From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Sep 1 22:56:36 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 06:56:36 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1273] APEC In Auckland - APEC Monitoring Group Media Release 1/9/99
Message-ID: <000701bef481$d27516c0$783661cb@notoapec>
AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND APEC MONITORING GROUP
PO BOX 106 233, AUCKLAND
Ph: (09) 3025390 xt 833
Fax: (09) 8463297
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE
1 September 1999
Auckland APEC Clean-Up Deja Vu Experience For Anti-APEC Organiser
APEC Monitoring Group organiser Aziz Choudry says the current makeover of Auckland for the upcoming APEC Leaders Summit follows in the footsteps of controversial "clean-ups" at previous Summits.
He has been in Osaka (1995), Manila (1996), Vancouver (1997), and Kuala Lumpur (1998) at the time of APEC Leaders Summits, participating in alternative meetings opposing APEC and its global free market economic approach.
"From the social cleansing as police target the homeless in the Domain and Downtown just outside the APEC Monitoring Group office, to the looming traffic chaos and confusion, from the build-up of military and police to the sealing of manhole covers in Aotea Square, from the "beautifying" of the airport to the tax- and rates-subsidised pro-APEC banners and billboards - it's all grimly familiar," he said.
"Wherever APEC has been hosted the story has been similar. Human rights violations and massive disruption to the lives of local citizens are synonymous with APEC Leaders Summits - and always justified in the name of "security""
"In reality the cleanup aims to disguise the free market's failure to deliver benefits to the vast majority of New Zealanders. In every city to host an APEC Leaders Summit, the homeless and the poor - many themselves casualties of free market policies - have been harassed by police and security forces and even forcibly moved from areas near official APEC venues. In Manila, the shanty dwellings of some 33,000 squatter families were demolished, the people removed by force and abandoned in a drive to create an "eyesore-free zone" Similar crackdowns against the homeless were visible in Osaka and Vancouver".
"While APEC insulates itself from negative social and environmental consequences of the policies it promotes, the Auckland clean-up aims to render invisible anything which does not fit the image of a New Zealand market 'miracle'".
"The government is going to great lengths to present a false, sanitised image of New Zealand and the local impact of the past 15 years of radical market reforms to international delegates and media.
"Local citizens' lives and livelihoods are given a low priority in planning for the annual APEC made-for media circus, as governments strive to impress upon visitors what a model of free market model of prosperity and success the host country is."
"Jenny Shipley wants a poverty- and dissent-free, "eyesore-free zone" for APEC, too. She badly wants a pre-election photo op from APEC to boost her support. That will be especially difficult now that APEC itself is virtually paralysed".
"Part of the Summit takes place in the Domain, "home" to a number of homeless people. That these people are being forced out just for APEC is a powerful symbol of the failure of the government's free market approach. Its only solution for social problems is to pretend they don't exist. Anything that threatens to expose the truth about the high human costs of free market, free trade and investment policies will be swept under the carpet or airbrushed out of the picture," he said.
For further comment, contact Aziz Choudry (09) 3025390 xt. 833 or (021) 217 3039
From apmmf at pacific.net.hk Wed Sep 1 08:51:44 1999
From: apmmf at pacific.net.hk (Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos)
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 1999 07:51:44 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1274] News Bulletin
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990901075144.0069c470@pop.skyinet.net>
Arial Black
JOINT STATEMENT ON PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PROVISION
OF MATERNITY PROTECTION FOR FOREIGN DOMESTIC HELPE
UNDER THE HONG KONG SAR EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCNANCE
We are organizations, groups and concerned
individuals united together to campaign against, and reaffirm our strong
opposition to, the proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance that
seeks to deny foreign domestic helpers$B(B (FDHs) the right to maternity
protection currently offered under the Employment Ordinance. We are the
Asian Migrant Coordinating Body (AMCB), a coalition of organizations of
migrant workers and foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) of the Philippines,
Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nepal; and the Advocates$B(B Group
consisting of organizations and individuals supporting the AMCB$B(Bs
campaign for the protection of rights of FDHs and migrant workers.
A few months ago, capitulating to pressure groups calling for a reduction
of the monthly minimum wages of FDHs, the Hong Kong Government imposed a
wage-cut on them ostensibly to ease the burden of economic crisis on the
employers. Following on the heels of the baseless and callous decision to
reduce the already meager minimum wages of FDHs, the Hong Kong Government
is drawing up plans to launch another attack on the FDHs. This time, it
is proposing to take away the FDHs$B(B right to maternity protection under
the Employment Ordinance.
The proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance seeks to offer
$(C(Bflexibility$B(B to employers to terminate their FDHs on the basis of
$(C(Bmutual agreement$(D(B, that is, on payment of a mutually-agreed sum of
money.
When we opposed the wage-cut for FDHs, we feared that this would be only
the opening salvo on the attack to rights of FDHs and migrant workers. In
our joint statement opposing the wage-cut, we stated: $(C(BDoing away with
the minimum wage for FDHs, whose wages are already frozen, will
legitimize underpayment leaving the door open for greater abuses and
violations of employment contracts by unscrupulous employers$(D(B. With the
proposal to deny them maternity protection, the Government is clearly
opening another front for such employers to flout labour laws.
The so-called $(C(Bflexibility$(D(B and $(C(Bmutual agreement$(D(B will only increase the
incidence of contract violations and abuses that FDHs have to contend
with. Even under existing labour laws, employers have continued to
flagrantly violate employment contracts. In such circumstances, the
proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance will only provide a
loophole for unfair termination of FDH contracts.
Ironically, the proposal to do away with maternity protection for FDHs
has the backing of the Labour Department. How does the Labour
Department$B(Bs position on this issue measure up to its avowed goals of
enhancing the well-being of Hong Kong$B(Bs workforce, and improving and
safeguarding employees' rights and benefits, as its vision and mission
statement proclaims? Does the Labour Department seriously want us to
believe that the abolition of maternity protection is not a violation of
the rights of FDHs? And that, on the contrary, it would $(C(Bimprove and
safeguard$(D(B their rights?
Just as the wage-cut for FDHs was a precursor to the reduction of wages
for local workers, the proposed abolition of maternity protection of FDHs
might well be extended to local workers too. It is important, therefore,
that the proposed amendment be seen as posing a potentially serious
threat to the rights of all workers in Hong Kong. Once again, we
re-affirm our unity and solidarity with local workers in the common
struggle for the protection of rights of ALL workers, and call on
overseas and local workers to close ranks.
We reject the proposed amendment to deny maternity protection to FDHs. It
is discriminatory, as it is applicable only to those in the category of
foreign domestic helpers. It is racist, as it seeks to exclude workers of
certain nationalities from enjoying a right available to local workers
and those of other nationalities. It is sexist, as it is targets women
for oppression.
The hard-won right of women, especially women workers around the world,
for maternity protection, is now under threat. The Hong Kong government
sees pregnancy and maternity as a 'hindrance' to more effective and
productive labour. In reality, the attempt to tinker with maternity
protection is just an excuse to lower wages for women, to lay-off women
workers and to deny their legal rights and benefits, so that businesses
can rake in bigger profits and spend less on social and contractual
obligations.
More dangerously, the proposal brings us back to the age of slavery --
where the right to bear children was considered a threat to productivity.
The Hong Kong Government is now seeking to usher in an age of slavery
where domestic helpers are forbidden to bear children under threat of
contract termination. The proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance
is clearly a scandalous retrogression from universally accepted labour
and human rights standards.
We condemn this latest attempt of the Hong Kong Government to whittle
away the few rights and benefits available to FDHs. It is shameful that
the Government is violating its own declared commitments to various
international covenants and conventions on the protection of human
rights.
We also call on the Labour Department to live up to its own vision and
mission of improving and safeguarding workers$B(B rights and benefits.
We demand:
(a) that the Hong Kong Government withdraw the proposed amendment and
ensure that the Employment Ordinance continues to be applicable in its
entirety to FDHs;
(b) that the Government call an immediate halt to the undeclared
policy of taking away, one by one, the rights and benefits of FDHs;
(c) that the Labour Department take meaningful measures to protect
and safeguard the rights of FDHs and local workers.
Signed:
ASIAN MIGRANT COODINATING BODY (AMCB), OTHER MIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS AND
ADVOCATES$B(B GROUP:
1. Association of Sri Lankans in Hong Kong (ASL-HK)-AMCB
2. Friends of Thai (FOT) - AMCB
3. Far East Nepalese Association (FEONA) - AMCB
4. United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK) - AMCB
5. Abra Migrant Workers Welfare Association (AMWWA)
6. Association of Concerned Filipinos (ACFIL)
7. Bataan Migrant Workers Union (BMWU)
8. Dumarao Hong Kong Association
9. Friends of Bethune House (FBH)
10. Iloilo Migrant Workers Organization (IMWO)
11. Justice and Peace Evangelization Family
12. Methodist Filipino Fellowship (MFF)
13. Pinatud A Saleng Ti Umili (PSU)
14. Unified Friends of Hong Kong
15. Women of the Philippine Independent Church (WOPIC)
16. United Ybanag Association (UYA)
17. Filipino Friends in Hong Kong (FRIENDS)
18. Surallah Hong Kong Association
19. Abra-Tinggian Ilocano Society (ATIS)
20. World Student Christian Federation (WSCF)
21. Asian Student Association (ASA)
22. Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF)
23. Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers (MFMW)
24. The Bethune House Migrant Women$B(Bs Refuge
25. Fr. Tom Danaher
26. Peggy Lee-AMRC
27. Ed Shepard AMRC
28. Ana Enriquez AMRC
29. Vivien Liu AMRC
30. Selma Midhi Hayati
31. Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC)
32. Hong Kong Women Workers Association (HKWWA)
33. Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC)
34. Rosalie San Miguel, Jesus Is Lord (JIL)
35. Hong Kong Women Christian Council (HKWCC)
36. Association for the Advancement of Feminism (AAF)
Tahomaffff,0000,0000*******************************************
0000,0000,8080Asia
Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF)
Address:0000,0000,8080
No.4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. no.:0000,0000,8080
(852) 2723-7536
Fax no.:0000,0000,8080 (852)
2735-4559
E-mail:0000,0000,8080
apmmf@pacific.net.hk
ffff,0000,0000**********************************************
0000,0000,8080
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sat Sep 4 00:48:24 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 08:48:24 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1275] APEC/NZ - How Our Chicken Man Met The CIA
Message-ID: <000a01bef623$c4374f80$193661cb@notoapec>
NZ Herald, Auckland
September 3 1999
How our chicken man met the CIA
By Chris Daniels
Saji Philips works in a cooped-up world in South Auckland, far away from the secret corridors of the White House.
But he's getting to know as much about hush-hush American matters as he does about the chickens that give him his living.
It might sound like an improbable plot from a Get Smart episode, But Mr Philips is being bombarded with top-secret faxes from American Apec organisers at his Poultry Pride chicken-processing plant in Mangere.
Instead of orders for processing chickens, he is fielding fax messages on security issues such as the installation of White House communications equipment in the Auckland Airport control tower.
"One of them had the name of a military officer with his code name and security number," said Mr Philips.
A flurry of secret information has been sent to the plant in the past few weeks, and when he rang the Americans to tell them he was assured that the problem would be fixed.
But just yesterday he was still being sent details relating to next week's arrival of President Bill Clinton.
Names and car registration details of military communications officials have all been sent to Mr Philips, including details of the installation of "White House communications equipment in a strategic position" in the airport's control tower.
"For us it doesn't really matter, but if this fell into the wrong hands, who knows what could happen. It's really quite frightening," he said.
"You would think they would be a lot stricter with these things, considering all the hassles we are having with everything else.
"It's quite funny to us but it really shouldn't happen."
A spokesman for the USAPEC Support Office said checks were being made about the faxes, but could make no further comment.
Mr Philips, meanwhile, is hardly impressed with the impact of Apec on his business. Many of the restaurants he supplies with chickens are closing over the weekend, because few people are expected downtown on September 11 and 12.
"We will lose a lot of business."
His drivers, who deliver the nearly 4000 chickens processed at Poultry Pride each day, are also facing big problems getting to and from the factory and the city.
[Photo: MIXED MESSAGES: Top-secret faxes from the US Apec support team are a hoot for Saji Philips]
From bayan at iname.com Sat Sep 4 08:35:16 1999
From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN)
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 07:35:16 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1276] Canadian workers do NOT benefit from "boom"
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990904073516.006af3c8@pop.skyinet.net>
>From: Ruth_E._Perkins@campuslife.utoronto.ca (Ruth E. Perkins)
>
>Ryerson study finds economic boom is little benefit to Canadian workers
>
> The full text of the report can be found at:
> www.research.ryerson.ca/~ors/research/job.html
>
>TORONTO, June 2 /CNW/ - The employment situation for Canadians is much
>more precarious than traditional measures show and is not improving
>despite a strong economy, a study at Ryerson Polytechnic University
>concludes.
>
>More than 53% of the workforce aged 25 to 59, or 6.7 million Canadians,
>are in vulnerable employment situations because they lack stable work or
>adequate employment income. And the study found that the real unemployment
>rate for Canada in May, 1998, would be 20.3%, rather than 8.4%, if those
>who were significantly underemployed were also counted.
>
>``Our statistics run counter to the official story of an economic
>boom,'' says Dr. John Shields, co-author of the study with Dr. Michael
>Burke, both of the Politics and Public Administration Department at
>Ryerson University and senior researchers with the Ryerson Social
>Reporting Network. ``We found that part-time and temporary work, and
>low-paying jobs have replaced full-time, permanent positions. The kind
>of jobs that are being created are undermining the foundation for middle
>class life in Canada.''
>
> The full text of the report can be found at:
> www.research.ryerson.ca/~ors/research/job.html
>
> The study also found:
>
> - more than 52% of Canadian workers earn less than $15 per hour
>
> - 3.2 million Canadians, about one-fifth of the labour force, are
> structurally excluded from the labour market in that they are either
> unemployed or significantly underemployed
>
> - about 45% of workers between the ages of 25 and 59 are employed in
> flexible forms of work, or less than full-time, permanent positions
>
> - flexible forms of work pay between $5 to $8 per hour less than
> permanent full-time work
>
> - women in general and single mothers in particular are significantly
> over-represented among flexible workers and those in vulnerable
> employment
>
> - those in unions or working in the public sector were protected from
> the worst inequalities found in flexible and vulnerable forms of work.
>
>The researchers analyzed the monthly labour force surveys conducted by
>Statistics Canada. They have developed three new indices to measure
>quality of employment including the Employment Vulnerability Index,
>measuring adequacy of employment income and job stability. The
>Vulnerability Index shows that 53.6% of Canadian workers were in
>vulnerable employment situations in May, 1998.
>
>In late fall, the Ryerson Social Reporting Network will release its
>findings for 1999.
>
>For further information: Dr. John Shields, Department of Politics,
>Ryerson, (416) 979-5000, ext. 6167; Dr. Mike Burke, Department of Politics,
>Ryerson, (416) 979-5000, ext. 6260
>
>
From courage at skyinet.net Sat Sep 4 07:55:00 1999
From: courage at skyinet.net (COURAGE)
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 06:55:00 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1277] MAGNA CARTA AGGRAVATES PLIGHT OF OFWS
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990904065500.006af3c8@pop.skyinet.net>
MAGNA CARTA AGGRAVATES PLIGHT OF OFWS
Government employees called upon Estrada to repeal the Migrants
Act of 1995 or RA 8042 rather than insist on his very unpopular move of
rewriting the Philippine constitution. COURAGE said that RA 8042 is not only
useless but even worsens the plight of Overseas Filipino workers and even
threatens the employment of affected civil servants.
In its desperate act to save face after the execution of Flor Contemplacion,
an OFW in Singapore, the former Ramos administration passed the Magna Carta
for OFW. At first, one can conclude that in its haste the law was nothing
but a work of $(C(Bcut and paste$(D(B where existing mandates of government agencies
dealing with the overseas employment program were put together. But it was
not even a good compilation of the programs and services because it became a
venue for interest groups in the bureaucracy to grab each other's mandate
which now results to worse services due to confusion.
But in a deeper analysis, RA 8042 is a grand move to institutionalize the
flexible labor policy in the overseas employment program of the government.
The government has finally formally accepted that overseas employment is
part of its comprehensive employment program that conforms to global
policy on deregulation of labor.
Upon full deregulation of recruitment activities, the government need not
save its face for the next Contemplacion cases because it has extricated
itself from the responsibility in the deployment of OFWs. While still raking
billions form overseas workers the government can insist that the problems
of OFWs is a matter between them and the foreign employers. Meanwhile,
government officials and their friends who are also recruiters are
given more freedom to engage in illegal recruitment activities.
Likewise, COURAGE will defend the jobs of government employees who will be
affected by the provision on deregulation of overseas employment. The
employees of POEA, which is set to be phased-out, have already made its
position against the move.###
****************************************************************************
C O U R A G E
Confederation for Unity, Recognition & Advancement of Government Employees
"Advancing the Struggle Towards Genuine Public Sector Unionism"
P.O. Box AC 84, Araneta Center,
1135 Cubao, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
New Telephone # (63-2) 365-72-11
Tel/Fax # (63-2) 363-46-75
new alternate email:
emails:
webpage:
From lfsphils at hotmail.com Sat Sep 4 08:01:01 1999
From: lfsphils at hotmail.com (LFS Philippines)
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 07:01:01 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1278] LFS Statement on State Violence in East Timor
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990904070101.006af3c8@pop.skyinet.net>
August 30, 1999
Press Release
by NOEL COLINA, LFS National Chairperson
Condemn the violence, support the struggle for self-determination!
Last August 26, pro-government paramilitary troops attacked a peaceful
assembly of East Timorese in the province of Dili, killing 6 East Timorese
and wounding scores of civilians and journalists in the process. Tension
continues to rise as the referendum to decide whether the Indonesian
government will grant independence to its colony East Timor approaches.
We vehemently condemn this terror tactics of the Indonesian regime. This is
not the first time this has transpired. Ever since Indonesia colonized East
Timor, the suppression of the East Timorese continued without let-up. To
suppress the rights of people to self-determination is a fundamental
violation of their basic rights. The attacks on the pro-independence
activists are being done systematically to scare and intimidate the East
Timorese and to
weaken their resolve in their struggle for an independent East Timor. We,
the League of Filipino Students are in solidarity with the oppressed people of
East Timor for we Filipinos have suffered such fate during the Martial Law
days and are still suffering continued repression and human rights abuses
from thre Estrada government. The recent developments in the Philippines
are evidence to a move towards open fascist rule.
The League fully supports the struggle for self-determination of the East
Timorese. It is the historical right of a people to have their own nation
and determine their future. The people of East Timor are doubly oppressed by
the Indonesian regime. First through economic and political subjugation and
secondly through racial discrimination. The people of East Timor, through
long and arduous struggle have more than earned the right to govern
themselves. It is high time that the people's aspirations become a reality.
On August 31 the League of Filipino Students, in solidarity with the
oppressed people of East Timor, will hold a picket in front of the
Indonesian Embassy to condemn the butchery of the East Timorese and support
their struggle for self-determination. We shall be joined by other youth
and students
organizations. The picket will start at 11:00 a.m.
From bayan at iname.com Sun Sep 5 09:30:16 1999
From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN)
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 08:30:16 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1279] Fwd: Ecuador gets $900m from IMF
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990905083016.006d36c8@pop.skyinet.net>
FYI: Some data re Ecuador
>Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 12:14:23 -0400
>Sender: stop-imf@essential.org
>
>Ecuador announces 900 million dollars from IMF (Excerpts)
>Date: Sat Aug 28 03:20:03 CDT 1999
>
> QUITO, Aug 28 (AFP) - Ecuador will receive 900 million dollars in loans
>from the International Montetary Fund (IMF) to support government economic
>plans, President Jamil Mahuad announced.
> The money will go to support Mahuad's own 1.8 billion-dollar plan to kick
>start the South American nation's economy, the president said late Friday in
>a national address broadcast on television and radio.
> . . .
> Ecuador will receive 400 million dollars from the International Monetary
>Reserve to help stabilize the country's currency against the US dollar, he
>said in his 20-minute speech to the nation.
> Another 500-million-dollar credit will be used to reactivate the
>country's economy and strengthen Ecuador's banks, Mahuad said.
> . . .
> Ecuador's public debt of 13.12 billion dollars equals 92 percent of its
>yearly gross national product and to more than 1,000 dollars for each of the
>country's 12 million inhabitants, according to the Central Bank.
> Ecuador owes 3.51 billion dollars to international financial
>organisations, including 1.8 billion to the InterAmerican Development Bank.
> Quito also owes 2.35 billion dollars to foreign governments, including
>1.03 billion to the Paris Club. And to foreign banks, Ecuador owes 6.73
>billion dollars.
>
From bayan at iname.com Sun Sep 5 09:30:24 1999
From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN)
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 08:30:24 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1280] Fwd: US gets ready to armtwist in WTO meet
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990905083024.006d36c8@pop.skyinet.net>
>Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 02:32:06 -0400
>From: Carol
>Subject: Fwd: U.S. drops bombshell re WTO
>
>Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 17:51:07 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Ellen Gould
>
>The U.S. has just dropped a bombshell into discussions leading up to
>this fall's World Trade Organization negotiations in Seattle.
>
>U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky announced on June 1 that
>the U.S. wants a "top-down" approach in negotiations on eliminating
>barriers to trade in services - meaning that rather than countries
>negotiating on areas they all can agree they want liberalized, all
>services will be put on the table at once, including health and
>education.
>
>That leaves countries who object in the weak position of having to ask
>for exemptions for services they want protected, and, as with the MAI,
>potentially having to "trade off" these sectors in a final agreement.
>
>This means that all the dangers people identified in the MAI for
>Canada's health and education system will reemerge in the WTO talks on
>liberalizing services. Canada could not "discriminate" against foreign,
>private providers of these services.
>
>There has been no response as yet by the Canadian government to this
>aggressive move by the U.S. to massively expand what is up for grabs at
>the WTO negotiations.
>
>Contact your local member of parliament to insist that there be an
>immediate and public rejection of the U.S. plan to include all services
>in the WTO negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
>Canada must demand that only sectors which countries have agreed to put
>foward should be the subject of negotiations - a "bottom-up" approach.
>
>Get in touch with health care and education service providers and alert
>them to what is happening. Their jobs and the public character of the
>Canadian system is at stake. The arguments regarding the threat from
>the MAI and this American move at the WTO are essentially the same.
>
>Critiques of this kind regarding the MAI can still be found on the
>Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' Web site at:
>http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/index.html
>
>"Barshefsky said the U.S. will push for new and
>improved liberalization commitments in sectors such as finance,
>telecommunications, distribution, audiovisual, construction, education,
>health, travel and tourism, and professional services."
>
>BARSHEFSKY REVEALS U.S. PUSH TO BROADEN WTO SERVICES TALKS
>_______________________________________________
>Date: June 4, 1999 - Inside US Trade -
>
>U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky this week said the U.S.
>is hoping to significantly broaden commitments to be made in the
>upcoming World Trade Organization services negotiations by changing the
>negotiating format. In a June 1 speech before the World Services
>Congress in Washington, Barshefsky said the U.S. is hoping to move away
>from the so-called "request-offer" approach used to negotiate the
>Uruguay Round's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
>
>Under this approach, members were required to apply new GATS rules only
>to service sectors they agreed to put forward during those
>negotiations.
>
>Instead, the U.S. is hoping to create a structure for the services
>talks to be launched late this year that more closely resembles the
>Uruguay Round's tariff negotiations for goods, she said. These talks
>applied generally to all goods except for those that were specifically
>exempted.
>
>"We need to look at whether we can come up with a more efficient
>negotiating structure than the request-offer process of the Uruguay
>Round," Barshefsky said.
>
>Specifically, Barshefsky said the concepts used to negotiate tariffs
>for goods could be employed in the services talks. In addition to the
>request-offer approach, previous tariff negotiations have used the
>zero-for-zero approach, in which WTO members agree to eliminate all
>tariffs in a sector, and the formula approach, in which members agree
>to reduce tariffs by certain amounts depending on their current
>levels.
>
>For services, these latter two approaches could involve negotiators
>agreeing to eliminate all barriers to trade in a certain service
>sector, or agreeing to a formula under which these barriers are reduced
>to certain negotiated levels.
>
>Barshefsky indicated that applying these other approaches in the
>services talks could quicken the pace of services liberalization
>because it would allow members to seek liberalization in areas without
>having to wait for members to put forward those areas. "We have to
>decide what combination of negotiating structures will work best in the
>services sector," she said.
>
>With this idea in mind, Barshefsky said the U.S. will push for new and
>improved liberalization commitments in sectors such as finance,
>telecommunications, distribution, audiovisual, construction, education,
>health, travel and tourism, and professional services.
>
>In her prepared remarks, Barshefsky noted that the GATS negotiations
>created a set of services rules, but only set "some" precedents for
>market access. "Even for WTO members trade [in services] is highly
>restricted," she said in her speech. "In most service sectors we see
>few specific commitments."
>
>She said that only 14 WTO members have made commitments in the
>audiovisual services sector, and no developing countries have made
>commitments on the gathering and dissemination of news. Also, fewer
>than 50 WTO members have made commitments on distribution services, an
>area Barshefsky called "critical" to liberalizing trade in goods.
>
>She also noted that while approximately 70 members have signed the WTO
>agreements on financial services and telecommunications, that means
>each agreement has not been signed by about 60 members.
>
>Barshefsky's comments mirror those made last year by other U.S.
>officials, who also said that another way to achieve an expanded
>liberalization package is to develop broad regulatory principles that
>all services regimes would have to follow. This approach would be in
>line with the WTO agreement on basic telecommunications services, which
>broke new ground by developing regulatory principles for the sector.
>
>This would also be in line with Article 6 of the GATS, which obliges
>members to ensure that their domestic regulations do not impede trade
>in services that are listed in members' schedules of commitments. Art.
>6 was written generally, and specific regulatory principles still need
>to be worked out.
>
>Barshefsky said creating regulatory principles for services is another
>U.S. goal in the WTO talks, and that the principles could include the
>notion that regulations should be developed in a transparent way and
>that they generally should not restrict trade. She said she is
>interested in receiving industry proposals on possible principles.
>
>Another U.S. goal for the services talks is to ensure that any
>agreement anticipates developments in technology, and that new modes of
>delivery do not face unfair barriers, Barshefsky said. This could
>include making sure that services such as health care are not
>discriminated against because they are delivered electronically.
>
>Before the new trade round is launched at the WTO ministerial meeting
>in Seattle scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, Barshefsky said the U.S.
>wants to strike an agreement guaranteeing transparency in government
>procurement, which she said is important to services because
>governments are significant purchasers of services. In addition, the
>U.S. wants to extend the voluntary commitment made by WTO members in
>May 1998 not to place any duties on electronic transmissions made over
>the Internet.
>
>Finally, she said that work in regional trade arrangements such as the
>Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Transatlantic Economic
>Partnership (TEP) between the U.S. and European Union will help the
>U.S. prepare for the WTO talks. The FTAA is expected to complete a draft
>chapter of services commitments in the hemisphere by September, while
>under the TEP, the U.S. and EU are working on ways to recognize the
>qualifications to which each holds professional services workers.
>
>In other areas, Barshefsky signalled that the U.S. could be open to
>including investment in the next round of negotiations, but said that
>it would be "out of the question" to simply take up in the WTO the
>Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) talks that failed in the
>Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. Instead,
>Barshefsky said it is an open question whether a "more modest" package
>could be included in the WTO talks.
>
>She said the key factor in deciding this question is whether a proposal
>can be put forward that would win enough support from both developed
>and developing countries. It would do the sector "no good" if members
>put forward a sweeping investment package that fails again, she said.
>
>Barshefsky noted that the MAI talks in the OECD are "effectively dead,"
>and that there is unlikely to be any further discussion of investment
>in the OECD in the foreseeable future.
>
>In a related development, officials from the U.S., EU, Japan and Canada
>were expected to meet yesterday (June 3) to continue work on reach a
>common position on the upcoming services talks, sources said. Sources
>said last year that Quad members have previously discussed the idea of
>agreeing to a structure for the talks that would move away from the
>request-offer approach (Inside U.S. Trade, June 19, p. 6).
>
>Inside US Trade - Volume 17, No. 22 - Inside Washington Publishers
>
>For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
>links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
>
From bayan at iname.com Sat Sep 4 13:46:55 1999
From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN)
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 12:46:55 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1281] Fwd: Military Role in Globalisation
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990904124655.0069e860@pop.skyinet.net>
FYI:
>>From: MichaelP
>>Subject: The Military's Role in Globalisation
>>
>>THE HAGUE, May 14 (IPS) - Wealthy countries negotiating international
>>trade and investment agreements are pushing for exemption clauses where
>>national security interests are concerned - but this is not for reasons of
>>security alone, independent analysts say.
>>
>>''It allows the maintenance of corporate subsidies through virtually
>>unlimited military spending,'' said Steven Staples, executive member of
>>the Canadian organisation, End the Arms Race.
>>
>>''Globalisation has created a new relationship between governments on the
>>one hand, and the corporations with their allies in the military on the
>>other,'' said Staples at a meeting on 'Demilitarising the Global Economy'
>>at the Hague Appeal for Peace.
>>
>>More than 4,000 delegates from around the world gathered this week at the
>>Hague marking the 100th anniversary of the 1899 Hague Conference, an
>>attempt by world leaders to push for world peace.
>>
>>The aerospace and defence industry, which includes some of the largest
>>transnational corporations in the world - such as Boeing, British
>>Aerospace and Aerospatiale - is heavily subsidised by western governments.
>>These subsidies are vital for the corporations to remain competitive on
>>the global market place, according to Staples.
>>
>>''Government research and military spending through grants, subsidies and
>>purchases of military aircraft provide a boost for the corporations and
>>enhance their competitive edge internationally,'' he explained.
>>
>>At the same time, the military, which relies on the aerospace and defence
>>industry for the advanced technology needed to gain technological
>>superiority in warfare, is feeling the effects of the worldwide decline in
>>defence spending.
>>
>>Ann Markusen, a specialist on military and defence expenditure at the
>>Rutgers University in the United States said that world military spending
>>has declined in the last decade.
>>However, although the overall global military spending has been declining,
>>spending continues to increase in some countries, particularly in the
>>Middle-East and South East Asia.
>>
>>Staples says there is a contradiction at play here: while Western
>>aerospace and defence corporation's rely on developing countries'
>>adherence to the free market in order to sell their ware, these
>>corporations continue to depend on protectionist policies and government
>>subsidies at home.
>>
>>''How do wealthy countries where aerospace and defence products are
>>produced maintain their ability to subsidise their corporations and at the
>>same time prevent developing governments from practising the same
>>protectionist policies?'' asked Staples.
>>
>>His answer: by negotiating insisting on exempting military spending from
>>the liberalising demands of free trade and investment agreements with
>>other countries.
>>
>>In fact, only rich nations can afford to devote billions of dollars on
>>military spending, and ''they will always be able to give their
>>corporations hidden subsidies through defence contracts,'' Staples said.
>>
>>Fredrik Heffermehl of the International Peace Bureau remarked that at the
>>March celebration of the Nato's 50th anniversary, the only 40
>>non-governmental outsiders invited at the meeting were arms manufacturers.
>>''This tells a lot about what this is all about,'' said Heffermehl.
>>
>>According to an April report by the World Policy Institute in New York, a
>>number of US arms makers put up up to 250,000 dollars each to serve on the
>>host committee for the NATO anniversary.
>>
>>The organisation also says the US government has stockpiled over 1.5
>>billion dollars inn grants and subsidised loans that US firms can use to
>>finance arms sales to new and prospective NATO states.
>>
>>In another World Policy Institute report, Institute president William D.
>>Hartung warns that President Clinton's plan to increase Pentagon spending
>>by 112 billion dollar over the next six years is inconsistent with
>>geopolitics.
>>
>>''There is no threat to US interests that can possibly justify the largest
>>increase in the Pentagon budget since the Reagan era,'' says Hartung.
>>
>>''Current US arms spending of 276 billion dollars per year is already more
>>than twice as much as the combined military budgets of every conceivable
>>US adversary, including Russia, China, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria,
>>and Cuba,'' notes Hartung, adding that the US and its closest allies -
>>Nato members, South Korea, and Japan - now account for nearly two-thirds
>>of world military expenditure. (END/IPS/ns/ds/ak/99)
>>
>>
>>
>>*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
>>is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
>>in receiving the included information for research and educational
>>purposes. ***
>>
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Sep 8 07:22:25 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 15:22:25 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1282] APEC - NZ Media
Message-ID: <002101bef97f$78dc0300$ecc8a7cb@notoapec>
The Dominion, Wellington, NZ Tuesday September 7 1999
United against APEC summit
Helen Bain profiles the diverse bunch of groups and individuals who are protesting at the APEC leader's summit in Auckland
Farmers against APEC, students against APEC, dance ravers against APEC, artists against APEC, women against APEC, academics against APEC, immigrants against APEC, Catholic sisters against APEC... you name them, they're probably on the long list of the "antis" protesting at the APEC leaders' summit in Auckland.
It seems protesters enthusiastically took Prime Minister Jenny Shipley at her word when she assured them they will have the freedom to have their say against APEC. The Who's Who of APEC antis is a diverse bunch:
APEC Monitoring Group - The group comprises individuals and groups opposed to free trade, such as Corso, Gatt Watchdog, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, unions and academics. Its highest profile member is Aziz Choudry, the activist whose home was broken into by the SIS.
The group organised the broom and bucket-banging protest at the APEC women leaders meeting in June. It plans a public meeting in Auckland on September 10 and a rally against APEC on September 12.
"APEC is part of the neo-liberal agenda that causes poverty, unemployment and undermines the social structure," says group organiser Leigh Cookson, who works for Corso.
'We see APEC as being very dangerous for communities."
Radical Society - A student protest group based at Auckland University with affiliations to other tertiary institutions. It plans an anti-APEC hui in Auckland from September 14-15, bringing together students from around the country, and will take part in protests at the leaders' summit.
"APEC has been promoted as being in our interest, but it's just another tool for big corporations, at the expense of our communities," says spokeswoman Helen Te Hira, a liaison officer for the students' association.
Auckland Coalition Against APEC - A coalition of students, individuals, churches and unions which has protested throughout the leadup to the summit. Its spokeswoman is veteran protester Sue Bradford.
The coalition plans a big demonstration on September 13. Protesters are frightened by the fact that foreign bodyguards will be carrying guns, but "it's not our intention to invite confrontation", Ms Bradford says.
Auckland Methodist Mission - Conveniently located opposite Auckland Town Hall, and therefore strategically placed for protest action, the mission will hold a vigil - fuelled by soup and toast - while APEC leaders enjoy their slap-up dinner.
The mission will also hold a seminar on November 12, looking at the impact of APEC.
Missioner Charlie Fenwick says the mission last year provided 23,000 meals to the homeless and hungry, and this year it provided 29,000.
"We believe that the policies that APEC espouses have something to do with the increasing poverty behind that," he says.
Other churches, particularly the Auckland Catholic Brothers and Sisters, also plan protests.
The Resisdance - The Comedy Club will host political satire and dance performances with an anti-APEC theme, followed by a dance party on September 12.
Organiser Pip Gibson says many people in the dance scene were sick of the traditional placards-in-the-street style of protest and wanted to do something that was more fun.
"We are unashamedly political - this does have a serious message - but we also love dance music."
Writers and Artists Opposed to APEC - This group's protests are focused largely on its Internet site, which features an open letter to Mrs Shipley.
Organiser, writer and leftish publisher Bernard Gadd says the group aims to inspire and support people to take action against APEC.
Andrew Barker - This Blenheim farmer hit the headlines earlier this year when he said police had threatened to lock him up for the duration of APEC.
Mr Barker had suggested the farmers' tractors could make matchsticks out of police roadblocks - but he has since ensured his continued liberty by promising to keep within the law.
He says there is a huge groundswell against APEC and a number of farmers will join his tractor protest at the leaders' summit. The presence of United States President Bill Clinton and the imposition of its tariffs on New Zealand lamb exports will provide added focus to the protest.
Mr Barker also plans an alternative APEC meting in Blenheim - Bpec. The protesting farmers do not have the backing of Federated Farmers' national office, but some branches have voiced support.
Trade Aid - This chain of 35 non-profit stores has distributed pamphlets and tombstone posters ("APEC RIP") nationwide, has lobbied the Government and staged protests in the lead-up to APEC.
Spokesman Steve Attwood says he has been involved in a "physical fracas" with some Christchurch businessmen who objected to being handed a pamphlet.
Trade Aid's contact with indigenous subsistence groups in the Third World countries has made it clear that many are severely disadvantaged by the free market, he says.
"In New Zealand in particular, we are promoting an extreme free market philosophy under which big business and the dollar are the only criteria."
Immigrant communities - Immigrant groups as diverse as Tibetans, Tamils and Albanians are believed to be planning protests, but are keeping them under wraps. Other protesters believe that police and SIS visits to immigrant groups earlier this year have contributed to their silence.
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Sep 8 07:23:13 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 15:23:13 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1283] NZ Farmers and Free Trade
Message-ID: <002901bef97f$93f7b580$ecc8a7cb@notoapec>
Canterbury Business Monthly August 1999
Fair deal for farmers
Pastoral farming still "economic backbone"
By Tony Orman
Andrew Barker, a Marlborough farmer has suddenly stepped from his farm gate into the political world as an outspoken advocate for farmers.
This Dashwood farmer with both quick sense of humour and smile, caused a furore when he advocated a farmers tractor cavalcade to the forthcoming APEC gathering in Auckland in September as a protest against unfair practices in free trade, notably the United States lamb tariff issue. National Federated Farmers president Malcolm Bailey has publicly rapped Andrew Barker's knuckles for wanting to gatecrash the Government's APEC Party.
Following a spell in hospital after weathering the disastrous 1992 winter snows on Mason Hills, Mr Barker began to wonder where New Zealand and farmers were heading after several years of "reforms and a total free trade" philosophy.
"I read a lot and I got to thinking. My gosh that makes me sound like Richard Prebble," he grins.
Mr Barker says he realised farmers could not be insular and isolated on their farms. The policies of government can impact deeply on farming incomes.
"It seems governments of the last 15 years have decided pastoral farming is a thing of the past. Yet farming is still 60 percent of exports and the backbone of the country."
Mr Barker came to the conclusion that the policies of the 80s Labour Government and continued by the 90s National Government were seriously flawed.
"It really upsets me the way New Zealand society and farming have gone downhill," he says. "So I guess it's time to stand up and be counted."
After all Australian farmers are far more assertive than their New Zealand counterparts and the French farmers are quite militant.
He decided that something should be done beyond the farm gate.
After his 10 week bout of heavy thinking, Mr Barker concluded that free trade ideology is a myth. The reality is fair trade. Yet he does not feel anger at the Americans for their lamb market stance.
"Charity begins at home. I don't blame the US for looking after its farmers. That's what New Zealand governments should do within the bounds of common sense and fair trade."
He realises the days of SMPs and other generous subsidies of past governments are gone.
"We're not wanting handouts but there's a lot, lot more both in understanding and assistance the government could have done during the recent droughts," he says.
So it's to arms, or rather tractors, for a protest at the September APEC conference. Fill up with diesel, grab a thermos and a cut lunch, take a warm swandri and hit the road.
"Let's get real. If the rest of the world don't support free trade why should we?" he asks.
Mr Barker is undeterred in plans to protest at September's APEC conference despite a rebuff at the recent Federated Farmers conference.
Last month Andrew Barker, on behalf of Marlborough Federated Farmers put a remit to the annual conference calling for a "peaceful protest" at APEC about US hypocrisy in placing tariffs on New Zealand.
"New Zealand would be stupid not to support the ideal of free trade but in practical terms of politics and governments, it is not workable," he says New Zealand is not getting reciprocal free trade, therefore fair trade instead of total free trade, was more realistic.
Mr Barker still intends to pursue the protest action, particularly because of strong expressions of support, among them offers to pay for fuel. However on reflection he considers there may be other targets besides the APEC conference such as the New Zealand Government, and the Meat Board and the US.
From ua at ahrchk.org Tue Sep 7 19:15:24 1999
From: ua at ahrchk.org (AHRC Urgent Appeals)
Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 18:15:24 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1284] AHRC Petition to the United Nations Secretary-General and the Security Council
Message-ID:
ASEAN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTRE [ALRC] has ECOSOC consultation status
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION [AHRC]
URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME UA Index:070999
******************************************************************
Independence for East Timor 7 September 1999
EAST TIMOR: AN URGENT CALL TO SECRETARY GENERAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE
UNITED NATIONS
******************************************************************
To: ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE URGENT APPEAL NETWORK
Due to the gravely serious situation in East Timor we call upon each of you
to send a message to the United National Secretary General and the Security
Council. You are suggested to use a similar format as the one suggested below.
Kindly share this message with as many people as possible. DO NOT FAIL THE
EAST TIMORESE PEOPLE AT THE HOUR OF THEIR GRAVEST DANGER!!!
RECOMMENDED ACTION: PLEASE SEND IMMEDIATE BY EMAIL AND FAXES MESSAGES TO
THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL AND THE SECURITY COUNCIL
========================= SUGGESTED LETTER ==============================
Honourable Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax to: 1-212-963-2155
Email: ,
Dear Mr. Kofi Annan,
re: AN URGENT CALL TO SECRETARY GENERAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
The Asian Human Rights Commission call upon the Secretary General of the
United Nations and the Security Council to ACT NOW, without delay to save
the lives of the people of East Timor. TO ACT NOW means sending peace
keeping troops. Nothing else or nothing less would suffice. That a carnage
is taking place has been accepted by all. That sections of Indonesian
military are conniving withthe militia elements is clear without dispute.
Thus delay means loss of more lives. To make international intervention
conditional upon Indonesian willingness make no sense. The failure to act
now is unforgivable.
Be assured of our utmost support for immediate action.
========================================================================
SEND APPEALS TO:
1. Honourable Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax to: 1-212-963-2155
Email: ,
2. H.E. Peter van Walsum
Chairperson Security Council United Nations
C\O Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
to the United Nations
235 East, 45th Street, 16th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel. (212) 697 5547
Fax. (212) 370 1954
E-mail: netherlands@un.int
Email:
CC
1. President B.J. Habibie, Office of the President
Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Indonesia
Fax: 62 21 360 517, 62 21 345 4438
Email: President B.J. Habibie
2. Mr. Severino, ASEAN Secretary-General
The Asean Secretariat, 70A Jl. Sissingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110, Indonesia
Fax: 62-21 - 7398234, 7243504
Email: Mr.Severino Secretary-General,
Please remember to send a copy of your letter to: ua@pacific.net.hk
***********************************************************************
Sinapan Samydorai,
Programme Coorindator
Urgent Appeal Programme Tel: (852)-2698-6339
Asian Human Rights Commission Fax:+(852)-2698-6367
Unit D, 7 Floor, 16 Argyle Str. Email: ua@pacific.net.hk
Mongkok Commercial Centre
http://www.hk.super.net/~ahrchk
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR CHINA
***********************************************************************
Visit the Asian Human Rights Commission's Campaign For Recognition of
State-sponsored Disappearances as a Crime Against Humanity
website: http://www.disappearances.org
From viktor at skyinet.net Wed Sep 8 15:22:49 1999
From: viktor at skyinet.net (Victor C. Sapar)
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 14:22:49 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1285] END THE TERROR IN EAST TIMOR NOW!
Message-ID: <37D600B9.C5595676@skyinet.net>
IID: http://www.skyinet.net/~iiddvo
East Timor: http://www.skyinet.net/~apcet
BIMP-EAGA: http://www.skyinet.net/~iiddvo/mppn
--------------------------------------------------
Dear friends;
Send this postcard to Indonesian President B.J. Habibie
(habibie@ristek.go.id), UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (sg@un.org), UN
Security Council President Peter van Walsum (netherlands@un.int), heads
of states of donor countries like the US, Japan, UK, etc. heads of
states in ASEAN, etc...
Ask your friends to do the same in the next 24 hours.
In solidarity,
Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET)
[Image]
From amittal at foodfirst.org Fri Sep 10 06:51:38 1999
From: amittal at foodfirst.org (Anuradha Mittal)
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 14:51:38 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1286] New Report Lauds Small Farms
Message-ID:
Small Farms More Productive than Large Farms
but Threatened by Trade Agreements
The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First
and the Transnational Institute Release a New Report:
The Multiple Functions and Benefits
of Small Farm Agriculture
In the Context of Global Trade Negotiations
By Peter Rosset
full text of the report available at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policybs/pb4.html
September 14, 1999
Maastricht, Netherlands -- Small farms are more productive than large
farms, yet their continued existence is threatened by international trade
agreements, according to a major study released today at a United Nations
conference here in Maastricht.*
The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as "Food First,"
based in California, USA, and the Transnational Institute, based in The
Netherlands, published the study authored by agricultural development
specialist Dr. Peter Rosset. Challenging the conventional wisdom that small
farms are backward and unproductive, the study shows that small farmers
worldwide produce from 2 to 10 times more per unit area than do larger,
corporate farmers.
"In fact small farms are 'multi-functional' -- more productive, more
efficient, and contribute more to economic development than do large
farms," said Dr. Rosset, Executive Director of the Institute for Food and
Development Policy and the author of the report. Dr. Rosset is an official
delegate to the Maastricht conference, representing the Global Forum on
Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security, based in Brazil.
Communities surrounded by populous small farms have healthier economies
than do communities surrounded by depopulated large, mechanized farms,
according the study. Small farmers also take better care of natural
resources, including reducing soil erosion and conserving biodiversity.
Small farmers are better stewards of natural resources, safeguarding the
future sustainability of agricultural production.
"Despite more than a century of anti-small farmer policies in country after
country, in both industrialized and third world countries," said Dr.
Rosset, "small farmers not only still cling to the soil but continue to be
more productive and more efficient than large, agri-business farming
operations. Small farmers offer the best way to feed the world, and the
only way to effectively conserve soil resources for future generations."
Unfortunately the study shows that today the world's small farmers face
unprecedented threats to their livelihoods, thanks to free trade agreements
negotiated in recent years. "Free trade causes the prices farmers receive
to drop through the floor", said Rosset," driving them into bankruptcy by
the millions." Such low prices mean only the largest can survive,
according to the study.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), to be
negotiated in Seattle, USA, in November, 1999, is the weapon that could
deal the final death blow to the world's small farmers, according to
Rosset. "The U.S. Government negotiators," said Rosset, himself an
American, "have as their goal for Seattle the complete liberalization of
trade in farm products."
Rosset, and the institutes that published his report, are issuing a call to
recognize the true, multiple value of small farms, and to defeat the
American government plans for the AOA. "Small farmers are a key resource
for our very survival into the future," said Mr. Erik Heijmans, of the
Transnational Institute, which co- published the study. "We must oppose
trade agreements which place them in jeopardy."
* "Cultivating Our Futures," the FAO/Netherlands Conference on the
Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land, 12-17 September 1999,
Maastricht, The Netherlands. Information at: http://www.fao.org/mfcal
# # #
Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy
398 60th Street
Oakland, California 94618 USA
tel: 510/654-4400 fax: 510/654-4551
foodfirst@foodfirst.org
Transnational Institute
Paulus Potterstraat 20
1071 DA, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-20-6626608
Fax: 31-20-6757176
tni@tni.org
Global Forum on Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security
SGAN 905 Conjunto "B", Parte "A" 70.790-050
Brasilia, DF Brazil
Tel: +55 61 347 4914
Fax: +55 61 347 9002
agora@tba.com.br
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 tpl at cheerful.com Fri Sep 10 06:19:38 1999
From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 05:19:38 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1287] ANTI-WTO Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally -- Seattle 1999
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990910051938.006a8ad4@pop.skyinet.net>
Initial Announcement and Invitation
Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally
Say NO to WTO!
November 28 - 30, 1999
Seattle, Washington
Sentenaryo ng Bayan, a Filipino organization, invites you to SAY NO TO
WTO!, a Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally to be held at the Filipino
Community Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle, Washington on
November 28-30 in time for the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade
Organization (WTO). They are part of the various activities to be
undertaken in November and December by the Seattle-based coalition, Network
Opposed to WTO.
The 3rd WTO Ministerial Meeting will be held in Seattle on November 27 to
December 3. It will most probably start the Millennium Round of GATT
negotiations. Review of the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) will be a major
agenda. And it is expected that MAI advocates will try to sneak in
investments liberalization.
The pre-1994 GATT did not include agriculture. After the Uruguay Round of
GATT negotiations, which also gave rise to WTO, fulfillment of commitments
to the AOA was pushed through regional formations like NAFTA, APEC
(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and others. AOA has proven disastrous
to the agriculture and fisheries sectors. As a result, peasants, women,
fisherfolk and other anti-WTO and anti-globalization advocates worldwide
have started a campaign to take agriculture out of WTO.
Say No to WTO! -- the Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally continues the
strong resistance to WTO and imperialist globalization initiated in 1996 by
the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) and the
People's Caravan Against APEC. The torch was passed on to the NO to APEC
Coalition which convened the conference, PCAIG - Continuing the
Resistance, in Vancouver, Canada as a counterpoint to the 1997 APEC Leaders
Summit. To be mentioned likewise are the Anti-Imperialist World Peasant
Summit (AIWPS) held in Manila in 1996, and the Asia Pacific Peoples'
Assembly (APPA), with the theme Confronting Globalization, Reasserting
Peoples' Rights, and the 3rd International Women's Conference Against APEC
both held in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Representatives of people's organizations, citizen's movements and NGOs
from different parts of the world will join hands in the Peoples' Assembly
and March-Rally to reiterate their opposition to the AOA, WTO and
imperialist globalization.
OBJECTIVES:
To make people aware of the disastrous effects of the WTO and AOA on the
people, especially of the Third World.
To push further the demand to take agriculture out of the GATT-WTO.
To continue exposing liberalization, deregulation and privatization as
imperialist globalization's main instruments to eviscerate the economies
especially of the developing countries.
To strengthen peoples' resistance against AOA, WTO and imperialist
globalization.
To expand linkages, forge stronger unities and establish cooperation in
international campaigns with other anti-AOA/WTO, anti-globalization and
anti-imperialist organizations, groups and individuals worldwide.
PROGRAMME (NOTE: Subject to revision based on reply of invited speakers.)
NOVEMBER 28
09:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Arrival and registration of delegates
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
01:00 p.m. Opening of the Peoples' Assembly
Cultural Number
Welcome Address from Sentenaryo ng Bayan
Introduction of Delegations
02:00 p.m. Statement of Solidarity from:
? Network Opposed to WTO, Seattle
? NO to APEC Coalition, Vancouver
? BAYAN and People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization
02:15 Keynote Address:
Say NO to WTO and Imperialist Globalization!
by Rafael Mariano
Chairperson, BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance)
Chairperson, KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
02:45 Plenary Speakers (20-30 minute presentation and
15 minutes of open forum for each speaker):
There's No Such Thing as Free Trade Nor Fair Trade
Under Imperialist Globalization
by Dr. Pao Yu Ching, Taiwan and U.S.A.
03:30 Don't Let MAI In:
Oppose Inclusion of Investments Liberalization in WTO
by Maude Barlow, Canada
Council of Canadians and
International Forum on Globalization (IFG)
04:15 Coffee/Tea Break
04:45 American Trade Unionists Spurn WTO
by Philip Konits, Seattle
05:30 Message of Solidarity
From Prof. Jose Maria Sison (videotape)
International Network for Philippine Studies
Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
From Mumia Abu Jamal
Political Prisoner, U.S.A.
07:00 Dinner
08:00 With Globalization Comes US Aggression
? The Case of Yugoslavia
by Ramsey Clark, U.S.A.
International Action Center, New York
? The Case of Cuba
by Fernando Remirez de Estenoz
or Sergio Martinez
09:30 End of Day 1 Sessions
NOVEMBER 29
09:00 a.m. Update on other NO to WTO activities
by Sally Soriano, Over-all Coordinator
NO to WTO Coalition
09:15 Take Agriculture Out of the WTO!
Panel of Speakers (20-minute presentation each):
? Rafael Alegria, Honduras
International Operational Secretariat
La Via Campesina
? Mika Iba, Japan
Network for Safe and Secure Food and Environment
10:15 Open Forum and Sharing
10:45 Coffee/Tea Break
11:15 Panel of Speakers - Continued
? Speaker from Mexico
? Speaker from Africa
12:00 Open Forum and Sharing
12:30 noon Lunch Break
01:30 p.m. Women Say NO to WTO!
Panel of Speakers (20- minute presentation each):
? Liza Largoza-Maza, Philippines
GABRIELA
? Sarojeni Rengam, Malaysia
Pesticide Action Network - Asia Pacific (PAN-AP)
? Fatima Burnad, India
Society for Rural Education and Development, Madras
Task Force Rural & Indigenous Women, APWLD
? Hemasari, Indonesia
Workers Education Center
03:00 Open Forum and Sharing
04:00 Coffee/Tea Break
04:30 Presentation and Adoption of Conference Statement
to be presided by Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
BAYAN Vice-Chairperson
Representative, People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization
06:00 Closing Ceremony
? Closing Remarks
? Cultural Number
06:30 Dinner
07:30 SOLIDARITY NIGHT
Songs, dances, poetry reading and more!
NOVEMBER 30
08:30 - 11:00 a.m. Tour of Seattle; leafleting in downtown Seattle;
join other NO to WTO activities (picket,
street theatre, etc.); drop by Convention Center
where the WTO meets
Possible Filipino Migrants' Caucus to be convened
by Migrante Intl.
Possible Bilateral Consultation with Japanese
Farmer Organizations
11:00 - 11:30 Trip back to Peoples' Assembly venue
11:30 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 p.m. Start of March to downtown Seattle (approximately
4.5 miles) to join other marchers and where
big Rally will be held
Evening Possible Food Tasting and Cultural Evening
with the Japanese Delegation
Please write to the Peoples' Assembly Committee for the registration form
and if you require a personal invitation for visa purposes:
Secretariat, Peoples' Assembly Committee
Attn: ACE SATURAY, Sentenaryo ng Bayan
e-mail: passembly@yahoo.com
NOTE: We regret that because of financial constraints, the organizers
of the Peoples' Assembly will not be able to subsidize
expenses of delegates.
From tpl at cheerful.com Fri Sep 10 07:41:28 1999
From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 06:41:28 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1288] Fwd: Foreign Debt Fuels Forest Fires In Indonesia
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990910064128.006a8ad4@pop.skyinet.net>
FYI
>Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 11:04:39 -0400
>Sender: stop-imf@essential.org
>From: Robert Weissman
>
>Down To Earth/International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia [UK]
>August 2, 1999
>FOREIGN DEBT FUELS FOREST FIRES IN INDONESIA
>Forest fires are spreading in Sumatra and Kalimantan as the dry season
>begins. There are fears of a repeat of the disastrous 1997/8 fires
>estimated to have damaged 10 million hectares of land, much of it tropical
>rainforest. Despite increased concern from Indonesian environmentalists and
>international forestry researchers, there is even less chance of Indonesia
>taking effective action to prevent the fires because of political and
>economic instability in the country. In addition, international financial
>institutions are pressurising Indonesia to increase exports, including
>timber, paper pulp and palm oil. These are the very industries which fuel
>Indonesia's forest fires.
>International donors, led by the World Bank, pledged a US$ 5.9 billion
>loan last week to help the Indonesian government balance its budget this
>year. This is in addition to the 1997 US$43 billion IMF bailout. Leading
>Indonesian NGOs are opposed to any increase in Indonesia's foreign debt,
>which now stands at above US$ 150 bn. Indonesia was hardest hit by the
>Asian economic crash which caused the value of its currency to plummet, the
>collapse of its banking system and widespread bankruptcies. It has also
>been slowest to recover with the result that many of its 210 million
>population have sunk into deeper poverty. The IMF and World Bank see
>plantation crops and natural resources exports as a means of economic
>recovery. It is Indonesia's forest communities that will bear the long-term
>costs of these policies.
>Companies and farmers in Indonesia that use fire as a cheap way of clearing
>land for agriculture and commercial plantations of palm oil, rubber and
>timber are not afraid to flout the law in the current political vacuum.
>Over 80% of the forest fires in 1997/8 were caused by private companies
>belonging to powerful conglomerates with close connections to Suharto and
>his family. No government action was taken against 176 companies named by
>the Forestry Minister as setting fires. The reformist, but weak, government
>of President Habibie is in the process of being replaced. Yet seven weeks
>after the first democratic elections in over thirty years, the final
>results have not been announced.
>Conservative estimates by international experts put the damage of the
>forest fires plus the 'haze' for 1997 alone at over US$4.4 billion. This is
>equivalent to about 2.5% of Indonesia's GDP at the time. The principal
>damages include US$493 million in timber losses; $470 million in lost
>agricultural production; $1.8 billion in ecological services (such as foods
>and medicine, water supply, erosion control); and $272 billion for the
>contribution to global warming from carbon release. This figure does not
>include loss of life, damage to health, malnutrition due to crop
>destruction or biodiversity depletion. Once again it is local communities
>who bear the brunt of these hidden costs.
>Indonesian forestry policy has actively promoted the destruction of the
>country's rainforests over the past three decades. Indonesia has the third
>largest area of tropical rainforest left in the world, but it is
>disappearing fast. Figures from a UK-funded aid programme show
>deforestation rates are in the order of 1.5 million hectares per year and
>less than 100 million hectares of forest remain. Over 60% of Indonesian
>timber is the result of illegal logging. Timber and wood products are
>Indonesia's third biggest export earner after oil & gas and textiles.
>The approach to dealing with Indonesia's economic collapse has, until now,
>focussed on the need to avoid defaulting on its massive debts and stay in
>the international financial system. Creditors - both public institutions
>like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as private
>banks - are not paying the price for their ill-advised bank-rolling of the
>Suharto business empire. Independent economics experts in Indonesia have
>expressed concern that the debt service ratio is approaching 60%.
>Furthermore, due to corruption and lack of monitoring, these huge loans are
>not achieving their aims and merely increasing Indonesia's indebtedness.
>Last year a World Bank internal report estimated that one-third of its
>project loans disappeared. Now the Urban Poor Consortium claims that as
>much as 70% of Social Safety Net funding intended for the poorest of the
>poor has been channelled off by local officials. At least US$1.5 billion
>have flowed through the Reforestation Fund in the last decade. Instead of
>replanting forest trees, this money was used to subsidise the clearance of
>natural forests for plantations, the failed million hectare swamp rice
>project and a paper pulp plant in addition to non-forestry purposes such as
>the state aircraft company, the national car project and supporting the
>currency.
>The forest fires are a symptom of the crisis in Indonesian politics,
>economics and forestry policy - policies which are influenced by
>international donors through bilateral aid programmes and contributions to
>the IMF and World Bank. Quite apart from issues of biodiversity loss and
>global climate change, Indonesia's forests are important as they are home
>to millions of Indonesia's indigenous peoples. They also protect the
>livelihoods of many tens of millions more in farming and urban communities
>through preventing soil erosion and regulating water supplies for
>agriculture.
>There are several important immediate steps that the Indonesian government
>could take:
>* Enforce existing laws that regulate the use of fire for land clearing.
>* Identify and prosecute the companies responsible for illegal burning, by
>making prompt use of fire monitoring data provided through regional and
>international programmes.
>* Stop pushing the new Forestry Act through the interim parliament
>In the longer term, the following measures would prevent massive forest
>fires in Indonesia in future:
>* Changing land and forestry laws to recognise the rights of forest
>communities to ownership and access of forest resources.
>* Abolishing regulations which encourage companies and people to clear
>forests as a means of claiming ownership.
>* Reducing targets for conversion of forest lands to plantations.
>Action that international agencies, foreign companies and governments in
>Europe and North America could take:
>* Stop promoting exports of palm oil, timber and wood products and paper
>pulp as the key to solving Indonesia's economic crisis.
>* Prioritise the demands of forest dwellers and local communities for
>socially and environmentally sustainable development in all aid and loan
>programmes.
>* Press the Indonesian government for full compliance with conditions
>covering consultation with civil society groups on forestry policy reforms
>and the use of the Reforestation Fund for its intended purpose on existing
>loans before negotiations on any future loans are considered.
>* Ensure that the IMF and World Bank apply their own policies on land
>rights, environmental protection and resettlement in all their lending to
>Indonesia, including structural adjustment loans.
>* Suspend any further investment in oil palm and paper pulp plantations
>which destroy forests and violate indigenous peoples' rights.
>LC 31/7/99
From aawl at ozramp.net.au Fri Sep 10 00:32:51 1999
From: aawl at ozramp.net.au (AAWL)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 01:32:51 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1289] Support Indonesian workers; Defend the East Timorese people
Message-ID: <003c01befad8$d92c6d80$4efd2acb@power>
Defend the East Timorese people.
Support Indonesian workers.
In May 1998 Indonesian workers and students brought down Suharto.
Today the Indonesian military want to control everything they consider
Indonesia, including East Timor.
Today the East Timorese people are being murdered for expressing their
desire for national self-determination.
The Indonesian independent trade unions FNPBI and SBSI recognise the East
Timorese people's right to national self-determination. Today FNPBI
officials are in jail for their union activities and the East Timorese
unionists are under military attack.
Stop the Indonesian military.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Victorian Trades Hall Council
have endorsed industrial action against Indonesian oil shipments, airline
flights, container transport, communications and finances.
Support union bans on business with Indonesia.
Support industrial action against the Indonesian military.
Demonstrate
5pm Wednesday 15 September 1999
Indonesian Consulate
72 Queens Road
Melbourne
Australia
***
From: SBSI
To: AAWL
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 1999 4:09 PM
Subject: Industrial action to stop Indonesian army
To Whom It May Concern,
The Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) supports the actions of the
Australian trade unions to pressure the Indonesian government to stop the
violence in East Timor and recogonise its right to self-determination.
Though we are opposed to sweeping economic sanctions, we believe these
workers actions are sharp political protests that can help force the
Indonesian government to comply with the May agreement. We are concerned
about governmental economic sanctions because they can hurt workers and
because the Indonesian military may use them to gain an upper hand in the
domestic political struggle.
Nevertheless, we very much support the pickets and industrial action from
the Australian trade unions.
Regards,
Paul Keys
International Department
SBSI
***
Australia Asia Worker Links
PO Box 264 Fitzroy Victoria 3065 Australia
Tel: 03 9419 5045 Fax: 03 9416 2746
E-mail: aawl@ozramp.net.au
From koshida at jca.apc.org Fri Sep 10 15:03:29 1999
From: koshida at jca.apc.org (KOSHIDA Kiyokazu)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 15:03:29 +0900
Subject: [asia-apec 1290] JOint Statement
Message-ID: <37D89F312EE.1FBFKOSHIDA@mail.jca.apc.org>
Joint Statement of Japanese Citizens and NGOs on the Current Situation
in East Timor
Indonesian President B.J. Habibie
Indonesian ForeignMinister Ali Alatas
Indonesian State Secretary Muladi
September the 9th
1999 We are deeply shocked, saddened and outraged at the situation in
East Timor in which violence and slaughter have been perpetrated against
the citizens by pro-government militias, and backed by elements of the
Indonesian military and police. Hundreds have already lost their lives,
thousands have been forced to flee their homes and the remaining East
Timorese residents are badly shaken up and living in fear and
uncertainty.
In the referendum of August 30, 78.5 percent of voters rejected Indonesia's
offer of autonomy, and East Timorese thus began preparations aiming at
independence. However, attacks against residents by anti-independence
Indonesia militiamen have escalated alarmingly. It is said that the
number of lives lost since the referendum has reached into the hundreds
and the number of evacuees has risen into the tens of thousands.
Furthermore, the pro-government militias have directed their violence
against the United Nations East Timor support group (UNAMET), and seem
to be stopping at nothing to prevent East Timorese independence.
The Indonesian government, which has an absolute responsibility to
maintain the public peace of East Timor, has failed utterly.
Despite the imposition of martial law it has become clear that the
Indonesian military and police are doing nothing to prevent the violence
and chaos and have made no difference whatsoever. Numerous witnesses
have reported that the Indonesian military and police are attacking
residents in cooperation with militiamen.
It is also known that Indonesian army special forces are supplying arms
and medicine to the anti-independence militiamen. Moreover, it has been
confirmed that the Indonesian military, the police, and the
anti-independence Indonesia militiamen were acting together in
both attacks against UNAMET staff and the emergency evacuation next to
UNAMET on the evening of September 5. We are almost speechless with
anger and strongly protest such outrageous acts. We can not permit the
present situation to continue. Japanese citizens and NGOs are greatly
troubled by the situation in the East Timor and we propose the following
to the Indonesian government: 1. Of the 98.6 percent of the 450,000
registered voters who actually went to polling stations to vote, nearly
80 percent voted for independence for East Timor. We demand that
President Habibie of Indonesia honor his promise to respect the wishes
of the people and observe the results of the referendum.
2. It is said that the Indonesian military establishment is backing the
anti-independence militiaman by supplying arms and giving military
training. Moreover, the army and the police are making no effort to
control the vicious acts of violence committed by anti-independence
militiaman against the people. Presently, East Timor is under martial law
and the United Nations' staff, NGO volunteers and foreign journalists
have pulled out.
The state of East Timor now is that of tyranny behind closed doors, as
the Indonesian military, the police and the anti-independence militias,
hidden from the eyes of the world, terrorize the population.
We strongly demand that the government of Indonesia take responsible
action in East Timor and open it to the world so that the international
community ican see what is going on. Investigations into the actions of
the Indonesian military, the police and the pro-government militias must
be conducted.
3. The Indonesian government is entrusted with the responsibility of
maintaining public peace in East Timor based on an agreement reached in
New York on May 5, 1999. However, the fact is that the Indonesian
military and the police are not only permitting the tyranny of
anti-independence militias, but in fact supporting them.
The situation appears to be worsening since the Indonesian government
declared Martial law on September 7 1999. We urge the Indonesian
government, in accordance with the wishes of the people of East Timor, to
request that the United Nations intervene immediately to restore and
ensure public peace.
Addressing organizations
Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
Network for Indonesian Democracy, Japan(NINDJA)
Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace
----------------------------
Koshida Kiyokazu (koshida@jca.apc.org, parc@jca.apc.org)
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
3F, Hinoki Bldg., 2-1 Kanda Ogawa-machi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo?Japan 101-0052
tel:81-3-3291-5901
fax:81-3-3292-2437
From johnp at dsp.org.au Fri Sep 10 14:11:45 1999
From: johnp at dsp.org.au (John Percy)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 15:11:45 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1291] Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed
Message-ID: <37D89306.E048F4F3@dsp.org.au>
Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed
From
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
dsp@dsp.org.au
September 10, 1999
Dear friends,
Attached below are two important statements from East Timor and
Indonesia:
1. A statement on the current situation in East Timor by the Socialist
Party of Timor (PST) issued September 9 by the PST Delegation in
Jakarta, signed by Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.
2. A statement on the firebombing attack on the Peoples Democratic Party
(PRD) Jakarta office issued September 10 by the PRD Central Leadership
Committee, signed by Faisol Riza, Chairperson, and Ida Nasim Mh,
Secretary.
Could you please circulate these as widely as you can.
We will continue to take the liberty of emailing you the most important
and urgent information and statements while the crisis situation in East
Timor and Indonesia continues. If you would like more extensive
information emailed to you, we invite you to subscribe to the Democratic
Socialist Party's email information list, DS_NET. Just send an email
message to dhell@ozemail.com.au asking to subscribe.
Word just to hand as this posting is being sent:
* 40,000 people attended a lunchtime rally, stopwork and march in
Melbourne today to protest the Indonesian military bloodbath in East
Timor.
* High school students walked out of school to attend rallies in all
capital cities.
Further information is available from the web site of ASIET:
http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet.
Also note that the email address and web site location of the Democratic
Socialist Party of Australia have changed. Could all our friends please
adjust their address lists, and change the links on their web pages.
All mail for the DSP should now be sent to: dsp@dsp.org.au.
Our web site is now located at: http://www.dsp.org.au/
The addresses and web sites of Green Left Weekly, Resistance, and Links
magazine have also changed.
Green Left Weekly:
glw@greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/
Resistance:
resistance@greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/resistance/
Links:
links@dsp.org.au.
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/
Comradely greetings,
John Percy
national secretary
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
______________
PST statement on current situation in East Timor
Socialist Party of Timor (PST)
PST Asia Pacific External Delegation, Jakarta, Indonesia
Statement, 9 September, 1999
Considering:
1. That the May 5 Tripartite agreement placing security in East Timor in
the hands of Indonesia has brought the East Timorese people to the edge
of extermination;
2. That the responsibility for security and order given to the
Indonesian government and security apparatus has not been carried
according to the expectations of the international community;
3. That the presence of the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and Police
(POLRI) in East Timor is worsening the situation with more civilians
losing their lives;
4. That the TNI and Police have misused their authority and have taken
sides with the militia to massacre and to carry out a scorched earth
policy;
5. That the Military Emergency that the Indonesian government has
declared is a purely cosmetic measure. This measure is aimed at
isolating the Timorese people in their own country with the aim of being
able to organise another referendum under the supervision of Asian
Pacific nations and not the UN.
6. That the refugees crossing the East Timorese border are not doing so
voluntarily, especially not the pro-independence East Timorese people,
but are being forced to do so by the TNI and POLRI and that the East
Timorese people are not being afforded protection from any quarter
STANCE
Based on these considerations the PST Delegation based in Jakarta states
on behalf of the PST Central Committee:
1. Rejects the presence of the Indonesian military in East Timor as they
are responsible for all the massacres and the total destruction of East
Timor and its people;
2. That the responsibility for security that was given to the Indonesian
government, in particular the TNI and POLRI, should be withdrawn as this
situation is providing the opportunity for these forces to wreak revenge
for the losses that they perceive they have suffered in East Timor;
3. Condemns the antidemocratic, and unsportive attitude of the
pro-autonomy forces that have been backed up by the TNI and POLRI;
4. Condemns all forms of killings and systematic destruction being
carried out by the TNI, Police and militia against the East Timorese
people;
5. Condemns all forms of violence and coercion used by the TNI and POLRI
against the East Timorese people to force them to leave their homeland;
6. Condemns the revenge being carried out by the TNI, Police and Militia
following their defeat I n the referendum;
DEMANDS:
The above stance leads us to make the following demands:
1. That the UN and international community take firm, speedy and
effective measures to force Indonesia, the TNI and POLRI to withdraw
from East Timor and disband the militias;
2. To carry out economic and diplomatic sanctions against Indonesia if
the violence and massacres continue;
3. To carry out the UN ultimatum to send an International Peacekeeping
Force because the 48 hours have passed without any improvement in the
situation, instead the killings are more rampant and there are more
refugees flooding across the border and the infrastructure of East Timor
is being subjected to total paralysis;
4. That the Portuguese government be held responsible for the danger and
destruction being inflicted on the East Timorese people because they
signed the May 5 agreement which is bringing about the destruction of
the East Timorese people;
5. That Portugal use all diplomatic means to convince the countries
grouped in NATO to force Indonesia, its TNI and POLRI to withdraw from
East Timor in order to protect the East Timorese nation which is
threatened by the violence and killings of TNI POLRI and militia in the
region.
6. That all the humanitarian NGOs under the auspices of the UN (such as
the UNHCR and others) render full assistance to the East Timorese
refugees so that all their basic needs, such as food and medicines and
medical teams be met, so that they can fully recover and finally return
to their homes.
Jakarta, 9 September 1999
PST Delegation in Jakarta
Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.
______________________________
CENTRAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KPP -
PRD)
Jl. Jend. Basuki Rahmat No. 7B Jakarta Timur, Tel/fax 8561542
E-mail:prd@centrin.net.id
Press Statement
PRD's HEAD OFFICE BOMBED WITH MOLOTOV COCKTAILS BY SOME UNIDENTIFIED
PEOPLE
After two days of being terrorized by rocks thrown, the head office of
the PRD was finally attacked with Molotov cocktails and burned.
According to an eyewitness from the block security guard named Begi,
this terror attack happened at 01.45 (twenty minutes after the last
guest from Moestopo University had gone home). The bombing was done by
some unidentified people driving a blue car with police number D 622 Z.
Still according to the eyewitness, this car was actually driven around
the PRD's head office for about 5 times. The damage caused by this
terror attack included: the front door and windows was burned, window
glass was broken, one banner of the PRD was burned, and also the
electricity installation of the office was damaged.
It can be seen clearly that the terror was done for political reasons.
>From the damages caused by the burning, and the process of the burning
itself, the terror was done by thugs paid by the New Order regime that
for these long efforts by all ways to stop all political activities of
PRD. We deemed that this terror is really related with the political
activities taken by PRD, especially, the PRD's activities in recent
days. First, our discussion and political statements on the East Timor
issue where the PRD supported the result of the ballot that was won by
the independence group. Second, our discussion, political statements,
and mass actions in rejecting the National Safety and Security Law.
However, the terror will never stop the political activities of the PRD,
which aims to fight for and maintain real democracy in Indonesia.
Actions of terror will even strengthen our belief that the New Order
Regime and its next generation should be resisted until its defeat.
For this terror we call for your solidarity support by making political
statements or taking action on this issue.
Jakarta 10 September, 1999 (02.12 AM)
Central Leadership Committee of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD)
Faisol Riza Chairperson
Ida Nasim Mh Secretary
______________________
From johnp at dsp.org.au Fri Sep 10 14:11:45 1999
From: johnp at dsp.org.au (John Percy)
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 15:11:45 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1292] Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed
Message-ID: <37D89306.E048F4F3@dsp.org.au>
Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed
From
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
dsp@dsp.org.au
September 10, 1999
Dear friends,
Attached below are two important statements from East Timor and
Indonesia:
1. A statement on the current situation in East Timor by the Socialist
Party of Timor (PST) issued September 9 by the PST Delegation in
Jakarta, signed by Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.
2. A statement on the firebombing attack on the Peoples Democratic Party
(PRD) Jakarta office issued September 10 by the PRD Central Leadership
Committee, signed by Faisol Riza, Chairperson, and Ida Nasim Mh,
Secretary.
Could you please circulate these as widely as you can.
We will continue to take the liberty of emailing you the most important
and urgent information and statements while the crisis situation in East
Timor and Indonesia continues. If you would like more extensive
information emailed to you, we invite you to subscribe to the Democratic
Socialist Party's email information list, DS_NET. Just send an email
message to dhell@ozemail.com.au asking to subscribe.
Word just to hand as this posting is being sent:
* 40,000 people attended a lunchtime rally, stopwork and march in
Melbourne today to protest the Indonesian military bloodbath in East
Timor.
* High school students walked out of school to attend rallies in all
capital cities.
Further information is available from the web site of ASIET:
http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet.
Also note that the email address and web site location of the Democratic
Socialist Party of Australia have changed. Could all our friends please
adjust their address lists, and change the links on their web pages.
All mail for the DSP should now be sent to: dsp@dsp.org.au.
Our web site is now located at: http://www.dsp.org.au/
The addresses and web sites of Green Left Weekly, Resistance, and Links
magazine have also changed.
Green Left Weekly:
glw@greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/
Resistance:
resistance@greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/resistance/
Links:
links@dsp.org.au.
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/
Comradely greetings,
John Percy
national secretary
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
______________
PST statement on current situation in East Timor
Socialist Party of Timor (PST)
PST Asia Pacific External Delegation, Jakarta, Indonesia
Statement, 9 September, 1999
Considering:
1. That the May 5 Tripartite agreement placing security in East Timor in
the hands of Indonesia has brought the East Timorese people to the edge
of extermination;
2. That the responsibility for security and order given to the
Indonesian government and security apparatus has not been carried
according to the expectations of the international community;
3. That the presence of the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and Police
(POLRI) in East Timor is worsening the situation with more civilians
losing their lives;
4. That the TNI and Police have misused their authority and have taken
sides with the militia to massacre and to carry out a scorched earth
policy;
5. That the Military Emergency that the Indonesian government has
declared is a purely cosmetic measure. This measure is aimed at
isolating the Timorese people in their own country with the aim of being
able to organise another referendum under the supervision of Asian
Pacific nations and not the UN.
6. That the refugees crossing the East Timorese border are not doing so
voluntarily, especially not the pro-independence East Timorese people,
but are being forced to do so by the TNI and POLRI and that the East
Timorese people are not being afforded protection from any quarter
STANCE
Based on these considerations the PST Delegation based in Jakarta states
on behalf of the PST Central Committee:
1. Rejects the presence of the Indonesian military in East Timor as they
are responsible for all the massacres and the total destruction of East
Timor and its people;
2. That the responsibility for security that was given to the Indonesian
government, in particular the TNI and POLRI, should be withdrawn as this
situation is providing the opportunity for these forces to wreak revenge
for the losses that they perceive they have suffered in East Timor;
3. Condemns the antidemocratic, and unsportive attitude of the
pro-autonomy forces that have been backed up by the TNI and POLRI;
4. Condemns all forms of killings and systematic destruction being
carried out by the TNI, Police and militia against the East Timorese
people;
5. Condemns all forms of violence and coercion used by the TNI and POLRI
against the East Timorese people to force them to leave their homeland;
6. Condemns the revenge being carried out by the TNI, Police and Militia
following their defeat I n the referendum;
DEMANDS:
The above stance leads us to make the following demands:
1. That the UN and international community take firm, speedy and
effective measures to force Indonesia, the TNI and POLRI to withdraw
from East Timor and disband the militias;
2. To carry out economic and diplomatic sanctions against Indonesia if
the violence and massacres continue;
3. To carry out the UN ultimatum to send an International Peacekeeping
Force because the 48 hours have passed without any improvement in the
situation, instead the killings are more rampant and there are more
refugees flooding across the border and the infrastructure of East Timor
is being subjected to total paralysis;
4. That the Portuguese government be held responsible for the danger and
destruction being inflicted on the East Timorese people because they
signed the May 5 agreement which is bringing about the destruction of
the East Timorese people;
5. That Portugal use all diplomatic means to convince the countries
grouped in NATO to force Indonesia, its TNI and POLRI to withdraw from
East Timor in order to protect the East Timorese nation which is
threatened by the violence and killings of TNI POLRI and militia in the
region.
6. That all the humanitarian NGOs under the auspices of the UN (such as
the UNHCR and others) render full assistance to the East Timorese
refugees so that all their basic needs, such as food and medicines and
medical teams be met, so that they can fully recover and finally return
to their homes.
Jakarta, 9 September 1999
PST Delegation in Jakarta
Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.
______________________________
CENTRAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KPP -
PRD)
Jl. Jend. Basuki Rahmat No. 7B Jakarta Timur, Tel/fax 8561542
E-mail:prd@centrin.net.id
Press Statement
PRD's HEAD OFFICE BOMBED WITH MOLOTOV COCKTAILS BY SOME UNIDENTIFIED
PEOPLE
After two days of being terrorized by rocks thrown, the head office of
the PRD was finally attacked with Molotov cocktails and burned.
According to an eyewitness from the block security guard named Begi,
this terror attack happened at 01.45 (twenty minutes after the last
guest from Moestopo University had gone home). The bombing was done by
some unidentified people driving a blue car with police number D 622 Z.
Still according to the eyewitness, this car was actually driven around
the PRD's head office for about 5 times. The damage caused by this
terror attack included: the front door and windows was burned, window
glass was broken, one banner of the PRD was burned, and also the
electricity installation of the office was damaged.
It can be seen clearly that the terror was done for political reasons.
>From the damages caused by the burning, and the process of the burning
itself, the terror was done by thugs paid by the New Order regime that
for these long efforts by all ways to stop all political activities of
PRD. We deemed that this terror is really related with the political
activities taken by PRD, especially, the PRD's activities in recent
days. First, our discussion and political statements on the East Timor
issue where the PRD supported the result of the ballot that was won by
the independence group. Second, our discussion, political statements,
and mass actions in rejecting the National Safety and Security Law.
However, the terror will never stop the political activities of the PRD,
which aims to fight for and maintain real democracy in Indonesia.
Actions of terror will even strengthen our belief that the New Order
Regime and its next generation should be resisted until its defeat.
For this terror we call for your solidarity support by making political
statements or taking action on this issue.
Jakarta 10 September, 1999 (02.12 AM)
Central Leadership Committee of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD)
Faisol Riza Chairperson
Ida Nasim Mh Secretary
______________________
From panap at panap.po.my Sun Sep 12 16:31:41 1999
From: panap at panap.po.my (PAN Asia Pacific)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 15:31:41 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1293] Press Release from Women and Pesticide Workshop, 23-27 August 1999, Penang
Message-ID:
Press Release
September 3, 1999
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women Unite to Resist the Pesticide Onslaught
International Gathering Condemns Worsening Pesticide Impacts on
Women and Children
"Globalization, and increasing commercialization of agriculture, is
promoting intensive use of hazardous pesticides. This has
intensified the suffering of women in rural agriculture and the
plantation sector" stated Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director of
PAN Asia and the Pacific at the Press Conference held in
conjunction of the Regional Workshop on Women and Pesticides in
Penang recently. "The privatization of health care services as
promoted by the globalization process, has worsened the situation
by alienating poorer, more vulnerable sectors of the population -
namely women and children in rural communities, and in the
plantations" she continued.
The workshop, entitled "Women Protecting Health and the
Environment", was organized by PAN Asia and the Pacific and hosted
40 representatives from over 15 countries in the region, with
resource people from as far a field as the U.S. The workshop was
organised to share experiences and information on "national
realities" of pesticides use in various countries; to share
initiatives in community organizing and pesticide monitoring;
promotion of alternatives to pesticides and sustainable
agriculture; campaigning on problems with pesticides and
problematic pesticides; and to develop strategies to resist the
onslaught on women's health.
Participants agreed that globalization actually works against
women's health and economic conditions. "In India there is lack of
healthcare for women and children in the rural areas.
Privatization will make things worse!" stressed Burnad Fatima, of
the Tamil Nadu Women's Forum, who has been working among the rural
poor and Dalits (the Schedule Caste), women and children for the
past 20 years. "Women working in agriculture are exposed to
pesticides and are suffering all kinds of problems. TNC shave
entered villages and targeted women as users of their products.
Additionally, with modernization, women have been thrown out
employment. Without a way to feed themselves or their families,
nutrition has been affected. In many cases, women put themselves
last when it comes to food, aggravating malnutrition and related
illnesses," added Fatima.
With large scale commercial farming, the Workshop noted that more
and more women were becoming farm and plantation workers. Trade
liberalisation was being used to push hazardous pesticides and
chemicals into the Asian countries. As it was mainly women who
handled pesticides in farms and plantations (as also in small-scale
farming), their health suffered. Delegates from several countries,
including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the
Philippines reported the increasing exposure of women and children
to pesticides and, consequently, the increasing incidence of
disease.
What Women Suffer
Women who were exposed to pesticides suffered a range of health
problems - acute effects of skin and eye, and breathing problems,
sexual and reproductive problems including miscarriages and still
births, and chronic effects like cancers. Women are working with
highly toxic pesticides that can cause severe poisoning and death.
Many of the pesticides they are heavily exposed to are known to
damage the brain and nervous system, or cause cancer, or birth
defects.
Sharing her own experiences as a farmer having once used pesticides,
Carmen Buena, Chairperson of the Federation of Peasant Women in the
Philippines (AMIHAN), stressed that, "Most of these pesticides are
banned or severely restricted in other countries. AMIHAN is calling
for a stop to pesticides use especially since many farmer cannot
afford the medical care of pesticide related health problems."
Participants shared how many of the women do not even know the names
or hazards of the pesticides they are mixing and applying.
Jayamarie, Tenaganita's Field Officer with its Women and
Plantations Programme, explained, "Women receive no education or
training in how to use them properly or how to protect themselves
and their children. They have no water to wash off the pesticides
or to drink. Women plantation workers in Malaysia suffer from
watery eyes, nausea, nose bleeds, discoloured fingernails and many
other complaints due to paraquart use. Due to the weight of the
spray tanks many women have suffered prolapsed wombs, and
miscarriages!"
The Failure of the Health System
To make matters worse participants noted that there is a woeful lack
of medical facilities for these women and their communities, and
public healthcare facilities were also being withdrawn or curtailed
following liberalisation. "The situation is no different in
Pakistan," noted Nasira Habib of KHOJ Research and Education.
"Women are exposed due to the great grange of work they do but
there are no health care facilities, including first aid! Women's
low self-esteem and social conditioning mean that they do not see
their health problems as important enough to seek medical help,
poverty being a major factor in decision making as well. Women have
not learnt to give importance to themselves, and visit doctors only
when they are bedridden. Women also faced problems of going to
hospitals that were often many miles away from their villages.
Women have to travel on very bumpy roads even when pregnant - some
have been known to suffer miscarriages on route!"
Women faced problems due to the hostile, aggressive and dismissive
attitudes they faced at clinics and government hospitals. The
predominantly male hospital assistants and doctors were for the
most part untrained, insensitive and disinterested in recognizing
pesticide-related ailments. "Another problem women face is that
with majority of males working in hospitals, women find it very
difficult to discuss problems related to their reproductive systems
and genitals. Doctors do not relate symptoms to pesticides and so
workers are sent back to the plantations despite the pains,
headaches and other ailments they suffer," elaborated Jayamarie of
the situation in Malaysia that unfortunately echoed the situation
in many countries.
Overall however, many medical doctors were not aware of the problems
caused by pesticides. They are not trained, and hence are unable to
diagnose these problems. Nor are these health problems on the
agendas of the trade unions or the governments. Trade
liberalisation was affecting women's health condition as well as
their economic conditions through loss of jobs, loss of land,
economic disempowerment, etc. The workshop stressed that it was
necessary therefore for women workers to play a greater role in the
unions and resist the erosion of their health and economic
conditions.
Particular Problems
Dr. Marion Moses of the San Francisco based Pesticides Education
Centre, who has many years experience investigating
pesticide-related health problems in farm workers in the U.S., was
shocked at the severity and extent of the problems revealed by the
women from the Asian countries represented at the workshop.
"Although I knew that pesticide exposure was a problem for poor
women working on farms and plantations I was shocked at the
severity and extent of the problems as revealed by the women from
the Asian countries represented at this workshop," she stated. "The
health problems being documented and suspected to be due to
pesticides are because women are the majority of the workers who
apply pesticides. They also mix them and pour them into the spray
containers, which is an even more serious health risk since they
are handling the concentrated products. Women who are pregnant, or
nursing, or who have asthma or other diseases are often forced to
work with these toxic chemicals at the threat of losing their jobs"
she noted.
Speaking of the remedies often put forward by pesticide industry,
she was adamant that, "The answer is not to provide protective
clothing. Even if they were provided full protective equipment and
clothing appropriate for pesticides they are working with -- they
would be at risk of heat stress and even death from heat stroke.
This is especially since they do not have enough water, or
sometimes not any water, to drink. These women are working with
pesticides that are so dangerous they cannot be used safety under
any conditions of agricultural practice". "I am outraged that many
of the pesticides being aggressively and deceptively marketed and
promoted in Asian countries are from my own country where the
conditions and constrains for their use are much more stringent",
she concluded.
Quite a number of these pesticides are also endocrine disrupters,
mimicking the natural hormones in the body, they could disrupt the
endocrine systems, and particularly affect the development of the
child in the womb. Cases of physical and functional defects among
children born to such pesticide-exposed women have been reported
from around the world, according to Dr Michael Smolen, a scientist
with the World Wildlife Fund, U.S. "These chemicals are
particularly damaging during the embryonic, foetal, and early
postnatal periods because they resemble or interfere with the
hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors and other signalling
substances that normally control the development or alter
performance. The effects are in many cases irreversible and often
expressed as changes in function rather than as obvious birth
defects or clinical diseases" elaborated Dr. Smolen during the
workshop. For him, it was indeed unfortunate that women worked so
closely with pesticides, especially during pregnancies because,
"exposure can effect the unborn, causing lowered levels among
children, effecting the future fertility of babies, structural
changes in babies and behaviour." Summing up the urgency of the
issue, he stated, "Can we give up future generations for a crop?
Every baby has right chemical-free!" Consumer organizations in
Korea and Japan, who were present at the workshop, were carrying
out a campaign against the endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
The Role of TNCs
Meanwhile, the transnational agro-chemical companies were using new
strategies to promote pesticides and chemicals in rural areas.
These included "environment-friendly" labels and logos, massive
advertisements on TV and radio, sponsoring of cultural and school
programmes in rural areas, etc. This was misleading farmers and
farm workers, the participants observed. Commenting on the role of
TNCs, Dr. Romy Quijano, President of PAN Philippines stated,
"Science is being defined by corporate bodies, and governments are
being misled. What we are seeing is a push for economic regimes
where trade is more important than people's lives. The
Precautionary Principle, that was introduced at the Earth Summit in
1992, essentially states that where an activity raises threats of
harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures
should be taken even if certain cause and effect relationships are
not established scientifically. But the governments, who are
signatories, are ignoring it. So companies are claiming that their
products are safe, and yet again the burden of proof to show harm
is on the victim".
Farida Akhter, of UBINIG Policy Research for Development
Alternative) in Bangladesh, was also critical of the way
governments were giving support for pesticide use. "Micro-credit,
which is supposed to be the miracle solution to farmers problems,
is being used by NGOs to promote hybrid seeds, which in turn
require the use of pesticides and fertilizers." Due to this, there
were many alternative initiatives from farmers to save seeds and
farm in more sustainable ways - for example, the Naryakrishi
Andolan movement for healthier lives and communities.
Coming Together to Resist the Onslaught
But by collaborating across countries and organizations women were
confronting the major sources of the problem - a combination of
corporate irresponsibility in the marketing and promotion of
pesticides, nonexistent or poorly enforced laws, and an
inaccessible or unresponsive health care system.
A major focus of the Workshop was in strategizing and planning
actions around which participating groups could work together.
"Information and awareness building is a major strategy, "
explained Sarojeni V. Rengam. "There is a need to get as much
information as possible out on the ways pesticides impact people,
particularly women. Groups are also keen to undertake regular
monitoring and documentation of pesticides use in the plantations
and in rural communities", as a way towards people's mobilisation,
build leadership in communities and so forth.
Campaigning and advocacy efforts will also feature, as would
documentation of traditional knowledge, promotion of indigenous
seeds, which are all linked to sustainable agriculture efforts.
Ultimately these alternative methods and strategies for pesticides
use reduction would led to pesticide-free agriculture.
PAN Asia Pacific
P.O. Box 1170
10850 Penang
Malaysia
Tel.: 604-6570271
604-6560381
Fax.: 604-6577445
http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Sep 15 08:56:33 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 16:56:33 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1294] Crispin Beltran's Speech For Alternatives to the APEC Agenda
Message-ID: <004501beff0c$c9209a00$9f3561cb@notoapec>
"Globalisation" and the Working Class Alternative
Prepared by the National Executive Committee of the Kilusang Mayo Uno or May
First Movement of Filipino Workers (KMU)
For the Alternatives to the APEC Agenda Forum
New Zealand
September 1999
>
>In behalf of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno and all other patriotic and
>democratic forces in the Philippines, warm greetings! I am very much
honored
>and thankful to have been chosen by the conference organizers to share the
>perspectives of militant Filipino labor, regarding the evils of so-called
>"globalisation" and what we can do to put an end to them.
>
>As the APEC leaders hold their regular meetings right now in your backyard
>in the hope of further tightening the stranglehold of U.S. monopoly
>capitalism in the region, the very fundaments of their organization itself
>are crumbling, as evidenced by the current global recession. Friends and
>comrades gathered here today at this alternative conference, you have the
>ringside seats to an event that progressives have long foretold: the demise
>of monopoly capitalist globalisation.
>
>Even as there is cause for optimism for the victims of APEC, however, we
>must look deep into the nature of this summit in order to deal more telling
>blow against the forces that give it impetus, so as to hasten its end.
>
>The Demise of "Globalisation"
>
>As a regional instrument to monitor compliance of member-countries to the
>policies of GATT-WTO, APEC has become a cattle-prod of U.S. monopoly
>capitalism to herd "emergent markets" and rival economies alike into the
>corral of a bankrupt political-economic paradigm, Neoliberalism or
>monetarism. Conceived in the 80's by the Reagan and Thatcher governments in
>their respective countries, this praxial framework is a reaction to the
>failure of the hitherto dominant Keynesian model of economics to prevent
the
>recurrence and intensification of the crisis of the industrial countries,
>and rehashes the outmoded slogans of free-market capitalism in this age of
>monopolies. In essence, neoliberalism accelarates the concentration of
>capital into the hands of the monopoly bourgeoisie by transferring public
>funds (i.e., state-owned assets) to private corporations, and further
>emisserates the working class by reducing employment and eliminating
>government expenditures in social services to maximize profits and combat
>inflation.
>
>The effect of this policy shift on the global economy has been destructive,
>to put it mildly. We are witnesses to the series of worsening crises, the
>stockmarket crash of 1987, the debt crisis in Latin America in the late
>80's, the Mexican peso collapse and the current economic and financial
>chaos. Furthermore, the national profit rates in the three global centers
of
>capitalism, the United States, Japan and the European Union have
dive-bombed.
>
>Asia has been at the center of this global maelstrom. Trillions of dollars
>of capital in the stockmarkets and loans melted in just a few months, apart
>from more than 260 billion dollars of capital in the books of account of
>various companies. Hundreds of billions of dollars of the reserve funds of
>central banks vanished in their attempts to defend currencies under attack
>by speculators. The incomes of millions of people suddenly shrunk even as
>they lost their hard-earned savings and their jobs.
>
>The abrupt fall of Southeast Asian economies, which were estimated to
>account for half of the world's growth and two-thirds of the increase in
>world trade in the last several years, has been a major cause of erosion in
>the world market. Since the middle of 1997, the prices of all agricultural
>and mineral raw materials and semi-manufactured goods have gone down by
30%,
>their lowest levels for more than 25 years. This has proven to be
disastrous
>for the backward countries that depend on this type of exports.
>
>Another outstanding feature of the contemporary crisis is the precipitous
>plunge of the value of currencies of the Southeast Asian countries, and
>Russia soon after. It is impelled by the unhampered flow of investment and
>finance which has been insisted on by the finance oligarchy throughout the
>world. Since the outburst of the crisis, the dollar value of the Indonesian
>rupiah fell by 80%, and that of the South Korean won and Thailand baht by
>40%. Hand in hand with such a big drop, loans and investments dried up,
>interest rates skyrocketed, many companies and businesses went bankrupt,
>production and trade drastically decreased, and inflation galloped.
>
>Under the neoliberal policy shift, the imperialist countries have dropped
>their pretense at aiding the economic development of the countries that
they
>dominate. Since the 1980's, they have selected only some ten countries to
>become the so-called emerging markets.
>
>Some 75 percent of global direct investments flowed among three global
>centers of capitalism, the United States, Japan and the European Union,
>mainly to the US; while a measly 25 percent went to the "emerging markets",
>chiefly those in East Asia. Since the currency devaluations and stock
market
>collapses in July 1997, the net flow of imperialist funds to East Asia has
>dropped by more than half, as capital flight has caused a deep recession.
>
>Neoliberalism is by far the worst form of colonialism since the end World
>War II. It stunts the "emerging markets" at their existing levels of
>development and makes them dependent on exports, dumps on them speculative
>capital and surplus goods, further compradorizes them and destroys any
>self-reliant national industry. At the same time, the overwhelming majority
>of countries long depressed since the crisis of overproduction in raw
>materials in the late 70s are further deteriorating economically and
socially.
>
>Under the neoliberal policy, monopoly firms maximize profits by injecting
>more capital into new technology and by trimming down their labor force,
>thus generating mass unemployment and increasingly resorting to contractual
>and part-time labor under the so-called flexible-labor policy in both
>industrialized and Third World economies. Not surprisingly, the current
>global unemployment rate is now going beyond 40 percent and poverty
afflicts
>90 percent of the people of the world.
>
>Even apologists of neoliberalism are forced to admit, if only to deflect
>criticism from the real culprits, that "globalization" does not necessarily
>mean "paradise". The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in its 1999
>Human Development Report declared self-righteously that the gap between the
>rich and the poor, in terms of classes and countries, are widening
worldwide
>as a result of the rapid implementation of neoliberal policies. While
>praising globalization as essentially good, the UNDP denounced the
>"dehumanization" of globalization and proposed "strong governance to
>preserve the advantages of global markets and competition while ensuring
>that globalization works for people, not just profits." It even twitted
such
>monolithic bastions of neoliberalism as the IMF-WB and the WTO for being
>"dominated by large, rich countries."
>
>While the UNDP Report is merely self-serving propaganda to smokescreen
>neoliberalism's rotten agenda, it is indicative of the extent of damage
that
>this paradigm shift has wreaked, such that its advocates can no longer
>conceal some of its manifestations. Unfortunately but not unexpectedly,
>UNDP's myopic analysis fails to discern the inherently exploitative
>character of monopoly capitalist globalization.
>
>The Working Class as Core of Anti-"Globalism"
>
>Before we can propose alternatives to globalization, we have to be united
on
>certain principles, and in this aspect I think we have progressed. We are
>one in the conviction that globalisation is anti-people, anti-Third World
>and anti-national industrialization. We are also one in the belief that it
>is the working class that suffers the most from the plunder of monopoly
>capitalism. With these givens in mind, we can proceed from critical to
>creative tasks.
>
>We have pointed out that monopoly capitalist globalisation can flourish
only
>in a political-economic environment where it can still exploit backward
>nations for cheap raw materials and labor, and act as dumping grounds for
>overproduced manufactures, all to serve its demigod, profits. Without these
>milking cows of megaprofits, monopoly capitalism cannot but perish.
>
>>From this we can see that the war against the empire of globalisation is a
>protracted one, and one that needs the participation of all its oppressed
>and exploited victims. Our first clear task is to do battle with
>globalisation in our home grounds, uprooting the local and rotten
>political-economic structures that have proven to be very hospitable to the
>dictates of monopoly capitalist agencies. The very fact that our respective
>governments have joined and are trying their hardest to implement the
skewed
>prescriptions of the GATT-WTO, and more recently, the Multilateral
Agreement
>on Investments (MAI), manifests an unequivocal subservience to
>globalisation. Without their active support, or at the very least,
>acquiescence, neoliberal policies will fail to make headway. Fighting for
>fundamental socio-economic changes in our backyards, especially when pushed
>towards its logical and moral conclusion, will make a big contribution
>towards severing the lifelines of monopoly capitalist globalization.
>
>In the struggle to bring about a society free from foreign domination and
>social injustice and beyond, the working class must form the spearhead.
>Aside from being the worst exploited social group in a country victimized
by
>monopoly capitalism, they have determination, discipline and the numbers to
>take on the monumental task of breaking its stranglehold. A genuine,
>militant and anti-imperialist trade union movement should act as an
>unbreakable and indefatigable core of fighters capable of leading the war
>against monopoly capitalism and their local errand-boys in the
client-states.
>
>Now, what political economic system is anathema to the continued existence
>of this evil monopoly empire? Different people of different ideological
>persuasions diverge on this point. But if there is a commonality of views
on
>this matter, it is that this alternative system we all are envisioning and
>struggling for will be pro-people, patriotic and democratic. It will put
the
>interest of the impoverished majority to the fore, while also guaranteeing
>the basic rights of the minority. It will favor national industrialization,
>genuine land reform, popular governance, a patriotic, scientific and
>mass-oriented culture and an independent foreign policy.
>
>The propaganda machinery of monopoly capitalism deride such a vision as
>utopian and therefore implausible. But contemporary history has proven them
>wrong several times over, with the examples set by such countries as China
>before 1976, the former Soviet Union before 1956, Vietnam, Cuba and North
>Korea. The viciousness of the ideological, political, economic and military
>aggression against their countries in their anti-imperialist heydays
>testifies to the effectivesness to the strategy of gradual strangulation of
>monopoly capitalism, whatever may be said of later, more nagative
historical
>developments. Far from being utopian, the vision of a humane and just
>society is within the reach of all peoples straining against the
imperialist
>yoke.
>
> Parallel to our efforts towards the building of such a society should be
>the creation of linkages between anti-imperialists in every country,
whether
>in backward or industrialized ones, and necessarily led by the working
>class. International solidarity is an effective weapon against an enemy
>without borders. We must bear in mind that monopoly capitalist
>globalisation, while projecting itself as, and appearing to be,
all-powerful
>is actually powerless in the face of united and struggling masses. While
>imperialism is a spent and moribund force of reaction, the anti-imperialist
>masses everyday multiply in committed numbers and represent the progressive
>forces of the future. To paraphrase a well-known Marxist thinker and
leader,
>"Monopoly capitalism is nothing but a paper-tiger."
>
>Only by pushing for the liberation of oppressed classes from exploitation
in
>our respective countries, and strengthening relations among those opposed
to
>imperialist globalisation can we gradually weaken this evil empire. By
>building societies devoid of inequality and injustice on a global scale, we
>will create an environment whereby imperialist globalisation will perish
>once and for all.
From aawl at ozramp.net.au Tue Sep 14 19:29:53 1999
From: aawl at ozramp.net.au (AAWL)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 20:29:53 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1295] East Timor protests in Melbourne
Message-ID: <023b01befe9c$8850c2e0$4cff2acb@power>
On Friday 10 September 1999 over 25,000 people demonstrated in Melbourne
against the murders of East Timorese people by the Indonesian military.
The demonstration was organised by the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC),
the
National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), and unions, solidarity
organisations, student groups and community groups.
Industrial action against business supporting the Indonesian government and
military, including shipping and communications, is occurring across
Australia.
The Indonesian independent trade unions FNPBI and SBSI recognise the East
Timorese people's right to national self-determination. SBSI has issued a
statement in support of the industrial action taking place in Australia
against the Indonesian military.
A Free Timor Coalition has been formed to coordinate protests in Melbourne.
The coalition includes the CNRT, the VTHC, the Australian Council of Trade
Unions, the National Union of Students and many other groups.
The Free Timor Coalition has called two more demonstrations in Melbourne,
demanding the removal of Indonesian military from East Timor, the
resettlement of East Timorese
refugees, and the supply of emergency humanitarian aid to the refugees.
Defend the East Timorese people.
Support Indonesian workers.
Support industrial action against the Indonesian military.
Demonstrate
Wednesday 15 September; 5pm
Indonesian Consulate
72 Queens Road
Melbourne, Australia
Demonstrate
Sunday 19 September; 2pm
Parliament House
Spring Street
Melbourne Australia
***
Send your solidarity messages to the demonstrations:
Australia Asia Worker Links
PO Box 264 Fitzroy Victoria 3065 Australia
Tel: 03 9419 5045 Fax: 03 9416 2746
E-mail: aawl@ozramp.net.au
From rcollins at netlink.com.au Wed Sep 15 12:53:06 1999
From: rcollins at netlink.com.au (rc-am)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 13:53:06 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1296] Re: East Timor - the links between the military and capital
References:
Message-ID: <026101beff31$e6f5c760$e8e13ecb@rcollins>
EAST TIMOR ABRI Inc
By George J. Aditjondro
Sydney Morning Herald
May 8, 1999
THE fighting between the Indonesian-backed pro-integration militias and
supporters of independence in East Timor cannot be understood fully
without taking into account the substantial holdings in the
province of the former Indonesian president Soeharto and his family.
These interests include 564,867 hectares of land. They are holdings that
CNRT, the umbrella organisation of the East Timorese resistance
movement, has made clear it would seize if Timor becomes an independent
state. The Soeharto landholdings stretch from the western border to the
eastern tip of East Timor and include 50,000 hectares of timber
plantations allocated to Bob Hasan, one of the Soeharto family's
business operators, and tens of thousands of hectares of sugarcan
plantations on the southern coast controlled by Soeharto's children.
The best marble deposits in Timor, at Manatuto, are owned by Siti
Hardiyanti Rukmana, Soeharto's eldest daughter, who also has a monopoly
over coffee production and export from East Timor, through a company of
hers in Dili. These Soeharto interests are closely intertwined with the
business interests of generals who had served under Soeharto during the
invasion and annexation of East Timor, and other military operations.
Batara Indra, an Indonesian conglomerate backed by retired generals
Benny Moerdani and Dading Kalbuadi, who co-ordinated the operation that
led to the killings of five Australian-based journalists at Balibo in
1975, controls the sandalwood forests of East Timor and the production
and export of sandalwood oil. Batara Indra also exports Buddhist
statues to Taiwan and Catholic statues to Italy, made from East
Timorese sandalwood or marble. Most of the hotels and the only cinema
in Dili are owned by Batara Indra. The large construction firms in Dili,
involved in all major infrastructure projects - including building the
irrigation canals and ditches for Indonesian "trans- migrants" - either
belong to Moerdani's Batara Indra Group, or to the Anak Liambau Group of
the Jakarta-appointed Governor of East Timor, Jose Abilio Soares. The
Governor's family is also closely involved with the Soeharto family's
businesses. Gil Alves, a brother-in-law of Governor
Abilio, operates the alcohol sticker monopoly of Soeharto's grandson,
Ari Haryo Wibowo, also known as Ari Sigit. Alves is also involved in a
drinking water company, Aquamor, and a textile company, PT Dilitex, that
are closely linked with Siti Hedijanti Harijadi, Soeharto's middle
daughter who is married to the sacked General Prabowo Subianto. Looking
at the leading figures of the pro-integration forces in
East Timor, it is not difficult to find their links to the Soeharto
family or to their own property interests in the province. Top of the
list is Governor Abilio, once a protege of Prabowo when the latter was
still head of the Indonesian Army's special force, Kopassus. Basilio
Araujo, the spokeperson of the pro-integration forces, is also the
deputy head of the provincial investment board, the body that decides
who is allowed to invest in East Timor. Even the current army commander
of East Timor, Colonel Tono Suratman, has Soeharto connections. His
family are the co-owners of a pearling company, PT Kima Surya Lestari
Mutiara, with Prabowo's wife. This company has pearl diving operations
offshore from
Flores and Lombok, west of Timor. Due to its high-level connections,
this Suratman-Prabowo joint venture was allowed to operate within the
boundaries of the Komodo National Park, in Flores, without even paying
any royalties to the Nusa Tenggara Timur province, where the park is
located. The entire top brass of the Indonesian Army and civilian
bureaucracy in East Timor are closely interlinked with Soeharto's former
inner circle, which has in turn been taken over by his successor, B.J.
Habibie. Even the Indonesian Armed Forces commander, General Wiranto,
has Soeharto connections, since all the army charities which are now
under his patronage are co-shareholders of many of the Soeharto family's
timber concessions and telecommunication companies. The Soeharto
family's interests in East Timor may be small compared with their
holdings in the rest of Indonesia, but their holdings in East Timor
include the three onshore oil wells that were discovered in the '60s -
the Suai Loro in Covalima, Aliambata in Vikeke, and Pualaca in Manatuto.
And between those three wells lie vast untapped oil
reserves. The Soeharto family has also made preparations to venture
into the Timor Sea oil reserves. Last year, it set up a new oil company
in Perth, Genindo Western Petroleum Propriety Limited. The company is
headed by Bambang Trihatmodjo, Soeharto's middle son. Bambang and
younger brother Tommy also own two Singapore-based oil and gas tanker
fleets that operate in the seas between Indonesia and north-east Asia.
No doubt they would be eager to be involved in a similar trade between
the Timor Gap and those same Asian customers. Bambang is also co-owner
of PT Elnusa, which is involved in building base camps for the oil
companies and related petrochemical industries in Timor.
Tommy, in addition to his tanker fleet, has his own air charter company
which has been waiting to take advantage of the wealth that will flow
from the Timor Gap, where three wells - Elang, Kakatua, and
Kakatua North - have been producing 33,000 barrels of oil per day since
July last year. And many of the Soeharto clan business partners in
Indonesia's oil and gas fields, such as Mobil Oil, are also active in
the Timor Sea, which could lead them into further joint ventures in this
part of the world. This is why the Jakarta oligarchy - with the strong
support from their East Timorese collaborators - are so keen on
undermining a free and fair vote to determine East Timor's future
political status. Behind the militia tactics in East Timor there is a
strategy to partition East Timor into a western half that supports
continued links with Indonesia and an eastern part that would be allowed
to become independent. Such a partition would roughly follow the lines
of the "oil-rich" and "oil-poor" parts of East Timor. An alternative
strategy would allow the entire territory to obtain its political
independence, as long as the landholdings of the Soeharto family and
their East Timorese collaborators were to be respected by an independent
East Timor state, and not be seized by the new government or by the
rightful traditional landowners.
Dr George J. Aditjondro is a lecturer at the Department of Sociology and
Anthropology at the University of Newcastle. His new book, Is Oil
Thicker than Blood? A Study of Oil Companies' Interests and Western
Complicity in Indonesia's Annexation of East Timor will be published by
Nova Science in the US this month.
From tpl at cheerful.com Thu Sep 16 08:53:26 1999
From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 07:53:26 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1297] Fw: Stopping U$ Biopiracy requires change in U$ PATENT LAW
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990916075326.006aec4c@pop.skyinet.net>
>ENS -- Environment News Service
>
>India May Contest U.S. Patent on Diabetic Remedy
>By Devinder Sharma
>
>NEW DELHI, India, August 27, 1999 (ENS) - India may contest a patent
>obtained by a United States firm for a herbal anti-diabetic remedy
>based on eggplant, bitter gourd and jamun, the fruit of the rose apple
>tree. "The government is currently studying the case and based on that
>a decision will soon be taken," the Minister for Science and
>Technology, Murli Manohar Joshi said.
>
>EGGPLANT
>
>Patent number 5,900,240 was granted in July to a team of three
>researchers, including two non-resident Indians, from the American
>firm, Cromak Research Inc., in New Jersey. "The anti-diabetic
>properties of these plants is well-known in India. and there will be
>no difficulty in getting the patent revoked," Joshi asserted.
>
>The American patent was granted on an edible composition comprising a
>mixture of at least two herbs selected from the group consisting of
>syzygium cumini (popularly known as jamun), Momordica charantia known
>as bitter gourd or bitter melon (Karela), Solanum melongena or
>eggplant (brinjal) and Gymnema sylvestre (gurmar). The herbal mixtures
>have been cited as dietary supplements and are claimed to be
>especially useful for lowering the glucose level in blood among those
>suffering from diabetes.
>
>The use of these substances in the treatment of diabetes dates back
>many centuries in India and is mentioned in several ancient texts on
>healing - the "Wealth of India," the "Compendium of Indian Medicinal
>Plants" and the "Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants."
>Article 102 of the U.S. Patent Law, which defines prior art, does not
>recognise technologies and methods in use in other countries as prior
>art. If knowledge is new for the U.S., it is novel, even if it is part
>of an ancient tradition of other cultures and countries. v The Indian
>Minister of State for Agriculture and Water Resources, Shri Sompal,
>called the U.S. patent an "onslaught on the traditional knowledge and
>practices prevalent in the developing countries." He said that getting
>such patents revoked in the U.S. is no remedy.
>
>"Why cant the U.S. Patent Office as well as the World Trade
>Organization (WTO) impose a deterring punishment to any company or
>institute seeking a patent based on indigenous products and
>knowledge?" he asked. Such a measure alone would forbid foreign
>companies from poaching on the traditional knowledge and known
>products, Sompal said.
>
>BITTER MELON (BITTER GOURD)
>
>Despite the success of India in revoking a patent on the anti-
>inflammatory applications of turmeric, the latest patent on the known
>traditional uses of eggplant, bitter gourd and jamun has evoked strong
>reactions.
>
>Efforts to fight the controversial aromatic basmati rice patent,
>secured last year by an American firm, RiceTech, have not been
>successful. The Indian government is still locked in putting together
>an elaborate reply to the cleverly drafted patent application. The
>report of the technical committee, constituted by the government in a
>desperate effort to fight the patent, exceeds 1,500 pages. "At this
>rate, we will need to set up a separate ministry for fighting the
>patents," a senior official remarked.
>
>Failure to enact appropriate legislation for biodiversity conservation
>and for the protection of geographical indications of any particular
>product is costing the country dearly. India has failed to take
>advantage of the Article 22-24 of the World Trade Organization's
>Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) that provides rules for
>geographical indicators.
>
>"If biopiracy is to stop," said "The Hindu" newspaper in a July 28
>editorial, "then the U.S. patent laws must change, and Article 102
>must be redrafted to recognise prior art of other countries. This is
>especially important given that the U.S. patent laws have been
>globalised through the TRIPs agreement of the WTO."
>
>Having such a law in place would have made it difficult for other
>countries to patent products like basmati rice, Darjeeling tea and the
>snack food Bikaneri bhujia that are unique to India.
>
>SYZYGIUM CUMINI OR JAMUN
>
>The Indian tendency is to shy away from documentation and
>classification of the countrys wealth of plants and animals. With an
>estimated 45,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species originating
>within the national borders, India is a repository of natural wealth.
>In case of medicinal plants - some 7,500 of which are unique to India,
>documentation is in the vernacular languages. No efforts have been
>made to translate this documentation into English.
>
>Legislations like the Patent (Amendment) Act 1999 have been enacted by
>the Indian government under pressure from the WTO. Other legal
>mechanisms that would provide for sovereign control over the
>indigenous plants and traditional knowledge in light of the UN
>Convention on Biological Diversity, have remained pending before
>Parliament.
>
>As a result, private companies and institutes from America, Europe,
>Japan and Australia are known to be scouting the countryside for
>valuable plant species and micro-organisms. Several multinational
>pharmaceutical giants have entered into research collaboration with
>Indian companies to collect and transfer plant and animal species.
>
>=================================
From tpl at cheerful.com Thu Sep 16 08:53:26 1999
From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 07:53:26 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1298] Peasants protest mutant corn field test in Mindanao, Laguna
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990916075326.006aec4c@pop.skyinet.net>
KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
PEASANTS OPPOSE GM CORN, GENETIC IMPERIALISM
The Kilusan ng Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) demanded that government ban
the commercialization of experimental crops that have been crossbred with
dubious gene material because of threats to farmers' seed traditions,
genetic diversity and consumer health.
KMP chair Rafael Mariano said that peasants will lose the
twelve-millennium-old rights to raise their own seeds to agrocorporations
which control the trade of food, chemicals and seeds and which have
exclusive rights to the new seeds that need huge doses of chemicals.
On June 1, the village council of Barangay Lagao, General Santos City
passed a resolution asking the National Committee on Bio-Safety of the
Philippines (NCBP) to reverse the impending approval of a field release by
the seed and chemical conglomerate Monsanto-Cargill of transgenic
(genetically engineered) corn.
According to a non-government organization Searice, the NCBP is mandated
to regulate laboratory researches in enclosed gardens only and not of field
tests.
Councilor Rolito Blando led the council to ask Monsanto-Cargill to stop
field preparations and also asked the city council to declare Gen. Santos
free of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). They charged that city
agriculturist and the local health and environment offices were not notified
of the field tests.
Called Bt-corn, it is ordinary Zea mays L infused with a gene from the
bacteria Bacillus Thuringensis that produces poisons inside the plant to
combat corn borers.
Manuel Yap, head of the farmer-scientist group Magsasaka at Siyentipiko
para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham Pang-agrikultura (Masipag), warned that Bt-corn
can breed with normal corn and corn-related weeds in a process called
"genetic pollution."
Bt-toxin kills beneficial and innocent insects, and even turn the corn
borer into "super pests" resistant to the toxin. Yap said this can cause
massive crop failures when super pests attack traditional corn nationwide,
thus neutralizing local farmer opposition to imported corn. Industrialized
countries will be unhampered in dumping their surpluses of corn and
corn-substitutes on the country.
Meanwhile, the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan
(KASAMA-TK) is also protesting a similar introduction by DuPont-Pioneer
HiBred in Barangay Masaya, Bay, Laguna.
According to the group's president, Jerry Mangubat, Bt-corn is the
continuation of the Green Revolution which destroyed self-sufficiency of
farmers when it
promised higher yields, yet replaced traditional plants with weakling
monocultures that need costly inputs. Mangubat said Monsanto and Pioneer
promote pesticide use instead of traditional manual labor to manage pests,
thus increasing landlessness and unemployment in the countryside and damage
the rural folk's health.
Pioneer controls 34% of the US$1.33 billion US hybrid corn market while
Monsanto is the second largest agrochemical giant and third largest seed
company that has bought eight other firms for US$8.1 billion.
Farmers' groups in Europe, Brazil and India have launched huge protests
that involved uprooting and burning of transgenic cotton and soya. Offices
of Cargill and Monsanto in India have even been vandalized.
Widespread consumer boycotts have forced food giants and supermarkets to
pull out GMOs and genetically-altered foods (GAFs).
Mariano said Estrada's Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA)
provides the structure and policy framework for the systematic spread
of "genetic imperialism."
"The new technology will be coursed through corporative farming schemes
under AFMA, in which peasants will further be tied down to tenancy to big
landlords and multinational corporations, with the added burden of dealing
with still unknown health dangers emanating from contact with new DNA
recombinations," Mariano added.
While human reaction to the Bt-toxin remains untested, doctors in the
United Kingdom have linked animal and human illness to consuming GMOs
because of the popular use by the biotechnology industry of third genes
called "enhancers" and "markers."
Markers are fragments of antibiotics which make it easier for technicians
to know if a breeding has succeeded. Also, parts of deactivated viruses,
because of their infective character, are used as enhancers to heighten the
expression of the gene, for example, improved shelf-life, flavor or color.
A promoter gene from the cauliflower mosaic virus, popular in the industry
and used to boost herbicide-tolerant traits in soya, is suspected of making
laboratory rats suffer organ abnormalities after they were fed with
transgenic potatoes.
Bt-corn contains markers from ampicillin, a popular antibiotic in the
Philippines, and contact with bacteria in the intestines of cattle and
humans can create super-germs that are immune to penicillin drugs,
increasing a future danger of wildfire epidemics of previously controllable
infections.
Mariano said corporate biotechnology has produced a series of failures and
cannot justify its claims to raise yields, relieve hunger, make crops
resistant to stresses, increase nutrition and liberate peasants from
inhumane labor. Instead, genetic imperialism merely commercializes
agriculture while creating conditions for environmental disaster.
KMP demands an unconditional removal of all GM crops from planned open
tests worldwide. It calls on Filipino and other Third World peasants to
oppose imperialist globalization and its nenewed attempts to propagate
export-oriented crops in their respective countries thus further
endangering food security. # # #
From viktor at skyinet.net Thu Sep 16 23:25:01 1999
From: viktor at skyinet.net (Victor C. Sapar)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:25:01 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1299] the copping out of asean
Message-ID: <37E0FDBD.658664C6@skyinet.net>
IID: http://www.skyinet.net/~iiddvo
East Timor: http://www.skyinet.net/~apcet (updated daily)
BIMP-EAGA: http://www.skyinet.net/~iiddvo/mppn
--------------------------------------------------
Note: APCET is encouraging all peace-loving peoples to affix your
signature to this letter before we send copies to the heads of ASEAN
states. Reply with a message indicating that you are endorsing this
letter, including your name and the organization(s) you represent. Send
your reply to apcet@skyinet.net
Send this letter to as many people and ask them to do the same.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE COPPING OUT OF ASEAN
If there is anything that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has been consistent with, it is their conspiratorial silence
over human rights transgressions in the region.
This has again starkly come to the fore in the ongoing turmoil in East
Timor. At best, the ASEAN states have paid lip service to the
universal call to put a stop to the carnage saying that any effort to do
so by the international community should first have the blessing of
Indonesia.
Not wanting to ruffle the sensibilities of its prima inter pares member,
the ASEAN states have again buried whatever?s left of its credibility
deeper in the ground. It has squandered a golden opportunity to assert
a moral authority in the region giving pretenders like Australia the
chance to potentially run roughshod over us and eventually gain a
foothold in the area.
It has adamantly stuck to its warped policy of avowed non-interference
of each other?s internal affairs for fear that by doing so runs the risk
of engendering an open season on their own foibles in the human rights
arena.
Now that the United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved
the sending of a peace enforcement force to East Timor, the ASEAN states
are parroting the line of fascists within Jakarta.
They are echoing the call of some quarters in Indonesia ? particularly
the military?to bar any perceived non-neutral entity in the
multinational force.
Malaysia has even gone on record to protest the participation of
Australia? who for whatever intentions it may have?is the most willing
and capable to respond immediately to the crisis. This government,
which has been accused of allegedly poisoning its own former deputy
prime minister?is even not sure whether it will indeed join the
multinational force.
Thailand, the current chair of the ASEAN standing committee, has not
exercised its leadership in galvanizing a more forceful and
comprehensive response of the association to the crisis. Instead, its
foreign minister paid a solidarity visit to Jakarta while the genocide
was ongoing.
There is nothing to be heard from Singapore and Brunei aside from
concerns to resolve the situation.
And the Philippines?claiming to be the bastion of human rights in the
region ? has cited its avowed friendship with Indonesia as the reason
for not trying to ?rock the boat?. It spurned a request to mediate in
the crisis even before the UN Security Council?s decision. It did not
accommodate a meeting with Jose Ramos-Horta in Auckland. It was more
concerned of its ?friendship? with Jakarta than the plight of its fellow
Catholics and even of its own missionaries in the territory. It
reprises the position taken by then President Ramos? who bowed to the
dictates of Gen. Suharto in the wake of the watershed Asia-Pacific
Conference on East Timor in Manila in 1994. And to think that the
incumbent President?s handlers have taken pains to sculpt his image as a
human rights champion such as in the advocacy of his friend, Anwar
Ibrahim?s rights.
Nothing of course can be expected from the likes of that other pariah
state Burma. Nor from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia .
What is striking is that there has been no public recognition whatsoever
of the results of the historic ballot of independence by the East
Timorese last August 30 by ASEAN?s individual governments more so as a
collective entity. Not even a whisper. The least they could have
done was to use its ?fraternal? influence to call on Indonesia to
respect the results.
Shame on ASEAN.
The irony is that the position of ASEAN does not reflect its own
peoples? aspirations. From Bangkok to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to
Manila and even Jakarta, peoples? and sectoral movements, NGOs, civil
and civic groups, churches, political parties, students, scholars,
professionals , have taken to the streets, to the pulpits, to the
airwaves, to the media, and besieged Indonesian ligations to
unequivocally express support for the battered people of East Timor.
It is the peoples of ASEAN, and not their governments, who recognize and
are unconditionally and steadfastly accompanying the birth of the new
Timor Lorosae nation.
Perhaps it is time that the peoples in these countries transform, nay,
reclaim ASEAN.
If not, ASEAN should be dumped.
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sat Sep 18 05:40:51 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:40:51 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1300] Fw: International Youth & Student Hui Conference Declaration
Message-ID: <000801bf014c$ef40b200$4e3261cb@notoapec>
>>
>>International Youth & Student Hui Conference Declaration
>>
>>We 27 Youth and Students gathered here for the International Youth &
>>Student Hui Against APEC and Globalization on September 14 - 15 1999 at Te
>>Piringatahi o Maungaarongo Marae o Aotearoa,
>>re-affirm our commitment to strengthen the students position against APEC
>>and Globalization.
>>
>>We suffer with our people under Globalization and its policies of
>>privatization, deregulation and liberalization which commodify our land,
>>resources and people.
>>
>>Therefore, we will continue to rouse, organize and mobilize students
>>against Imperialism and the Imperialist agenda of Globalization and APEC.
>>
>>We will strive to strengthen our movements at the local, national and
>>international level. This will come about by linking the youth and student
>>movement with oppressed sectors - workers, unemployed, tangata whenua,
>>immigrant communities, peasants and women.
>>
>>Students of the Asia-Pacific have a long and proud tradition of militant
>>struggle and of serving the people. We celebrate the success this struggle
>>has brought and commit ourselves to follow in the footsteps of those
before
>>us, learning from their difficulties but re-affirm their commitment to an
>>end to oppression.
>>
>>KA WHAWHAI TONU MATOU AKE AKE AKE!
>>
>>
>>
>>Helen Te Hira
>>Liaison and Campaigns Organiser
>>Auckland University Students' Association
>>
>>
>>Ph: 64-9-3090789x260
>>Fax:64-9-3565950
>>
>>"Washing one's hand of the the conflict between the powerful and the
>>powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral"
>> -
>>Paulo Freire
From arno at daastol.com Fri Sep 17 20:04:11 1999
From: arno at daastol.com (Arno Mong Daastoel)
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:04:11 +0200
Subject: [asia-apec 1301] Fw: Please call for East Timor today
Message-ID: <000201bf00fc$7753c340$290d4382@ringebu>
----- Original Message -----
From: Dr Alan Cheney
To: ARodrig858@aol.com ; arnomd@online.no ; arnoldrubin@igc.org ; arnes002@maroon.tc.umn.edu ; armsa@uchastings.edu ; armele@laneta.apc.org ; arlepe@hotmail.com ; arivera@gdl.cinvestav.mx ; ariffin@usm.my ; Ariff_Hajee@together.org ; arielf@cyberus.ca ; ariany@cantv.net ; arianna@atasite.org ; arena@hk.net ; ardillahunt@igc.org ; arcoredes@laneta.apc.org ; arcoiris@alsernet.es ; arcla@envirolink.org ; arc@igc.apc.org ; aranch@sjm.infi.net ; araguaia@ax.apc.org ; arabny@doleh.com ; aquiroz@cecusac.gdl.iteso.mx ; aqs85905@jetson.uh.edu ; aq@ed.ac.uk ; APTI@compuserve.com ; apsari@socrates.berkeley.edu ; appasec@tm.net.my ; aposada@col1.telecom.com.co ; apoirier@igc.org ; apmmf@HK.Super.NET ; aplyer@igc.org ; apjpyama@blue.ocn.ne.jp ; apis@laneta.apc.org ; apgro@mail.dntiasi.ro ; apeters@osi-dc.org ; apersyko@labornet.org ; apen@igc.org ; apen@igc.apc.org ; apecforum-l@netserver.web.net ; apdhe@cibeles.com ; apcjp@igc.apc.org ; apalmer@uic.edu ; ap888@lafn.org ; AP2250@aol.com ; aoneill@alum.calberkeley.org ; aochoa@ggnpa.org ; anzar@ne-con.co.jp ; anwar.fazal@undp.org
Sent: Friday, September 17, 1999 9:15 AM
Subject: Please call for East Timor today
Very Urgent Action Alert
September 16, 1999
Phone Your Representative and Senators Immediately to Unblock Relief
Shipments to East Timor and to Support HR 2809 and S.1568
The situation of the refugees in East Timor is dire. According to the U.N.
Food and Agricultural Organization, about 200,000 East Timorese are at risk
of starvation if they do not immediately receive relief supplies. But the
Indonesian military (TNI) is not cooperating. The TNI is effectively
blocking Australian efforts to drop relief packages (see article below).
As part of your calls to your Congressional Representative and Senators to
garner support for HR 2809 and S.1568 (see the Urgent Action of September
15), urge Congress and the Senate to work to put immediate pressure on
Jakarta to stop the blocking of the relief airdrops.
The congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 or check
www.congress.gov or www.visi.com/juan/congress/ for additional contact information.
Apologies to non-U.S. recipients. Please call your local East Timor action group and ask how you can help.
For more information, contact Karen Orenstein at 202-544-6911 or
etanko@igc.org.
=========================================
East Timor relief drops delayed by Indonesian military: PM
SYDNEY, Sept 16 (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard said aid
drops into East Timor were not likely to go ahead Thursday because the
safety of the planes could not be assured.
Howard told Channel Nine television Australia had yet to get an Indonesian
military guarantee they would not shoot down the planes carrying
much-needed aid.
He said difficulties were being experienced because there were no clear
lines of command in Indonesia.
"We had hoped today," Howard said. "The prospect of that, I was told a few
for more minutes ago, are not all that bright because we're still having
trouble getting certain assurances from the Indonesian military authorities.
"We can't take the risk of the planes being shot down because they're
needed for other things but we want to get the aid in as soon as possible.
"Now we're working on that over time. We've got the approval of the
Indonesian minister but we haven't got the approval of the Indonesian
military."
Australian troops will help deliver the aid once it arrives on the ground.
"Under the United Nations resolution, one of the tasks of the force is to
facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance," Howard said.
END
From panap at panap.po.my Fri Sep 17 14:25:04 1999
From: panap at panap.po.my (PAN Asia Pacific)
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:25:04 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1302] Concerns Over Glyphosate Use
Message-ID:
PAN AP Pesticides and GE Campaign Update - 15 - 9 - 99
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
Please find below the Article from The Sun (Malaysia), Friday August
20, 1999 which carried PAN AP's response to Monsanto over questions
of possible links between glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, with
reference to the Hardell/Eriksson Study on NHL Links to Herbicides
that appeared in 'Cancer' on March 15,1999. PAN AP also posed
overall questions as to the 'safety' of glyphosate - according to
AGROW Crop Protection News, 211 million kg of glyphosate were used
last year and the volume is growing at an average of 20% per year.
As Dr. Hardell and Dr. Eriksson recommended in their study, "Since
the time period for diagnosis in this study, the use of glyphosate
has increase d dramatically, especially during the 1990s, and it is
now the most commo n herbicide used in Sweden.........Recently, we
published an increased risk for hairy cell leukemia, a rare type of
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, for subjects exposed to glyphosate as well as
for subjects exposed to other pesti cides. For these reasons,
glyphosate deserves further epidemiologic studies".
The article below was the fourth to appear in the SUN after PAN AP's
original Press Release - New Study Links World's Biggest Selling
Pesticides (see PAN AP Webpage for more).
For PAN AP's original, more comprehensive response to the SUN please
refer to "PAN AP's Response To Monsanto's Counter-Claims" on our
Webpage: www.poptel.org.uk/panap
-------------------------- News Article Begins -------------------
The Sun (Malaysia), Friday August 20, 1999
Concerns Over Glyphosate Use
Monsanto and PAN are embroiled in a hot debate over safety of a
widely-used herbicide. S.Puvaneswary has both sides of the story.
A widely-used herbicide which accounts for 48% of the Malaysian
market in pesticides may not be safe to use. A recent study which
shows clear links between exposure to the herbicide glyphosate and
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a form of cancer that afflicts the
lymphatic system, has caused worldwide concern over the safety of
the herbicide on humans.
The study was conducted by eminent oncologists Dr Lennart Hardell
and Dr Mikael Eriksson of Sweden and published in the journal
Cancer by the American Cancer Society on March 15.
It maintains that exposure to glyphosate "yielded increased risks
for NHL". "What these scientists unearthed is indicative of the
long-term chronic effects of pesticides", said Sarojeni V. Rengam,
executive director, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the
Pacific. "In this case, where there are serious implications to
human health, the precautionary principle must apply," she said.
"We have to take precautions against using these dangerous
chemicals."
The widely-used herbicide glyphosate indiscriminately kills off a
wide variety of weeds after application and is primarily used to
control annual and perennial plants.
PAN has called on the government to look at its regulatory standards
on glyphosate residues because if such monitoring is not immediately
done, the health of Malaysians would be at risk as glyphosate
accounts for about 48% of the Malaysian market in pesticides,
according to AGROW Crop Protection Report, 1996.
The Hardell study is the centre of a debate between Monsanto, which
refutes its findings, and PAN which upholds the study. The US firm
manufactures Roundup, a glyphosate herbicide.
The arguments and counter-arguments of both parties relating to the
study were sent to the SUN.
Monsanto's Argument:
Previous evaluations conducted by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that
glyphosate is not mutagenic or carcinogenic.
WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have
approved the safety of glyphosate residues in genetically-engineered
Roundup Ready soya beans.
PAN's Counter Argument:
The EPA and WHO evaluations were done more than five years ago and
are based mainly on data submitted to them by Monsanto. These
evaluations did conclude that "there is no evidence of mutagenicity
or carcinogenicity" based on the available data, but they do not
support definitive assertions that glyphosate "is not mutagenic or
carcinogenic".
Previous EPA and WHO evaluations which made similar claims
for other chemicals had to be revised as new evidence came to
light.
The establishment of the WHO's Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) is b
ased on limited studies using limited parameters which do not
account for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, the
sick and other groups that might have increased susceptibility to
glyphosate exposure.
Monsanto's Argument:
Well-characterised scientific literature reviewing over 1,000
studies over the last 25 years demonstrates that extraordinary
safety of glyphosate, the active ingredient of roundup herbicide.
PAN's Counter Argument:
There are very few independent studies on glyphosate available in
published scientific literature and no responsible reviewer of
health science literature, health scientist, or toxicologist would
claim "extraordinary safety" for glyphosate.
Data from independent sources indicate serious concerns
about glyphosate toxicity.
In 1995, the National Poisons Centre reported an increase of
glyphosate poisonings in Malaysia. In the UK, it was reported that
glyphosate was the most frequent cause of complaints and incidents
from pesticides recorded by the Health and Safety Executive.
Monsanto's Argument:
The epidemiology study conducted by oncologists Hardell and Eriksson
did not find statistically significant associations between NHL and
reported cases of fungicides and herbicides.
Reported use of glyphosate, along with reported use of
several other herbicides showed a weak, not statistically
significant association with NHL.
PAN's Counter Argument:
A weak association is an association nevertheless, and could be
statistically significant given that 211 million kg of glyphosate
were used last year and the volume is growing at an average of 20%
per year.
The Hardell study observed a positive association between
exposure to glyphosate and NHL, in which, chance and bias could be
ruled out with reasonable confidence.
Monsanto's Argument:
Exposure to glyphosate is not likely to be meaningful. Exposure
opportunity is almost exclusively through dermal contact.
Glyphosate has shown very low skin penetrability in experimental
studies.
PAN's Counter Argument:
Scientific principles, particularly toxicokinetics, must apply. The
exposed person will be subjected to risks of adverse effects, known
or unknown.
Even if the chemical has low vapor pressure, appreciable
inhalation exposure can occur since micro-droplets can form and
particulates can be carried by movement of air. Oral intake can
also occur through contaminated food or water.
The fact that glyphosate is a systemic herbicide and
persists in the environment for a relatively long period of time (as
long as 3 years in soil) makes it likely to enter the body through
residues in food and water.
Residues are unlikely to be removed from plant tissues and
use of glyphosate in animal feed can result in residues in animal
food products such as meat, milk and eggs. Residues are stable to
up to one year in plant materials and water and up to two years in
animal products in storage.
Finally PAN upholds the right of farmers, workers and consumers to
be informed, and to have access to all the information on poisons
that they are using, spraying, and possibly consuming.
In its statement to the SUN, PAN upholds the right of people to make
informed choices on what they may be exposed to, and whether they
are willing to be exposed to these chemicals.
-------------------------- Article ENDS ------------------------
PAN Asia Pacific
P.O. Box 1170
10850 Penang
Malaysia
Tel.: 604-6570271
604-6560381
Fax.: 604-6577445
http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap
From rcollins at netlink.com.au Sat Sep 18 12:36:33 1999
From: rcollins at netlink.com.au (rc-am)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 13:36:33 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1303] Fw: Detained American Journalist Faces Imprisonment
Message-ID: <00cb01bf018e$0054bb40$e7e13ecb@rcollins>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 19:02:39 -0400
From: "John M. Miller"
For Immediate Release
Contact: Amy Goodman 212-209-2812
John Miller 718-596-7668
DETAINED AMERICAN JOURNALIST FACES IMPRISONMENT
Journalist Allan Nairn remains in military detention after three days of
questioning by Indonesian authorities.
Nairn is being held and interrogated by the local Immigration Chief in
Kupang, West Timor, Mr. Zurya. According to Zurya, the Indonesian
regime
is divided over his fate: Justice Minister Muladi and Information
Minister
General Yunus Yosfiah, want Nairn deported; while Benny Mateus, the
Chief
Justice of Nusa Tenggara Timor province wants Nairn prosecuted and
jailed.
Nairn. The immigration chief said Nairn could face up to 10 years
imprisonment.
During his interrogation, Nairn was asked to hand write a statement
(full
text attached). In the statement, Nairn said:
"I know that the army has put me on the black list. They did this
because I
watched their soldiers murder more than 271 people at the Santa Cruz
cemetery. . . . Because I survived the massacre and denounced the crime
to
the outside world, the TNI/ABRI and the Suharto government banned me as
a
"threat to national security." That ban has been reaffirmed by each
subsequent TNI/ABRI commander, including General Tanjung and General
Wiranto."
Nairn was one of the last journalists to remain in East Timor after the
Indonesian military and militias began to sack Dili, forcing nearly all
United Nations personnel and independent observers to flee the country.
Indonesian soldiers picked him up at a military checkpoint on September
14
5:30am(Dili time). He was then taken to KOREM, central army command
headquarters for East Timor. There he was questioned by the Indonesian
general in charge of martial law as hundreds of Itarak militia amassed
in
the back of the army compound.
On September 16, the military expelled Nairn from East Timor, flying him
in
a military jet to Indonesian West Timor. Also on the plane were militia
armed with automatic weapons.
Nairn is a freelance journalist who filed regular reports from East
Timor
for news organizations, including The Nation magazine and Pacifica
Radio.
In 1991, while reporting for The New Yorker magazine, Nairn survived the
1991 Santa Cruz massacre in which Indonesian soldiers, armed with U.S.
supplied M-16s, gunned down more than 250 unarmed Timorese. Soldiers
fractured Nairn's skull at the time.
After the massacre Nairn, (together with Amy Goodman of WBAI/Pacifica
Radio) was banned from Indonesia and occupied Timor as "a threat to
national security." The ban has since been personally reaffirmed by the
TNI commander, General Wiranto. Nairn returned to East Timor without the
knowledge of the Indonesian armed forces in 1994 and 1998.
Earlier this year, in defiance of the ban, Nairn again entered
Indonesia. He has been in occupied East Timor since August.
Nairn has covered military and human rights issues since 1980. His
reporting from Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Indonesia, East Timor and
other places, has won the George Polk Award, the Robert F. Kennedy
Prize
for International Reporting, The DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton, as well
as
awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the
Radio/Television News Directors Association.
# # #
For Immediate Release
Contact: Amy Goodman 212-209-2812
John Miller 718-596-7668
DETAINED AMERICAN JOURNALIST FACES IMPRISONMENT
Journalist Allan Nairn remains in military detention after three days of
questioning by Indonesian authorities.
Nairn is being held and interrogated by the local Immigration Chief in
Kupang, West Timor, Mr. Zurya. According to Zurya, the Indonesian
regime
is divided over his fate: Justice Minister Muladi and Information
Minister
General Yunus Yosfiah, want Nairn deported; while Benny Mateus, the
Chief
Justice of Nusa Tenggara Timor province wants Nairn prosecuted and
jailed.
Nairn. The immigration chief said Nairn could face up to 10 years
imprisonment.
During his interrogation, Nairn was asked to hand write a statement
(full
text attached). In the statement, Nairn said:
"I know that the army has put me on the black list. They did this
because I
watched their soldiers murder more than 271 people at the Santa Cruz
cemetery. . . . Because I survived the massacre and denounced the crime
to
the outside world, the TNI/ABRI and the Suharto government banned me as
a
"threat to national security." That ban has been reaffirmed by each
subsequent TNI/ABRI commander, including General Tanjung and General
Wiranto."
Nairn was one of the last journalists to remain in East Timor after the
Indonesian military and militias began to sack Dili, forcing nearly all
United Nations personnel and independent observers to flee the country.
Indonesian soldiers picked him up at a military checkpoint on September
14
5:30am(Dili time). He was then taken to KOREM, central army command
headquarters for East Timor. There he was questioned by the Indonesian
general in charge of martial law as hundreds of Itarak militia amassed
in
the back of the army compound.
On September 16, the military expelled Nairn from East Timor, flying him
in
a military jet to Indonesian West Timor. Also on the plane were militia
armed with automatic weapons.
Nairn is a freelance journalist who filed regular reports from East
Timor
for news organizations, including The Nation magazine and Pacifica
Radio.
In 1991, while reporting for The New Yorker magazine, Nairn survived the
1991 Santa Cruz massacre in which Indonesian soldiers, armed with U.S.
supplied M-16s, gunned down more than 250 unarmed Timorese. Soldiers
fractured Nairn's skull at the time.
After the massacre Nairn, (together with Amy Goodman of WBAI/Pacifica
Radio) was banned from Indonesia and occupied Timor as "a threat to
national security." The ban has since been personally reaffirmed by the
TNI commander, General Wiranto. Nairn returned to East Timor without the
knowledge of the Indonesian armed forces in 1994 and 1998.
Earlier this year, in defiance of the ban, Nairn again entered
Indonesia. He has been in occupied East Timor since August.
Nairn has covered military and human rights issues since 1980. His
reporting from Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Indonesia, East Timor and
other places, has won the George Polk Award, the Robert F. Kennedy
Prize
for International Reporting, The DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton, as well
as
awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the
Radio/Television News Directors Association.
# # #
This is point l8 of the interrogation report on Allan Nairn. This
is the part where the Immigration chief asks him to handwrite his
position.
I know that the army has put me on the black list. They did this
because I watched their soldiers murder more than 271 people at the
Santa
Cruz cemetery. This crime was the responsibility of the Indonesian army
commander, General Try Sutrisno and the Minister of Defense, General
Benny
Murdani.
The murders were committed with American M-16 rifles. The
American
government also bears some of the responsibility because they have
armed,
trained and given money to the TNI/ABRI, even though they knew the
TNI/ABRI
is led by murderers and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Timorese, Acehnese, West Papuan and Indonesian civilians.
Because I survived the massacre and denounced the crime to the
outside world, the TNI/ABRI and the Suharto government banned me as a
"threat to national security." That ban has been reaffirmed by each
subsequent TNI/ABRI commander, including General Tanjung and General
Wiranto.
I do not think that I am a threat to the Indonesian or Timorese
people, but I hope that I am a threat to General Wiranto and General
Tanjung, and the other present and former leaders of the TNI/ABRI. I
believe that they feel threatened by anyone who would expose their
crimes.
General Wiranto and Generals Bambang, Zacky, Syafei, Kiki, and many
others,
for example, are responsible for the current militia terror in occupied
East Timor and for the increase in repression against the people of
Aceh.
This is no secret to the people of Timor or to the people of Indonesia
or
Aceh. They have suffered for decades under the repression and corruption
of
TNI/ABRI.vMany brave Indonesians, Timorese, Acehnese, and West Papuans
have
been killed, arrested, tortured or raped because they dared to criticize
the army and demand their right to freedom.
As a foreigner and a journalist, particularly an American
journalist,
I know that I enjoy a certain de facto political leeway that enables me
to
say things that local people would be killed for saying. I have tried to
use that privilege to tell the truth about TNI/ABRI. If, because of
this,
the army feels they must arrest or jail me, then I know that there is
nothing I can do to stop them. But they know that they cannot arrest or
kill all the people of Indonesia. That is why they are now so fearful,
and
that is why I believe they will lose their desperate struggle to retain
their hold on power and their police state.
During my most recent detention, I have been interrogated by
officials from army Intel, police Intel, Kopassus Group 5, and many
other
units. They have asked me many questions about my political motives and
opinions. I would summarize my opinions this way:
I am pro human rights, pro democracy, and anti TNI/ABRI. I am a
supporter of the people of East Timor, Aceh, West Papua, and Indonesia,
and
an opponent of the officials who have repressed and exploited them.
As an American citizen who is visiting Indonesia and occupied
East
Timor, I also want to be clear that I believe in even-handedness. The
same
political, moral and legal standards that are applied to TNI/ABRI
officers
should also be applied to the officers and political leaders of the
United
States. So while I support the UN Secretary-General's call for war
crimes
and crimes against humanity prosecution on East Timor, I think that the
prosecution should not be limited to Indonesian officials. Foreign
officials who were accomplices to atrocities in East Timor, and provided
both murder weapons and the logistics of repression should also be
charged,
prosecuted and if convicted, jailed.
Pragmatically, it is hard to imagine General Wiranto sitting in
jail.
It is even harder to imagine President Clinton as his cellmate. But
justice
should be impartial.
It is time for the genocide to end. Untold thousands of Timorese
lie
slaughtered. Their families are bereft. The victims of Santa Cruz,
Liquica,
and Suai can no longer speak. Those of us who can should insist that the
killing stop right now. And we should also insist that the killers face
justice, regardless of who they are.
These same principles apply of course to atrocities everywhere. I
think that this is a simple idea and that most people would agree.
If General Wiranto or any other officials have further questions
about my views, I would be glad to answer them personally at a time and
place of their choosing. I would also be glad to give details on the
crimes
referred to above, and on the complicity in them of General Wiranto and
other officials.
END
etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
John M. Miller Internet: etan-outreach@igc.apc.org
Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network
PO Box 150753, Brooklyn, NY 11215-0753 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097
Web site: http://www.etan.org
Send a blank e-mail message to timor-info@igc.apc.org to find out how to
learn
more about East Timor on the Internet
etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
From rcollins at netlink.com.au Sun Sep 19 00:43:17 1999
From: rcollins at netlink.com.au (rc-am)
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 01:43:17 +1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1304] More antisecurity bill protests hit Jakarta
Message-ID: <010b01bf01ec$aa73f920$61ac10cb@rcollins>
[from today's JP, and certainly something to keep a close eye on. -
Angela]
Jakarta Post
http://www.thejakartapost.com/jakpost/landscape.htm
More antisecurity bill protests hit Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): Protests against the state security bill intensified on
Friday with a mass rally involving some 2,000 students from various
groups and universities.
Occurring a few meters away from the House of Representatives (DPR)
compound, the protest against the bill, which is likely to be endorsed
by House members on Thursday next week, was marred by a clash between
troops and protesters.
Three security officers and a student from the police-run Bhayangkara
University suffered minor injuries during the clash, which was ignited
after the protesters began throwing stones at the troops.
Since the beginning of last week, Jakartans and residents of other big
cities across the country have witnessed a series of street rallies
protesting the bill.
The protesters, mostly from student organizations, have demanded the
military-sponsored bill be dropped before the current House members end
their tenure next Friday.
The demonstrators say if the bill is not stopped the military will have
sweeping powers to intimidate, torture, arrest and even kill civilians.
Protesters have also decried the bill for investing the government and
the military with excessive powers.
Except for an incident which took place on Wednesday when troops kicked
and beat protesters, no serious clashes have occurred at the
demonstrations.
Demonstrators at Friday's rally included members of City Forum (Forkot),
the Alliance of People and Students, Trisakti Students Unity Action, the
Unity Forum and the Students Action for Democracy Forum. University
students in attendance hailed from Bhayangkara University (Untag), the
17 Agustus 1945 University, State Veteran Development University and the
University of Indonesian Administration Foundation (YAI).
A tight security cordon of some 500 riot officers prevented any of the
protesters from reaching the DPR gate.
As in the previous days, the protesters were blocked by troops under the
Senayan flyover.
Prior to their arrival at the site, the students -- riding in different
convoys -- apparently succeeded in keeping security troops across the
capital busy by driving around in minibuses before making their way to
the House compound.
Several members of Forkot were seen carrying iron and wooden sticks, of
which the tips had been sharpened.
Untag students were behind the organization of Friday's noisy rally.
Driving in two public minibuses from their North Jakarta campus, 60
Untag students arrived at 2 p.m. at the scene, which was already fully
blockaded by troops.
During the rally, the students also called for the trial of former
president Soeharto.
About 45 minutes later, some 40 YAI students arrived, raising tensions
between the security officers and the protesters.
While the security personnel were kept busy with the arrival of the YAI
students, approximately 70 students took the opportunity to reach the
DPR compound, but were hastily blocked at the gate.
Two representatives were successful in meeting with a DPR spokesperson
to air their demands, which concerned the Lippogate scandal.
Despite the swelling numbers of demonstrators, the only incident
occurred at about 6 p.m. when students began pelting stones at officers
as the protesters were preparing to leave the area.
In a related development, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso called on the public
not to join the rallies in order to let House members "perform their
duties".
The state security bill stipulates the authority of the President to
declare a state of emergency in troubled territories.
It allows the military to carry out investigations and raids, and take
over all mail, telecommunications and electronic facilities. An
emergency also allows a ban or limitation on demonstrations and public
exposure through print and electronic media.
In the event of a state of emergency, the bill states that the military
chief would have sweeping powers, such as barring demonstrations, a move
which would contradict existing laws. (04/03/ylt/asa/jun)
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Mon Sep 20 22:36:09 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 06:36:09 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1305] Antonio Tujan (IBON) on Alternatives To The APEC Agenda
Message-ID: <001701bf036d$1a264ee0$633261cb@notoapec>
Alternatives to the APEC Agenda
Antonio Tujan Jr.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE APEC AGENDA
At every APEC Leaders' Meeting from Bogor, Indonesia to the present here in Auckland, New Zealand, the East Timor people and their supporters have hounded the APEC leaders to protest and demand action on the issue of Indonesian invasion and genocide in East Timor. They have been told instead that as an association of economies, the APEC involved simply with economic matters and they should take their case elsewhere.
We know, of course, that the issue of East Timor is not simply about colonial expansionism and genocide, but is about economy. The reason behind the Indonesian occupation of East Timor is not to save East Timor from the Portuguese or reclaim it, but the age-old reason behind colonial expansion: to take control over the rich natural resources of East Timor.
And what prevents the APEC powers from intervening in the issue in the name of humanity is not respect for Indonesia's sovereignty, just as the US did not bother to consider Yugoslavia's sovereignty in engineering a NATO bombing and invasion. It is hypocrisy to blame the so-called militias for the carnage and wait for Indonesia's invitation when it is plainly clear as confirmed by independent observers that the Indonesian military is responsible for these militias and is directly involved in killing civilians.
The reason for this is also economic. APEC powers such as the US, Canada, Australia and Japan, as well as New Zealand are keenly aware that their billions of investments and trade with Indonesia could be jeopardized if they should step on the toes of the Indonesian elite still dominated by Suharto and the military bureaucracy.
APEC is indeed not simply about economic concerns because the APEC agenda for free trade and globalization affects our very lives and the fate of our communities. This agenda is putting the corporation and its greed for profits over every facet if our lives. APEC is putting the agenda of the corporation to amass superprofits above the interests of the people, above our welfare, social services and security.
It has been often been mentioned how important the APEC is because of the economic clout of the Pacific rim countries that comprise it. Indeed, the APEC brings into its fold many of the world's major economic powers and emerging major economic players like China and the ASEAN. The Asia-Pacific is a broad and complex grouping of diverse countries, a fact that makes the APEC a challenging and formidable project, and at the same time, an important international political economic instrument - whether for the interest of developing economic cooperation between countries or something more.
Whatever were the intentions of the academics and technocrats who conceptualized the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation as an international organization, and the political intentions of the governments which initiated it, economic and technical cooperation in the APEC soon gave way to the exigencies of real politik in the Asia-Pacific. The APEC became a convenient counterfoil to an emerging Japan-ASEAN force in the Western Pacific, in this manner serving US interests for hegemony in the Pacific.
An effective tool for neoliberal globalization
Beyond the interplay of regional and interregional issues in the APEC are the major issues that dominate the APEC: the promotion of free trade and the whole program of neoliberal globalization and through this, the promotion of the US agenda for hegemony in the Pacific. Ever since Seattle, when the US altered the political and programmatic agenda of APEC along the lines of free trade, the APEC has evolved into an important international tool or mechanism for neoliberal restructuring of Pacific rim countries.
The APEC has served to broadcast in its early years the powerful message for globalization and the myth that this is an inexorable process brought about by technological revolution. The layman and even a number of NGOs have bought this lie that since technology is for development and the welfare of humankind, then globalization is good. And since business controls technology, then they must be given free rein to invest, trade and supposedly develop our economies. And There Is No Alternative.
For many countries indebted to the IMF and the World Bank, globalization was implemented through the Washington consensus that imposed policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization as components of the Structural Adjustment Programs. For many others, an elaborate campaign and diplomatic offensive was utilized that used the example of the so-called Asian tigers as an attraction, or used the example of the economic collapse of the Soviet blocs countries as supposed proof of the superiority of the market. In most cases, the globalists just plainly threatened everyone with even more crisis if they do not jump unto the globalization bandwagon.
The APEC is an important mechanism to sustain a momentum for neoliberal restructuring for an important economic chunk of the globe. This is achieved by creating an overall political atmosphere and pressure for liberalization, especially in trade. It has been effective in drawing in such politically difficult countries like China and Malaysia and dealing with regional economic interests of Japan, ASEAN or Australia. Besides such measures as insisting that it is an association of economies, the APEC has achieved this by using herd tactics, actually calling working group leaders as "shepherds" headed by a "lead shepherd".
Additionally, liberalization is achieved through specific political pressuring and commitments for sector liberalization and country programs. The annual Leaders' Meetings provide an occasion and, in a sense, a deadline towards hammering out specific agreements and commitments on particular key issues such as country commitments in Manila, trade in information technology and telecommunications in Vancouver or Early Voluntary Sector Liberalization for a number of commodity lines in Kuala Lumpur.
Liberalization of the Asia-Pacific countries is also further achieved insiduously through programs involving economic and technical cooperation that are meant to ensure that protectionist policies are removed from legitimate social and environmental concerns. Such is the policy handling of marine resources conservation, or promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for example.
Another aspect that makes the APEC distinct is its concern for trade facilitation. Beyond implementing economic policies, the APEC addresses such issues as harmonization of standards and procedures among many others that actually make the difference in realizing free trade.
Finally, the APEC is more than just trade liberalization. When it raised the slogan of "APEC means business!" in 1996 in Manila, the APEC clearly proclaimed its dictum of corporate rule. The overall APEC objective is to realize not simply the promotion of business among APEC countries through increased trade and investment, but unabashedly uphold the primacy of business interests in the formulation of economic policy.
This is not to mean that corporate control has not been present in our governments this century. What it simply means, is that under globalization, monopoly capital has become more aggressive and blatant in exercising control over the state in order to erode social protection and services over nations and peoples.
Among multilateral and plurilateral organizations, only the APEC has so far gone beyond the tenets of neoliberalism and exposed the hand of monopoly capital in enshrining the concept of corporate-state partnership through the ubiquitous role of the ABAC in its affairs. The ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) has become something of an arbiter of what should be done and what is right in the various working groups and committees of the APEC.
The APEC has openly provided monopoly capital, in the guise of the ABAC, direct hand in influencing or determining the policies APEC countries must take in order to facilitate business. In this way, the APEC becomes an effective tool in harmonizing and restructuring countries in the Asia-Pacific in order that monopoly capital realizes faster the benefits of globalization. Under the baton of the US, this can only mean providing the US monopoly corporations the competitive edge in the Pacific rim. Thus trade facilitation over and above economic and technical cooperation makes the APEC more powerful than simply implementing liberalization.
Some quarters have opined that the APEC has lost its direction and has reached a cul-de-sac in its development. It may be true that the APEC has failed in its principal mission of fastracking trade liberalization. But the US as the dominant force in determining the development of APEC remains aggressive in pushing forward the agenda for liberalization in the APEC member economies, as shown in its initiatives such as that on e-commerce, IT products, and the EVSL (Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization) initiative.
However, the APEC has not been able to follow the pace that the US wants as its initiatives face the difficulties in the diversity of reactions and complicated processes among member economies. Furthermore, as an organization for liberalization, economic cooperation and trade facilitation operating in several sectors and issues or concerns as the same time, the APEC has evolved into more than two hundred projects, many of them overlapping, giving the impression of confusion. But these initiatives are all moving, albeit in extreme difficulty, in the direction of of realizing the goals set forth in Bogor and Manila.
As the initiatives for expanding and accelerating the overall process of neoliberal globalization moves to the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle this November, the APEC has not become lost. It has simply taken a back seat to the WTO. And the APEC continues to play its supportive role in realizing the US agenda in the WTO.
The Seattle Leaders' Meeting did not only bring forth a new APEC that put Japan and Mahathir's Malaysia in its proper place under US Pacific hegemony. The APEC also became a foil that pushed the European Union back to the negotiating table for the final Uruguay Round agreement of the GATT. Since then, the APEC continues to reflect the top issues in the US agenda for the continuing process of globalization. As the Seattle Ministerial Meeting comes near, the APEC meetings increasing echo the forthcoming issues in the effort to accelerate the process of liberalization in such crucial areas as government procurement, e-commerce, investment, and competition policy.
The APEC cannot be reformed
The APEC Leaders' Meetings have served the purpose of grandstanding the APEC agenda for globalization as well as push for specific policy initiatives for trade liberalization. However, these media events have also become an occasion that has drawn the various political issues in the various APEC countries creating much political difficulty for organizing these circuses. The recent example in Auckland is the issue of East Timor. More importantly, these occasions have also provided the people's movements in various APEC countries an opportunity to develop their solidarity and raise an increasingly loud voice of protest that serve to delegitimize APEC.
The APEC is deceptive because of the agenda for economic and technical cooperation and trade facilitation built into its program of liberalization. Furthermore, the APEC has responded into such social concerns as the environment, migrant labor and women. But in each case, government-business partnership that makes the APEC has succeeded in turning its supposedly egalitarian social and economic concerns into a triumph of the market each time.
The APEC must be junked as an instrument of globalization and corporate power. It is intensifying the people's difficult plight through its agenda for monopoly capitalist profiteering in partnership with government. It is a tool to destroy the sovereignty of nations through various ways and guises in advancing superpower domination. Globalization and trade liberalization continues to marginalize and impoverish our peoples, destroying their jobs and livelihood.
For example, the Philippines has been an exporter of sugar since the nineteenth century. This century it has been a major global exporter at the rate of two million tons annually at its peak in the 1970s. But semifeudal conditions in the production of sugar have eroded this productive capacity and now the Philippines is hardly self-sufficient in sugar. On the other hand, reduction of tariffs under the GATT and the AFTA has resulted in the massive inflow of cheaper Australian and Thai sugar. As a result, the hundreds of thousands of small and medium farmers are facing bankruptcy while the even more numerous farmworkers stand to lose their jobs.
Another urgent issue is corn. Corn has been left rotting in the fields in Cotabato, south of the Philippines, in this year's harvest season. The reason being peddled in Manila is that there is a lack of postharvest facilities since the warehouses are bulging with newly harvested stocks. What is not being revealed is that livestock raisers are no longer buying this corn since they have been allowed to import US corn at less than P5 per kilo, even lower than domestic production costs. Warehouses are full of newly harvested corn because no one is buying the more expansive local yellow corn.
New issues in the WTO Seattle Ministerial Meeting
In the whole framework of trade liberalization and globalization, the APEC is directly linked to the GATT Uruguay Round and the WTO. As the preeminent multilateral framework for trade liberalization, the WTO sets general standards for liberalization in the APEC. On the other hand, the APEC helps pushes the US agenda in the WTO against EU and other countries. Furthermore, the APEC can and does serve to protect and strengthen US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.
The Seattle Ministerial Meeting of the WTO is exceedingly important because of the EU and US agenda to push for a Millennium Round in order to expand liberalization to new areas. This is over and above their intention to strengthen the effectivity of the current agreements covered by the built-in agenda for review such as the Agreement on Agriculture, the TRIPS and the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
There is a growing movement among farmers and peasants all over the world led by La Via Campesina demanding that the agriculture must be taken out of the WTO. Third World agriculture, in particular, has been ravaged by trade liberalization through the GATT Agreement on Agriculture. Through this agreement, self-sufficient agricultural systems in Third World countries are being destroyed through competition from cheap subsidized agricultural imports from the First World countries. Furthermore, transnational corporations like Monsanto and Cargill are creating massive restructuring of agriculture, controlling inputs and trade and marginalizing small farmers in the process and leading them to bankruptcy.
There is also a growing global movement calling upon governments to reject the US and EU pressures for a new so-called Millennium Round. This round must be prevented in order that their objectives to negotiate new agreements are foiled. Among these new agreements are the effort to bring a multilateral framework on investment to replace the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment. On this point alone, the Millennium Round must be stopped.
But other equally damaging agreements to expand the scope of trade and investment liberalization are in the works. The proposed agreement on competition policy is not about curtailing global monopoly transnational corporations of the First World, but about dismantling the effort of Third World countries to temporarily cushion the impact of trade liberalization by instituting controls such as import licensing.
There are also negotiations towards a new agreement for the liberalization of government procurement. Previously privatization of the government in utilities and infrastructure besides states assets and social services has resulted in the megasales that have expanded the horizon for monopoly capital investment, and added tremendously to the phenomenon of commercialization under globalization. Now, the proposed liberalization of government procurement will ensure that transnational giants are able to wrestle their way into a major area for business transaction and trade in the procure of government supplies and equipment like computers, telecommunications and even office supplies.
More agreements are being proposed, including an agreement into e-commerce which would provide tremendous economic advantage to US corporations in banking and finance as well as in the software and information trade. Another one is also bring brought forward into the APEC and the WTO which would ensure the free trade in products made from genetically modified organisms or what is euphemistically called trade in biotechnology products.
People's Alternatives to Trade
Trade is necessary because of differences in our communities. While New Zealand produces dairy products, trade brings these products to the Philippines where tropical conditions do not make it very efficient to raise dairy cows. On the other hand, the Philippines raises tropical fruits like pineapples which would not grow very well or would have to be grown under very inefficient utilization of energy in temperate New Zealand.
Trade allows the equalization of these differences where trade is conducted between communities and countries under conditions of equality, cooperation and mutual benefit. In this manner, trade not only directly benefits the people who can enjoy these products but also can be made a contributory factor for economic and social development.
Trade, however, can also be made and has historically acted as a force to perpetuate inequality among communities. It has promoted this inequality and has become an instrument for economic subjugation of weaker communities, of colonization. The principal reason for this is that trade is not simply an egalitarian intercourse between communities most of the time, but between merchants or by merchant entities who trade for profit.
Under monopoly capitalism, trade becomes a powerful economic tool of imperialism. Free trade for monopoly capitalism means giving free hand to monopoly capital to expand its monopoly and increase the extraction of superprofits from the colonies and semicolonies. Trade not so much about exchange of commodities between countries as exchange of commodities between transnational corporations which control a full two-thirds of world trade. And if we take into account the fact that one third of world trade is conducted as intra-TNC transactions, then trade clearly takes on a new dimension of corporate exploitation of labor and resources in weaker countries.
The APEC Agenda for Imperialist Globalization
We all know that the APEC is not just about trade liberalization. When we planned for the APEC protests and conferences in Manila we decided that APEC's agenda for imperialist globalization best captures the totality of the issue that APEC means for the people of the Asia-Pacific. But some of us said that globalization, per se, is nothing new. It has come in waves of imperialist colonization since the 19th century.
But what is new with this new wave of globalization is that it has a neoliberal agenda to realize the objective of expansion of markets for trade and investment and intensification of exploitation for superprofits. This phenomenon can best be summed up in four points: First, a global crisis of overproduction that has reached critical proportions in the devastating recessionary crises in the 80's provides the conditions for intensifying competition among TNCs and the impetus to open up countries for more trade and investment.
Second, globalists have foisted new myths of neoliberalism to justify the globalist economic policies. These are the myths that would have us believe that globalization is about technology and is good, that globalization is about increased business and is absolutely necessary to survive, that there is no alternative to the inexorable process of globalization.
Third, for the same objective to expand markets for goods and investments, colonizers utilize new instruments of liberalization of trade, investment and finance, deregulation and privatization. Some have called this process recolonization. However, for the Maori and Filipino peoples, for example, who have remained neo-colonized, this process is the intensification of this neo-colonialism.
Fourthly, this is the neoliberalism of monopoly capital for whom it principally benefits. Small and medium capitalists have been marginalized or even dispossessed in the rapacious process of accummulation as a result of the opening of markets and the resulting destruction of productive forces in various globalized countries. This neoliberalism is an oxymoron, for these are monopolists utilizing liberal phraseology and policies in order to remove barriers to their monopoly operations.
As a natural result, we are witness to a rapid process of even greater concentration of wealth and resources in monopoly conglomerates. Every industry and sector of economic activity in the world today is monopolized further by a smaller group of supermonopolies, so to speak, as mergers and acquisitions continue everyday. This also means the greater concentration of power and greater danger of fascism in the world today.
Alternatives to the APEC Agenda of Globalization
Our response to neoliberalism cannot simply be a return to Keynesian economics of greater state intervention to prevent unbridled monopoly capitalism. Neoliberalism has in fact exposed in all its nakedness the violence and greed of capitalism. It is not our wont and interest to strengthen capitalism through Keynesian neo-classical policies.
Neither can our response be to seek narrow nationalist protection from foreign inroads without critically pursuing equitable social benefits from trade and other economic endeavors for our peoples and communities. This would simply be strengthening and protection our own bourgeoisie which are actually tied to global monopoly capital and whose interest is simply protecting itself while ensuring the opening up of other countries for their own benefit.
Governments and the elite talk about economic development or even sustainable development as their goal. We cannot disagree with this although we would emphasize that sustainable economic development must fundamentally be rooted in social development and the achievement of equity, soveriegnty and liberation, even.
They say the objective to achieve this goal is through continuous economic growth while we say that the objective should be to ensure social development, food security, social services and welfare and so on. They assume then that the key to continuous economic growth is business as the engine of growth while we say that the key to social development is people supported by a pro-people policy of governance.
Naturally, if these neo-classical economists want continuous economic growth through business development, then the problem lies in the lack of efficiency in various economic sectors, an inefficiency that is also brought about by protectionism. We say this means colonization and monopoly. What is needed is the dismantling of monopoly and the institution of social protection and welfare.
We must fight for the people's alternatives to globalization. I will not go into specific models of the peoples' alternatives. It is for us to develop these models, to work on these models as we advance our resistance to globalization. In fact, this resistance stands as our first and most important alternative to globalization.
Models for working alternatives to globalization are also drawn from our own daily experiences and from that of our communities. And finally, these models are rooted in our histories as peoples and as communities.
In developing these models, we draw guidance and inspiration from fundamental principles that put the people first in our agenda and underscore our opposition to globalization. First is equality. Our economic alternatives must be founded on the objective to achieve equality of access to resources, opportunity to livelihood and economic well-being, and share in the social fruits of labor.
Second is power. Related to the issue of equality is the issue of distribution of power over resources and production, and over the fruits or bounty of society. Related to this issue is the objective of achieving sovereignty for the people and their empowerment in the society's economic, social, political and cultural life.
Third is democracy. The foundation of democracy is of course the people's empowerment, that sovereignty resides in the people and not simply on discrete political institutions of government. And this is why I usually talk of the myth of democracy, not only in Third World countries like the Philippines which is obviously not democratic, but more so in the developed countries in the Free World where democratic institutions supposedly exist and the people enjoy democracy.
Sovereignty rightfully resides in the people and therefore it must be reclaimed, asserted and expressed by the people. Assertion of the people's economic sovereignty means reclaiming their control over the communities' resources, ensuring the people's livelihood and economic welfare, achieving economic development for our societies and implementing the equitable redistribution of resources, opportunities and the products of society's labor.
Sometimes I wonder which country is more democratic. Or maybe the people in the First World enjoy only a little more democracy than the Philippines. Our country is so obviously not democratic that we do not take democracy for granted and must fight for it all the time. Thus our media is very boisterous and also very precious for freedom-loving Filipinos.
This is the reason why we have this funny concoction called "people power" where if one feels oppressed then one finds recourse not so much in government or the justice system but in the streets through militant protest. This situation has reached absurd proportions where government officials who feel they have been wronged by higher officials resort to "people power" by their supporters in order to find redress or even to pressure higher offices of government to grant their demands.
We now have the case of Charter Change which is a very big issue in our country. The democratic forces are fighting the government's effort to globalize the Constitution and in the process extend the term of President Estrada and his party. I was asked in a forum by a fourteen year old high school student why we should bother preventing charter change when the constitution is not at all good and is not being respected in the first place.
Indeed, the Cha-Cha as it is called in the Philippines, is not a grand democratic process of fighting for a better, democratic Constitution. Rather it is simply a political fight between neo-liberals who want to globalize the Constitution and the progressive movement which is simply trying to prevent the Estrada government from turning this Constitution into a worse one. In this way, we hope to protect what little Constitutional or legal protection we still have for national patrimony and the people's economic rights.
For example we have an Indigenous People's Rights Act in the Philippines which does not really give the indigenous peoples their democratic rights and ancestral domain, but instead provides the opportunity for corporations and individuals to legally take away the indigenous people's ancestral domain from them. Thus we have many cases of indigenous peoples such many Manobo tribes in Mindanao which have decided not to deal with this law nor with the government and would rather fight in the towns and in the forests to keep their ancestral domain.
Finally, we have solidarity. A people's solidarity founded on equality underpins our national and international relations and struggles. This solidarity can only be achieved until those who are dominant whether by class, gender, race, ethnicity and so on recognize their dehumanization by their dominance or are dethroned by those they dominate.
For example, many men activists in the Philippines fashion and call themselves feminists in recognition of the gender issue and women oppression. I may be recognized as one of the foremost supporters of the women's movement in the Philippines but I have come to realize in time that I am only a theoretical feminist. That one can become a true feminist if one has fully understood and felt the pain in being a woman in this patriarchal world.
It is easy for us to talk about strengthening the public domain, or of making public key industries, assets and enterprises for the public good. But unless the foundation by which this public sector is based on genuine solidarity and equality, is based on struggle to achieve that equality, then what is made public simply becomes new structures for domination.
Indeed, the struggle is also within ourselves. But this struggle and our objective can only be achieved as we struggle against all forms of domination and subjugation, against colonization and imperialism.
Auckland, 11 September 1999
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Mon Sep 20 22:45:32 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 06:45:32 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1306] After APEC 99
Message-ID: <000701bf036e$69fae740$633261cb@notoapec>
From Newsroom (www.newsroom.co.nz)
Retailer Bail-Out Unlikely After APEC
Staff Reporter Brody Sinclair 17/09/99 11:19:00
The Auckland City Council says it is unlikely to compensate central
city retailers for any losses incurred during APEC.
Auckland's central city businesses association, Heart of the City,
estimates sales fell by 40 per cent or $4 million as the public
shied away from the area during last weekend?s free trade summit.
Auckland City councillor, Jon Olsen, is calling for half of the $1.8
million grant given to the Council by the Government for APEC, to be
put towards a promotion or compensation for retailers.
But, Auckland City mayor, Christine Fletcher, says all of that money
has already been spent sprucing up the central city and Cr Olsen
will have to put his request to the finance committee.
While the finance committee's chairperson, Kay McKelvie, says most
councillors are unlikely to support a bid for compensation for the
retailers.
Mr Olsen says he will ask the mayor where the money has gone and
will continue to push for help for the shop owners who suffered.
? NewsRoom 1999
Classifications
Wires: Top Stories
Business: Retail
Politics: Local Government
General: Staff Reporters
From bayan at iname.com Thu Sep 23 09:02:16 1999
From: bayan at iname.com (BAYAN)
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 08:02:16 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1307] International Day of Protest Against WTO and Imperialist Globalization
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990923080216.006bedd0@pop.skyinet.net>
People's Campaign Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG)
Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally: SAY NO TO WTO!
BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance)
NOVEMBER 30 is fast shaping up as an International Day of Protest Against
WTO and Imperialist Globalization.
The November 30 march-rally -- SAY NO to WTO! -- being organized by
Sentenaryo ng Bayan and the Peoples' Assembly Committee (PAC) will be the
culminating activity of the Peoples' Assembly being held in Seattle on
November 28-29. The march will join up with the downtown rally being called
by the Seattle-based NO to WTO Coalition.
In the Philippines, November 30 is celebrated every year by KMU (May First
Movement of Filipino Workers), BAYAN and its member organizations like KMP
(Peasant Movement of the Philippines), GABRIELA and LFS (League of Filipino
Students) in honor of Andres Bonifacio, a worker who led the 1896
Philippine revolution against the Spanish colonialists. November 30 is
commemorated every year as a Filipino day of protest against imperialism.
This year, the Filipino activists will make November 30 a day of peoples'
action against imperialist globalization with the World Trade Organization
as its specific target of opposition.
In the Alternatives to APEC Forum held recently in Auckland, a proposal was
made to declare November 30 an international day of protest against the
WTO. GATT Watchdog in Aotearoa, Direct Action in Canada and PICIS in South
Korea are strong advocates against WTO and globalization.
The Network Opposed to APEC, which convened the 1997 PCAIG -- Continuing
the Resistance, is likewise expected to hold anti-WTO activities in Canada,
especially in Vancouver, and join the Peoples' Assembly and march-rally in
Seattle.
Below is a short write-up we got from the internet about other anti-WTO
protest actions being planned by various groups:
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999
Activists ready for 'festival of resistance'
By James Cox, USA TODAY
Protesters plan to disrupt WTO talks
It promises to be a "festival of resistance" against the evils of corporate
"conquistadors," activists say.
Little noticed by the public, the upcoming World Trade Organization summit
has energized protesters around the world - from indigenous tribes to
longshoremen - like few events before.
Opposition forces are descending on Seattle from places as far-flung as Togo
and Finland to express outrage at the excesses of globalization and, if
possible, prevent world leaders, bureaucrats and corporate executives from
meeting to talk about expanded trade.
"Globalization is so out of control," says Dave Solnit of Art and
Revolution, a group specializing in political theater and dance. "This is
one of those critical times like there were in the civil rights and
anti-war movements when regular people have to take a stand."
The Nov. 30 gathering will be an eclectic party. President Clinton will host
other world leaders, along with 5,000 delegates from more than 150
countries. Cuba's Fidel Castro, himself a foe of free trade and capitalism,
is among the WTO's invitees.
Boeing CEO Phil Condit and Microsoft's Bill Gates are heading the Seattle
Host Organization. Big business is sponsoring dozens of events and
receptions.
. . .
"There's going to be a wide range of rowdiness. Some people are going to try
to shut down this town," says Mike Dolan, organizer for Public Citizen,
Ralph Nader's consumer group.
Many of the protesters are trained in "urban climbing" techniques enabling
them to scale buildings and bridges to unfurl banners. Greenpeace activists
prevented trawlers from heading out to Puget Sound by dangling themselves
from Seattle's Aurora Bridge in 1997.
. . .
Protesters plan to disrupt WTO talks
World leaders to gather in Seattle for trade meeting
By James Cox, USA TODAY
Activists ready for 'festival of resistance'
Thousands of globalization foes, from Teamsters and Gray Panthers to Mexican
peasants and radical street artists, are preparing to disrupt a historic
world trade gathering this fall in Seattle.
Hundreds of groups, from Canadian postal workers to turtle-habitat
advocates, are calling for the "protest of the century" at the World Trade
Organization (WTO) summit Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.
The WTO meeting will bring together heads of state and trade officials for
the launch of a three-year round of trade talks. The talks are intended to
lower trade barriers in agriculture, services and industry and to set rules
for electronic commerce, biotechnology and foreign investment. The
4-year-old WTO, based in Geneva, interprets and enforces trade rules agreed
to by its 134 member countries.
. . .
Who's doing what:
Organizers from dozens of protest groups head for the Globalize This boot
camp in the Cascade Mountains Thursday.
Ruckus Society, an activist training group, will spend six days teaching
steel workers, biotechnology foes and environmentalists to build underground
radio stations, scale buildings and attach themselves to meeting venues with
hardened steel locks.
An opposition coalition that includes Nader, members of Congress, unions and
environmental groups was rallying at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.,
Wednesday.
Art and Revolution, a San Francisco theater group, starts its "Resist the
WTO Roadshow" Sept. 28. The show, to be performed in several West Coast
cities,
will dramatize the plight of sweatshop workers with music, dance and giant
puppets.
People's Global Action, a network of unions, farmers, consumer advocates and
AIDS activists, plans a cross-country caravan to take peasants, fishermen
and other globalization "victims" to Seattle.
The AFL-CIO will hold a rally and march Nov. 30. It hopes to mass 15,000
protesters in support of minimum WTO labor standards.
Protest organizers have encouraged other activists to infiltrate the summit
by applying for jobs as volunteers .
From tpl at cheerful.com Thu Sep 23 09:07:53 1999
From: tpl at cheerful.com (tpl@cheerful.com)
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 08:07:53 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1308] Say NO to WTO!
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990923080753.006bedd0@pop.skyinet.net>
REMINDER and INVITATION
Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally
Say NO to WTO!
November 28 - 30, 1999
Seattle, Washington
The Peoples' Asseembly Committee (PAC) and Sentenaryo ng Bayan, a Filipino
organization, invite you to SAY NO TO WTO!, a Peoples' Assembly and
March-Rally to be held at the Filipino Community Center, Martin Luther King
Jr. Way in Seattle, Washington on November 28-30 in time for the 3rd
Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). They are part of
the various activities to be undertaken in November and December by the
Seattle-based coalition, Network Opposed to WTO.
The 3rd WTO Ministerial Meeting will be held in Seattle on November 27 to
December 3. It will most probably start the Millennium Round of GATT
negotiations. Review of the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) will be a major
agenda. And it is expected that MAI advocates will try to sneak in
investments liberalization.
The pre-1994 GATT did not include agriculture. After the Uruguay Round of
GATT negotiations, which also gave rise to WTO, fulfillment of commitments
to the AOA was pushed through regional formations like NAFTA, APEC
(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and others. AOA has proven disastrous
to the agriculture and fisheries sectors. As a result, peasants, women,
fisherfolk and other anti-WTO and anti-globalization advocates worldwide
have started a campaign to take agriculture out of WTO.
Say No to WTO! -- the Peoples' Assembly and March-Rally continues the
strong resistance to WTO and imperialist globalization initiated in 1996 by
the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) and the
People's Caravan Against APEC. The torch was passed on to the NO to APEC
Coalition which convened the conference, PCAIG - Continuing the
Resistance, in Vancouver, Canada as a counterpoint to the 1997 APEC Leaders
Summit. To be mentioned likewise are the Anti-Imperialist World Peasant
Summit (AIWPS) held in Manila in 1996, and the Asia Pacific Peoples'
Assembly (APPA), with the theme Confronting Globalization, Reasserting
Peoples' Rights, and the 3rd International Women's Conference Against APEC
both held in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Representatives of people's organizations, citizen's movements and NGOs
from different parts of the world will join hands in the Peoples' Assembly
and March-Rally to reiterate their opposition to the AOA, WTO and
imperialist globalization.
OBJECTIVES:
To make people aware of the disastrous effects of the WTO and AOA on the
people, especially of the Third World.
To push further the demand to take agriculture out of the GATT-WTO.
To continue exposing liberalization, deregulation and privatization as
imperialist globalization's main instruments to eviscerate the economies
especially of the developing countries.
To strengthen peoples' resistance against AOA, WTO and imperialist
globalization.
To expand linkages, forge stronger unities and establish cooperation in
international campaigns with other anti-AOA/WTO, anti-globalization and
anti-imperialist organizations, groups and individuals worldwide.
PROGRAMME (NOTE: Subject to revision based on reply of invited speakers.
To date, majority of them have accepted.)
NOVEMBER 28
09:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Arrival and registration of delegates
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
01:00 p.m. Opening of the Peoples' Assembly
Cultural Number
Welcome Address from Sentenaryo ng Bayan
Introduction of Delegations
02:00 p.m. Statement of Solidarity from:
? Network Opposed to WTO, Seattle
? NO to APEC Coalition, Vancouver
? BAYAN and People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization
02:15 Keynote Address:
Say NO to WTO and Imperialist Globalization!
by Rafael Mariano
Chairperson, BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance)
Chairperson, KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
02:45 Plenary Speakers (20-30 minute presentation and
15 minutes of open forum for each speaker):
There's No Such Thing as Free Trade Nor Fair Trade
Under Imperialist Globalization
by Dr. Pao Yu Ching, Taiwan and U.S.A.
03:30 Don't Let MAI In:
Oppose Inclusion of Investments Liberalization in WTO
by Maude Barlow, Canada
Council of Canadians and
International Forum on Globalization (IFG)
04:15 Coffee/Tea Break
04:45 American Trade Unionists Spurn WTO
by Philip Konits, Seattle
05:30 Message of Solidarity
From Prof. Jose Maria Sison (videotape)
International Network for Philippine Studies
Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
From Mumia Abu Jamal
Political Prisoner, U.S.A.
07:00 Dinner
08:00 With Globalization Comes US Aggression
? The Case of Yugoslavia
by Ramsey Clark, U.S.A.
International Action Center, New York
? The Case of Cuba
by Fernando Remirez de Estenoz
or Sergio Martinez
09:30 End of Day 1 Sessions
NOVEMBER 29
09:00 a.m. Update on other NO to WTO activities
by Sally Soriano, Over-all Coordinator
NO to WTO Coalition
09:15 Take Agriculture Out of the WTO!
Panel of Speakers (20-minute presentation each):
? Rafael Alegria, Honduras
International Operational Secretariat
La Via Campesina
? Mika Iba, Japan
Network for Safe and Secure Food and Environment
10:15 Open Forum and Sharing
10:45 Coffee/Tea Break
11:15 Panel of Speakers - Continued
? Speaker from Mexico
? Speaker from Africa
12:00 Open Forum and Sharing
12:30 noon Lunch Break
01:30 p.m. Women Say NO to WTO!
Panel of Speakers (20- minute presentation each):
? Liza Largoza-Maza, Philippines
GABRIELA
? Sarojeni Rengam, Malaysia
Pesticide Action Network - Asia Pacific (PAN-AP)
? Fatima Burnad, India
Society for Rural Education and Development, Madras
Task Force Rural & Indigenous Women, APWLD
? Hemasari, Indonesia
Workers Education Center
03:00 Open Forum and Sharing
04:00 Coffee/Tea Break
04:30 Presentation and Adoption of Conference Statement
to be presided by Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
BAYAN Vice-Chairperson
Representative, People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization
06:00 Closing Ceremony
? Closing Remarks
? Cultural Number
06:30 Dinner
07:30 SOLIDARITY NIGHT
Songs, dances, poetry reading and more!
NOVEMBER 30
08:30 - 11:00 a.m. Tour of Seattle; leafleting in downtown Seattle;
join other NO to WTO activities (picket,
street theatre, etc.); drop by Convention Center
where the WTO meets
Possible Filipino Migrants' Caucus to be convened
by Migrante Intl.
Possible Bilateral Consultation with Japanese
Farmer Organizations
11:00 - 11:30 Trip back to Peoples' Assembly venue
11:30 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 p.m. Start of March to downtown Seattle (approximately
4.5 miles) to join other marchers and where
big Rally will be held
Evening Possible Food Tasting and Cultural Evening
with the Japanese Delegation
Please write to the Peoples' Assembly Committee for the registration form
and if you require a personal invitation for visa purposes:
Secretariat, Peoples' Assembly Committee
Attn: ACE SATURAY, Sentenaryo ng Bayan
e-mail: passembly@yahoo.com
NOTE: We regret that because of financial constraints, the organizers
of the Peoples' Assembly will not be able to subsidize
expenses of delegates.
From rverzola at phil.gn.apc.org Wed Sep 22 06:51:35 1999
From: rverzola at phil.gn.apc.org (Roberto Verzola)
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 06:51:35
Subject: [asia-apec 1309] World Bank Reverses Itself
Message-ID: <199909222250.GAA17724@phil.gn.apc.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 14:18:03 -0700
From: Sid Shniad
Subject: World Bank Reverses Position on Financial Controls - Stratfor
STRATFOR.COM
Global Intelligence Update
Weekly Analysis Septemer 20, 1999
World Bank Reverses Position on Financial Controls and on Malaysia
Summary:
The World Bank reversed its opposition to short-term
capital controls and announced that Malaysia's experiment with
capital controls was, in effect, a success. Since the World Bank
acts on the distilled essence of conventional wisdom, this means
that the international financial community no longer regards either
capital control or Malaysia's prime minister as taboo.
The most important short-term consequence of this change will be on
Japan, which has toyed with the idea of capital controls. But more
importantly in the long run, the rehabilitation of Mahathir from
lunatic to visionary will bring his other ideas into play. Of
particular importance is his idea of a regional Asian bloc
excluding the United States, based on the yen and Japan, with
capital controls as a regional management tool. Neither of these
outcomes is intended by the World Bank or the IMF, but both are the
embodiment of the unintended consequence.
Analysis:
The World Bank has executed an important and somewhat startling
reversal of position on Malaysia's use of capital controls to solve
its economic problems. Joseph Stiglitz, the World Bank's chief
economist, said Sept. 15, "There has been a fundamental change in
mindset on the issue of short-term capital flows and these kind of
interventions - a change in the mind set that began two years ago."
He went on to say that "in the context of Malaysia and the quick
recovery in Malaysia, the fact that the adverse effects that were
predicted - some might say that some people wished upon Malaysia -
did not occur is also and important lesson."
These were not casual remarks. They were made during the
presentation of a key World Bank annual document, the "World
Development Review," and were meant to be taken seriously. Indeed,
Stiglitz's comments came a week after the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) praised Malaysia for its skillful handling of capital
controls.
These comments represent a fundamental shift in the international
economic establishment's understanding of how that system works.
The economists at the World Bank and the IMF are not particularly
original or imaginative, and their track record in predicting and
managing the twists and turns of the international system is not,
to say the least, impressive. Thus, viewing their policy shifts as
contributions to economic theory is not particularly useful.
Stiglitz and his colleagues at the World Bank and the IMF are not
people who go out on the limb with dramatically novel idea. They
like to move with the herd.
That is what makes Stiglitz's statement extraordinarily important.
It shows that the herd is making one of its periodic migrations.
The World Bank's chief economist doesn't lead the convention. He
is a superbly sensitive weather vane - he follows it.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the World Bank was committed to
massive, government-run infrastructure projects, reflecting the
conventional economic wisdom at the time that the state is the
appropriate engine for economic growth, at least in the developing
world. During the 1980s, when the conventional system shifted to
the view that the free market was the most efficient means of
capital allocation and economic growth, the World Bank slowly and
painfully shifted again. They stuck with the free market position
throughout the Asian meltdown.
Now, two years after the bloodbath, they are slowly shifting again,
not only endorsing capital controls, but praising their own arch-
nemesis, Malaysia's Mahathir. Stiglitz is following the new
conventional wisdom: capital controls are chic.
Whether capital controls are good or bad doesn't really matter.
What matters is that they have been accepted by a highly
politicized, extremely powerful segment of the international
community that the World Bank/IMF complex is part of and serves.
This is the international financial community, understood as the
national bankers, the leading international banks and the political
elites to which they connect.
Stiglitz's comments reveal that the 20-year love affair with a
purely free market approach to international financial flows is, if
not coming to an end, nevertheless being severely modified. There
are now cases in which market regulations are not only tolerable,
but also a good idea.
This will lead to interesting debates among economists, most of
whom will argue that controls create inefficiencies that will
retard recoveries and damage economies. The problem is that these
economists tend to approach these issues from an isolated angle.
Stratfor's view has been that economic crises increase the pressure
on governments to take steps that stabilize the situation in the
short run, even if they affect the economy negatively in the long
run.
For example, assume that political chaos is something to be
avoided. Assume further that the economically optimal policy would
quickly lead to political and social chaos. Finally assume that a
policy could be found that avoided political and social chaos at
the price of poor economic performance in the long run. Which is
the better policy?
As much as any country, Indonesia followed the conventional wisdom
of the time, as transmitted by the IMF and World Bank. As capital
poured out of the country, trying to flee Indonesia's dangers, the
government did nothing to interfere with capital movements,
assuming that the market would create stability.
Indeed, the markets did work, and the Indonesian economy was
beginning to improve earlier this year. But by optimizing its
economic response to the crisis, Indonesia's social and political
fabric was shredded. The pressures imposed by the market on social
cohesion created the extraordinary reality of an economy in
recovery and a society in collapse. In the end, of course, that
collapsing society will shatter the economic recovery as well, so
all will be for naught.
Indonesia's neighbor, Malaysia, followed a very different policy,
which originated in a radically different analysis, heavily
ridiculed at the time and today. According to the Malaysian prime
minister, the origins of the crisis had little to do with
imbalances in the country's economy. Rather, they had to do with
the structure of the international financial system and
particularly the management of international currency flows.
According to Mahathir, it was an illusion to think of short-term
capital flows as market driven. On a day-to-day basis, control of
short-term capital was in the hands of a relatively small number of
massive currency hedge funds. Mahathir claimed that George Soros
and other hedge fund managers were orchestrating the collapse of
Asia's currencies. Because they profited from relatively small
differentials, they were prepared to create sudden, massive and
uncontrollable outflows of capital that would wreck national
economies by causing both short- and long-term capital flight.
Mahathir's analysis tended to be more colorful, charging Jewish
conspiracies against Muslim countries. The primary purpose of his
analysis was political. Mahathir used his analysis to explain why
his government had not failed. Rather, he argued Malaysia and the
rest of Asia had been victimized by the international system. He
personalized the system into the person of George Soros for further
political effect.
In short, needing to stabilize his polity, Mahathir created an
economic analysis in which the stabilization of his society was its
grand purpose. He successfully diverted his attention from the
Pan-Asian economic practices that had triggered the crisis, such as
irrational capital allocation, absurdly low rates of return on
capital, an undercapitalized banking system and the failure to
create domestic demand while relying on exports. Instead, he
refocused domestic attention on the claimed defects of
international systems.
It was effective politics. It also spawned economic policies that
the World Bank has now endorsed. If the central problem were the
nonexistence of a free market in short-term currency flows, and
that these flows were instead controlled by a few financial
institutions, then the rational answer to oligopoly was government
regulation.
Accordingly, Mahathir slammed currency controls on the flow of
money into and out of Malaysia. Conventional economic theory said
this should have had a devastating effect. In fact, compared to
Indonesia, the actions (along with other acts of repression, such
as the trial of Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir's former protege and
advocate of the international economic community in Malaysia) not
only helped stabilize the political system, but also did not seem
to have produced a great deal of economic harm.
Malaysia's economy contracted by 7.5 percent before controls were
imposed. In the year following the imposition of controls, the
official growth projection has gone to 1 percent, while unofficial
projections go as high as 5 percent. It is no surprise that
Stiglitz stated that the bank had been "humbled" by Malaysia's
performance.
Stratfor has long regarded Mahathir as one of the most interesting
figures in Asia. Long ridiculed by conventional economists as a
lunatic - an image reinforced by the rhetoric he chooses for
domestic consumption - Mahathir has nevertheless made some cogent
points. His argument that short-term capital flows were too
vulnerable to a small number of hedge funds has some empirical
validity. If those funds can create short-term oscillations that
become uncontrollable, they can and have created long-term
problems. Healthy economies are not vulnerable to these events, but
unhealthy ones are. Mahathir argued that the medicine imposed is
likely to kill the patients rather than rejuvenate them.
Since 1990, Mahathir has made the broader argument that Asia's
economies are overly dependent on the United States as a market. He
has not only been an advocate of capital controls on the national
level, but also an advocate for the creation of a regional economic
bloc in Asia, built around the yen, and insulated from the United
States by policies and trade frameworks.
Mahathir believes a Japanese-led, regional economic bloc is needed
for two reasons. First, he argues that dependence on the United
States for the absorption of Asian production cannot be sustained
in the long run. Second, the United States will use this
dependence to manipulate and divide Asians so that, inevitably,
what happened in 1997 would happen again.
Everyone dismissed Mahathir. We have long argued that he has been
pointing the way. This does not mean that we agree with him. It
simply means that we have felt that a Mahathirian worldview would
eventually carry the day in Asia.
Stiglitz's bow toward Malaysia is therefore critical in two ways.
First, the World Bank and the IMF have now endorsed the principle
of capital controls, at least in the short run. Since you cannot
be a little bit pregnant, even at the World Bank, that means
conventional wisdom now says capital controls are a legitimate tool
in economic policy.
This is of extreme importance for nations in Asia that have not and
cannot solve their structural problems without destabilizing their
societies. We mean, of course, the Japanese. Japan has
contemplated capital controls and has, in highly informal ways,
actually employed them. But Japan, as a charter member of the
international financial community's conventional wisdom, has never
formally implemented nor even endorsed them.
Now that the World Bank and IMF have both praised Mahathir, with
whom the Japanese have interestingly warm relations, the taboo has
been lifted. Japan, adverse to taboo smashing, can now use capital
controls as a conventional tool. So can other Asian countries.
The tremendous pressure for an Asian solution has eased with the
current recovery among some the region's nations. Since we
regarded this as less a recovery than the end of the collapse and
the beginning of long-term malaise - for Malaysia included - the
short-term pressure is being replaced by a less urgent, but
nonetheless real search for structural alternatives.
Which brings us to the second point. Japan's problems are the
region's problems. If Japan cannot find a purely domestic solution
to its problems and the global environment is too inhospitable,
then regional solutions might well be the answer. Just as Europe
has the EU and North America has NAFTA, Asia must seek, according
to Mahathir, an Asian entity.
Joseph Stiglitz's comments legitimized capital controls, the tool
that any region-wide plan would require. They also turned Mahathir
from an official pariah into an official visionary. Dismissing his
ideas on other matters now becomes much more difficult. For many
in Japan who have quietly agreed with his ideas, the change in the
international economic community's perspective will open the
floodgates to ideas that have thus far been taboo: an East Asian
economic bloc.
Thus, the World Bank and the IMF have effectively handed Asia
legitimization for a regional bloc designed not only to facilitate
intra-bloc trade, but also to create regional regulatory bodies to
manage the capital flow in and out of the bloc. True, this would
destroy the essence of Asia's free markets. But, as we have argued
for a long time, the idea that Asia had domestic free markets was
quite illusory to begin with.
There is much mistrust of Japan in the rest of Asia. Memories run
long. But if the Poles and Czechs can work with the Germans, be
assured that southeast Asia can work with Japan - if the stakes are
high enough.
STRATFOR.COM
Global Intelligence Update
Weekly Analysis Septemer 20, 1999
.............................................
Bob Olsen, Toronto bobolsen@interlog.com
.............................................
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Sat Sep 25 10:51:22 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 18:51:22 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1310] Fw: Washington Post on APEC 99 Summit
Message-ID: <001501bf06f8$790cc7c0$bb3261cb@notoapec>
>>APEC Set On Plan for Financial Markets
>> Group to Support New Trade Talks
>>
>> By Clay Chandler
>> Washington Post Foreign Service
>> Monday, September 13, 1999; Page A16
>>
>> AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 12 (BThis island nation
>>takes
>> considerable pride in the steely discipline of its
>>yachting team, which gained
>> worldwide fame by capturing the most recent America's
>>Cup trophy.
>>
>> This weekend, however, New Zealand has been thrust
>>into the
>> international spotlight by a more fractious crew, one
>>that rarely charts a
>> common course. As it launched its seventh annual
>>summit here in the "City
>> of Sails," the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic
>>Cooperation (APEC)
>> forum is adrift, divided not only over short-term
>>crises, such as the recent
>> violence in East Timor, but over long-range economic
>>issues that the group
>> was created to address.
>>
>> In a declaration to be released Monday, drafts of
>>which were leaked to
>> press, APEC members are expected to affirm their
>>commitment to "open,
>> transparent and well-governed financial markets."
>>
>> The nations also are likely to declare support for a
>>new round of
>> negotiations by the World Trade Organization to lower
>>tariffs on goods
>> and services.
>>
>> Beyond such vague pronouncements, however, there is
>>little consensus
>> among this group, which accounts for 45 percent of the
>>world's economic
>> output. On trade, where most members had the greatest
>>hope for common
>> action, APEC has made only modest progress toward
>>goals it set for itself
>> in recent years.
>>
>> In 1994, APEC leaders pledged to eliminate barriers to
>>trade and
>> investment among developed economies in 2010 and among
>>developing
>> economies in 2020. Those targets now seem unrealistic
>>to many members.
>> No new trade liberalization initiatives are on the
>>agenda this year.
>>
>> Despite expressions of support for new WTO talks, U.S.
>>and Japanese
>> leaders are at odds on how those talks should proceed.
>>At last year's
>> meeting Japan blocked a proposal to cut tariffs that
>>protect its fish and
>> forestry industries.
>>
>> The United States, meanwhile, retains tariffs or
>>quotas on textiles and many
>> agricultural goods, and has relied on anti-dumping
>>laws to fight steel and
>> other imports. And recently imposed restrictions on
>>imports of lamb are an
>> enormous irritant here in New Zealand and neighboring
>>Australia.
>>
>> During the Asian financial crisis, APEC choked, ceding
>>leadership to
>> officials at the International Monetary Fund and U.S.
>>Treasury
>> Department. Now, with many of the Asian economies
>>beginning to
>> recover, the group still has arrived at no common view
>>about the what
>> caused the catastrophe and has taken few concerted
>>measures to prevent
>> it from happening again.
>>
>> In a speech today at a meeting of business leaders
>>from around the region,
>> President Clinton warned against "complacency" on
>>economic matters.
>> "There is still hard work to be done and a great deal
>>to be won on the eve
>> of this new millennium," he said. Clearly, though, the
>>rebound of stock and
>> currency markets throughout the region has slowed
>>efforts in many APEC
>> societies to press ahead with painful restructuring
>>programs.
>>
>> Late this evening, the group achieved a legitimate
>>breakthrough on the East
>> Timor question, as a core group led by the United
>>States and Australia
>> worked out an arrangement to send a multinational
>>peace-keeping force to
>> the region to halt repression of pro-independence
>>groups in the region. But
>> the APEC meetings here served more as the backdrop
>>than the vehicle for
>> that accord. To the last, the decision drew resistance
>>from key APEC
>> members, notably Japan, which has extensive business
>>and political ties to
>> Indonesia, and China, which views East Timor through
>>the prism of its own
>> dealings with independence advocates from Taiwan to
>>Tibet.
>>
>> When Clinton was the host for a meeting of APEC heads
>>of state in Seattle
>> in 1993, he boldly proclaimed the gathering to be of
>>historic significance.
>> After a bonding session with other leaders in a native
>>American hut,
>> Clinton spoke in sweeping terms of a new era in which
>>shared interests
>> between the United States and nations around the
>>Pacific region surpassed
>> its traditionally strong bonds with Europe.
>>
>> In hindsight, many early APEC boosters now say, it was
>>naive to expect
>> so much from an organization encompassing nations as
>>dissimilar as the
>> United States, Russia, Vietnam, Chile, Paupa New
>>Guinea and Brunei.
>> Business executives, especially, are losing patience.
>>APEC's own business
>> advisory council recently warned that APEC had "lost
>>sight of its goals"
>> and needed to make "more serious and substantial
>>commitments" to open
>> stock and currency markets.
>>
>> "I think [the APEC leaders] are conscious of the all
>>the criticisms about of
>> the relative lack of progress," said Helmut Sohmen,
>>president of Hong
>> Kong-based Worldwide Shipping Agency and chairman of a
>>prominent
>> group of Pacific Rim executives. "That's made all the
>>personalities acutely
>> aware that they can't have another meeting this year
>>where they don't
>> accomplish anything." But what many business
>>executives hoped would be
>> the marquee achievement of this year's gathering--the
>>announcement of an
>> agreement between Washington and Beijing on terms of
>>China's admission
>> to the WTO--has yet to materialize.
>>
>> In the absence of substantive achievements, the APEC
>>gathering has taken
>> on a festival air. Proceedings began with a troupe of
>>two dozen
>> bare-chested Maori performers who chanted and waved
>>spears in a
>> traditional "haka" welcome. The leaders joined in
>>pressing noses, a
>> customary native greeting.
>>
>> The sessions also have become a lightening rod for
>>protest. Practitioners of
>> Falun Gong, the sect banned in China, gathered in
>>nearby Victoria Park.
>> Supporters of independence for East Timor clashed with
>>Indonesian
>> students protesting international condemnation of
>>their country.
>>
>> Then there are local merchants looking for a bit of
>>publicity. Among the
>> favorites this year: a billboard by the dockside
>>eatery Euro advertising its
>> cigar room: "Call us old fashioned, Mr. President, but
>>we prefer smoking
>> them."
>>
>> Perhaps a more thoughtful slogan was chalked on a
>>blackboard outside the
>> Loaded Hog pub, which offered an alternative
>>interpretation of the
>> acronym APEC: A Perfect Excuse for a Cold one.
>>
>>
>> ) Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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From amc at HK.Super.NET Fri Sep 24 18:00:31 1999
From: amc at HK.Super.NET (AMC)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 17:00:31 +0800
Subject: [asia-apec 1311] Asian Migrant Yearbook (AMY) 1999
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19990924165936.0082fb00@pop.hk.super.net>
24 September 1999
Dear Friends,
Following the excellent response to our first issue last year, the second
issue, Asian Migrant Yearbook 1999 (AMY 1999), is now ready. We are now
preparing our mailing list, so please alert us if you want to order.
Regular price: HK$400 or US$50 per copy.
Plus: postage
Migrant advocates and grassroots groups in Asia can avail of free copies;
discounted rates apply for other non-profit groups (up to 50%). Please
contact the Asian Migrant Centre for details. Please ask
for Ms. Reiko Harima, AMC Publication Coordinator.
AMY 1999 is jointly published by the Asian Migrant Centre and Migrant Forum
in Asia (MFA). It is 254 pages thick, with full-color pages for selected
photographs and graphs.
General run-down of contents (AMY 1999):
A. 1998 Photo Diary -- major migrant-related events/activities in 1998 (in
photos)
B. Table: Ratification of UN/ILO conventions relevant to migrant workers
(updated as of June 1999)
C. Themes:
1) Neoliberal Crisis in Asia: Two Years Hence (by AMC)
2) Cancel Unjust Foreign Debt (by Freedom from Debt Coalition & AMC)
3) Towards 'Health for All' in Japan (by Yuko Ohara-Hirano)
4) Breaking Borders: Bridging the Gap between Migration & HIV/AIDS (by
Richie Yba?ez/Kalayaan)
5) Report on the International Symposium on Migration (by AMC) -- re:
irregular migration
6) Achieving Migrants' Rights (by Patrick Taran) -- re: ratification
campaign for UN migrant convention
7) Facing Asia's Challenge (by MFA) -- re: history, activities and plan of
action of MFA
8) Structural Problems and Dualistic Regimes Confronting Filipino Migrants
(by May-an Villalba) -- re: structural problems underlying overseas migration
9) Regional Strategies on Migration (by AMC) -- re: review/analysis of
responses/strategies on labor migration in the past 10 years
10) Towards a More Empowering & Liberating Strategy (by AMC) -- re: concept
nad mechanics of migrant reintegration programs, with focus on AMC/MFA
experience.
D. Country reports
* Covers 20 countries/areas: Arabian Gulf, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia,
China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Nepal,
Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
*each report includes summary statistics (migration, labor, economic),
photos, graphs, significant events in 1998/99, and a report/analysis.
E. Statements, Conference Reports, Books/resources, Directory of MFA
members and other contacts/special contributors.
Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Rex Varona
Asian Migrant Centre
Asian Migrant Centre
4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2312-0031 Fax: (852) 2992-0111
E-mail: amc@hk.super.net Web: www.hk.super.net/~amc
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Wed Sep 29 03:45:58 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 11:45:58 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1312] APEC Ministerial statement
Message-ID: <004301bf09e1$bc220160$ba3261cb@notoapec>
From: APEC Monitoring Group
To: notoapec@clear.net.nz
Subject: Ministerial
Date: Friday, September 17, 1999 6:42 PM
ELEVENTH APEC MINISTERIAL MEETING
JOINT STATEMENT
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
9-10 SEPTEMBER 1999
Ministers from Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; the People?s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Republic of the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States of America; and Viet Nam participated in the Eleventh Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand on 9-10 September 1999. The APEC Secretariat was present. The Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the South Pacific Forum attended as observers.
2 The meeting was chaired by the Rt Hon Don McKinnon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith, Minister of International Trade, of New Zealand. The agenda of the meeting was structured to reflect the three themes of APEC 99:
a.. expanding opportunities for business around the region;
b.. strengthening the functioning of markets; and
c.. broadening support for APEC.
Theme 1: Expanding Opportunities for Business around the Region
Individual Action Plans
3 Ministers reaffirmed the central role of Individual Action Plans (IAPs) in delivering liberalisation, facilitation and reform under the APEC process. In 1999, both APEC members individually and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council reviewed Individual Action Plans to gauge progress made since 1996 towards achieving the Bogor goals of free and open trade and investment. Both reviews showed that progress was occurring under the IAP mechanism in terms of each of the areas covered by the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA) with little backsliding evident. At the same time, Ministers agreed that the reviews had shown that the IAP mechanism could be improved and directed that a programme of work be carried out in 2000 to:
a.. improve the transparency of IAPs (including the streamlining of reporting requirements);
b.. develop improved guidelines for use by member economies to show how they intended to achieve the Bogor Goals;
c.. develop means by which the OAA guidelines might be better defined in areas where this is required.
4 Ministers directed that the work programme on the IAP mechanism be conducted in conjunction with the review of Collective Action Plans. They agreed that the Committee on Trade and Investment should take a leading role. Ministers emphasised the need for member economies to consult closely with business, including the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in developing the work programme. They noted ABAC?s view that business is looking to the developed economies to take a lead in the APEC process and show clearly how the Bogor goals are going to be achieved.
5 Ministers welcomed the submission this year by five economies - Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, the Philippines and the United States - of their IAPs to voluntary peer review by other APEC members, and welcomed the offers by a further five members - Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Thailand - to do so next year. Ministers agreed that IAP peer reviews were becoming increasingly useful and valued and that APEC should seek to raise the profile and increase the rigour of the peer review process. Ministers directed officials, as part of next year?s work programme, to look at conducting regular peer reviews for member economies on a voluntary basis.
1999 Individual Action Plans
6 Ministers welcomed the submission of improved 1999 IAPs and commended the efforts which member economies are making to respond to the recommendations of ABAC. Ministers highlighted a number of improvements reported by members which illustrate the real changes underway in many economies: eighteen members have implemented significant tariff reductions; twelve have made improvements in the area of non-tariff measures; seventeen have further liberalised their investment regimes (in some cases drawing on APEC?s menu of options for investment liberalisation and business facilitation); eighteen report improvements in the areas of competition policy/deregulation; and there were significant advances reported in the areas of intellectual property rights, services, standards and conformance, customs procedures and the mobility of business people. The 1999 IAPs are available on the APEC Secretariat website.
Collective Action Plans
7 Ministers endorsed the 1999 Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) Annual Report and commended the progress the CTI has made this year in implementing APEC?s Collective Action Plans (CAPs). Emphasising the importance of the CAPs to boosting trade and investment flows through lowering transaction costs for business, Ministers highlighted the following key achievements:
a.. APEC Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform (which are non-binding);
b.. Non-binding Principles on Government Procurement;
c.. an APEC Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
8 Ministers endorsed the priority which will be given in the CTI?s 2000 work programme to broadening and deepening APEC?s CAPs, for example in services, and to consideration of possible new areas to be included.
9 Ministers expressed their appreciation for the contribution of Ambassador Edsel Custodio of the Philippines as CTI Chair over the past two years, and welcomed the appointment of Mr Joe Damond of the United States as his successor.
Trade and Investment Facilitation
10 APEC?s trade and investment facilitation work has played a critical role in improving conditions for business in the APEC region. It has helped business save time and money. It has responded to business? calls for less paperwork, simplified procedures and easier access to information. Improved facilitation has provided internet access to essential market information and introduced greater consistency and certainty in legal and regulatory frameworks in the region. Highlights of key trade facilitation achievements for APEC to date are included in the attached annex.
11 Noting that APEC?s voluntarist and cooperative approach makes it well suited to advancing facilitation work, Ministers directed that work in this area should be intensified. They instructed officials to consider the proposal by Hong Kong, China on development of APEC principles on trade facilitation. APEC?s trade facilitation work is not well known and future outreach efforts will be required in order to improve business and community understanding.
12 Ministers welcomed the success of the first APEC Investment Mart held in Seoul 3-5 June. They agreed that stimulating the flow of investment in the region was critical to long-term recovery. They thanked China for its offer to host the Second APEC Investment Mart in 2001.
APEC Food System
13 Recalling the instruction of Leaders in Kuala Lumpur that Ministers study ABAC?s proposal for an APEC Food System, Ministers welcomed the SOM report and endorsed its recommendations to Leaders. Ministers recognised that building a robust regional food system that efficiently links together food production, food processing and consumption to meet the food needs of our people is an essential part of achieving sustainable growth, equitable development and stability in the APEC region. Ministers emphasised the importance of addressing the three areas of rural infrastructure development, promotion of trade in food products and dissemination of technological advances in food production and processing.
APEC and the WTO
14 Ministers agreed that their meeting was an historic opportunity for APEC to contribute to the successful launch of a new Round of WTO negotiations. They reaffirmed their commitment to open regionalism and to the multilateral trading system, underlining the critical importance of the forthcoming WTO negotiations in liberalising trade and investment within the region and in encouraging growth in the global economy.
15 Ministers stressed the importance of ensuring full implementation of existing WTO agreements. They encouraged an acceleration in the accession negotiations of non-WTO APEC members in accordance with WTO rules, based on commercially viable market access commitments and a balance of rights and obligations. They supported an agreement that all acceding economies will participate in some capacity in the forthcoming negotiations.
16 Ministers welcomed the agreement reached by APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade in June that the forthcoming WTO negotiations should encompass industrial tariffs, in addition to the already mandated negotiation on the built-in agenda, principally agriculture and services.
17 They agreed in addition that the agenda for the negotiations be balanced and sufficiently broad-based to respond to the interests of all economies; and confirmed the negotiations should conclude within three years.
18 They agreed that negotiations should deliver timely and effective market access for all participating economies, in particular developing economies, as well as provide scope to review and strengthen rules and disciplines consistent with this objective; and that the negotiations on those issues agreed at Seattle for inclusion in the three-year negotiation should be structured so that the outcomes are finalised, bound and fully implemented as a single package.
19 Ministers agreed that the concerns of developing economies should be addressed through enhanced attention to the effective implementation of special and differential treatment and ongoing support for capacity building and technical assistance, so as to facilitate their ability to participate fully in the WTO.
20 They agreed that, consistent with its support for the principle of special and differential treatment in the negotiations, APEC supports development and other dimensions in which the APEC concept of differential timing for the achievement of free trade is one useful means of meeting developing economy concerns.
21 They agreed also on the importance of achieving early progress on improved market access for goods and services from least developed economies in the forthcoming WTO negotiations.
22 Ministers supported an extension to the current moratorium on duties on electronic commerce transactions, to be agreed at Seattle. They also supported efforts to reach an agreement on transparency in government procurement at Seattle. They noted interest in facilitation of trade but that further discussion, including on details of the scope of the work proposed, was required before agreement can be reached on how to proceed.
23 They agreed to continue work on all other areas which have been raised in proposals in Geneva, as outlined in the provisional list attached and any further proposals which may be tabled, in order to determine at Seattle how they should be treated.
24 With regard to the negotiations on agriculture, they agreed, as recommended in the APEC Food System Report to Leaders, that APEC would actively and constructively participate in the forthcoming WTO negotiations on agriculture to consider tariffs and non-tariff measures further in the context of Article 20 of the WTO?s Agreement on Agriculture and convey to the WTO membership APEC?s support for the abolition of agricultural export subsidies and unjustifiable export prohibitions and restrictions.
25 As a potential contribution to comprehensive services negotiations they noted APEC?s demonstrated expertise, including in areas such as transportation, tourism, environmental and energy services.
26 Ministers of participating economies agreed that the APEC Accelerated Tariff Liberalisation initiative was adding impetus to the preparations for the comprehensive WTO negotiation on industrial (non-agricultural) tariffs. They noted progress towards the achievement of a critical mass of support for the initiative in the WTO and agreed that the initiative should continue to be progressed endeavouring to conclude agreement in the WTO in 1999. They further agreed that participating economies should continue to engage with WTO members with the objective of realising the ATL package on the basis of critical mass, based on APEC?s EVSL initiative agreed by Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, by the end of next year . They also agreed that implementation should be undertaken on a provisional basis with full and final binding as part of the conclusion of the single package.
27 Ministers agreed that support for and consultation among APEC economies about ongoing WTO negotiations should remain a key area of APEC?s work throughout the course of negotiations.
Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalisation (EVSL)
28 Ministers welcomed progress on implementing the non-tariff measures, facilitation and Ecotech elements of the EVSL initiative, and agreed a further set of initiatives in 1999, which is attached as Annex B, as part of the regular work of the relevant fora. Ministers requested reports on the outcome of these projects during 2000.
Theme 2: Strengthening the Functioning of Markets
29 The pace of globalisation and the scope and depth of the economic crisis have underscored the need for policy responses that provide for efficient, flexible and competitive markets in the APEC region. Trade and investment liberalisation is a central and indispensable element. But the agenda is much broader. As the economic crisis has underlined, reforms in other public sector policies, corporate governance and financial systems are crucial. Business facilitation and capacity building are also required.
30 "Strengthening markets" provides an integrative framework that can bring together APEC?s work in key areas such as trade and investment, competition and regulatory reform and capacity building, with a view to generating sustained growth in APEC economies. Ministers endorsed for referral to Leaders APEC Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform which provide a critical policy underpinning to the strengthening markets framework.
31 In addition, Ministers agreed to a "road map" that sets out future work by APEC to strengthen markets in the region. Specific elements include:
a.. individual and collective implementation of the APEC Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform;
b.. continued work in the areas of economic and corporate governance (including through the APEC Finance Ministers? process);
c.. application of the strengthening markets framework to APEC?s work on economic and technical cooperation (with APEC projects in the area of public sector management and human resource development for structural reform already having been agreed); APEC will seek to develop other such ecotech projects in support of institutional strengthening and capacity-building efforts which are prerequisites for the strengthening of markets;
d.. work to strengthen market infrastructure, in particular in the area of legal infrastructure and the development of small and medium enterprises and new businesses;
e.. development of APEC?s analytical work to support APEC efforts to strengthen markets;
f.. an intensification of effort in trade facilitation, with a focus on tangible outcomes for business;
g.. ensuring the "work programme to improve the IAP mechanism" takes into account the strengthening markets policy framework and in particular the APEC Principles to Enhance Competition and Regulatory Reform;
h.. application of strengthening markets principles by implementing specific areas of APEC?s work, including electronic commerce, air services and energy.
32 Ministers welcomed continued progress on the Natural Gas Initiative and the Best Practices for Independent Power Producers as useful strengthening markets initiatives in the energy sector. These measures would help spur economic activity worth tens of billions of dollars and significantly reduce the risks and costs of investment in energy infrastructure. Ministers encouraged continued cooperation with the private sector on this initiative.
Economic and Technical Cooperation
33 Ministers endorsed the SOM 1999 report on Economic and Technical Cooperation while noting that APEC efforts to build capacity and strengthen institutions were critical to a return to sustainable growth in the region. Such efforts are needed to complement and support the range of other policies required to strengthen markets, and to enhance the capacity for long-term growth and development in APEC.
34 Ministers agreed that efforts to strengthen economic and technical cooperation under the Manila Framework for Strengthening Economic Cooperation and Development should be intensified. In this respect, the appointment of coordinators to review progress under the Manila Framework was a highly welcome development. Ministers endorsed the work programmes put forward by the respective coordinators: China on Harnessing Technologies for the Future; Korea on Encouraging the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises; and Canada on Developing Human Capital.
35 Ministers also agreed to:
a.. establish an Ecotech Clearing House to enhance information flows between the identification of ecotech needs and the capacity to provide appropriate expertise to meet those needs. The Clearing House will be implemented from January 2000;
b.. endorse an Ecotech Weightings Matrix to assist APEC in its evaluation of ecotech project proposals.
36 Ministers strongly reaffirmed the need for ongoing priority to be accorded to key APEC initiatives: the Kuala Lumpur Action Plan in Skills Development and the Agenda for Science and Technology Cooperation into the 21st Century. They welcomed the activities occurring in both these areas. Ministers restated their commitment to ensuring that development occurred in an environmentally sustainable fashion and welcomed the report on APEC activities on sustainable development that had been provided by the APEC Secretariat. They enclosed the Partnership Marketing Meeting approach to ensure sustainability of the marine environment and promote business opportunities.
37 Ministers welcomed the numerous initiatives being pursued by individual member economies, including: the APEC Centre for Entrepreneurship established in Indonesia; the APEC Youth Skills Camp to be held in Korea in September 2000; Australia?s Economic and Financial Management Initiative; China?s Science and Technology Industry Cooperation Fund and China?s APEC Enterprises Assembly, and agreed that such individual actions contribute usefully to APEC economic and technical cooperation.
38 Ministers thanked Ambassador Lozoya of Mexico and expressed appreciation for his work as Chair of the Ecotech Sub-committee. They welcomed Dr Medhi Krongkaew of Thailand as the new Chair.
39 Ministers agreed that demonstrating the benefits of economic and technical cooperation activities should form a part of APEC?s future communications and outreach work programmes. These activities are often of greatest benefit to the poorest sections of society and it was important to increase support for them throughout APEC as a whole.
Economic Committee
40 Ministers welcomed and endorsed the Economic Committee?s Annual Report, noting that the report confirmed the considerable progress made by the Committee in responding to its revised mandate. The APEC Economic Outlook confirms that the regional recovery is now underway with economies most affected by the crisis recording a rapid return to growth. This is particularly encouraging. But APEC cooperation on structural reform is critical for consolidating the basis for growth in the 21st century. This is the key message of the Committee?s progress report on the 1999-2000 project APEC Economies Beyond the Asian Crisis. Opening markets also matters to long term growth as is made clear in the Committee?s report Assessing APEC Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation. Finally the report highlights valuable work being done by the Economic Committee in the area of Knowledge-Based Industries, with the intention of making its final report on this project a major deliverable for APEC in 2000.
Electronic Commerce
41 Electronic commerce has the potential to provide an extraordinary stimulus to regional growth and trade. The private sector has the key role in driving change and innovation, and the primary role of the public sector is to ensure a favourable regulatory environment for e-commerce to flourish. Economies should pay particular attention to the needs of consumers and small business. To this end Ministers:
a.. encouraged economies to take advantage of the self-assessment tool for e-commerce readiness to be developed by officials and the private sector, and tasked officials to further refine the assessment tool and report back next year;
b.. directed officials to develop effective data and indicators of e-commerce uptake in APEC economies;
c.. encouraged economies to consider the UNCITRAL model law in developing their regulatory frameworks;
d.. instructed officials to initiate work on consumer protection, focussing on information sharing, benchmarking and best practices;
e.. directed officials to develop an APEC-wide plan to support use of e-commerce by small and medium enterprises.
42 Ministers accorded high priority to the targets, stipulated in the Blueprint for Action on Electronic Commerce, for achieving paperless trading, where possible, by 2005 for developed economies and 2010 for developing economies, or as soon as possible thereafter, and instructed officials to increase their efforts to achieve these targets, and to report to Ministers Responsible for Trade at their next meeting in 2000. Ministers welcomed proposals from Japan to host an APEC E-commerce Convention and an E-commerce leaders? seminar and by Brunei Darussalam and Japan to co-host a Workshop on e-commerce in June next year.
Y2K Issues
43 All APEC economies have an important stake in the region?s state of Y2K preparedness. With the new millennium just over 100 days away, strengthening cooperation among APEC economies is of the utmost urgency. Ministers recognise the critical importance of improving regional preparations across borders to ensure continuity of economic activity through to 2000. They welcomed ongoing efforts in APEC economies and called on APEC to accelerate activities focused on readiness preparedness, risk assessment and contingency planning. Ministers endorsed the recommendations of Senior Officials to bolster plans to minimise potential disruptions through continued information exchange, public disclosure, confidence building measures, enhanced engagement with business, the public and technical agencies, and cooperation on risk assessment and mitigation. They stressed that the time remaining must be used to plan for responding to potential disruptions emphasising the electricity, maritime shipping and health sectors. APEC economies will continue coordination across sectors and across borders to determine priorities for the remaining 100 days. Ministers emphasised the urgent priority of bolstering global arrangements for responding to potential Y2K failures.
44 Ministers also welcomed the many cooperative activities already being undertaken within APEC, led by Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the United States, in three main areas:
a.. information exchange and preparedness assessment including: the APEC Y2K Symposium and the APEC Y2K week, both held in April; the establishment of an APEC Y2K website; networks of Y2K contact points; and a questionnaire on readiness in key sectors;
b.. cross-border contingency planning including Y2K risk assessment tool kit and contingency planning workshops being held in Thailand (September), Peru (October) and Korea (November);
c.. intensive exchange of knowledge and know-how in critical sectors: an energy sector meeting (Tokyo 27-28 September 1999).
Biotechnology
45 Recognising the important contribution biotechnology can make in expanding agricultural production and noting the recommendations of the SOM Chair?s Report on ABAC?s proposal for an APEC Food System, Ministers affirmed the importance of transparent and science-based approaches to the introduction and use of biotechnology products, and of technical cooperation, exchanging information on new technology, and capacity building in this area. Such activity should take into account WTO rules, as well as consumers? interest in food safety, environmental quality, and facilitate the realisation of the potential benefits of this technology. Ministers requested that the Agricultural Technical Cooperation Experts Group (ATC) report on the work already done in this area, along with any plans or recommendations for future work and take into account studies being conducted in other international fora, for review by the SOM next year and discussion by Ministers Responsible for Trade at their June 2000 meeting.
Theme 3: Broadening Support for APEC
46 The need for more effective communication and engagement with communities has been an overarching theme in APEC this year. Ministers emphasised the importance of specific outreach activities, both in terms of building greater understanding of APEC?s goals, and ensuring that participation by our communities in economic activities is as wide as possible.
Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC
47 Ministers recognised the continuing impediments to the full participation of women in regional economic activity, and agreed that APEC should address barriers to women?s participation in business, the workforce, education and leadership. They acknowledged the unique potential contribution of indigenous women.
48 As a first step in addressing these impediments, and in including women?s economic interests in the formulation of APEC goals for growth and development, Ministers welcomed and endorsed for referral to Leaders the Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC. They agreed to the recommendations from Senior Officials, including the establishment of an Ad Hoc Advisory Group, and looked forward to a first report on implementation of the Framework at their next meeting. Ministers welcomed parallel efforts to broaden women?s involvement in APEC, including the Women Leaders? Network meeting on 21-23 June, and the Indigenous Women in Exporting Business Seminar on 18-20 June, both held in Wellington.
Communicating the Impact of Trade Liberalisation
49 Ministers committed to expand their efforts to build community understanding of APEC?s goals, especially the benefits of a more open and integrated regional economy. They welcomed the report Making Trade and Investment Liberalisation Relevant: Designing and Implementing Effective Strategies for Communicating with APEC Economies, and agreed to make use of its research in designing communications strategies in their own economies. They accepted the need for messages to be realistic, free of jargon and relevant to people?s individual interests. Ministers asked officials to report at their next meeting on communication initiatives undertaken by individual economies and to consider the possibility of further APEC-wide activities in this area.
Social Impact
50 The economic crisis has taken a heavy toll on the poorer and more vulnerable sectors of our societies and set back poverty alleviation programmes throughout the region. Ministers welcomed the wide range and scope of activities underway, in APEC and other fora. These activities are directed at three main areas:
a.. improving members? understanding of the social impacts of the crisis through, research and analysis on the part of APEC officials, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank; the establishment of the Asia Recovery Information Centre; and Australia?s survey on the effect of the crisis on children and implications for social safety nets.
b.. responding to social needs through technical and capacity-building cooperation, targetting of bilateral development programmes to address social impacts, and significant new multilateral assistance efforts directed to the social sector;
c.. building the capacity of members in the area of social safety nets and exploring ways of strengthening social safety nets in a framework integrating poverty reduction into growth-oriented macroeconomic policies.
51 Ministers agreed on the high priority of further work in this area. They encouraged greater coordination of activities among APEC fora including by the Human Resource Development Working Group and the Economic Committee. Ministers requested these bodies to report in 2000 on work aimed at strengthening social safety nets in the region and at better understanding the social impact of the crisis. They urged even closer cooperation between APEC and other appropriate international agencies, and the substantive bilateral assistance programmes of individual economies. Ministers stressed that the success of policies and programmes aimed at addressing the social impact of economic crises depends upon the full involvement of the public, private and voluntary sectors. Ministers noted Thailand?s proposal for an APEC Social Infrastructure Facility and welcomed the interest expressed by some economies in pursuing this idea initially on a unilateral basis. They also welcomed Thailand?s plan to hold an APEC Seminar on Pension Fund Reform in March 2000 as has been proposed by APEC Finance Ministers.
Business Participation
52 Ministers recognised the need to liaise increasingly closely with the business community if outcomes useful to business were to be achieved through the APEC process. They welcomed the holding of business events in parallel with Ministerial meetings, such as the Business Forum held alongside the SME Ministerial and the Trade Roundtable held in conjunction with the Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade. Ministers also participated in the June Women Leaders Network Meeting. Such events maximised the opportunities for direct contact between Ministers and the business community. Ministers welcomed the deepening of the dialogue with ABAC and urged ABAC to broaden its direct contact with key APEC bodies. They noted with interest ABAC?s 1999 recommendations to Leaders.
Management Review
53 Ministers endorsed the SOM Chair?s Report on the second year of the three year review of APEC?s management process, led jointly by Malaysia, New Zealand and Brunei Darussalam. Ministers stressed that the purpose of the review is to achieve the increased efficiency and effectiveness of the APEC process, commended the work which all APEC fora put into the management review during 1999, and welcomed the measures which Senior Officials and the Budget and Management Committee have taken to improve management procedures. Ministers welcomed the change in timing of the 2000 APEC Finance Ministers? meeting which will result in better alignment of all the key annual APEC Ministerial meetings, and directed Senior Officials to explore further ways of improving coordination with the work of the APEC Finance Deputies. The expansion of the APEC work programme has resulted in increased financial and personnel burdens for all member economies. The work programme must remain manageable and focussed on productive outcomes. Ministers requested that the final report which Senior Officials submit in November 2000 on the management review process include recommendations on criteria for the establishment of new APEC fora.
Other Issues
54 Ministers welcomed the outcomes of the sectoral Ministerial Meetings held this year on Finance, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises and Human Resource Development. They noted that work in the areas of Small and Medium Enterprises and Human Resource Development in particular is likely to continue to be a priority for APEC. Ministers welcomed the follow-up activity underway in the form of the APEC Consumer Education and Protection Initiative and encouraged other economies to follow Thailand?s lead to advance consumer protection. Ministers also welcomed Japan?s offer to host a Human Resource Development Ministerial Meeting in 2001.
55 Ministers noted with interest the proposal from Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) to cooperate with APEC. They agreed to invite APRU to establish an informal dialogue with the APEC Human Resource Development Working Group and the Industrial Science and Technology Working Group, and to invite the hosts of the respective sectoral Ministerial meetings to consider an informal dialogue with APRU in accordance with guidelines on non-member participation. The objective of the dialogue would be to discuss issues and projects of mutual interest in the areas of science, technology and human resources development.
56 Ministers welcomed Korea?s offer to host the first Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Seoul in July 2000. They noted with interest work underway in the Tourism Working Group to develop a draft APEC Tourism Charter which will provide a business plan for economies to realise the extraordinary potential of tourism in the APEC region.
57 Ministers welcomed the proposal from Korea on Policy Dialogues on Turning Economic Crisis into Opportunity for Sustained Growth, and Korea?s offer to host a forum in Seoul in early 2000 to share experiences on overcoming the crisis and to address disparity issues. Ministers also welcomed the proposal by Chinese Taipei on Economic Revitalisation through Start-up Companies and Venture Capital, and looked forward to further work in this area next year. They noted with appreciation Indonesia?s offer to host the next APEC International Trade Fair in 2000. Ministers also took note of the report on the APEC Symposium on the Asian economy, organised by Japan and Thailand.
58 Ministers noted the statements by the ASEAN Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, and the South Pacific Forum and the report of the APEC Study Centres.
59 Ministers endorsed:
a.. the SOM Chair?s Report on Budget Issues and approved the 2000 budget of US$5,943,026 and contributions from member economies amounting to US$3,338,000;
b.. the report of the APEC Secretariat, and expressed appreciation for the work of the Executive Director and his staff.
60 Ministers thanked Brunei Darussalam for its briefing on preparations for the 12th APEC Ministerial Meeting and the Eighth APEC Economic Leaders? Meeting in Brunei Darussalam on 12-13 November 2000 and 15-16 November 2000 respectively, and China for its update on plans for the 13th Ministerial Meeting to be held in China in 2001. The 14th Ministerial Meeting in 2002 will be hosted by Mexico. Ministers welcomed Thailand?s offer to host the 15th Ministerial Meeting in 2003, and Chile?s offer to host the 16th Ministerial Meeting in 2004.
ANNEX A: APEC TRADE FACILITATION ACHIEVEMENTS
a.. Faster Customs Clearances
Faster customs clearances through direct electronic communication with Customs authorities without paperwork
a.. More Consistent Customs Valuations
Standard procedures for more consistent and transparent customs valuations of traded goods.
a.. Expanded E-Commerce and Paperless Trading
Improved electronic access to markets for business and commitment to a goal of paperless trading by 2005 for developed and 2010 for developing economies, or as soon as possible thereafter.
a.. Simplified Business Travel
Simpler business travel with multiple entry visas, internet visa information and visa-free short-term entry via the APEC Business Travel Card.
a.. Alignment of Standards for Food, Electrical, Machinery and Rubber Products
Alignment of domestic standards with international standards for goods such as radios, televisions, videos, refrigerators, air-conditioners, rubber gloves and food labelling, by 2005.
a.. Lower Cost of Trade in Electrical Equipment
Lower cost of trade in electrical goods such as computers, toasters, televisions, radios and power-tools through a single test for conformity assessments.
a.. Lower Cost of Trade in Telecommunications Equipment
Lower cost of trade in telecommunications goods such as phones, faxes, modems, PABXs and radio transmitters, worth an estimated $US 50 billion per year, through a single test for conformity assessments.
a.. Simplified Sales of Telecommunications Services
Simplified negotiation of telecommunications contracts and easier commercial access to telecommunication networks.
a.. Less Risk for Investment in Energy Infrastructure
Better informed investment decisions in energy infrastructure through the Manual of Best Practice Principles for Independent Power Producers and the Natural Gas Initiative.
a.. Market Access Information for Architects, Engineers and Accountants
Instant market access information for architects, engineers and accountants.
a.. Less Waste in Fresh Seafood Trade
Less wastage and shorter transport times for fresh seafood.
a.. Better Y2K Preparedness
Transparent Y2K preparedness, risk assessment and contingency planning.
a.. Market access information
Internet access to information on tariffs, investment, e-commerce, intellectual property, business travel, government procurement, business opportunities, marine ports and labour markets.
ANNEX B: PROJECTS AGREED UNDER THE EARLY VOLUNTARY LIBERALISATION INITIATIVE IN 1999
a.. Forest products: a study on the full range non tariff measures and their impact;
a.. research on assessing forest resources by remote sensing;
b.. a study on methods to detect and control forest damage caused by insects and diseases with remote sensing, the General Information System and Global Positioning System
c.. internet-oriented multimedia database of assessment and utilization of and trade in, the wood of main tree species in APEC member economies
b.. Fisheries: a study on the consistency of global subsidy practices with WTO rules;
a.. Workshop on the Development of APEC Mechanism for Integrated Coastal Management;
c.. Auto industry: an Automotive Dialogue involving business and governments to map out strategies for increasing integration and development of the auto sector;
d.. Toy sector: a seminar on implementation of ISO safety standards;
a.. a programme of training and development of designers and sample makers;
e.. Gems and Jewellery: implementation of training programmes for Jewellery Testing, Assaying and Hallmarking;
a.. an APEC Gems and Jewellery Conference;
b.. APEC Gems and Jewelry Trade and Technology Seminar
f.. Environmental goods and services: a survey of these markets in APEC;
a.. study on the impact of the financial crisis in Southeast Asia on trade liberalization in environmental goods and services
g.. Food: seminar on reduction of antibiotic residues in the domestic animal products
h.. Medical Equipment: seminar for government regulators/harmonization of regulation
a.. establishment of best practices in evaluation of product certification applications and monitoring system;
i.. Energy: Seminar/Workshop on "Promoting Trade & Investments in the Energy Sector among APEC Economies through EVSL"
j.. Telecommunications: Mutual Recognition Arrangement
ATTACHMENT: List of Proposals from APEC members and WTO members [Provisional]
From parc at jca.apc.org Wed Sep 29 11:16:44 1999
From: parc at jca.apc.org (Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC))
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 11:16:44 +0900
Subject: [asia-apec 1313] East Timor People's Peace relief project
Message-ID: <37F1768C334.1FC5PARC@mail.jca.apc.org>
Dear friends;
PARC, together with other Japanese NGOs, started the peace relief project for East timor.If you have similar project or ideas, please iinform us.
EAST TIMOR PEOPLE'S PEACE RELIEF PROJECT
In the referendum on August 30th, a huge majority of East Timorese voted against "annexation" to Indonesia. However, immediately after the referendum, there were massive attacks by "pro-Indonesian" militias, supported by the Indonesian Military against the people, in spite of strong condemnation from international society. So far, at least hundreds of people have been killed, more have been injured, and even more have had to flee from their hometowns -- or even from East Timor.
In spite of president Habibie's promise that the Indonesian government would respect the results of the referendum, the massive violence which fell upon East Timorese even swept away UNAMET staff. The Indonesian military is primarily responsible for the security of East Timorese, but it has allowed the militia's cruel violence, and even supported it.
We, as people in Japan, keenly wish to establish peace, justice, and democracy in East Timor. We would like to appeal for a people's strategy to build a stable peace in the Asia region, gathering the power of people who want peace in East Timor.
We propose the following, as people's direct contribution to East Timor;
We will develop the People's Peace Relief Project, using funds raised from citizens.
1. As a first step, we will push to Japanese and Indonesian government to immediately secure safe conditions for relief activities. Simultaneously, we will call on people all over the world to form an international solidarity movement to surround East Timor, to build peace and stability there.
2. We will bring food and medicines as emergency relief to the people remain in East Timor and refugees in West Timor.
3. We will provide support to people's self-support groups with relief items and medical staff.
Please support this project!
POSTAL BOOK-TRANSFER (YUBIN-FURIKA'E) 00190-0-151832
OR
DAI-ICHI-KANGYO-BANK/KANDA BRANCH (FUTSU)1910083
In the name of "?Higashi-Timor Shimin Heiwa Kyuen-Tai?
Contact address: East Timor People's Peace Relief Project
C/o Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
Hinoki Bldg.3f 2-1, Kanda Ogawamachi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0052 JAPAN
Tel. +81-3-3291-5901 fax. +81-3-3292-2437 E-mail parc@jca.apc.org
Support Project for the People of East Timor
OBJECT (AIM)
1) To pressure the United Nations and the Indonesian government, and contribute to the the recovery of peace in East Timor.
2) To distribute food and medicines to the remaining people in both East and West Timor, and provide emergency medial aid as well.
3) To provide aid to NGOs involved in local aid activities.
4) To call for broad help to people all over the world to support our actions in order to provide a watch group and to produce peace and safety in the region.
ACTIVITIES
1) Fund raising: fund needed: 100,000,000 yen (for emergency goods, logistics, and other local operations).
2) Negotiation with international organizations and the Indonesian government: negotiate with organizations in order to build an aid framework to secure humanitarian aid in the region.
3) Prepare aid goods and organize logistics in coordination with local NGOs in order to provide aid quickly whenever a request comes.
4) Call for participants: look for professionals (doctors and/or nurses) to be sent to the region in order to conduct surveys and research as well as to provide emergency aid. At the request of local NGOs, send those professionals to the region as quickly as possible.
5) Activities in the region: conduct appropriate actions as soon as possible, in coordination with international agencies and/or local NGOs.
6) Information dissemination: provide information on the latest situation in East Timor to people in Japan.
----------------------------
Koshida Kiyokazu (koshida@jca.apc.org, parc@jca.apc.org)
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
3F, Hinoki Bldg., 2-1 Kanda Ogawa-machi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo?Japan 101-0052
tel:81-3-3291-5901
fax:81-3-3292-2437
From quonset at aloha.com Wed Sep 29 15:27:20 1999
From: quonset at aloha.com (Malia Robinson/Roger Furrer)
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 20:27:20 -1000
Subject: [asia-apec 1314] Makua Lawsuit Settled (fwd)
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19990928202720.007e0970@aloha.com>
>Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 07:41:32 -1000
>From: Lynette Hiilani Cruz
>X-Sender: lcruz@uhunix2
>To: Undisclosed recipients:;
>Subject: Makua Lawsuit Settled (fwd)
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 19:31:29 -1000
>From: nancy aleck
>To: Lynette Cruz
>Subject: Makua Lawsuit Settled
>
>This is the text of a press release dated Monday, September 27, 1999
>from Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (since I cannot do the kahako, I
>also left out the okina; any typos are mine):
>
>CITIZENS AND ARMY SETTLE LAWSUIT
>
>Today Malama Makua, represented by Earhjutice Legal Defense Fund, and
>the US Army settled a lawsuit filed in October 1998 to compel the Army's
>compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for
>training and related activites at Makua Military Reservation (MMR) on
>Oahu. NEPA requires federal agencies like the Army to take a hard look
>at potential environmental impacts before taking actions that might
>cause significant environmental harm. Under today's settlement, the
>Army agreed that it will not conduct any training at MMR until it first
>completes a document that assesses comprehensively the environmental
>impacts of all training-related activities at MMR.
>
>"This settlement is a major victory for the Waianae community, which has
>said for years that the military's training at Makua Military
>Reservation has a significant impact on the people, the land, and the
>resources at Makua," said Sparky Rodrigues, president of Malama Makua.
>"We are encouraged that the Army is finally going to follow the low, but
>we will also be watching to make sure that the studies are adequate and
>that the community is actively involved."
>
>Under NEPA, federal agencies must prepare an environmental impact
>statement (EIS) for any major federal action significantly affecting the
>human environment. An EIS is a detailed document that must discuss,
>among other things, the environmental impacts of the proposed federal
>action (including any acological, aesthetic, historic, cultural,
>economic, social and health effects, whether direct or indirect) and ny
>alternatives to the proposed action. If an agency is unsure whether the
>effects of its actions will be "significant," it may first prepare an
>environmental assessment (EA) to help make that determination.
>
>"Given the biological and cultural riches that are threatened by Army
>training at Makua, an EIS is clearly in order and doing one off the bat
>would be the best use of taxpayer money," said David Henkin, staff
>attorney with Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, who represents Malama
>Makua. "If, nonetheless, the Army decides to begin the NEPA process
>with an EA, we will be vigilant to ensure that the Army takes a hard
>look at its activities at MMR and gives the community the information it
>deserves about all environmental, economic, and social impacts.
>
>No training has taken place at MMR since September 1998 when, in
>response to a letter from Malama Makua indiating its intent to sue, the
>Army resumed consultations with the Service under the federal Endagered
>Species Act. The area affected by training at MMR provides habitat for
>over 30 endangered plants, the elepaio bird (a proposed endangered
>species), the endangered pupu kani oe (Oahu tree snail), and dozens of
>additional Hawaiian plants and animals. Military training causes firs
>and introduces alien plants and animals that pose significant threats to
>native species and their habitat.
>
>"This settlement is the culmination of years of effort by the Waianae
>community to care for the land and resources at Makua," said Roger
>Furrer, Makaha farmer and member of Malama Makua. "We look forward to
>working with the Army to help build respect for this very special
>place."
>
>Fires from training and controlled burns, unexploded ordinance, military
>transport along Farrigton Highway, smoke, and noise threaten public
>health, safety, and well-being. Erosion from maneuvers and firs
>threaten cultural sites and nearshore water quality. Heavy metals and
>other pollutants remain in the soil from decades of hazardous waste
>disposal and live-fire training.
>
>Malama Makua is a non-profit, unincorporated, community organization
>based on the Waianae Coast of Oahu. Formed in 1992 to oppose the Army's
>open burn/open detonation permit application to the EPA, Malama Makua
>has continued to monitor military activities at MMR and has partiipated
>in a number of community initiatives to care for the land and resources
>at Makua.
>
>Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (formerly Sierra Club Legal Defense
>Fund) is a non-profit, public-interest, environmental law firm. The
>Mid-Pacific office, which opened in Honolulu in 1988, has represented
>dozens of environmental, native Hawaiian, and community organizations in
>litigation and administrative proceedings.
>
>
>
>
From notoapec at clear.net.nz Thu Sep 30 10:28:53 1999
From: notoapec at clear.net.nz (APEC Monitoring Group)
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 18:28:53 -0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1315] Report on "Alternatives To The APEC Agenda"
Message-ID: <003801bf0ae3$29868940$7c3261cb@notoapec>
Alternatives To The APEC Agenda
by Aziz Choudry, GATT Watchdog and Aotearoa/New Zealand APEC Monitoring Group
"APEC itself is almost dying, but unfortunately the agenda of APEC has spread rather widely, becoming the reality of the lives of the peoples in the region through the Asian economic crisis, through IMF and through WTO." Reiko Inoue, Co-President, Pacific Asia Resource Center, Japan.
The Aotearoa/New Zealand APEC Monitoring Group organised a highly successful programme of education and action throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand during 1999, culminating in a public meeting and two-day forum called "Alternatives To The APEC Agenda" in Auckland on the weekend of the APEC Leaders Summit (10-12 September).
Under the dark shadow of the continuing massacre in East Timor, 160 delegates from throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region described the APEC agenda of trade and investment liberalisation as the new imperialism. Overseas speakers and participants came from Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Bougainville, and the USA. Participants heard how poverty and deprivation has been created over and over again throughout the region, as the pain of New Zealand-style neoliberal experiments is inflicted on groups tragically unprepared for its consequences.
One of the APEC Monitoring Group's primary goals has been to help people in Aotearoa/New Zealand understand the link between APEC's free market goals and the destructive economic policies which have devastated this country and peoples' lives over the past 15 years, and to promote discussion on alternative policies and strategies to achieve economic, social and Treaty of Waitangi justice. Besides APEC, there was a strong focus on strategies to oppose attempts to begin a "Millennium round" of negotiations at November's WTO Ministerial Meeting in Seattle.
Over 400 people attended the public meeting on 10 September, addressed by Jane Kelsey of the APEC Monitoring Group, Moses Havini of the Bougainville Interim Government, Tame Iti, a Maori sovereigntist from the Tuhoe people, and Antonio Tujan, Executive Director of IBON Databank, Philippines. A spontaneous march and rally followed the public meeting when around 200 people marched to the Carlton Hotel where New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley was staying.
The forum was divided into three sections - Implications of the APEC Agenda, Alternatives, and Strategies.
Maori lawyer Moana Jackson, Director of Nga Kaiwhakamarama I Nga Ture (Maori Legal Service) opened the conference with an address outlining that globalisation is part and parcel of the same colonisation process that has sought to commodify all things for private profit.
He cut through the globalisation and neo-liberal jargon to situate APEC and similar projects exactly where they are.
* APEC is the continuation of the colonisation that the Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand have faced for nearly 200 years and which other Indigenous Peoples have faced for over 500 years.
* This colonisation, although not new, comes in new and different forms. We need to analyse these and learn how to respond to them.
* Opposition and alternatives to this colonisation can only be addressed if we deal with its full history not just the last 10 mutated APEC years.
* In Aotearoa/New Zealand alternatives must be built on the understanding and acceptance of the Treaty and the right of tangata whenua (Maori) to self-determination, sovereignty or tino rangatiratanga.
A panel of speakers addressed the implications of the APEC agenda first from the international perspective and then from a local perspective.
Although the contexts were different, the themes were similar.
- colonisation is responsible for the growing impoverishment and injustice in the world
- the institutions of APEC/World Trade Organisation/International Monetary Fund/World Bank are the white knights of this colonisation
- this colonisation impacts on Indigenous Peoples, women, workers, smaller countries
- this colonisation is now impacting on life-forms
- the promoters of this colonisation are concerned that the victims of the colonisation are not accepting how 'good' it is for them. APEC governments will be spending millions of dollars over the next period to "manufacture consent" through public relations campaigns.
Jaggi Singh, an organiser with APEC Alert which opposed APEC in Vancouver in 1997 spoke of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Canada's domestic market reforms. Saul Landau, an award-winning US independent filmmaker outlined the devastating effects of NAFTA on Mexico.
Reiko Inoue, Co-President of Pacific Asia Resource Centre (PARC), Tokyo, and Changgeun Lee from Policy and Information Centre for International Solidarity, Korea, spoke of the impacts of the free trade and investment, free market agenda in their respective countries.
"With their very basic public services eliminated, the people of the world are forced into a 'race toward the bottom' at a national/international level for their right to survive. No matter how dismal their working environment may be, no matter how meagre their wages, people cannot help but accept and work in these conditions. This is because in the age of neo-liberalism, the purpose of the state is to provide a set of conditions most favorable to the capitalists and most oppressive to the workers, all wrapped in the ideology of gaining the 'competitive edge.' More rights and more privileges to 'foreign investors'! Endless competition toward the bottom for the people of the world!", said Changgeun Lee.
In a keynote address introducing the "Alternatives" session, Antonio Tujan, Executive Director of IBON Databank, Manila, said:
"Our response to neoliberalism cannot simply be a return to Keynesian economics of greater state intervention to prevent unbridled monopoly capitalism. Neoliberalism has in fact exposed in all its nakedness the violence and greed of capitalism. It is not our wont and interest to strengthen capitalism through Keynesian neo-classical policies.
"Neither can our response be to seek narrow nationalist protection from foreign inroads without critically pursuing equitable social benefits from trade and other economic endeavors for our peoples and communities. This would simply be strengthening and protection for our own bourgeoisie which are actually tied to global monopoly capital and whose interest is simply protecting itself while ensuring the opening up of other countries for their own benefit."
In the same session, Bien Molina, from Hong Kong-based Asian Migrant Center noted:
"Parallel "people's fora" on APEC have become a steady feature of the annual APEC summits. Indeed, this is already the 6th alternative forum since the daring 1994 Bogor meeting staged by a handful of anti-APEC activists.
"Each year, the question of "alternatives to APEC" crops up. But each year, we basically manage only to elaborate on our critique of neoliberal globalisation, but hardly come up with coherent ideas on alternatives. In fact, repetitious debates about whether to "reject" or "engage" APEC continue to surface each year, despite the fact that the APEC neoliberal philosophy has been clearly rejected since the 1995 Kyoto forum."
"The debate will continue to stagnate at the "reject-engage" level until we qualitatively raise the discussion to the level of the substance of the alternatives. What is our alternative to the APEC/neoliberal agenda?"
Antonio Tujan urged: "We must fight for the peoples' alternatives to globalization. It is for us to develop these models, to work on these models as we advance our resistance to globalization. In fact, this resistance stands as our first and most important alternative to globalization.
"Models for working alternatives to globalization are also drawn from our own daily experiences and from that of our communities. And finally, these models are rooted in our histories as peoples and as communities."
Speaking about APEC, the WTO, and the G-7, after outlining his people's struggle against transnational mining operations and for self-determination, Moses Havini, International Representative of the Bougainville People's Congress, said:
"These "exclusive clubs" have a long list of "sins" as observed by this conference. Where our own governments have virtually lost control and given our sovereignty away by allowing, for example, free trade and investment to foreign governments and TNCs into our lives. A free run of unlimited exploitation by these "sharks" of our Pacific resources such as timber, fish, minerals, workers' rights and other natural resources which could well make our Pacific, a "barren" place in the not too distant future."
"In strategising for the future let us just simply take CONTROL and RECLAIM our SOVEREIGNTY. Firstly, for Indigenous Peoples of their right to Self-determination; and secondly for the rest of us, for all our human rights both collective and individual; those rights that we used to enjoy once upon a time, before colonisation and neoliberalism hit our shores."
Other speakers included Leonie Pihama, Maori educationalist, Peter Wills, Biologist and Genetic Engineering activist, Prue Hyman, feminist economist, Jane Kelsey, author of "The New Zealand Experiment" and "Reclaiming The Future", Bill Rosenberg, researcher for Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Mereana Pitman, a Maori decolonisation educator, GATT Watchdog organiser Aziz Choudry, Crispin Beltran, Chairman of Kilusang Mayo Uno, Philippines, Angeline Greensill, Maori sovereigntist, John Minto, of Quality Public Education Coalition, Leigh Cookson of APEC Monitoring Group, Robert Reid of the Trade Union Federation, and Radha D'Souza of Asia-Pacific Workers Solidarity Links. Tim Howard and Alistair Shaw, recently returned from working as observers in East Timor, spoke on the critical situation there.
The forum ended with a march and rally of 400 people against APEC on Sunday 12th.
Workshop topics were:
Reorganising Labour; Privatisation/Local Campaigns; Education; Environment and Health; Investment; Democratisation; Local government/politics; Church and social justice; International cooperation; Free trade agreements.
Further details about the Alternatives To The APEC Agenda forum, factsheets, papers from the conference, and other information are available at www.apec.gen.nz or from PO Box 1905, Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Workshop outcomes will be posted on the site shortly.
From dete at nusanet.nusa.or.id Thu Sep 30 20:08:03 1999
From: dete at nusanet.nusa.or.id (Dete Aliyah)
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 18:08:03 +0700
Subject: [asia-apec 1316] East Timor People's Peace relief project
Message-ID: <022e01bf0b34$113a46a0$101da8c0@info3.nusa.or.id>
Dear friends;
PARC, together with other Japanese NGOs, started the peace relief project
for East timor.If you have similar project or ideas, please iinform us.
EAST TIMOR PEOPLE'S PEACE RELIEF PROJECT
In the referendum on August 30th, a huge majority of East Timorese
voted against "annexation" to Indonesia. However, immediately after the
referendum, there were massive attacks by "pro-Indonesian" militias,
supported by the Indonesian Military against the people, in spite of strong
condemnation from international society. So far, at least hundreds of people
have been killed, more have been injured, and even more have had to flee
from their hometowns -- or even from East Timor.
In spite of president Habibie's promise that the Indonesian government
would respect the results of the referendum, the massive violence which fell
upon East Timorese even swept away UNAMET staff. The Indonesian military is
primarily responsible for the security of East Timorese, but it has allowed
the militia's cruel violence, and even supported it.
We, as people in Japan, keenly wish to establish peace, justice, and
democracy in East Timor. We would like to appeal for a people's strategy to
build a stable peace in the Asia region, gathering the power of people who
want peace in East Timor.
We propose the following, as people's direct contribution to East
Timor;
We will develop the People's Peace Relief Project, using funds raised from
citizens.
1. As a first step, we will push to Japanese and Indonesian government to
immediately secure safe conditions for relief activities. Simultaneously, we
will call on people all over the world to form an international solidarity
movement to surround East Timor, to build peace and stability there.
2. We will bring food and medicines as emergency relief to the people remain
in East Timor and refugees in West Timor.
3. We will provide support to people's self-support groups with relief items
and medical staff.
Please support this project!
POSTAL BOOK-TRANSFER (YUBIN-FURIKA'E) 00190-0-151832
OR
DAI-ICHI-KANGYO-BANK/KANDA BRANCH (FUTSU)1910083
In the name of "?Higashi-Timor Shimin Heiwa Kyuen-Tai?
Contact address: East Timor People's Peace Relief Project
C/o Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
Hinoki Bldg.3f 2-1, Kanda Ogawamachi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0052 JAPAN
Tel. +81-3-3291-5901 fax. +81-3-3292-2437 E-mail parc@jca.apc.org
Support Project for the People of East Timor
OBJECT (AIM)
1) To pressure the United Nations and the Indonesian government, and
contribute to the the recovery of peace in East Timor.
2) To distribute food and medicines to the remaining people in both East and
West Timor, and provide emergency medial aid as well.
3) To provide aid to NGOs involved in local aid activities.
4) To call for broad help to people all over the world to support our
actions in order to provide a watch group and to produce peace and safety in
the region.
ACTIVITIES
1) Fund raising: fund needed: 100,000,000 yen (for emergency goods,
logistics, and other local operations).
2) Negotiation with international organizations and the Indonesian
government: negotiate with organizations in order to build an aid framework
to secure humanitarian aid in the region.
3) Prepare aid goods and organize logistics in coordination with local NGOs
in order to provide aid quickly whenever a request comes.
4) Call for participants: look for professionals (doctors and/or nurses) to
be sent to the region in order to conduct surveys and research as well as to
provide emergency aid. At the request of local NGOs, send those
professionals to the region as quickly as possible.
5) Activities in the region: conduct appropriate actions as soon as
possible, in coordination with international agencies and/or local NGOs.
6) Information dissemination: provide information on the latest situation
in East Timor to people in Japan.
----------------------------
Koshida Kiyokazu (koshida@jca.apc.org, parc@jca.apc.org)
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
3F, Hinoki Bldg., 2-1 Kanda Ogawa-machi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo?Japan 101-0052
tel:81-3-3291-5901
fax:81-3-3292-2437