. Among highly vulnerable economies are the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, each of which has 50 per cent or more of its exports composed of information-technology products.
Since its founding in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has had limited success in driving economic integration, largely because of a tendency among individual member countries to focus on sectors in which they were competitive and elsewhere to remain protectionist.
There is hope that the spectre of a global slump will galvanise Apec members at the October leaders' meeting in Shanghai to more actively pursue the forum's goals.
The Singapore CEP agreement could not have come at a better time for Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton. It is a tangible expression of Apec's 1995 goal of opening trade and investment in developed countries by 2010 and in developing countries by 2020. Unlike Apec's initiative, CEP is legally binding and provides mechanisms for redress and compensation. Not only is CEP fully consistent with WTO provisions, but by removing all tariffs, expanding service commitments and prohibiting agricultural subsidies it sets a benchmark for inclusive trade arrangements.
New Zealand has always fought to keep agriculture on the WTO agenda. As a global trader in agricultural products, it cannot afford to see agriculture sidelined by entrenched protectionism. Imprecise WTO guidelines which talk of covering substantially all trade have been interpreted by some as meaning that problematic sectors can be left out of negotiations. New Zealand has taken the more rigorous line that any trade agreement must be comprehensive.
Worldwide, some 220 trade agreements are in force or under negotiation, and it is in New Zealand's interest to ensure that, at a minimum, they conform with WTO guidelines. Until two years ago none of the free-trade initiatives involved Asia. Now Korea is well advanced in negotiations with Chile and is talking to Japan. Singapore is in dialogue separately with the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan.
China is not expected to be in a position to contemplate any such talks until its admission to the WTO is completed, which now looks unlikely before the end of the year.
As the first free-trade agreement between an Asian economy and a developed Western country, CEP has symbolic importance. It also confers real benefits on New Zealand by reducing compliance costs for exporters and expanding market access in service sectors such as education, engineering, architecture and telecommunications.
A pact with Hong Kong would cement this achievement and further the goal of creating an interlocking net of trade agreements within Apec.
* Vaughan Yarwood can be contacted at hiero@ihug.co.nz
---------------------------
To view more stories please visit the NZ Herald Online at http://www.nzherald.co.nz
From amittal at foodfirst.org Sat Apr 21 11:10:01 2001
From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal)
Date: Sat, 21-Apr-2001 02:10:01 GMT
Subject: [asia-apec 1755] California Economic Human Rights Bus Tour
Message-ID: <0.700000824.747302138-951758591-987819002@topica.com>
GET ON THE BUS! JOIN THE CALIFORNIA ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS BUS TOUR
To build a national movement for economic human rights in the United
States, Food First is organizing the 2001 California Economic Human
Rights Bus Tour, to be held from May 29 to 31. This follow-up to our
successful 1999 Georgia Bus Tour will draw public attention to growing
poverty and hunger in this country, and the powerful grassroots
campaigns that address these injustices.
Representative John Conyers called Food First’s 1999 tour "the most
important thing I’ve done this year." With this in mind, the 2001 tour
will again bring congressional representatives, state legislators, local
officials, and the national media on the bus. They will hear first-hand
testimonies and policy recommendations, emphasizing the need for bolder
initiatives and a greater community role in policy making.
The tour will highlight campaigns for justice in California and expand
the call for economic human rights to a national level. Planned stops
include a kickoff event at the St. Mary’s Center in Oakland, a downtown
Oakland walking tour hosted by Building Opportunities for Self
Sufficiency (BOSS), of low income workers’ housing that is slated for
destruction and business development, the Day Laborers’ Center in San
Francisco, and the fields of Salinas to witness the United Farm Workers’
fight for fundamental economic human rights to safe working conditions
and access to basic health care.
Assaults on our country’s working poor continue to accelerate, and the
California Economic Human Rights Bus Tour is a timely and dynamic
opportunity to strengthen our networks in support of justice. Join with
us in demanding economic human rights in the United States.
To support, endorse and participate in the California Bus Tour and our
domestic campaign, Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!, please
contact us at humanrights@foodfirst.org or call (510) 654-4400 x235.
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst@foodfirst.org.
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From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sun Apr 22 06:00:28 2001
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 09:00:28 +1200
Subject: [asia-apec 1756] Jaggi Singh violently arrested in Quebec City
Message-ID: <003201c0caa6$1c044e40$98cca7cb@notoapec>
Our friend Jaggi Singh, who came to Aotearoa for the APEC Monitoring Group organised anti-APEC activities in Sept 99, has just been taken out by cops in Quebec City at the anti-FTAA mobilisation there
Aziz Choudry
JAGGI SINGH ARRESTED April 20, 2001, Quebec City
http://www.indymedia.org
Jaggi Singh assaulted by police, disappeared
by david creighton 8:22pm Fri Apr 20 '01
ottawa phone: 613-728-5716 dcr8on@yahoo.com
Photo http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3D35570&group=3Dwebcas=
t
>From Ontario IMC
The popular activist organizer was attacked by disguised policemen and whisked away. His whereabouts are now unknown
A group of disguised policemen assaulted and kidnapped the non-violent activist Jaggi Singh this afternoon. His whereabouts are still unknown and
no charges have been laid.
"About five o'clock we were standing talking on rue Saint-Jean, a green [minimum risk] zone, Helene Nazon reported, when three or four demonstrators suddenly attacked Jaggi from behind. They grabbed his arms, pushed him down onto the pavement and began beating him. Jaggi shouted out and nearby protesters rushed to his rescue", she continued.
"One young woman was shoved to the ground and a man was kicked by the assailants, she said. When would-be rescuers appeared to have the upper hand, the assailants drew truncheons from under their coats, announced they were police and warned people away. Then they picked Jaggi up, dragged him into an unmarked panel van parked on Sainte-Claire", Nazon said, "and sped
away". Ms Nazon is a member of CASA [Welcoming Committee for the Summit of
the Americas].
Numerous telephone inquiries to local police authorities revealed no reports of Mr Singh's arrest, location or of any charges being laid.
The assailants are described as "big men, bouncers, dressed up like protesters", and the attack as "completely unprovoked, and in an area designated green by the Comite populaire Saint-Jean-Baptiste [Patriotic St John the Baptist Committee]".
Mr Singh is a well-known organizer and journalist who was similarly treated at the infamous APEC demonstrations in Vancouver and again in Montreal. "Jaggi has never committed civil disobedience himself," Ms Nazon said.
Other members of CASA condemned the brutal responses by police when the illegal barricades were earlier toppled by demonstrators. "This was complete overkill," said spokesperson Louise Boivin. "There is a problem when a society that calls itself 'democratic' has to suppress legitimate dissent
with pepper spray, tear gas and attack dogs," she said.
At a press conference tonight spokesperson Julie-Eve Proulx reported a number of "pre-emptive" arrests, midnight house breakins by police and
harrassments of organizers. "The torchlight march we organized last night was very beautiful and completely peaceful," she said, "and we can see no reason why police are acting in these extraordinary ways."
"The 'good news' is that groups that have had difficulties with each other for years," Boivin said, "are now working together very effectively. These police actions certainly confirm the nature of the secret negotiations going
on inside the wall,"she said.
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Apr 25 05:33:37 2001
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:33:37 +1200
Subject: [asia-apec 1757] URGENT-Actions Needed for Quebec FTAA Political Prisoners
Message-ID: <002001c0ccfd$d8b97980$5e84a7cb@notoapec>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 3:32 PM
Subject: URGENT-Actions Needed for Quebec FTAA Political Prisoners
please post far and wide
FROM THE VERMONT MOBILIZATION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE:
LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTION NEEDED
We urge all concerned people and organizations to immediately call or fax
the Quebec Minister of Justice, Paul Begin, call 418/528-0483
fax 418/528-0271
Demand the release of all the people arrested protesting the Free Trade
Area of Americas during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec
City, Canada.
Furthermore, we urge you to contact any Canadian embassy or consulate in
your region or country and the demand the same.
CASA and the CLAC have created a legal defense fund for the 400 or more
political prisoners now incarcerated in Quebec City. Bail
appears to be in the $300 to $500 range and monies are urgently needed. Go
to this site for details:
http://www.tao.ca/%7Eclac/funds.html#urge
Free all those incarcerated in Quebec City!
Free Jaggi Singh!
Free all political prisoners!
Vermont Mobilization for Global Justice
P.O. Box 604
Burlington, VT 05402
Email: vmob@riseup.net
www.vermontactionnetwork.org
FFI contact: 802 863 0571
From ircalb at swcp.com Thu Apr 26 03:52:02 2001
From: ircalb at swcp.com (Interhemispheric Resource Center)
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 12:52:02 -0600
Subject: [asia-apec 1758] Spyplane Saga and Taiwan Arm Sales
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.0.20010425124141.00a7eec0@swcp.com>
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From notoapec at clear.net.nz Thu Apr 26 06:05:48 2001
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:05:48 +1200
Subject: [asia-apec 1759] NZ-HK deal and labour linkages
Message-ID: <001501c0cdcb$83d05e60$facca7cb@notoapec>
NZ Herald 26/04/01 - Labour link rocks HK deal By BRIAN FALLOW economics editor
The Government wants to include labour standards in the closer economic partnership agreement being negotiated with Hong Kong.
The Council of Trade Unions supports the idea.
The Hong Kong Government, however, has a longstanding position that it is inappropriate to link such issues with trade negotiations.
And the National Party worries that it might backfire on New Zealand in the future.
The issue of whether labour and environment safeguards should be written into trade agreements is one of the major fault lines in international trade policy.
Opponents see it as protectionism by the back door, proponents as a means of giving widely supported international standards some teeth.
CTU secretary Paul Goulter said: "Ultimately, what we want is to see that labour standards, as set out in [International Labour Organisation's] core conventions, become enforceable through the trade enforcement mechanisms in these agreements."
It was not good enough, he said, to argue that the ILO provided a mechanism to address labour standards at the international level.
"Many countries, including New Zealand under the previous Government, just thumb their nose at the ILO."
The ILO's eight core conventions cover such things as the right to organise and bargain collectively, and certain labour prohibitions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's discussion document on the proposed agreement with Hong Kong says an examination of Hong Kong's labour laws shows they are not dissimilar to New Zealand's.
"The [New Zealand] Government has indicated that it would like to see labour and environmental standards better integrated with trade agreements, without allowing developed countries to use this as a pretext to keep out developing country exports."
Hong Kong hardly counts as a developing country. It is considerably richer than New Zealand. Gross domestic product per head in 1999 was two-thirds as high again than in New Zealand - $44,000 compared with $26,000 here.
Citing official Hong Kong statistics, MFAT says the overall average wage in the manufacturing sector is $33,000 and for garment workers, $27,000.
The Leader of the Opposition, Jenny Shipley, in a letter to Helen Clark expressing support in principle for a free trade agreement with Hong Kong, nevertheless expressed concern about including labour provisions.
"New Zealand wages for example are lower than a number of countries with whom we trade but whom we would also like to have free trade agreements with," she said. "We would not like to see any inclusion of labour provisions which at a later date allowed any obstruction of New Zealand's exports into a country based on the low cost of labour.