From bayan at iname.com Fri Jan 1 16:38:19 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 15:38:19 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 987] UN, UNDP, UNICEF 1997 Statistics Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990101153819.006a68a0@pop.skyinet.net> United Nations Development Report/UNICEF 1997 and WHO 1998 Forwarded without comment The latest Annual United Nations Development Report/UNICEF 1997 and WHO 1998 $40 BILLION A YEAR It is estimated that the additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all, and clean water and safe sewers for all is roughly $40 billion a year--or less than 4% of the combined wealth of the 225 richest people in the world. 1.3 billion people in the world today (1,300 million, or 1,300,000,000 people) struggle to survive on $1/day. 3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on $2/day. 2 billion have no access to power (electrical). The net worth of 10 billionaires, ten human beings, is greater than the combined national income of the forty-eight poorest countries combined. In the West, 100 million people live below the poverty line. Globally, one in five people do not expect to live beyond the age of 40. Three out of four in the poorest countries will not see their fiftieth birthday About 300 million people live in 16 countries where life expectancy actually decreased between 1975 and 1995. 1997 Deaths Out of of a global total of 52.2 million deaths, 17.3 million were due to infectious and parasitic diseases; 15.3 million were due to circulatory diseases; 6.2 million were due to cancer; 2.9 million were due to respiratory diseases and 3.6 million were due to perinatal conditions. The leading causes of deaths from infectious diseases were acute lower respiratory infections (3.7 million), tuberculosis (2.9 million), HIV/AIDS (2.3 million) and malaria (1.5-2.7 million) THE CAPITALIST HOLOCAUST: More than 15 million adults aged 20 to 64 are dying every year. "Most of these deaths are premature and preventable." (WHO) The gap between the poorest fifth of the world's people and the richest fifth has increased from 30:1 in 1906 to 78:1 in 1994. The world's 225 richest individuals, of whom 60 are Americans with total assets of $311 billion, have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion--equal to the annual income of the poorest 47% of the entire world's population. Debt relief for the 20 largest 3rd world "debtor nations" would cost $5.5 to 7.7 billion, the cost of a couple of stealth bombers. The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries. Microsoft Corporation makes $34 million (20 million) profit a day. This is what sub-Saharan Africa pays each day in debt service (interest and capital repayments). The cost of meeting basic goals in Africa for health, nutrition, education and family planning would be about $9 billion a year. In 1996, sub-Saharan Africa paid the developed world $13.4 billion, including $9.5 billion in new loans and $2.6 billion of its aid (23 percent of all grants). So nearly a quarter of aid to Africa simply goes to repay debts. Developing countries paid $270 billion in debt service last year - $60 per person. This has risen from $160 billion in 1990. The assets controlled by the 200 wealthiest individuals are greater than the Gross Domestic Product of the entire continent of Africa, home to 600 million people. Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics--$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world. Europeans spend $11 billion a year on ice cream--$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world's population. Sweden and the United States have 681 and 626 telephone lines per 1,000 people, respectively. Afghanistan, Cambodia, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have one line per 1,000 people. 40 percent of the Russian population now lives in poverty. Mr. Knight, the CEO of Nike corporation has $5.2 billion net worth. To reach that amount of money, a young Chinese woman in their factory would have to work for 9 hours per day, for six days a week, for one-hundred centuries. The 16 billion Britain is spending on 232 new Eurofighters would cancel the entire debt of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Nike paid Michael Jordan $20,000,000 per year to promove Nike sneakers, which is greater than the annual income of 30,000 asian women together who sew Nike sneakers. USA Between 20 and 30 million Americans suffer from hunger (Congressional Hunger Center, 1995). The U.S. has the highest infant mortality, AIDS, road accident, pesticide consumption, homicide, reported rapes, imprisonment and hazardous waste production rates among Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria, France, Finland and Canada (The World Bank, World Development Report, 1994 and UN, Human Development Report, 1994). "The United States is the richest country on the planet yet it has the greatest income disparity.... Sixty percent of all U.S. jobs created since 1979 pay less than $7,000 a year" (Fian Fact Sheet, Welfare by Corporations is Corporate Welfare). The US, with just 5 times the population of Italy, has 150 times more children in detention" (UNICEF) Share of global income going to richest 20% and poorest 20% of world's population: year richest 20% share poorest 20% share rich to poor 1960 70.2% 2.3% 30:1 1970 73.9% 2.3% 32:1 1980 76.3% 1.7% 45:1 1989 82.7% 1.4% 59:1 During the period 1979 through the present, the growth in income has disproportionately flowed to the top. The bottom 60% of the population actually saw their real income decrease in 1990 dollars. The next 20% saw modest gains. The top twenty percent saw their income increase 18%. The wealthiest one percent saw their incomes explode over 80% In 1976, the wealthiest one percent of Americans owned 19% of all the private material wealth in the U.S. Today, they own over 40% of all wealth. Their share now exceeds the wealth owned by the bottom 92% of the U.S. population combined. Since the mid-1960s, the pay ratio, or difference between the highest and lowest paid workers in an average company, has widened from 44:1 to today=92s high of 209:1.3 UK Since 1979 the income of the richest 10 percent has continuously risen while that of the poorest 10 percent has steadily fallen. In 1992-93, 25 percent of Britons -- some 14.1 million people -- were living in poverty, a majority of them women. According to the London-based Child Poverty Action Group approximately 59 percent of people living in poverty are women. Women make up to 70 percent of the lowest earners and four out of five women employees work part-time. From magbubukid at hotmail.com Fri Jan 1 16:38:00 1999 From: magbubukid at hotmail.com (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas) Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 15:38:00 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 988] Manila gov't. heap holiday horrors on peasants Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990101153800.0069f460@pop.skyinet.net> KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) Features 24 December 1998 Christmas 1998 - a season of torment for peasants ALLAN dela Cruz's hope for having meat on the table this Christmas was suddenly granted when angry farmworkers in Calumpit, Bulacan decided to plow 60 hectares of disputed farmland on Dec. 23 in defiance of legal restraints filed by real estate firms Sta. Lucia and IPM. As a rented tractor struggled to cut down weeds that strangled the idle land after a year of legal delays, farm rats scampered in all directions and tried to escape. But Allan swatted them with a stick all day, netting about forty which weighed 3 kilos. He will make this into adobo (a Filipino favorite viand) but this is still not enough for the traditional noche buena (Christmas eve midnight dinner) for his family of six. Confronting the security guards of the IPM firm, who rushed to investigate the cutting down of the barbed-wire fence for the tractor to pass through, Bernardo Cruz, spokesperson of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Bulakan (AMB or Alliance of Bulacan peasants) in Calumpit, explained: Even if there is a restraining order which could be a basis to charge us with illegal entry, we had to do this because two planting/harvesting seasons have overtaken about 100 farm workers in these villages." Cruz said their troubles began when developers started buying ricefields in the villages of Balite, Sergio Bayan and Buguion without consulting the farmworkers who work on the land. The area is considered prime agricultural land as evidenced by its being serviced by the National Irrigation Administration since 1981. Administrative Order #20 prohibits its conversion into non-agricultural use. Last year, the farmworkers lost to a third developer Roca Filipina, which succeeded in building low-cost housing over 40 hectares after the firm charged the farmworkers with illegal entry. The evicted farmworkers tried to till other plots that are now also being claimed by Sta. Lucia and IPM. Only a December 1996 opinion by the national office of the Department of Agrarian Reform declaring the land qualified for land reform kept the two firms from starting with stonework. According to residents, real estate agents prowl the villages and bully their way by dropping the name of Secretary of Defense Orlando Mercado, allegedly related to the Mercados of IPM. Cruz says that anytime now, they might be charged and jailed if they insist on planting rice after Christmas. In Mamburao, Mindoro Occidental, the wheels of justice continue to grind exceedingly slow for the 18 peasants who were implicated in the November 1997 killing of Paul and Michael, sons of the local warlord Ricardo Quintos. Six of them - Manolito Matricio, Ruben Balaguer, Gelito Bautista, Mario Tobias, Eduardo Hermoso and Josue Ungsod - have been arrested and are now detained in the Quezon City jail. KMP has been campaigning for their release and the dismissal of the case. Of the six, Ungsod suffered the worst cruelty by the military/police. He was arrested without a warrant in Palua, Occ. Mindoro on Nov. 19 and taken to Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna on Nov. 29. He was later transferred to Quezon City Jail on Dec. 18. His co-accused said they were sure he was tortured and probably poisoned by his past jailers. He refuses food and drink offered by his five friends whom he does not recognize at the moment. At one time he was so paranoid, he drank his own urine instead of water being offered to him. Doctors who examined the 31-year old Ungsod said he suffers from depression and schizopenic paranoia, most probably a traumatic reaction to physical and psychological torture during interrogation. Dr. Gene Nisperos of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) recommended his transfer from the jail to a hospital to facilitate his recovery. KMP chairman Rafael Mariano said these cases mirror the wretchedness of the people and the injustices of society similarly described in the novel Les Miserables. "The Mindoro farmers were first charged with stealing their own mangoes, those in Bulacan for fighting for their right to plant for their own food. The US-Estrada regime is very much like the callous French aristocracy and the novel's antagonist Javert who for twenty years chased criminals accused of stealing a piece of bread." Mariano explained that Estrada has similarly criminalized the peasants' struggle for genuine land reform and chose not to honor his own unilateral ceasefire and the basic spirit of Christmas. "Eventually, his cruelty will only lead to millions more angry peasants and workers who will stage even more militant struggles for land, jobs, justice and freedom."# From bayan at iname.com Sat Jan 2 13:14:24 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 12:14:24 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 989] BAYAN on US bombing of Iraq Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990102121424.0069e7c8@pop.skyinet.net> Lightning rally in front of US Embassy condemns US bombing of Iraq BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) staged a "lightning rally" on December 21, 1998 in front of the U.S. Embassy condemning U.S.' unilateral decision to attack Iraq. It warned that the successful completion of Operation Desert Fox sets a dangerous precedent in the conduct of world affairs. "We are here to show that U.S. acts of aggression in Iraq and in other sovereign states is never tolerated," said Teodoro Casi?o, Bayan Deputy Secretary General. "To remain silent now is to allow the US to repeat such acts in the future," he added. Bayan assailed the Estrada administration for practically supporting the bombings. "The government is backing a terrorist superpower," he said. "The fact that the U.S. was able to successfully launch an attack, ignoring protests from other members of the U.N. Security Council and without solid backing from the international community is a serious cause for alarm," said Casi?o. The group said the reasons cited by the U.S. in bombing Iraq are merely exaggerated claims. "Iraq no longer poses a grave threat to the world and even its neighbors. The Unscom have reported that since 1991, almost 90% of the remaining Iraqi missile capacity and designated war material have been destroyed. Further, seven years of economic sanctions have already taken its toll on the economy. To picture Iraq as an imminent threat to the world is simply not credible," said Casi?o. "It appears that the real reason for the attack is to to assert US global hegemony amidst the global crisis and at a time when it is rocked by domestic problems," he added. ----------------------------------- December 21, 1998 Ambassador Thomas Hubbard US Embassy Roxas Blvd., Manila, Philippines Dear Ambassador Hubbard: We in BAYAN would like to express our outrage at your government's latest act of aggression against Iraq. We join the worldwide condemnation of your undeclared and preemptive military strike against this sovereign state and people. In a display of arrogance of power, your President did not even bother to secure the "fig leaf" blessing of the UN Security Council that would justify such a dastardly attack. After weeks of inspection through publication of the most sophisticated surveillance and detection technology, UN special commission chief Richard Butler had failed to produce evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In frustration, he had to justify UNSCOM's decision to leave Iraq by accusing Baghdad of "failing to live up to agreements to cooperate with UN arms inspectors." This vague accusation was immediately seized by your government to justify its unilateral act of aggression against Iraq. As Iraqi civilian casualties continue to mount, the Clinton and Blair governments face even greater condemnation and the stigma of committing crimes against humanity through blatant acts of state-initiated violence. The arrogance of power of US imperialism has inflicted continuing violence and caused excessive suffering to the peoples of many countries for so long. The Washington politico-military mafia should realize that while it can intimidate governments of client states, it will never be able to suppress the arduous struggles the masses against the imperious and self-righteous impositions of the self-styled gendarme of the "new world order." There will be a high price to pay for this naked aggression against the long-suffering people of Iraq. Danilo Vizmanos BAYAN National Council Member From tpl at cheerful.com Fri Jan 1 16:08:56 1999 From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com) Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 15:08:56 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 990] Newsflash from KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990101150856.0069faf4@pop.skyinet.net> NEWSFLASH: December 31, 1998 FRAMED-UP PEASANT DETAINEES RELEASED, DEMAND LAND REFORM SAN Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines -- The police released from detention last night Melencio Ca?ete, chair of the Sandigang Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Tungkong Mangga (Sasamag), and his deputy, Wilfredo Inocillas. They were arrested on December 22 after having been implicated in the killing of a security guard employed by the Araneta clan to which a son-in-law of the late dictator Marcos belongs. Judge Aznar Lindayag, who signed the faulty arrest warrant, hastily ordered the release of the two to forestall a planned march-rally by 300 angry peasants which would have been politically embarassing to the local government and the Estrada administration as the year ends. The peasant mass action was called off as villagers prepared for the new year's humble 'feast' of corn grits and boiled beans, a picture that belied Estrada's much touted promise of food sufficiency. Ca?ete and Inocillas said their release was the result of local mass actions by the Tungkung Mangga peasants, a part of the nationwide peasant struggle for genuine land reform and against government repression of peasant resistance to liberalization and privatization which deprive them of land and livelihood. The two reiterated Sasamag's demands: ? Implementation of genuine land reform . Distribution of the 311-hectare farmland in Tungkong Mangga to Sasamag members and their families ? Immediate pullout of security guards and mercenaries from Tungkong Mangga and payment of damages for crops, houses and farm animals which were burnt, looted, bulldozed, demolished and killed ? Release of all political prisoners, in particular the jailed peasants from Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, namely: Manolito Matricio, Ruben Balaguer, Gelito Bautista, Mario Tobias, Eduardo Hermoso and Josue Ungsod. They were wrongfully implicated in the killing of Paul and Michael Quintos, sons of a local warlord/politician. The DAR national office ruled on September 28 that the 311 hectares in Tungkung Mangga were covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program but the decision has not been implemented by DAR under its new head, Secretary Horacio Morales, thus allowing claimant corporations to saturate the area with dozens of hostile security guards and mercenaries. Sasamag expressed no surprise to DAR's non-implimentation of its own ruling since the Estrada administration has consistently proven itself on the side of monopoly landowners like the Marcos crony, Danding Cojuangco. Rafael Mariano, KMP chair, reiterated his organization's call for its members to fight for genuine land reform and demand a stop to state repression of popular dissent especially of the peasants and workers. KMP is also adamant in demanding that the Estrada government comply with the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law that it signed with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and proceed to the next phase of the peace talks with the NDFP which will tackle social and economic reforms.# From tpl at cheerful.com Tue Jan 5 08:50:19 1999 From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com) Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 07:50:19 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 991] NDFP CONDEMNS ESTRADA REGIME FOR ENDING THE GRP-NDFP NEGOTIATIONS Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990105075019.0069f0c8@pop.skyinet.net> >NOTE: Downloaded from the NDF website > >National Council >National Democratic Front of the Philippines >Press Statement >10 December 1998 > >NDFP CONDEMNS ESTRADA REGIME >FOR ENDING THE GRP-NDFP NEGOTIATIONS >AND FAILING TO FULFILL GRP OBLIGATIONS > > >On the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the >National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) hereby condemns the >Estrada regime for practically ending the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations under >the pretext of "indefinite recess" and for failing to fulfill the >obligations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) >under the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and >International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). > >The GRP has failed to fulfill the following urgent obligations: > >1. The indemnification of 10,000 victims of human rights violations under >the Marcos regime. Mr. Estrada has been deceiving the Filipino people by >promising a few months ago that he would indemnify the human rights >claimants with one-third of the Marcos-linked assets in an escrow account. >We have been informed that, on the contrary, he has agreed with Mrs. Imelda >Marcos to ignore the claim of the victims of human rights violations. > >2. The release of political prisoners. Either no one or a mere token few >are going to be released. Recent events manifest that the policy of the >regime is to imprison or kill suspected revolutionaries. > >3. The repeal of repressive decrees. The Estrada regime has not endorsed >for urgent legislative action the repeal of any of the repressive decrees. > >4. The end of policies, campaigns and practices that victimize entire >communities. The military, police and paramilitary forces continue to >engage in the most brutal actions that force the eviction and evacuation of >people, especially in the countryside. > >5. The formation of the joint monitoring committee. The GRP has refused >to appoint its representatives and nominate its observers. > >With overweening arrogance, the GRP has informed the NDFP that it will not >honor its own approval of the CARHRIHL, unless the NDFP capitulates to the >GRP. > >The NDFP stands by its revolutionary integrity and principles and condemns >the bad faith of Mr. Estrada. Shortly after he had approved the CARHRIHL, >he proceeded to scuttle the entire peace negotiations by demanding the >capitulation of the NDFP. > >The GRP demand is a precondition in brazen violation of The Hague Joint >Declaration, the CARHRIHL and all the related agreements mutually agreed >upon and signed by the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels and their respective >principals. > >By scuttling the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, the Estrada regime proves >that at its core are the worst agents of US imperialism and the local >exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords, especially the Marcoses >and most rapacious Marcos cronies such as Eduardo Cojuangco and Lucio Tan. > >The policies and acts of the US-Estrada regime lead us to conclude that it >will not only continue the anti-people policies of the US-Ramos regime but >will also surpass its predecessor in violating human rights in pursuit of >the most reactionary interests. All revolutionary forces and the broad >masses of the people must be vigilant and be resolute in fighting the >US-Estrada regime. This regime is the concentrated expression of the >counterrevolutionary forces in the country and includes the most >unrepentant, the most thieving and most brutal descendants of the Marcos >dictatorship. > > >National Executive Committee >National Democratic Front of the Philippines > > >Certified: Luis G. Jalandoni > Member, NDFP National Executive Committee > Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel > From markb at gn.apc.org Sat Jan 9 08:51:54 1999 From: markb at gn.apc.org (Mark Brown) Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 23:51:54 GMT Subject: [asia-apec 992] June 18th 1999 Message-ID: <199901082351.XAA26337@mail.gn.apc.org> Hello all, I wanted to check to see if anyone on this list had received information about the global day of action in financial centres on June 18th 1999? Here in London we'd love some feedback from activists and campaigners in Asian countries, especially since these countries are suffering so acutely from the effects of economic globalisation. I look forward to hearing from you; please let me know if you would like the proposal to be resent. Yours in solidarity, Mark Brown (London Reclaim the Streets) #########@@@@@@@@@@@{{{{{{{{{{+++++++++++++++++******************* Insider dealing at the headquarters Shell UK: for views of the January 4th Shell UK office occupation (and info on the resistance to Big Oil in the Niger Delta), see www.kemptown.org/shell ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For instant relief, take T?R?A?N?S?N?A?T?I?O?N?A?L R$E$S$I$S$T$A$N$C$E on JUNE 18th 1999: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AIMED AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY *Subscribe to J18discussion@gn.apc.org for dialogue and info-share* (Email with SUBSCRIBE JUNE 18 YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in the subject box (if that doesn't work, try putting it in the text space!) Website: http://www.gn.apc.org/june18 *************************************************** Next June 18th planning meeting Saturday 9th January, 1-4pm, at Marchmont Community Centre, Marchmont St, London WC1. *************************************************** Oh, and Go here today: http://www.gn.apc.org/rts/ 888888888888@888$$$$$$8888888888#88888888888888#8888@@@@88????888888 From cawhk at HK.Super.NET Tue Jan 5 23:36:35 1999 From: cawhk at HK.Super.NET (CAW) Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 22:36:35 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 993] CAW vacancy for East Asia in Bangkok office Message-ID: <36922372.27D57DFE@hk.super.net> -------------- next part -------------- Subject: Vacancy Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 16:56:47 +0800 (HKT) From: CAW Job Vacancy- Program Officer Committee for Asian Women (CAW) is a regional organisation working on women workers issues in Asia. The target groups of CAW includes the lowly paid/grassroots women workers in Asia. In the formal sector, they include women workers in the industrial and service sector. In the informal sector, they include the home-based, part-time, casual and contractual women workers. We are inviting women from East Asia with relevant experience to apply for the above post. Date of commencement of appointment: 15th July 1999. Duties and responsibilities: Responsible for the coordination, organising and actual implementation of Specific projects/programs of CAW. Build, strengthen, consolidate links with local, sub-regional and regional network, contacts and partner organisations Initiate, organise training programs, campaigns and actions on issues concerning CAW and her network groups. Share in the administrative tasks in the secretariat office, whenever necessary Help the program Coordinator to evaluate CAW's activities/ Projects. Requirements The candidate should be from East Asia (Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or China). She must have experience on women and/or workers' issues and organising in her own country. Understanding issues relating to Gender Equality and Workers. Knowledge and experience in Coordinating projects, Networking and Cooperation with Partner Organisations within Asia and internationally would be an asset. A good command in English as well as basic computer skills is essential. She is expected to travel to different countries in Asia and must have the ability to work with people from different Asian Countries. Salary will be based on Experience. The other benefits include annual increase, medical, Employment and travel insurance, annual bonus of one month's pay, and 18 days' paid annual home leave with air ticket. For those interested, please send resume/ Biodata with expected salary and two reference letters latest by 30th March, 1999 to: Committee for Asian Women Unit E, 4/F Skyline Tower 18 Tong Mi Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2722-6150 Fax: (852) 2369-9895 Email: cawhk@hk.super.net ( note: CAW is shifting the secretariat to Bangkok by July 1999 and the program officer will be based in Bangkok.) From gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz Thu Jan 14 10:35:49 1999 From: gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz (Gatt Watchdog) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 13:35:49 +1200 Subject: [asia-apec 994] change of moderator Message-ID: Hello Asia-APEC listserv members As agreed at the Malaysia APPA the Aotearoa/New Zealand APEC Monitoring Group has taken over as moderator of this listserv. Because January is a holiday month in Aotearoa/New Zealand it is taking us awhile to get organised so I hope you will bear with us. In this next day or two I will send out details about the group and our plans for 1999. Thanks in advance for your patience Regards Leigh Cookson APEC monitoring group From norbert at forum.org.kh Thu Jan 14 12:28:21 1999 From: norbert at forum.org.kh (Norbert Klein) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:28:21 +0700 Subject: [asia-apec 995] Re: change of moderator Message-ID: <001201be3f6d$f0208200$7c6fa8c0@tiap> -----Original Message----- From: Gatt Watchdog >Because January is a holiday month in Aotearoa/New Zealand it is ONE month holidays? Wow! From jaggi at tao.ca Fri Jan 15 09:31:39 1999 From: jaggi at tao.ca (Jaggi Singh) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 19:31:39 -0500 (EST) Subject: [asia-apec 996] Parole Granted! Wolverine to be released (fwd) Message-ID: apparently, wolverine will be released in 8-10 days! i am unclear as to whether his parole hearing will still be held on january 28. i'm sure letters of support are still appreciated. -- j ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:46:33 -0800 (PST) From: John Shafer To: sovernet-l@lists.speakeasy.org Cc: sisis Subject: Parole Granted! Wolverine to be released distribute widely PUBLIC PRESSURE PERSUADES BC PAROLE BOARD TO FREE WOLVERINE! January 13, 1998 Vancouver BC Ts'peten Defence Committee is reporting that Wolverine, the 67 year old Shuswap traditionalist being held as a political prisoner by the BC and Canadian authorities, has been granted parole. Wolverine, aka William Jones Ignace was sentenced to eight and a half years for his part in an armed defence of sacred, unceded Shuswap burial and Sundance grounds, after a local rancher attempted to evict the Ts'peten Sundance Camp near the BC Interior town of 100 Mile House in the summer of 1995. The BC and Canadian authorities responded by mounting the largest paramilitary operation in Canadian history, against the defiant resistors. The ensuing coverup of the massive force employed, the role of provincial and federal politicians, and the outrageous and grotesque legal proceedings that followed, have led to a growing call domestically and internationally for a full and open public inquiry into "all aspects of the Gustafsen Lake matter. Spokespersons with the Ts'peten Defence Committee and Free the Wolverine Campaign, attributed the granting of parole to the mounting pressure for the public inquiry and the hope that freeing Wolverine might help to diffuse this pressure. Wolverine will likely be released in 8 - 10 days. MANY THANKS TO ALL FOR CONTINUING SUPPORT OF WOLVERINE, THE TS'PETEN DEFENDERS AND INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY! PLEASE CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN PRESSURE FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY BY SIGNING THE ONLINE PETITION: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/GustLake/support.html http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/gustmain.html Letters of support can be emailed to sisis@envirolink.org solidarity greeting and congratulations to Wolverine will be forwarded. "For every one that goes down ten more will rise up" Wolverine, Gustafsen Lake 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From oppenh at theory.physics.ubc.ca Sat Jan 16 07:54:17 1999 From: oppenh at theory.physics.ubc.ca (Jonathan Oppenheim) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 14:54:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: [asia-apec 997] The Real APEC Scandal 1/2 Message-ID: <199901152254.OAA23970@theory.physics.ubc.ca> Copyright Saturday Night Magazine Ltd. February 1999. Cover Story. THE REAL APEC SCANDAL: Why did Suharto think he could push Canada around? Because he understood our place in the new global economy better than we do by Naomi Klein On big document days at the RCMP Public Complaints Commission last fall, a table was set up on the third floor of the Plaza of Nations Conference Centre in Vancouver to distribute the latest stacks of evidence to reporters. On these mornings, the journalists covering the inquiry, myself included, would crowd around the commission clerk stationed behind the table and each pay fifteen dollars or so to cover photocopying costs - "I'm sorry it's so high," she would say, "it's just that there are so many." Then, in the few minutes before the hearings got started, we would flip through the pile, hoping that hidden somewhere in the hundreds of pages of confidential police and government documents was a smoking gun. On most days, this was an exercise in frustration. More often than not, there was nothing in the documents at all - nothing, at any rate, that we were looking for. No offhand remark by a police officer about an urgent phone call from Jean Chrétien. No minutes from a meeting where it was officially decided to throw out the RCMP policy manual in order to appease a dictator. Nothing about whose idea it was to use so much pepper spray. After it had been thoroughly mined for whatever quotes seemed usable - a line here, a line there - that day's pile of evidence would be carried into the APEC document room, a cramped little cubicle across the hall from the Complaints Commission hearing room that contained nothing but a phone, a chair, and a desk, on top of which sat eleven stuffed white binders. Before the inquiry was sent into suspended animation in late October, more than 3,000 pages of documents had been deposited in this room: declassified e-mails from various government ministries and ambassadors, minutes from diplomatic meetings, letters sent to foreign heads of state, handwritten notes about security walk-throughs, risk-assessment reports, and transcripts of police radio communications. The room sat empty most of the time, disturbed only by the occasional reporter with a dead cellular battery who would pop in to call the office. The real action, or so we thought, was taking place across the hall. That was where, beginning last September 14, a panel of three commissioners and a throng of journalists sat listening to testimony about the use of police force at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Summit held at the University of British Columbia in November, 1997. As every Canadian with a television knows, RCMP officers subdued protesters, many of them university students, by hosing them with pepper spray and hauling them off in police vans. The commission was convened to determine whether the force used by the police was excessive. What brought the APEC protest story back into the media spotlight last September was the release of a series of letters and memos revealing that in the months leading up to the summit, the Canadian government was involved in high-level negotiations with the Indonesian government over whether or not Suharto, then the president of Indonesia, would be coming to Vancouver at all. According to the documents, Suharto had been preoccupied with the idea that he would be confronted by anti-Indonesian protesters during his visit to Canada - an unacceptable "embarrassment." The Canadian government, the documents showed, took this concern extremely seriously, making concessions that put the RCMP under extraordinary pressure and may have led directly to the pepper-spray incidents. With this new information, the RCMP crackdown at APEC - originally dismissed as run-of-the-mill heavy-handed policing - suddenly became an international whodunit: Who gave the orders to clear the students out? Who wanted the protest signs taken down? Whose idea was it to use pepper spray as crowd control? Was there ever a real security risk at APEC at all? Unfortunately, the documents that the government has subsequently - and begrudgingly - released hold no definitive answers to these questions. The Prime Minister's Office and the RCMP have been extraordinarily unco-operative with the Complaints Commission, invoking the "national security" and "international relations" defence to block out large sections of text in the few directly relevant documents they have produced. (A typically lucid passage: "United States Secret Service demands to [blank]. Secret service demands for [blank]. Secret Service demands to [blank].") Then there are pieces of the puzzle that are missing entirely. For instance, even though there are at least three separate occasions in the documents when Foreign Affairs officials suggest that Jean Chrétien place a call directly to Suharto, his office denies that such a phone call ever took place - but so far has failed to produce the phone records that might prove that claim. In the absence of a more complete account of what happened behind the scenes at the APEC Summit, what has been released looks an awful lot like a smokescreen. It's a classic strategy used by governments under fire: deflect media criticism of your unwillingness to release damning documents by burying the media in paper - every document but the ones they want. Thanks to the voluminous evidence submitted by the RCMP, for example, we now know that "Fred Yehia of National Glass has contacted us on numerous occasions regarding extra tickets for official APEC events for members of his family." We also know that "The unscheduled golf game created added demands on ERT [Emergency Response Team]." That "the condition of the Forces inventory of armoured limos is extremely poor. . . [and] kept two mechanics busy full time." And that the "portable bathrooms at BC Place did not materialize." Thus far, the smokescreen seems to have worked. Without a smoking gun, the attention of the media and the opposition parties has moved on, mostly to the commission process itself. The downfall of Solicitor General Andy Scott; CBC reporter Terry Milewski and his e-mails; Commission Chair Gerald Morin's dramatic resignation - each has taken its turn as the story of the week. The fading interest in the documents in favour of more personal subjects is perfectly understandable: for all their physical heft, the papers sitting stoically in their white binders in Vancouver are remarkably flimsy as evidence of a conspiracy to abridge Canadians' civil rights. And yet, hidden within those binders, there is a story - though it's a story very different from the one we have been looking for. If you take the time to read through the vast pile of APEC documents, past the large censored passages and the golf-game schedules, what emerges is a story of a country being forced to face up to its changed place in the world. It's a story of money and power and the global economy. And it's a story that, for Canadians proud of their country's history, is often painful to read. The portrait these documents paint of our nation is one that only a few Canadians have seen, and one that is sharply at odds with the way we have always liked to think of ourselves, our country, and the place we occupy on the world stage. Since the end of the second world war, Canada's international self-image has been tightly bound up in the idea that our nation is a "middle power" - not a superpower, granted, but one notch down. Though Canada has always lacked the population, military might, and riches to make a name for itself in either war or trade, Canadian politicians and diplomats, beginning in the late 1940s, found a way for Canada to play a relatively big international role, by focusing their energies on what the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade now refers to as "the projection of Canadian values around the world." Canada, it was determined in a somewhat grandiose, often patronizing manner, would be a global moderating force, reining in the hot tempers and authoritarian impulses of the U.S., the U.K., China, and the Soviet Union. At the same time, we would encourage those smaller, impulsive, disorganized Third World countries to live up to their potential by becoming more democratic and respectful of human rights. When any of these intemperate forces found themselves in a dispute, Canada would offer itself up as an "honest broker." Canadian leadership in the area of peacekeeping and international development, though erratic, allowed Canadians to think of their country as a player in the same league as the most powerful nations in the world. For the most part, we still think of ourselves that way. In contemporary grade-nine history textbooks with names like Canada: A Growing Concern, students are taught to imagine our country as a force to be reckoned with. "Although Canada was not one of the 'Big Five,' " Allan Hix and Fred Jarman write, "it was only one rung down on the international ladder and had become a major middle power." Canada's new strength is in what Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy calls our "soft power." "I believe that Canada has the potential to be one of a group of influential countries which will steer the course of future events," Axworthy writes in a typically upbeat article in the spring, 1997, International Journal. "However, to secure this position, Canada must effectively cultivate and wield what has come to be called 'soft power.' " Apparently, this New Age mélange of information technologies, information access, and international mediation will allow Canada to beat out countries with hard power the way paper beats rock. Soft power, Axworthy writes, "blurs, even counters, the perception of traditional power assets, such as military force, economic might, resources, and population." This soft power is increasingly connected, in the rhetoric of the Department of Foreign Affairs, with trade. Canada's push for democracy and human rights abroad is now supposed to occur less at the United Nations and more on trade missions. This is the doctrine known as "constructive engagement," and it has been used to justify Canadian trade with repressive régimes including China, Cuba, Indonesia, and even Burma, on which both the U.S. and the European Union have imposed stronger sanctions than Canada has. When it came to constructively engaging with Suharto's Indonesia - one of the most brutal dictatorships of the past fifty years - the theory was that at, say, a meeting with President Suharto about securing mining rights for Canadian companies, Prime Minister Chrétien would quietly lean over and push for the release of a jailed union leader. Presumably, Suharto would take this to heart, not only because of Canada's economic involvement with Indonesia, but also because of Canada's secure place in the family of nations, and its reputation as a respected middle power. But buried in the white binders of the APEC document room is a very different picture of Canada's relationship with the world. The APEC documents - read in their entirety - clearly demonstrate that the whole idea of Canada as a middle power, acting as the world's conscience, is nothing short of a national delusion. The fact is that as the APEC Summit approached, we weren't leaning over and whispering to the Indonesians about their more repressive tendencies - the Indonesians were leaning over and shouting at us about our more democratic ones. Over and over again in the letters, memos, and minutes stacked up in the document room, it is Indonesia doing the pushing around, and Canada pliantly offering itself up to be pushed. The newspapers have reported that the Indonesians were upset about a nationwide poster campaign that the East Timor Alert Network (ETAN) had launched portraying Suharto as a wanted criminal, and about the fact that East Timor liberation leader José Ramos Horta was scheduled to speak at the parallel People's Summit to be held in Vancouver during the APEC Summit. What the reports do not convey is either the extent or the tenacity of Indonesian pressure on these matters. The documents reveal that at least half a dozen different officials in the Canadian government were approached by the Indonesians and their emissaries. Axworthy was warned directly by the foreign minister of Indonesia that if "these groups could not be controlled," Suharto would not be coming to Canada. At a meeting in Vancouver, a team of Indonesian diplomats "complained forcefully and at great length" about their protocol concerns, threatening that Canada's failure to meet with their conditions "would have 'severe impact' on bilateral relations." The Indonesians made their demands known through every available channel: a representative of the Philippines government passed on one veiled threat; another document reveals that the Indonesian consulate in Vancouver directly presented to the RCMP officer co-ordinating APEC security a list of "approximately 100 questions for which [the Indonesians] wanted written answers." Even more revealing than the extent of the Indonesian pressure is the reaction this pressure elicited from the Canadians. The documents show representatives of our government frantically scrambling to comply with Suharto's wishes. A letter from Axworthy to Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Alatas states that "security measures being implemented for the duration of the [summit] will not permit demonstrators on any sidewalks immediately adjacent to the Hotel Vancouver [where Suharto was staying] or on any access route into the Hotel. I can assure you that they will not be permitted in close proximity to the President." RCMP Staff Sergeant Peter Montague reports on an advance meeting he conducted with the Indonesian APEC delegation: "I assured them that if there was a demonstration on a major motorcade route, we would take an alternate route to avoid potential embarrassment. . . . They asked me several times to repeat this assurance and I did." Briefing notes for Chrétien on a letter to Suharto state that: "Your letter to Indonesia's President Suharto contains additional language acknowledging his personal concerns and stressing your determination that all arrangements will be taken to ensure an uneventful stay in Vancouver." Jean Carle, the prime minister's director of operations, and Robert Vanderloo, an APEC Summit organizer, are described in one document seriously discussing bringing extra trees to the UBC campus to make sure the leaders wouldn't catch a glimpse of anything unpleasant. An e-mail from an RCMP inspector refers to "Jean Carle and Robert's request to have demonstrators pushed back a bit further than originally planned. In addition, Robert is considering placing plants/trees at the foot of gate 4 so that when the leaders depart, they will be surrounded by trees etc. (esthetically pleasing)." Documents refer to Peter Donolo, director of communications for the prime minister, being "cautious about anything which may cause discomfort to the PM's guests." And Jaggi Singh, the man the police had singled out as the most radical of the ETAN activists, was pre-emptively arrested on the UBC campus before the anti-Suharto demonstration was scheduled to unfold. What is most striking about the documents is that they do not contain a single example of any Canadian government official standing up proudly in defence of Canada's democracy - "leading by example," as the rhetoric of constructive engagement would have it. Not only does Suharto get his way on several key issues, but the Canadian government puts up absolutely no resistance - the prospect of fighting for "Canadian values" is never even raised. On the rare occasions when the Canadians refuse a particularly outrageous Indonesian demand - like denying Ramos Horta a visa to enter the country - one has the impression that our officials are not standing up for Canadian laws so much as cowering behind them. For instance, Jean Chrétien's "talking points" for a meeting with Suharto instruct him to explain that, "In the case of Ramos Horta, the Canadian government had no ground under Canadian law and regulations for preventing his entry to Canada or his participation in the Summit." Hardly a principled rebuff. Even Axworthy goes out of his way to distance himself from the more uncomfortable results of living in a country where free speech is constitutionally enshrined. According to the minutes from his meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Alatas, Axworthy "apologized for the poster campaign [by ETAN]. . . . It was outrageous and excessive and not the way Canadians behaved." This is a long way from the days when Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson asserted that "our foreign policy must not be timid or fearful of commitments but activist in accepting international responsibilities." One can scarcely imagine a nation more timid and more fearful than the Canada depicted in the APEC documents. Ours, it would seem, is a very soft power indeed. So how did Canada, at a summit of world leaders held on our soil, wind up playing handmaiden instead of host? Is it because, as the opposition parties insist, the Liberals are too cowardly to "get tough" with dictators? Is it because, as the free-trade opponents say, the government was too busy protecting the investments of mining companies to give much thought to civil liberties? There's no question that Canadian officials could have stood up more forcefully to Suharto, but even if they had, the basic power dynamic would have remained unchanged. We would still be left with the question of why Suharto was so casually reckless in his relationship to us, and why our representatives were so clearly frightened in response. Canadian politicians were so uniformly servile that their servility seems almost to have been an expression of official government policy. Are we missing something here? Maybe we are. Maybe we have been looking in the wrong place. Perhaps the discrepancy between Canada's self-image and the reality of the rather sorry-looking country on display in the APEC document room has less to do with Jean Chrétien's apparent fondness for dictators than with the falling price of wheat; less to do with diplomacy than with radical shifts in the global hierarchy. The truth is, when Indonesia's leaders looked at Canada during the preparations for APEC, they did not see a potent middle power. They saw an inferior power, an economic weakling - more dependent on Indonesia than the other way around. [more...] ----- End Included Message ----- From oppenh at theory.physics.ubc.ca Sat Jan 16 07:54:18 1999 From: oppenh at theory.physics.ubc.ca (Jonathan Oppenheim) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 14:54:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [asia-apec 998] The Real APEC Scandal 2/2 Message-ID: <199901152254.OAA23971@theory.physics.ubc.ca> This, of course, comes as a shock to most Canadians. In the Pearson-era foreign-policy paradigm, Indonesia would have been perceived as the needy partner: a "developing" country in need of our patient tutelage and starved for our economic largesse. According to the rules in force in the global economy circa APEC '97, however, it was Indonesia, with its fast-growing emerging market, that was the economic powerhouse, and Canada, with its continued reliance on natural resources, that was the workhorse - which is precisely why Canadian officials had to work so awfully hard to win Indonesia's favour. In a paper published in the spring before the APEC Summit, Axworthy wrote about "startling changes to the hierarchy of the world's leading nations." The most startling change was the ascendancy of the Asian Tigers - Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand - which led, in turn, to a creeping realization among Canadian Foreign Affairs officials that as poor countries began to move up from the bottom of the global hierarchy to the middle, previously middle-power nations like Canada were getting pushed down. Canada's share of total global foreign investment has slipped from 11 per cent in 1980 to 4 per cent in 1997, mostly as a result of more investment heading for China and the Tigers. As Axworthy writes, "These new players compete with Canada for market share and quality investments. . . ." A 1997 Industry Canada discussion paper is more blunt: "Canada has lost its position as one of the world's most important host economies." The Chrétien government's strategy for dealing with Canada's shrinking global market share has been to try to compete with the emerging economies by aggressively building up trade and investment ties with them. If Canada's portion of the global trade pie is heading south, the thinking goes, then so too must Canada. A consensus developed in Ottawa under the Liberals that only in the emerging markets of Latin America and Asia would Canada hold on to its status as a middle power, finally get out from under the thumb of the U.S., and, as Axworthy put it in March, 1997, find "the key to tomorrow's prosperity and stability." Few countries held more promise than Indonesia, which, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), "has been Canada's largest and fastest-growing export market in Southeast Asia." How all of this activity is meant to pave the way to Canada's new prosperity remains slightly unclear, but the rationale is something like this: rather than waiting for the investment dollars that used to come to Canada and are now going to countries like Indonesia, Canadian companies must plunge themselves into the global marketplace. Rather than competing for investment with Indonesia - a country with a population of 203-million - Canadian companies should turn Indonesia's size to their advantage by selling their goods and services to the Indonesians. And so a fundamental realignment has taken place within the federal government. Securing access to new markets for Canadian firms has always been one part of Canada's international-relations policy, but over the course of the past decade it has grown to become the central mission of the Department of Foreign Affairs and a major concern for the Prime Minister's Office. The "Team Canada" concept was launched by the Liberals in 1994 as a way for the prime minister to lead the charge into new frontiers. Since the first mission to China in 1994, Chrétien has personally led five multi-country trade missions to Asia and Latin America. The goal of these missions is simple enough. In the language of one Team Canada brochure: "Positioning Canadian companies to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities by establishing a strong presence in the world - that is what Team Canada is all about." In Latin America and Russia, Team Canada missions tend to focus more on finding opportunities for Canadian investment overseas than on finding new markets for Canadian goods. Among the Asian Tigers, however, where demand for consumer goods and raw materials was - until the recent economic downturn, anyway - rising rapidly, Team Canada has focused on pushing Canadian exports. Even the investment side of these missions was regarded as a back-door route to increase our trade: according to André Lemay, a DFAIT spokesman, "by establishing joint ventures in countries like Indonesia, you are pretty sure that increased exports will follow." These exports take the form of Canadian-made mining equipment being shipped to Jakarta, Canadian research going into Indonesian power plants, and Canadian chemicals being used in Indonesian factories. This is good for Canada, the argument goes, because when our exports rise more jobs are created back home. According to a much-quoted government statistic: "every $1-billion in exports creates or sustains 11,000 jobs in Canada." Little wonder, then, that a policy of increasing exports has become the centrepiece of the Liberals' job-creation programme, with exports now playing a rapidly growing role in the Canadian economy. In 1992, exports were the equivalent of 28 per cent of GDP; in just six years, that figure has gone up dramatically, to 41 per cent. With so much riding on the success of trade with Asia, the Canadian government's response when Suharto threatened to shut the door before APEC was straightforward enough: keep the door open for Team Canada. In retrospect, the irony is that Suharto was hardly in a powerful bargaining position. His country's currency was down 40 per cent and, as we now know, his people were getting ready to revolt. If anything, however, Indonesia's troubles appear to have made Canada's bargaining position more desperate. Not only did the Chrétien government have to live up to the hype of Team Canada, it also had a more pressing concern: the future of this country's vulnerable and volatile natural-resource industries. For it was natural resources that we were shipping to Indonesia in such volume - not cars, not software, but trees and wheat. This fact isn't one that is trumpeted much at DFAIT. Our government is forever having to correct people who say that Canada is a resource-based economy, one trading in unprocessed agricultural goods and natural resources like fish, oil, and timber. That, they will tell you, is a myth. "In recent years, the structure of the Canadian economy has changed," explains the Government of Canada Web site. "Over the past quarter century, resource exports have become a less important part of Canada's trade mix. . . ." Today, they point out, only 36 per cent of Canada's merchandise exports come from bundling up and shipping out what God gave us. The rest of our exports are highly processed goods and services embedded with the value-added of skilled labour and sexy technologies. Ours is a diversified, knowledge-based, industrialized, advanced economy - certainly not one that is pegged to the roller-coaster ride of commodities prices. And there is some truth to this claim - if, that is, you are under the impression that Canada is nothing more than Ontario and about half of Quebec. The shift away from natural-resource exports has been heavily concentrated in central Canada; only 10 per cent of Ontario's exports are from natural-resource industries. For vast stretches of the rest of this country, however, foreign trade is still all about fish, wheat, oil, logs, and livestock. Natural resources, including agricultural products, make up 79 per cent of Atlantic Canada's merchandise exports, 80 per cent of Alberta's, 74 per cent of Saskatchewan's, and 77 per cent of B.C.'s. In central Canada, most exports head for the relatively stable U.S. market; 91 per cent of Ontario's exports, mostly manufactured goods, go to the United States. But Canada's commodity exports head to all corners of the world market - and, in keeping with our love affair with the Tigers, a growing proportion of them, in the mid-1990s, was going to Asia. Afraid of being left behind, Canada charged into Asia's emerging markets with a sheaf of wheat in one hand, a log in the other, and a pig trailing behind - ready to trade those resources for sweatshop-produced Nikes, computers, and VCRs. This strategy - or lack of one - placed Canada's resource industries at the mercy of recent falling commodity prices and sudden drops in demand. B.C.'s exports to Asia - one third of its export market - dropped by 46 per cent between January, 1997, and January, 1998. And it's not only B.C.'s loggers who are getting hit. When demand takes a nose-dive in the precarious commodities industries, wheat farmers in Saskatchewan sell their family farms; hog farmers in Manitoba shoot their baby pigs because it's cheaper than feeding them; and rosy budget projections in oil-rich Alberta have to be realigned. It's easy not to notice from Toronto or Montreal, but in most of Canada the global economic crisis has already arrived. So yes, all the Asian Tigers were in bad shape in the run up to APEC '97 - but every indication pointed to the likelihood that Canada was about to get dragged down with them. The most dramatic case is that of the prairie farmers. Governments have cut direct subsidies to Canadian farmers by 60 per cent in the last five years alone. The idea was that the lost revenue would be made up for by increased exports to Asia through deals struck on Team Canada trade missions. Canadian politicians believed so fervently in the Asian "miracle," in other words, that they were willing literally to bet the farm on it. Of course, we now know the ending of this story: farm incomes in Saskatchewan fell by 72 per cent between 1997 and 1998 and income projections for next year are even more grim. And no wonder: in 1996-1997, Canadian farmers exported more wheat to Asia than to the rest of the world combined. This reliance on natural-resources exports is the defining characteristic of our trading relationship with Indonesia. Our two most significant exports to Indonesia are wheat and wood pulp. Furthermore, Ottawa has gone to great lengths to encourage Indonesia to purchase even more Canadian wheat. On the 1996 Team Canada mission to Indonesia, a deal was struck between the Canadian Wheat Board and the Indonesian noodle monopoly, Indofood. The five-year letter of understanding, valued at between $1.5-billion and $2.2-billion, made up the bulk of the trade mission's $2.76-billion haul. "Indofood," said Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, "will be the largest private customer of the Wheat Board anywhere in the world." The first year of the megadeal went as planned: between 1995 and 1996, Canadian wheat and durum-wheat exports to Indonesia more than tripled, going from $101-million to $352.7-million. Then the crisis hit, and the Indonesians were unable to keep up their end of the deal with Canada's wheat farmers. The solution the Chrétien government came up with speaks volumes about its desperate position in the face of an export policy coming apart at the seams. In April, 1998, Canada delivered a $280-million aid package to Indonesia, $250-million of which took the form of "export credit guarantees" so that Indofood could continue to "buy" Canadian wheat. This arrangement is in stark contrast to the strategy adopted by the Americans, who are buying wheat directly from American farmers and distributing it to Indonesia and other countries as food aid. Most Indonesia watchers agree that the American model is far more likely to get wheat into the hands of hungry Indonesians, while the Canadian model essentially subsidizes Indofood, a company with close ties to the corrupt Suharto empire. The Canadian trade-and-aid option has one major advantage, however, and it has little to do with hungry Indonesians. By giving the money to Indofood, the Liberals are able to issue deceptively optimistic report cards on the state of our export-driven economy, and Chrétien doesn't need to admit that those impressive figures from his trade mission have evaporated into thin air. In this neat trick, wheat - even when we are paying the Indonesians to buy it from us - is still classified as a legitimate export, a paper shuffle which disguises the extent of the damage. For instance, according to Industry Canada figures, between 1996 and 1998 our total exports to Indonesia dropped dramatically, from $946-million to a projected $488-million. However, if the money we are lending Indonesia to buy our wheat is subtracted, the real figure is down to a hair-raising $238-million. Our government has been less successful in covering up the trauma caused by an over-reliance on logging-industry exports. Once again, Indonesia's role is significant. Though not the largest importer of Canadian forestry products (before the crisis, Japan bought 43 per cent of B.C.'s forestry exports), Indonesia is nonetheless an important destination. In 1996, Canada exported $571-million in logging-related goods to Indonesia. By 1997, however, the figure had been cut in half, to $253-million, with further reductions projected for 1998. Like the wheat farmers in Saskatchewan, the B.C. forestry industry is currently experiencing its worst year in decades. Despite the government's attempts to gloss over it, our exports to Asia have been driven by those very natural resources this same government has been saying we must wean ourselves off in favour of a more diversified trade strategy. The fact that so much of our export portfolio comes from precarious industries like forestry and agriculture means that entire provinces are now being broadsided by something happening on the other side of the world. In a global economy, no nation is fully protected from international market turbulence, but Canada's situation contrasts sharply with that of other industrialized countries and explains why our politicians were so meek in the face of Suharto's threats. The main exports sent to Indonesia from France, Japan, Germany, and the U.K., for example, were all consumer goods and heavy machinery - none were raw resources or commodities. These goods, while not immune to market turmoil, are certainly subject to less volatility. Not only do the prices of manufactured items remain relatively stable, but manufacturers are able to respond to dips in demand more deftly than farmers. As APEC '97 approached, the atmosphere must have been tense in the halls of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Though the full extent of Asia's impending combustion was still unknown, a combination of the department's most aggressive policies - the growing dependence on export revenues, the concentration of our attention on the Pacific Rim, the over-reliance on natural resources (combined with the dramatic cuts the government had made to farm subsidies) - were about to decimate large sections of the Canadian economy. If, in the APEC documents, Canadian politicians seem to be approaching Suharto's threat with a degree of panic, that could well be because their entire trade policy was about to blow up in their faces. It's a fair bet that Indonesian officials were aware of this too. As any Third World economist knows, the best route to an unstable economy and an unequal relationship with a foreign power is to be dependent on natural-resource exports - particularly just a few natural-resource exports. The United States was able to exercise tremendous political control over Central American and Caribbean economies earlier this century because of those countries' reliance on just one crop: sugar, say, or coffee, or bananas. By failing to diversify our economy, and by creating an export policy dependent on a very few natural resources, Canada handed over to the Indonesians - as well as other trading partners - an unhealthy level of control. As the APEC documents clearly show, when the Indonesian officials looked at Canada, they weren't thinking about Pearson's grand legacy at the UN, or our free-trade leadership with NAFTA. They were looking at the trade ledger and thinking: banana republic - weak, malleable, resource-rich, dependent. And as the APEC documents also show, that is how officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade - behind closed doors - see Canada as well. When the anxious memos from 1997 are placed side by side with the idealistic speeches of Lloyd Axworthy, the picture that emerges is of a country with two foreign policies: the public one, in which Canada is still a respected middle power, striding across the world stage proudly and confidently; and the private one, the one expressed behind the scenes, when the public is not expected to be watching, in which Canada is a servile nation, dependent on the whims of foreign leaders, with little to ship out to the world but our bountiful natural resources. The country being discussed in the hastily written memos gathering dust in the APEC document room is the real Canada, stripped of all the sentimentalism and boosterism that usually cloud any clear-headed examination of our country's place in the world. That this is the gift of the documents is no small irony, considering that so many of them were introduced with the obvious purpose of further muddling the hopelessly confused RCMP Public Complaints Commission. And yet here they are. Away from microphones, podiums, and television cameras, our politicians and their aides were free to express Canada's true foreign policy in all of its scrambling desperation and banal pragmatism. If Canada has any hope of exerting in the future the kind of international influence that we did during Pearson's era, surely we will do so by reinjecting principle into our morally bankrupt foreign policy; by developing, not abandoning, the qualities that made it strong in the past. Poor Lloyd Axworthy is under the impression that he is already leading Canada in these proud footsteps - that "the work we are doing today to promote democracy, human rights and peaceful settlement of disputes is very much in the 'Pearsonian' mould." In truth, the Pearson legacy has been relegated to a series of lofty speeches and isolated campaigns: talking about "human security" at the Security Council and leading the international fight against land mines. Like his fellow anti-land-mine crusader, Princess Diana, our Foreign Affairs minister is trying, with heartfelt speeches, to find redemption from a lifetime of shopping: she in designer boutiques, he on Team Canada missions with Asian dictators. The story on offer in the APEC document room suggests that this redemption is, regrettably, more elusive today than ever before. Copyright Saturday Night Magazine Ltd. ----- End Included Message ----- From amittal at sirius.com Sat Jan 16 09:01:40 1999 From: amittal at sirius.com (Anuradha Mittal) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 17:01:40 -0700 Subject: [asia-apec 999] FOOD RIGHTS WATCH Volume 7 Number 1 Message-ID: FOOD RIGHTS WATCH Volume 7 Number 1 Food First/ Institute for Food and Development Policy believes that true food security can be achieved only if national governments and other international institutions of power recognize that the right to feed oneself is an inalienable human right which must not be violated under any circumstances. The right to food has been touted ceremoniously in numerous international agreements, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), yet continues to be practically ignored in an increasingly greedy New World Order. Food Rights Watch is dedicated to gathering and distributing information about food rights issues, as well as other economic and social human rights issues, in the belief that education leads to action. Subscriptions to the electronic version (e-mail) are free. To subscribe, send a message to foodfirst@foodfirst.org. We welcome submissions to Food Rights Watch. E-mail news about activities, events, and new resources to Anuradha Mittal, at amittal@foodfirst.org or call (510) 654-4400 (x 108). ******************************************************************** FOOD RIGHTS WATCH, Volume 7, Number 1 Editor: Gabrielle Thompson National News * Act to End the Bombing and Sanctions Against Iraq * Largest Pentagon Budget Increase in Decade * The Right to Organize International News 1. Argentina: Growing Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots 2. UN Makes Debt a Human Rights Issue 3. Toxic Ship-Scrapping Protested in Singapore ******************************************************************************** Food Rights Watch 1. Act to End the Bombing and Sanctions Against Iraq It is crucial that the citizens of the United States demand the U.N. sanctions against Iraq be lifted. All available evidence from the U.N, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization confirms that those affected by the sanctions are the Iraqi people, particularly women and children. Saddam Hussein's power is in no way threatened by the devastation caused by the lack of vital materials, such as food and medicine, in Iraq. The sanctions are de facto declaration of war against the Iraqi civilians: according to UN statistics, 250 people die each day in Iraq due to the effects of sanctions. What allows the campaign of cruelty to continue is the silence of the U.S. public. Without significant domestic pressure and protest, our government is free to pursue actions more "pragmatic" to U.S. "interests", i.e. policies of destruction towards the Iraqi people. The oft-repeated claim that the U.S. is acting only to ensure peace by thwarting Iraq's desire for weapons of mass destruction needs to be re-examined. What has been conveniently forgotten is that before Saddam invaded Kuwait, we cheerfully encouraged his ability to construct and use such weapons against the people of the Middle East. The recent bombings in December are just another tactic of destruction whose justification falls apart under closer examination. In the first place, the U.S. is clearly in violation of international law when it bombs countries without security council consent. But even when dismissing the relevance of international law regarding the December bombings, it is difficult to imagine what has been accomplished in terms of limiting Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and weakening the rule of Saddam Hussein. A good place for information on what can be done about the sanctions and bombings is the Iraq Action Coalition at http://leb.net/IAC/. This web site has valuable statistics about the effects of sanctions, recent reports of U.S. bombing, and updates on protests going on around the world. For those in the Bay Area, this Saturday, January 16, there will be a protest against the sanctions and bombing at Market and Powell streets in San Francisco. The demonstration will begin at 6 PM, and falls on the 8th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. For more information call the Emergency Coalition to Stop the U.S. War in Iraq at (415) 821-6545. **************************************************************************** ******* 2. Largest Pentagon Budget Increase in Decade To start the year off with a bang, President Clinton announced on his January 2 radio address that he was asking Congress to add 1.1 billion dollars to this year's Pentagon budget and a 12 billion dollar increase for fiscal year 2000. These additions are part of the largest increase in defense funding since the Cold War; over the next six years the pentagon budget will receive an additional $110 billion. Without disclosing the current Pentagon budget or more importantly, how US military spending compares to that of the rest of the world, he stuck to general assertions: "We want our forces to remain the best equipped in the world into the next century, and that is what this effort will assure, by paying for the next generation of ships, planes, and weapons systems." It is a familiar tactic to create hysteria in order to fatten the military budget (one need only remember the alleged missile "gap") because the public's fear can be determined by their perception. But just as was the case with the missile gap crisis, the image of the US military struggling to keep up with the rest of the world is ludicrous. The country that comes closest to the US in military funding, Russia, spends $63 billion-less than a quarter of the US total. The Pentagon identifies Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Syria as our most likely adversaries. The US outspends these combined six countries by seventeen times. It must be kept in mind that these dramatic figures reflect the situation before the newly approved Clinton increases, increases that will only further an already ridiculous situation. So what could possibly warrant a steep increase in military funding? Pentagon officials look to the inability of the United States alone to fight two wars at the same time. As the US obviously dominates the world in terms of military spending, "emergencies" like our failure to potentially fight multiple wars must be concocted. Why not three wars, five wars, ten wars? But as convoluted as the Pentagon's logic may be, increasing their budget has serious social consequences. While programs to aid the poor, such as health care, Head Start, and food stamps are being cut substantially, Clinton is deciding to dump more money into an already bloated military which has demonstrated repeatedly a propensity for wasting public funds. Although US military spending towers above all other countries, among industrial nations it ranks last in infant mortality, health care coverage, and has the highest rate of children in poverty. The question must be asked: who needs the money more? **************************************************************************** ****** 3. The Right to Organize Jobs with Justice (JwJ), a community/labor coalition, is leading the "Right to Organize" campaign to ensure the rights of workers who wish to form a union are respected. Although under US labor law workers have the right to organize, they are fired in one out of every three union election in the US. "Many employers calculate that they are better off disobeying the law than playing by the rules," reports Karl Klare of Northeastern University. (dollars and sense, #221, Jan/Feb '99) Right to Organize campaigns exist in Denver, Seattle, and Boston. Along with these campaigns, JwJ organizes Workers' Rights Boards, which are "hearings" where abused workers share their experiences in the presence of elected officials and community members. So far, Workers' Rights Boards have been organized in Ohio, Illinois, and New York. The idea is to generate community support for the workers and to pressure companies to respect the rights of the workers to organize a union. Working with JwJ on the Right to Organize campaign is the AFL-CIO. Throughout 1999 the AFL-CIO will be holding public events with Amnesty International, drawing attention to the signing, fifty years ago, of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this declaration, workers are guaranteed the right to "form and join trade unions", a right that is still consistently ignored in the United States. **************************************************************************** ***** International News 1. Argentina: Growing Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots By Marcela Valente from Inter Press Service The gap separating haves and have-nots in Argentina widened significantly over the past year. While two decades ago members of the wealthiest stratum earned eight times more than their poorest compatriots, today the ratio is 25 to one. Artemio Lopez, a sociologist who specializes in economic issues related to poverty, said it has been clearly demonstrated that the so-called "trickle-down effect" does not exist in Argentina, because even with economic growth and rising employment, society is becoming more and more inequitable. "Eighty percent of the new jobs created in 1998 were low quality," said Lopez, referring to the one percent drop in unemployment seen in the past year. In 1991, when then-economy minister Domingo Cavallo put his anti-inflation plan into effect, the richest Argentineans earned 15 times more than the poorest. Today, Argentina has one of the lowest inflation rates in the world, 0.7 percent a year, and economic growth averaged five percent last year. Nevertheless, the gap dividing rich and poor continues to grow. Argentina is no exception to the region. According to 'Facing Up to Inequality in Latin America', an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study released in November, Latin America and Caribbean countries have the most unequal distribution of income in the world. **************************************************************************** ****** 2. UN Makes Debt a Human Rights Issue >From Jubilee 2000 News The United Nations new Special Rapporteur on the Effects of Foreign Debt will make his first report to the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights at its next meeting 22 March to 28 April 1999. The appointment of the special rapporteur was important and controversial because it makes debt a human rights issue as well as a financial one, and because it reflected an explicit rejection of the World Bank/IMF HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countires) Initiative as inadequate. "Foreign debt constitutes one of the main obstacles preventing the developing countries from fully enjoying their right to development," according to the resolution. And it instructs the special rapporteur to pay "particular attention to: (a) The negative effects of the foreign debt and the policies adopted to face it on the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in developing countries; (b) Measures taken by Governments, the private sector and international financial institutions to alleviate such effects in developing countries, especially the poorest and heavily indebted countries." The appointment of the special rapporteur was controversial, and it was only approved by 27 votes to 16, with 9 abstentions. The resolution was proposed by Cuba. Japan opposed the appointment on the ground that debt was not a human rights issue; the US opposed it on the ground that it would "impose external conditions on terms which the debtors and creditors had already agreed upon." The report also said that "the international community should adopt more effective measures to resolve the external debt problem of developing countries for a more effective promotion and realization of the right to development. The should be an initiative for a comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, resolution of this problem covering commercial, bilateral and multilateral debt, and also involving reduction of debt stock." **************************************************************************** ***** 3. Toxic Ship-Scrapping Protested in Singapore >From Environmental News Service (ENS) Singapore, January 12, 1999 - Environmental activists confronted the ship Encounter Bay in the Port of Singapore Monday, to draw attention to what they say are "illegal and immoral" ship-breaking practices in Asia. Environmental activists from Greenpeace and Basel Action Network (BAN) held banners reading "P & O Nedlloyd Stop Toxic Trade" as the vessel approached the harbor. After it docked, they attached another giant banner to the side of the ship. Singapore is the fifth city where Greenpeace and BAN have protested the ship as it makes its final journey before being scrapped. P & O Nedlloyd admits that the environmental and health risks associated with scrapping ships like Encounter Bay are "unacceptable" but do not intend to stop sending their ships to Asia. Many of the ships go to India. Other ship-scrapping work takes place in Bangladesh and China, Vietnam and the Philippines. The Encounter Bay was made of lead and asbestos in the 1960s. The tanker is due to leave Singapore today on its way to shipbreakers in China. Its toxic materials will pollute the environment and endanger the health of workers during the scrapping process, Greenpeace maintains. The Singapore environmental ministry in a letter on Friday to the two groups said they would look into the matter. "We will be investigating the matter thoroughly and take the appropriate action if warranted," said the letter, given to journalists and activists. The United Nations Basel Convention prohibits the export of hazardous materials including asbestos, from members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries. China has banned the export of toxic waste. According to a 1989 Singapore study, shipbreaking is a hazardous industry with significant and debilitating toxic lead exposure. It has been estimated that a quarter of the world's 80,000 shipbreakers will contract cancer due to exposure to asbestos and toxic substances. NOTE NEW E-MAIL: amittal@sirius.com --------------- Anuradha Mittal Policy Director Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First 398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618 USA Phone: (510) 654-4400 Fax: (510) 654-4551 http://www.foodfirst.org From kevin.li at graduate.hku.hk Sat Jan 16 20:15:20 1999 From: kevin.li at graduate.hku.hk (Kevin Li) Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 19:15:20 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1000] "Whose Development?" Conference Call: March 28, 1999, HK Message-ID: <36A074C8.83134BBF@graduate.hku.hk> An invitation to participation and call for paper submission Whose Development? - Hong Kong Critiques on Developmentalism Date: March 27, 1999 (film show); March 28, 1999 (conference) Venue: To be confirmed Our Aim: To expose the suppression of autonomous voices in the development discourse and practice in Hong Kong and explore possibility of autonomous voices expressed through alternative spatial politics. While our concern definitely exceeds local boundaries, due to time constraint, we shall concentrate on examining local experiences and let ourselves be benefitted from sharing of experiences with friends of the region. Themes: 1. "Community" identity: constructions and contests 2. The ecofeminist search for autonomous voices 3. Dams and anti-dam movements in the region 4. "Value" myths in the commodification of housing in Hong Kong 5. Community development and spatial politics: the case of Hunghom Format: (1) Film show. (2) Presentations by panelists, followed by open discussions Others forms of expressions including comic strips, art performances, video shows are also welcome. Co-organizers: ARENA (Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives), Greenpeace China, HK Women Workers' Association, HK Philosophy Society, Invisible Booklink, Birdnest Project Contact method: hunghom@gurlmail.com (e-mail) Contact persons: Sze-ping Lo, Si-wai Man, and Kontau Sze -- Hong Kong EnviroNet http://environet.at.hkid.com http://hkenviro.web-page.net Hong Kong Progressive Web Directory http://hkpwd.at.hkid.com http://hkpwd.web-page.net From tpl at cheerful.com Sun Jan 17 08:49:28 1999 From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com) Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 07:49:28 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1001] Appeal for children-victims of human rights violations Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990117074928.006bc23c@pop.skyinet.net> Forwarded by: BAYAN From: Children's Rehabilitation Center ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- From bayan at iname.com Sun Jan 17 09:04:36 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 08:04:36 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1002] Estrada's pronouncements on Spratlys row only serves the US Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990117080436.006bc23c@pop.skyinet.net> 12 January 1999 Estrada's pronouncements on Spratlys row only serves the US BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) today said President Estrada's pronouncements defending U.S. meddling in the Spratlys is not helping the country to diplomatically and peacefully settle its territorial dispute with China. The alliance said it only serves the interest of the U.S. which is seeking wider acceptance among governments in its plan to establish stronger military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and push for the immediate ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)between the US and Philippine governments. "Estrada's recent pronouncement does not reflect the interest of the people. It is unfortunate that in his desire to please his colonial master, Estrada has further strained our relationship with China and put the country at risk," said Bayan Chairperson Rafael Mariano. "We see that Estrada's move perfectly fits U.S. security plans in the region," he added. "The U.S. wants measures that would justify its intention to have a stronger presence in the region and they have to be done in a manner that appears 'acceptable'." Bayan said the government is creating unnecessary hype over the Spratlys row to create a pressing and urgent need for the VFA. "They could have settled it with China quietly, diplomatically and bilaterally, without the U.S.," stressed Mariano. By citing the Mutual Defense Treaty as justification for U.S. meddling, the alliance said, Estrada legitimized the U.S. immediate and long-term plans. But Bayan said the U.S. has no right to assume the role of Big Brother or global police. Bayan also said that it is ironic that Estrada is citing the MDT when the U.S. has categorically stated that it does not recognize Philippine claim over Spratlys. Further, that the MDT, an obsolete agreement of the post-Cold War era, does not guarantee US protection of Philippine territory in case of external threats or even attack. Instead, the Philippines is being dragged into US militarist and interventionist adventures.### From bayan at iname.com Sun Jan 17 09:20:21 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 08:20:21 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1003] Illegal Placement Fees Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990117082021.006bc23c@pop.skyinet.net> Forwarded by: BAYAN From: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos Philippine Labor Attache Admits Philippine Government Has Failed to Stop Collection of Illegal Placement Fees Admitting that the Philippine government has failed to stop collection of illegal fees from placement agencies and brokers, Philippine Labor Attache to Kaoshuing, Taiwan George Eduvela asked church NGO's working for migrant workers if they are amenable to raising the placement fees in Taiwan to a reasonable level. In effect, Eduvela is asking the church NGO's to stamp their approval on government's kowtowing to the demands of unscrupulous businessmen and legalize their plundering of would-be and deployed overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan. This suggestion was aired during a dialogue between the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and church NGO's on the night of September 15 at the MECO office in Taipei. In reaction to the proposal, Fr. Peter O'Neill of the Hope Workers Center argued that raising the placement fee to a "reasonable level" will not guarantee that the brokers will not ask for more. He cited the case of the Thai workers in Taiwan whose government has allegedly agreed with the brokers that each worker should pay $NT56,000.00 plus $NT1,000.00 a month for three years for a total of $NT92,000.00. Fr. O'Neill added that his Center has found out that some Thai workers have paid much higher with some paying as high as $NT200,000.00. In addition, one NGO worker pointed out that even the Overseas Employment/Travel Advisory of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency(POEA) which featured the Taiwan Labor Market in May 1996 admitted that "the level of prevailing fees being charged workers bound for that country is however much more than the prescribed rates reaching up to P70,000.00." To this, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Director General Edicio de la Torre, who was the guest speaker at the dialogue, lamely commented that the government has a policy of full disclosure and selective deployment. In effect, he is saying that it is not the government's but the overseas workers' fault if he or she agrees to pay the illegal fees. This kind of argument is also reflected in two contentious issues which the MECO is negotiating with its Taiwanese counterparts regarding passports kept by employers and forced savings imposed by employers on migrant workers as a deterent for the latter's running away. Initially, MECO is proposing that passports and forced savings should only be allowed with a migrant's consent shown by a signed contract. To this, Sr. Ascension Lim of Rerum Novarum explained that in practice Filipino workers have practically no choice but to agree with their employers to keep their passports. The Philippine government officials are surrendering their responsibility to protect the migrant workers as evidenced in these two issues. When a migrant worker has no choice but to agree to both unjust practices in pain of being terminated, it is convenient for the Philippine government to blame him or her later on for having agreed to such unjust agreements. It all ends up to economics. Jose Aspiras, the new MECO managing director, stated that the Taiwanese employers need Filipino workers and the Philippine government needs the dollar remittances of the workers in order to prop up the economy. In the end, though, who needs the migrant workers more? Added to this is the fact that Taiwan is the fourth largest trading partner of and fifth largest investor in the Philippines. ******************************************* Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF) Address: No.4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR Tel. no.: (852) 2723-7536 Fax no.: (852) 2735-4559 E-mail: apmmf@hk.super.net ********************************************** From bayan at iname.com Sun Jan 17 10:32:56 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 09:32:56 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1004] Main events in RP in 2nd half of 1998 Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990117093256.006bc23c@pop.skyinet.net> From: COUNCIL FOR HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT < Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 11:15:02 +0800 ffff,0000,0000 Main Events in the Philippines July - December 1998 Philippine Economy in Recession Predictably, the Philippine economy remained in a sorry state throughout 1998 after the global crisis hit our country extraordinarily hard last year. The worsening crisis caused the economy to slip into recession during the second half of the year as it posted a shrinking Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ? a contraction of the economy ? in two successive quarters. The GDP, the measure of goods and services produced in the country, declined by 1.2% in the second quarter and by 0.1% in the third quarter. Economists were stunned by the government's imagination and sheer denial of the recession when President "Erap" Estrada declared that his administration is using another definition of recession. If statistics prove you wrong, change them! Recession or not, there are more than enough signs that something is fundamentally wrong with the economy. Foreign investments, hailed by the advocates of neo-liberalism as the remedy to our sick economy, dropped 43% in the first nine months of 1998. Apparently, the foreign speculators and businessmen who withdrew their money from the country last year to seek higher profits elsewhere are still waiting for the right opportunities to intensify their exploitation of the country's work force. The financial sector remains volatile as the ratio of non-performing loans of the commercial banks further surged to 11%, more than three times higher than in July 1997. For these loans, no interest has been paid in the past three months. Translated into everyday language this means that more bankruptcies can be expected in the near future. The agricultural output declined 6% in the first nine months of 1998 compared to the same period last year. The output of the manufacturing sector plummeted by 17% in August compared to the same month in 1997. Analysts explained that the drop in industrial output is triggered by weak consumer demand. This phenomenon also explains why, since September, the Philippines is posting a trade surplus instead of the usual deficit. Imports were lower than exports because of the weak demand in the domestic market. Consumers simply cannot afford the imported products anymore, and Philippine companies, who used to import raw materials and intermediate goods to make export products, are ailing. Economists expect that export figures will go down more as the crisis in the world market persists. The usual Philippine trade deficit, trademark of its import-dependent, export-oriented economy, might be back soon. Inflation, the measure of price increases, stayed at the double-digit level throughout the second half of the year, reaching 11.2% in November. Especially for food items, the consumer goods that are so badly needed by the poor, high price increases were noted. The inflation for food stood at 12.3%. Items that became much more expensive included rice, fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat and fish. This is another indication that the poor have to bear the brunt of the current crisis. Workers and the Poor Bear Brunt of Economic Competition About 420 workers joined the ranks of the unemployed every day from January to June this year, about half of whom were hit with permanent layoffs. According to Congressman Ernesto Herrera, the Philippines now has one of the highest unemployment figures in Asia with 13 million people or 21% of total population out of work. Intensifying competition brought about by the deepening economic crisis is management's excuse to increase the exploitation of the workers. Only 40.3% of establishments nationwide are complying with the general labor standards (which are unjustly low already). For example, almost a quarter of companies are violating the minimum wage law. Subcontracting, although not a violation and even encouraged by the government, is affecting more workers as the number of companies that use subcontracting increased by more than half since 1994. Given these conditions, it should not be surprising that the number of strikes increased 45 percent in the first half of the year. Other developments indicate that people's lives became more miserable due to the crisis. Police relates the increasing use of drugs with growing poverty, while researchers give the same explanation to the rising number of abortions. That women are hit extra hard by the crisis can be illustrated by the increasing number of women who resort to prostitution in order to make a living. The World Bank predicts that the worst is still to come for the poor. One of its recent researches notes that the social impacts of the crisis have been delayed but that they will become more apparent as time passes by. The government shows no indication of intention to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the health and lives of the poor. On the contrary, it is giving priority to the military, seemingly anticipating the need to repress people's protests. In the P579 billion 1999 national budget, health is only the tenth priority with a P11.8 billion share, about 2%. The military gets the second biggest slice of the pie, P51.6 billion? almost 9%. The 1997 Family Income and Expenditures Survey gives a good picture of the social consequences of the economy's "boom" during president Ramos' term. Although the average family income has grown slightly between 1994 and 1997, inequalities between the rich and the poor became wider than ever. The richest 10% got 39.7% of the national income in 1997, much more than their 35.5% share in 1994. The share of the poorest 30%, to the contrary, dropped from 8.8% in 1994 to 7.8% in 1997. In 1994 the average income of the top 10% was 19 times higher than the income of the poorest 10%; but in 1997 their slice of the pie was 23.8 times bigger. The National Economic and Development Authority expects that figures for 1998 will be even worse. Income redistribution is indeed happening in the Philippines ? from the poor to the rich! Super-typhoons Take Heavy Toll After the distressing long dry spell of El Ni?o, the Philippines was hit by two super-typhoons only two weeks apart during the month of October. The consequences were grim. According to eyewitnesses, the greater part of Luzon looked like a war zone. Typhoon Iliang was the first to hit the country. With maximum winds of 240 kph Iliang unleashed her fury on Northern Luzon cutting power lines, swelling dams and rivers, flooding coastal villages and forcing more than 9,000 people to flee their homes. When the typhoon left the country, Iliang left behind an estimated P422 million worth of crops destroyed and 83 dead. At least 26 people were killed in landslides. Typhoon Loleng, focusing on Southern Luzon, killed 189 people, left 23 missing and destroyed at least P1.92 billion worth of crops. In Metro Manila, 23,855 people were evacuated due to floods. Nationwide, 1.8 million people were left homeless. The total damage of both typhoons to crops, private property and public works was estimated at P6.57 billion. VFA to Bring Back the US Military Both Madeleine Albright, United States Secretary of State, and William Cohen, US Defense Secretary, visited the Philippines to campaign for the ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippine and US governments. With the VFA, the US seeks to transform the entire country into a virtual military base for its "engagement and enlargement" strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement is essentially a license for US troops to operate within the country without impediments. About 22 Philippine ports and other facilities would be open for US military use. It would even grant impunity to US soldiers who commit crimes on Philippine soil. Many cause-oriented groups joined the Junk VFA Movement to oppose this lopsided treaty. On September 15 and 16, the 30,000-strong Junk VFA rally in Manila showed that opposition to the VFA cuts across all sectors. Cause-oriented groups, religious organizations, artists, students, professionals, non-government organizations and people's organizations were present. According to the Junk VFA Movement, it would be politically costly for the Senate and the Estrada government if they insist on pushing for the agreement's ratification. "Should the government remain stubborn and insist on ramming the VFA down the throats of the people, they should be prepared for stronger and more protests," said Ret. Capt. Danilo Vizmanos, spokesperson for the Movement. The government launched its own propaganda campaign in support of the VFA. Illusory terrorist threats in Mindanao were conceived and grossly overdrawn in the media. Even the Spratlys issue, a dispute with China about uninhabited islands in the South China Sea, is being used as a justification for the controversial agreement. The ratification of the VFA became, quite literally, a "done deal" at the APEC Summit in Kuala Lumpur in November. During a meeting with US Vice President Al Gore behind the scenes of the summit, President Estrada assured him of the VFA's swift ratification in exchange for American support to the Armed Forces' modernization program ? using US purchased military equipment, no doubt. Cronies' Comeback If the first months of Erap's presidency had to be characterized by one single issue, it would be the astonishing and blatant comeback of the Marcos cronies. Erap himself was of course a Marcos devotee. Cojuangco was one of the dictator's most intimate accomplices who even had the dubious "honor" to join Marcos in the US military helicopter that saved him in 1986 from the people's anger and brought him to Hawaii. Thirteen years later and in the first months of Estrada's presidency, this very Cojuangco acquired control again over the coconut levy, the United Coconut Planters Bank, and San Miguel Corporation, one of the country's biggest enterprises. As mysteriously as they reappear at the helm of Philippine business, the Marcos cronies disappear from the country's criminal records. This is mainly the work of Ombudsman Aniano Desierto who is dismissing criminal suits against Marcos' cronies and kin at high speed, although he is supposed to sue them on behalf of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). Among the people who were cleared by Desierto were businessman Eduardo Cojuangco; Marcos' golfing buddy Herminio Disini; Marcos' brothers-in-law Alfredo and Armando Romualdez; Marcos' elder brother Dr. Pacifico Marcos, and three nephews of former first lady Imelda Marcos among others. Another Marcos ally, General Fabian Ver, who lived in exile since the EDSA revolt ousted the former strongman, also achieved a comeback, although in a coffin. Marcos' ever-loyal Chief of Staff died in Bangkok but was allowed a burial in the Philippines ? with military honors at that. And then there's the former first lady, herself, Imelda Marcos. She almost managed to have the remains of her husband buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery), had the people's strongly indignant protests not prevented her plans. Only a few weeks later, the Supreme Court acquitted her of corruption, saving her from a 12-year jail term and overturning her conviction in the only case in which she had been found guilty. Encouraged by the ascent of a president who is openly biased toward the Marcoses, Imelda is becoming increasingly vocal, presumptuous, and arrogant. As usual, she is trying to undermine the attempts of the human rights victims to get their share of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth as compensation. Most outrageous, however, was her announcement of a new offensive to recover all her wealth, not only from the government, but even from the Marcos cronies. According to herself, that includes "practically everything in the Philippines, from electricity, telecommunications, airline, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance." Just in case you wonder how the Marcoses were able to amass such wealth if not through the scandalous plunder of a whole nation, here is Imelda's explanation: "through divine luck." Land to the Landlords "Land to the tillers" is a remote though justified aspiration of the Filipino peasants. Even Boy Morales, Erap's high-profile Agrarian Reform Secretary, made a devastating assessment of his predecessors' achievements in land reform. He relevantly pinpointed that the agrarian reform program has hardly touched the estates of big landowners. For example, he said, the government has distributed only 98,000 hectares of the nearly 500,000 hectares of private estates which are bigger than 50 hectares. Former administrations have succeeded only in distributing government's own lands. The much-publicized "land reform" of Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco's haciendas in Negros was the appetizer of the Erap and Morales land reform program. It is doubtful, however, whether the farmers will be longing for more. Under the memorandum of understanding between the farmers and Cojuangco, the latter will supposedly give away the 4,361 hectares of land. But the farmers are then obliged to enter into a joint venture agreement which asks them to give the leasehold rights to the land back to Cojuangco in exchange for 30% of outstanding shares of the stocks of the joint venture corporation. "The first catch is, the land is a sequestered property," commented Teodoro Casi?o, Bayan Deputy Secretary General, "and Cojuangco thinks that this 'philanthropic' move will shield his property from sequestration." Casi?o also said there is a second catch: "Cojuangco will still lord over the land by making the new beneficiaries surrender the lease-hold rights to a corporation he owns." This brand of "market-oriented agrarian reform" obviously leaves the so-called reform beneficiaries deeper in debt to Cojuangco's Southern Negros Agri Ventures ? and landless as ever. With crass insensitivity, Estrada praised Cojuangco, another sponsor of his presidential campaign and a notorious, merciless landlord, as "the godfather of land reform." He might as well have called Lucio Tan "the king of trade-unionism," or ex-dictator Marcos "the patron of human rights." PAL: Lucio Tan's Plunder and Erap's Anti-Labor Attack In 1992, President Ramos' privatization program allowed former Marcos crony Lucio Tan to take control of Philippine Airlines (PAL). Since then, it became the multimillionaire's private milking cow. His strategy was quite simple. The profitable operations of the company were spinned off to his wholly-owned companies. That allowed Tan to pocket the profits while PAL's business reserves became more and more depleted. In the guise of trying to "save PAL," Tan "offered" PALEA, the union of the ground crew, three board seats and a 20% stake in the company. In exchange, the union would waive its right to strike and to negotiate collectively for the next ten years. Inconceivably, the union, supposedly the defender of the workers' rights, accepted the offer. Later, union officers had to reverse their decision due to the members' clamor for rejection of the terms. Lucio Tan was not impressed. Without remorse, he closed down the airline which had been the country's flag carrier for 57 years. This puts the workers with their backs against the wall. Under pressure from the union leaders, who had become accomplices in this vicious ploy, the workers were left the choice of a yes vote for the agreement ? or lose their jobs. Reluctantly, the workers chose their jobs, however tenuous job security was. Noteworthy in this story is the involvement of President Estrada. Because the President could not turn his back on Tan who was the number one financier of his campaign, he actively intervened on the side of management. He callously commented that "you can't eat a collective bargaining agreement," revealing how little he knows about workers' rights but how much he is biased against them. Workers who were yet undecided about the President's intentions definitely lost this uncertainty when he insisted, in the aftermath of PAL's closure, that labor's right to strike should be temporarily suspended while the nation is in economic crisis. Health Mafia The Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH), Dr. Felipe Estrella, resigned merely two months after President Estrada appointed him to his office. From the start, it was clear that the appointments to positions in the DOH had been a precarious balancing act between the political factions behind Erap's presidential campaign. Instead of the usual four undersecretaries and four assistant undersecretaries, for example, the DOH now has seven undersecretaries and five assistant undersecretaries. Two under-secretaries even have to share one department. Political infighting is said to be the main reason for Estrella's early resignation. There could even be a link to an alleged "DOH Mafia," led by ranking DOH officials. The "Mafia" has reportedly cornered juicy multimillion-peso contract for the supply of medicines. Evidently, these developments are not assuring for the people, who rely on government health services. An Agreement Is No Guarantee The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Law (CAHRIHL), signed by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and government negotiating panels on March 16, had to wait until August before the Philippine President signed it. Apparently Estrada's enthusiasm for the document wasn't very warm. Within a span of two days he consecutively "didn't know," denied and then admitted that he signed it. The Estrada administration is currently withholding the implementation of the agreement pending the resumption of the peace negotiations. The peace talks were stalled after the government insisted that the CAHRIHL's implementation be subsumed to the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. This, however, would be tantamount to demanding the capitulation of the NDF's forces and contrary to the agreement itself. Definitely, the government's stubbornness does not create a favorable atmosphere for the continuation of the peace negotiations. Meanwhile, the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP) said its members have recorded many cases of massive militarization and human rights abuses during the first six months of Estrada's administration. According to the EMJP, the military's counterinsurgency operations have claimed the lives of several persons. These include a fisherman organizer in Palawan who was killed by members of the First Marine Battalion in an alleged encounter; Richard Balangiao, a farmer in Misamis Oriental, who was killed by soldiers of the 31st Special Forces Company; and, Elsa and Vicente Capistrano, Loreta Velasco and Gemmalyn Velasco, who was six months pregnant, killed in Quezon Province.# Information was taken from the following publications: Philippine Daily Inquirer; Today; Manila Times; KMU Correspondence; Karapatan ng Sambayanan. From bayan at iname.com Sun Jan 17 09:56:42 1999 From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN) Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 08:56:42 +0800 Subject: [asia-apec 1005] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES AND SUPPORTS GRP-NDFP PEACE NEGOTIATIONS Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990117085642.006bc23c@pop.skyinet.net> NOTE: DOWNLOADED FROM THE NDF WEBSITE National Democratic Front of the Philippines Information Office Press Release 14 January 1999 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES AND SUPPORTS GRP-NDFP PEACE NEGOTIATIONS The European Parliament unanimously passed today (14 January, 1999 17:30H CET) in Strasbourg a resolution in support of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The resolution reads as follows: The European Parliament, A. reaffirming its resolution of 18 July 1997 on the Philippines supporting peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) within the framework of their Joint Declaration in The Hague, B. congratulating the aforesaid parties for their success in forging the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, approved by the Philippine Government on 7 August 1998 and by the NDFP on 10 April 1998, C. further congratulating the aforesaid parties for their success in forging the Joint Agreement in Support of Socioeconomic Projects of Private Development Organizations and Institutes and the Additional Rules Implementing the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees Pertinent to the Security of Personnel and Consultations in the Furtherance of the Peace Negotiations, D. welcoming all the expressions and acts of good intention of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and National Democratic Front of the Philippines within their respective spheres of responsibility and in accordance with international law and their common determination to implement all their bilateral agreements and accelerate the progress of the peace negotiations, E. encouraging and supporting all the common and separate efforts of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to apply the International Bill of Rights and International Humanitarian Law and pave the way for a just and lasting peace, 1. Urges the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to realize their mutual commitment to accelerating the progress of their peace negotiations in Europe, forging the comprehensive agreements on social and economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms and achieving a just and lasting peace, 2. Continues to support all the bilateral agreements and confidence-building measures that they have reached and undertaken in order to create a favourable atmosphere for peace negotiations and to lay the ground for a just and lasting peace, 3. Recognizes and appreciates all the acts of good intention of the Parties and their common and separate efforts to adhere to and apply the principles and instruments of respect for human rights and international humanitarian law and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, 4. Requests the Commission and Council to provide and facilitate support and assistance to the Parties in carrying out their formal peace negotiations, in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and in undertaking development, relief and rehabilitation programmes, 5. Instructs the President to forward this Resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.#