Lisa Fithian and Starhawk from RANT went to Mexico from July 27 ­ August 7th
where we met with organizers and local activists in Cancun and with
campesino organizers in Felipe Carillo Puerto, three hours south. We went
to Mexico City on Aug. 1st and spent the weekend with students at an
encampment focused on the WTO and then attend a three day gathering meeting
of Via Campesino. We also met with lawyers coordinating the legal support
for the September mobilization. Our primary interest was plans for
nonviolent direct action. Here is a quick summary of what we learned.


IN CANCUN ITSELF
================

Cancun is a new city that was created as a tourist center for the Mexican
economy. As such there is no history of social movements or many activist
based organizations. And thus few organizers have much direct action
experience.

The Comite de Bienvenida or the Welcoming Committee in Cancun is focusing on
logistics - finding spaces for camping and the forums as well as food.
They are also working with the global network of NGO's called Our World is
Not for Sale in organizing the forums, fair trade fair, etc. There is more
than enough work for what is basically a small group of people and they have
been having trouble locking down specifics. They are negotiating with the
city but there are only so many places for up to 10,000 people to camp.

Another local Cancun group, more youth and arts, is emerging and they are
focused on organizing youth and beginning to do outreach and mobilization in
the local community. They are very interested in bring a cultural component
to the streets in the form of puppets, drum processions and so on. They
have a base that hang in the Parque las Palapas which is the cultural center
of Cancun City

Puente de Cancun is a small group of internationals sponsored by Global
Exchange that is 1) providing info bulletins to the world, 2) organizing the
media convergence and 3) serving as a link to internationals.

We felt that a convergence space for organizing and supporting the street
actions is needed, and Mike, who was working with the Puente, was very, very
helpful to us, and is looking into housing/convergence space. We are
fundraising to help cover the costs and people can make donations to RANT in
order to secure one. More info below.

Two of the students from Mexico City are also going down to Cancun this week
and will be on the ground organizing from now on. They both have a good bit
of direct action experience which is great.

Finally on Cancun ­ the criminalization campaign has begun. There were
daily articles about foreign instigators, over 200,000 coming, about folks
bringing explosives and so on. The usual. But this all has a chilling
effect. Also two years ago at the WEF protests the police were pretty
brutal so there is a memory of that and some desire on the part of the
Comite not to see direct actions. All of this is evolving however as it is
clear that there are different sectors with different visions and plans...


Students:

The student activists we worked with are great and inspiring and
experienced, sophisticated organizers. Over the weekend encampment, they
formed a new group, Alianza Global S-9/Global Alliance S-9, to be a
coordinating body for all the groups planning street actions particularly on
the 9th.

They came from numerous groups and several cities and have some clear ideas
about what they would like to see happen. While many want to go it is very
expensive since the whole trip will be about 10 days with bus travel and
all. The students are hoping that international activist will contribute
to help reduce the individual cost thereby allowing more to go.

They are writing a letter and where people can send money, but short of that
RANT is also willing to help get money where it needs to go. (Info below)


Campesinos:

Via Campesino and its related Mexican compesino organizations, (UNORCA being
one of the main ones) are planning to mobilize 5-10,000 people. Again,
numbers depend partly on money. They are organizing their own forums on
the 8th and 9th and then planning a day of action on the 10th which is the
opening day of the Ministerial and the day focused on agriculture.

They are planning actions across the hemisphere to disrupt international
commerce as well as a plan to march to the Convention Center to deliver a
declaration. Their intention is to get inside to read it.

They will march on September 10 and probably support whatever actions take
place on September 9, although it seems unlikely that they will take a major
role in them. The student made a proposal to them and they have a big
meeting soon to make a final determination on their plans.


ROUGH CALENDAR
================

Aug 30
Festival in Cancun, Student trainings in Mexico City

Sep 1
Convergence Center opens we hope

Sep 2
Alternative Media-Tech Convergence

Sep 4,5
Student busses leave Guadalajara and Mexico City, respectively.

Sep 6
Training Weekend, evening assemblies/spokes begin

Sep 8
Students arrive in Cancun, evening Assembly to plan actions. Campesino Forums
begins

Sep 9
WTO delegates begin to arrive. Proposed action day. Actions will depend on
numbers and logistics, but some powerful ideas are in the works. Compesino
forums begin, NGO Opening Forum.

Sep 10
Ministerial Opens, focus on agriculture. March and possible actions by Via
Campesino. Alternative Trade Fair ­ through the 12th out on the island

Sep 11
Zapatista Encuentro / Dia de la luto - memorials for victims of war and
violence, anniversary of the coup in Chile as well as 9-11 in U.S., Street
processions, offrendas, cacerolazo (beating pots and pans - a South American
political tradition), and a Chilean pena at night are suggestions.

Sep 12
Services under discussion at ministerial: suggestion to be in the streets of
Cancun City offering services to people - free food, water, medical care, etc.

Sep 13
Mass March against War and Free Trade.

Sep 14
Ministerial Closes, possible Fiesta on the beaches?

Sep 15
Mexican Independence Day

<< Editor's note: In Europe, parallel days of action in solidarity with the
Cancun actions have already been called. The largest and most international
will be in London, where four days of action are to target the DSEi arms fair -
see http://www.dsei.org for details >>



OTHER ASPECTS
===============

Legal:
Legal support is being organized by a Mexican human rights organization. We met
with their representatives who seem to have a great plan. They will aid
internationals who have problems with immigration and provide support for the
actions, and they seem to have this base well covered. A legal Handbook is
almost complete that will be translated into English and put on line on the
Comite's webpage.

Medical:
Various teams of street medics are coming down from the U.S. and we believe that
this, too, will be well covered.

Housing:
Campsites for the major moblizations of campesinos and students are still being
negotiated. We have people looking for houses to rent for groups of
internationals and for a convergence space, but don't yet have anything
confirmed.

Visas:
The Mexican government is requiring a special visa for accredited
journalists and delegates who will be entering the Conference Center area,
but we have been told that unaccredited people should just come on a regular
tourist visa. Passports are required for those flying into Mexico.

Weather:
Hot, hot, hot, oppressive or rain, rain, rain. Come prepared!
Mosquitos also can be a problem, so some good nontoxic bug juice could come in
handy.

Theft:
Theft is a big problem in Cancun and Mexico City. We recommend an
under-your-shirt money belt for your passport and cash and a wary eye when
on busses, the subway, or in crowds. Don't bring anything of real value or
consider insuring it. The Puente House was just broken into and computer
equipment etc stolen.
There are cheap internet café's everywhere!

What's Needed from Internationals:
Being there! Cancun is hard to get to for a lot of Mexicans, and internationals
are needed and welcome in order to get the numbers we need for a large-scale
mobilization. Internationals present will also change the dynamic with the
police, the Mexicans believe.

If you can come to Cancun, do! Internationals are needed and wanted, and it
will be an incredible opportunity to meet and work with people from the
global south, from students to campesinos.

If you can't come to Cancun, consider donating some money to help students
and campesinos from Mexico come. Cancun was chosen because it is isolated,
expensive and inaccessible. Students and campesinos, the major groups
mobilizing, have little money but much courage and determination. Many
would like to come, but can't afford to. With support and solidarity from
the north, however, we can mount a large and effective mobilization that can
derail the meeting.

And if this ministerial fails it will be the third failure in a row, dealing
a potentially fatal blow to the organization. The struggle for global
justice will still continue on many fronts, but the tide will have turned.


Fundraising:

Funding is needed to bring more students and campesinos to the actions. Anyone
who can't come is be encouraged to make as big or as small a donation as
possible. RANT will help get the money to Mexican student organizations or
convergence space.

$100 will sponsor one student's travel costs to Cancun. We also need money
for supplies for the permaculture projects, art supplies, flyers, etc. Even
small amounts can help.

Tax deductible donations can be made to:
Daughters/Sisters Foundation (Make check out to Daughters/Sisters, earmark
it RANT/CANCUN)
PO Box 4492
Rolling Bay, WA 98061
EIN: 91-188-5041A

OR if you do not need a tax-deduction send money directly to
Lisa Fithian
1405 Hillmont St.
Austin, TX 78704

Checks made out to RANT and what you want it to go for on the memo line!!!!!


Action Support and Coordination: Experienced people who can help coordinate
actions, run communications, and volunteer as legal observers or to help
staff the legal office will be extremely useful. Spanish may be a
requirement for some roles.

A few links:
Comite de Bienvenida: http://www.cancuncommittee.org
PGA Cancun webpage: http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/cancun/index.htm
Indymedia Cancun: http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/
Mexican Space / NGO's http://www.rmalc.org.mx/
Fair Trade Symposium:
http://laneta.apc.org/pipermail/acancun-l/2003June/000176.html

The WTO official web-site (http://www.wto.org/)


Contacts:

Puente de Cancun - bridge to internationals/organizing media convergence
998 887 9326
noomc@buz.org

Juventude Global - local Cancun youth/cultural organizing
Hector Rodriguez (52) 998 896 1822

Student organizing:
Alianza Global S-9 ags9@yahoo.com

Everardo 0445551536067
kapitalbailable@hotmail.com

Legal

Comision de Derechos Humanos y Abogados
C/0Wolf
Cancundh@hotmail.com

Juan Antonio Vega
5523 9992
redtdt@redtdt.org
cancunddhh@hotmail.com

saturday SEPTEMBER 13th 2003!!

there will be protests everywhere

CANCUN-IMC
Preparations Underway for WTO Mobilizations in Cancun
A Month from Cancun, WTO and Critics Rev Their Engines
September 13: Worldwide Day of Action Against Corporate Globalization and War

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

8/14/03:
CIVIL society groups in South Africa yesterday said they would take "the spirit of" the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Seattle conference to Cancun where the fifth WTO ministerial meeting takes place next month.

8/14/03 (New York Times):
WTO already behind schedule.... may derail entirely if no discernible progress is reached at the Cancún gathering.

8/14/03 (Alternatives, Canada):
Walden Bello of Focus on the Global South had this to say to the Mexican government : "You should not worry about us, since we come simply to defend our ideas and our rights. You should worry, instead, about defending Mexican sovereignty from the security forces of the United States during the meeting." Bello recounted his experiences in other gatherings, where US security forces took over control of the events and the streets during the protests.

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

Just what terrible crimes is the WTO organization commiting?

I want answers to be short please, I don't want links to a Marxist/Anarchist website with 100s of pages of guff or a link to an NGO site full of moving personal accounts.

I just want three or four sentences explaining the terrible crimes this organization is responsible for if it requires window-breaking, graffiti-spraying street protest.

you're hilarious.

The World Trade Organization is the most powerful legislative and judicial body in the world. By promoting the "free trade" agenda of multinational corporations above the interests of local communities, working families, and the environment, the WTO has systematically undermined democracy around the world.

anybody who wants to see some very simple and clear introductory criticisms of the WTO can look at these links (there are plenty of other sources out there if you look for them):

ten key reasons to oppose or even shut down the WTO
WTO page from Global Exchange
The World Says No to the WTO September 13
WTO page from Public Citizen


now, please tell us why we should submit to corporate rule.

but keep it short. let's make sure that la-imc continues in its almost useless pattern of petty bickering. make sure you don't include any evidence for your assertions. if you do then we might have trouble arguing with you. also we don't want you to provide any links to any other information. people who look at this site should stay stuck in an unconstructive feedback loop that discourages them from alternative media altogether. please do not put any work into your post. let's leave the creative decisions to the elites okay? and most importantly, do not say or do anything that a normal person could find convincing or inspiring. the most important thing is that the masses of normal people should be forever turned off by any group that is vocally opposed to the prevailing elites. okay?

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Noam Chomsky:
Suppose you say something that isn't regurgitating conventional pieties. Suppose you say something that's the least bit unexpected or controversial. Suppose you say "The biggest international terror operations that are known are the ones that are run out of Washington." Or suppose you say, "What happened in the 1980s is the U.S. government was driven underground." "Suppose I say the United States is invading South Vietnam -- as it was."...You know, people will quite reasonably expect to know what you mean. Why did you say that? I never heard that before. If you said that you better have some evidence, and in fact you better have a lot of evidence, because that's a pretty startling comment. You can't give evidence if you're stuck with concision.

(there's an interesting critical review of a Parecon book at the above link also)

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

I don't find myself shaking with indignation. You can throw an avalanche of wildly written pages at me but you cannot convince me that my democratic rights are being eroded or that third world countries are being exploited.

The WTO is an intergovernmental body, with over 140 members taking part in decisionmaking. Decisions are made on the principle of unanimity, all members must approve before a decision becomes binding.

No country has a veto. More than 3/4 of member countries are from the "developing world".

...the WTO is obviously a step towards the One Wrold Government the Left fears so much (unless it was them in control of it, of course, which would never happen becuase the WTO is about --GASP!--capitalism).

Never mind the fact that the UN is also a step towards OWG. The UN is okey-dokey with the Left because it gives thugs, communists, dictators, socialists, terrorists and their appeasers a say in everyone's affairs.

I think mostly they protest the WTO is because it's big and scaaaary. And, of course, it's steeped in capitalism, which automatically makes it eeeeevil.

'Josef' wrote: "The WTO is an intergovernmental body, with over 140 members taking part in decisionmaking. Decisions are made on the principle of unanimity, all members must approve before a decision becomes binding. No country has a veto"

it might be easy to say this stuff but it's not easy to imagine what it means. just as a matter of logic - consensus type decision making implies veto power for everyone. think about it.

but besides logic, it makes sense that we'd have a poor understanding of the WTO. we weren't supposed to even know it existed. Seattle changed that but it's still not easy to find out the details of how the WTO operates. the WTO is not a "transparent" democratic institution. they operate behind closed doors. but the general outlines are known. they publish boring general information for one thing.

according to Richard Blackhurst, Member of the GATT/WTO Secretariat from 1974 until April 1997 (three years after the formation of the WTO); and Director of Economic Research and Analysis from 1985 to 1997, "only the entry into force of certain amendments requires unanimity (WTO Article X:2)".

140 + members notwithstanding, important decisions are reportedly left to a panel of (!) 3 people. WTO officials are notorious for being "faceless unelected bureaucrats" (that's Blackhurst's language again) and even the large meetings are famous for their secrecy and siege mentality. The US brings over 250 "negotiators" along while 30 poor nations together bring a total of zero.

whatever you think of their shady decision making process, WTO decisions are then enforced by allowing retaliatory economic sanctions be imposed by injured parties. this is probably considered a very egalitarian way to function because the USA has little to fear if a small Third World country threatens to impose sanctions. the USA on the other hand could destroy the same third world country if the situation were reversed. and the situation usually is reversed: developing countries are three-quarters of the WTO membership but all of them put together have made only 20% of the complaints to the dispute panel. the USA by itself on the other hand has filed nearly 30% of all cases, and won 90% of them.

Globalization & War texts & analysis indexed by author
the ABC's of Corporate Globalization
Sept. 13th call from PGA
stop the WTO in Cancun!
a good FAQ
general search results

who is harmed? the usual victims, systematically, all over the world: poor people, women, children, the sick and infirm, animals, the environment, and ultimately everyone. for examples just look for yourself at the readily available information. this is happening not because WTO officials like the flavor of the blood of poor children. they're just doing their jobs, putting trade and commercial considerations over all other values, including health, peace, truth, etc.. and the people most effected don't like that so they resist it.

and they will continue resisting until the problems are solved. and nobody is going to check to see whether 'Josef' is "shaking with indignation" or not.

ten key reasons to oppose or even shut down the WTO
WTO page from Global Exchange
The World Says No to the WTO September 13
WTO page from Public Citizen

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

...involves carrying signs and vandalism.

That'll show 'em!

If they break enough windows, the multinational glass manufacturing corporations will make even more money...thus oppressing the workers even more.

Protesting the WTO is exactly what the WTO WANTS you to do!

Don't play into their hands! Stay home!

These protesters are working to protect the corporate welfare that the US pays to agribusiness. For some reason, these "caring" protesters are trying to prevent the developing countries from exporting food to the developed world.

These protesters have a romantic notion of the poor -- innocent savages living in ignorant bliss. And they protest against agreements that would benefit these poor people. It's an outrageously cruel position to support.

Hey B. A. last time I Was by this ever more irrelevant site you had been banned again what’s wrong is their web masters as ineffective as their protests.

They do have at least one Starbucks down there that they can smash up.

AAAAaaaahahahaha

.....as in.... Taggart?

AAAAAAaaaaaahahhahhahaaaha!!!!!!

another new story on this:

http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=70127&group=webcast

here's some images as
cancun indymedia gets rolling:
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/media/index.php?function=browse&category=all&submit=Browse

I'd like to hate the WTO organisation and I REALLY hate America but I don't know what they're doing wrong.

If someone asked me I wouldn't know what to say. Can anyone help me?

"If someone asked me I wouldn't know what to say. Can anyone help me?"

1) enjoy some cervezas with friends
2) enjoy a little Mexicana grass
3) be around cool folks who also hate the US and capitalism
4) break windows

What more do you require?

As long as no one asks me any tough questions. I'll do it because I hate my country.

nyc-imc 8/20/03: The Iron Fist of Free Trade
wiki WTO-2003: Cancun (english)
wiki WTO-2003: Cancún (spanish)
URGENT - Donations Needed for Cancun IMC
Santa Cruz Delegation to Cancun
Anti-WTO Rally in Phoenix?
green paper #4 (large pdf file)
Opening Pandora's Box?
cancun-imc media gallery

jump up in thread

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

8/23/03 Times of Oman: Over 40,000 people from around the world opposing the prevailing globalisation model have begun gathering in Cancun, preparing to protest the WTO ministerial conference.

the important thing is that your group make its own decisions based on its own discussions. this is both the reason for protesting the undemocratic WTO and the best way to organize resistance.

Walden Bello details Cancun strategy
index of related Bello texts
recent Bello

Mexico Solidarity Network
SD/TJ mobilization

anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

You were born a white American male -- literally giving you an advantage at birth that the other 98% of the planet’s population would love to have. You were born to succeed. But you haven’t. You have bucked the odds and never amounted to anything. This makes you feel confused and angry. Is it your fault?

African-Americans have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to tell them that “The Man” is responsible for keeping them down. Arabs have “The Man” and Israel to blame for keeping them down. Every other group can claim to be a victim; it’s usually the white American male who is keeping them down. But if you yourself are a white American male, how can “The Man” be keeping you down if you are The Man?

That’s why we created Indymedia. Now you can have your own “The Man” to blame for your failure! Presto -- now you too are a victim. And “The Man” is the amorphous capitalist/globalist/jock/Republican/insert-your-own-boogeyman-here bad guy. And they are all keeping you down. See, it’s not your fault at all. Feel better yet?

And here at Indymedia, we take advantage of the groupthink phenomenon. If we all copy and paste from the same conspiracy websites and support each other, eventually, we may even begin to believe the bullshit ourselves!

Did you wake up this morning in a cold sweat, with the realization that you are a 30 year old bicycle messenger or coffee pourer with no future? Did you begin to get down on yourself? Stop that nonsense. Go to Indymedia and feel good about yourself again. It’s not your lack of motivation that’s the problem. It’s “The Man”. See, you feel better already.

That makes sense, I always wanted to have someody to blame but I've always been too fortunate. Oh, how I wish I had been born in South America or Africa, then I really could become a hero.

take command of these warmongering slavetraders.

Well, I see that you're still fighting mental health.

When you don't have any argument, you can always resort to calling your opponent insane!

"They're lame in the extreme."

When you don't have any argument, you can always resort to calling your opponent lame!

Mexico Denies Visas to Evo Morales and other World Leaders
lots of fresh WTO/Cancun coverage links at global IMC
Say NO! at WTO, Venezuela tells developing nations
Venezuela thread

developing countries building solidarity against corporate USA / WTO agenda.... Venezuela, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Cuba, Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chili, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand....

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the important thing is that your group make its own decisions based on its own discussions. this is both the reason for protesting the undemocratic WTO and the best way to organize resistance.

GLOBAL ACTIONS

jump up in thread

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so.... was the point of the SD/TJ Sept. 13 mobilization much more than an excuse to NOT do anything in L.A.? checkout "skill share" workshops #1- how to be a "police liaison".... lovely.... and #2- "....how to work the media, how to talk to a camera, and how to effectively communicate your message using the corporate media"....

support the protesters!! but we should be realistic about what to expect from the "organizers" of this kind of event.....

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

police presence around Cancun is becoming huge, according to reports. corporate newswires (and some 'alternative' ones) are running a steady stream of trivial reports of nude protesters.... the big day of worldwide protest is still four days away (Saturday 9/13/03).

http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/

Mexico bans Indigenous Leader Blanca Chancoso from Cancun/WTO
Mexico Denies Visas to Evo Morales and other World Leaders

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some of the issues are complex:

some 'representatives' of southern countries are uniting around the demand to slash US/EU agricultural subsidies.....

"We face a common enemy - the enemy is the dumped surpluses, the subsidized [US/EU] exports," said New Zealand trade minister Jim Sutton.

"They undermine developing countries and the subsistence farmers in the poorest countries. They undermine the drive to get on the first rung of the ladder of economic development."

on the other hand....

"....The export agriculture which would benefit from the elimination of First World Ag Subsidies are in fact giant corporations which are either owned by Third World Oligarchies or Multinational Corporations."

"subsistsence farmers" are among the growing numbers of radicals excluded from Cancun this week and "Trade Ministers" are sure to misrepresent their demands.

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some of the issues are simple:

the important thing is that your group make its own decisions based on its own discussions. this is both the reason for protesting the undemocratic WTO and the best way to organize resistance.

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So what should we be demanding?

There have been solutions proposed which can provide the commodity price stability on a global scale to replace domestic first world price subsidies. One is to revive the ideas which were proposed in the Non-Aligned Movement in the 70's when they proposed that the UN Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) enforce price stability on an international scale. This would allow developing countries to avoid the most painful extremes of boom and bust cycles.

An international commodity market stabilization program, instead of the simple elimination of agricultural subsidies would be a reform that would slowly bring more power and wealth to campesino agricultural producers who live on less than $2 a day. It does not bring us justice or equality, but it will give more power power to activists in the third world who struggling to make a truly just and egalitarian world a reality.

lots of fresh WTO/Cancun coverage links at global IMC
Say NO! at WTO, Venezuela tells developing nations
Venezuela thread

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GLOBAL ACTIONS
jump up in thread

MEXICO CITY, Sep 8 (IPS) - This week's World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in the Mexican resort of Cancun will also serve as a showcase and podium for nearly 2,000 civil society organisations from 83 countries, whose members have been flowing in by the plane- and busload.

The protesters are part of the diverse international movement that is opposed to the current model of [corporate] globalisation.

Around one-third of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) present this week in Cancun come from Canada, the United States and Mexico, one-third are from the European Union, and the rest are from Asia, Africa and South America, Melba Pria, the Mexican government official in charge of relations with NGOs, told IPS.

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so.... was the point of the SD/TJ Sept. 13 mobilization much more than an excuse to NOT do anything in L.A.? checkout "skill share" workshops #1- how to be a "police liaison".... lovely.... and #2- "....how to work the media, how to talk to a camera, and how to effectively communicate your message using the corporate media"....

support the protesters!! but we should be realistic about what to expect from the "organizers" of this kind of event.....

[half a day after i posted this light criticism buried here in the scorned la-imc latest comments threads - - these workshop descriptions had disappeared from the SD/TJ mobilization webpage.... no explanation but some of the lovely orginal language is now preserved here.]

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

as expected, the corporate media are all parroting the same cover story ad nauseum: they actually expect a world of fed up people to believe that it's all about the fight over agricultural subsidies - that the poor farmers of the world are uniting against the US/EU to demand free markets! check it out - look at any corporate news source - that's the story. but who is missing from the story? indigenous leaders like Blanca Chancoso and Evo Morales are banned from even travelling to Cancun this week....

somehow the usual bosses hope that the most massive international anti-capitalist anti-imperialist movement in history can be bought by dangling USA market dollars.... but those dollars do not belong to the panicky agenda setters who are offering them. worldwide awareness is growing - awareness that we all need to reclaim and protect our right to build our own NON-CAPITALIST economic systems.

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Houston-IMC is doing a lot of good coverage of WTO/Cancun
Starhawk's Cancun Journals
good WTO/Cancun article from Madison-IMC
Stop the WTO in Cancun!! - - More Links - -

Cancun-IMC Tuesday 9/9/03: "The International Forum on Globalization (IFG) planned an intensive teach-in for Tuesday, September 9th from 10:30am until 8pm featuring guest speakers such as Vandana Shiva, Silvia Ribeiro, and Oscar Olivera in the notorious hotel zone.

However, at approximately 10:45am Jerry Mander from the IFG took to the stage to make a statement, "We have just been informed that radio announcements are stating that this event has been cancelled."

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

http://www.inq7.net/brk/2003/sep/10/brkoth_2-1.htm

9/10/03 MANILA:
police dispersed some 1,000 protesters against the government's participation in a World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting, injuring at least 30, one of the militant leaders told INQ7.net.

Geri Albert Corpuz, spokesperson for the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas said in a telephone interview that the protesters were marching along Taft Avenue near Manila City hall when some 200 riot policemen allegedly blocked them and beat them with truncheons.

The anti-WTO "camp-out" of the militants was on its second day and they were on their way to Mendiola district when the clash occurred, Corpuz said.

Members of Anakpawis, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, National Federation of Sugar Workers and Amihan Peasant Women also participated in the march, he said.

Corpuz said police also arrested five protesters whom he identified as farmers and threatened to arrest Anakpawis spokesperson Sammy Malunes and Amihan spokesperson Zen Soriano.

Officials of the Western Police District (WPD), who led the dispersal, were not immediately available for comment when contacted by INQ7.net.

Corpuz also scored Malacañang anew for its "standing policy" against anti-government protests. While he admitted that they did not have a permit to hold a rally, Corpuz said this was a "stupid excuse" to curtail freedom of expression.

On Tuesday, the same group of militants was dispersed twice in Manila though no one was reported hurt. On Friday, the militants' rally in Makati also turned violent after they were dispersed by police.

jump up in thread - - worldwide resistance

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

WTO/Cancun - still three days before the full force of protest.
....looking for news?
i guess the top of the pyramid is always prone to embarassing mediocrity.... la-imc front page is a good example.
.....one alternative to the front page
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http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/
jump up in thread (and keep scrolling)
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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

...glass installers are happy you guys are down there.

Gonna be lots of broken windows.

These spoilt little kids using protest as anexcuse to spread violence and mayhem, they make me sick.

Everyone is agreed that our present tariff structure inadvertantly harms the Third World economies but the people who really brought this to issue to the bargaining table are the international aid agencies such as Cafod. The people out rioting in the streets banging their stupid little drums have actually done much to discredit the good lobbying work done by the aid agencies.

we should not be surprised at the pure obedience to doctrine that we are all witnessing in the corporate media (and in 'Josef'). for people who want to "get ahead" in life, this kind of intellectual servility is a strict requirement. embarassment never seems to be an issue.

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Tuesday, 9/9/03:
as expected, the corporate media are all parroting the same cover story ad nauseum: they actually expect a world of fed up people to believe that it's all about the fight over agricultural subsidies - that the poor farmers of the world are uniting against the US/EU to demand free markets! check it out - look at any corporate news source - that's the story. but who is missing from the story? indigenous leaders like Blanca Chancoso and Evo Morales are banned from even travelling to Cancun this week....

somehow the usual bosses hope that the most massive international anti-capitalist anti-imperialist movement in history can be bought by dangling USA market dollars.... but those dollars do not belong to the panicky agenda setters who are offering them. worldwide awareness is growing - awareness that we all need to reclaim and protect our right to build our own NON-CAPITALIST economic systems.

[we should speak plainly - we are fighting to dismantle and forever constrain international capitalism and corporatism - that's what we want - the elites want to buy off the movement by offering access to rich US/EU markets - but the movement is not for sale.]

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More Than 60 Anti-WTO Demonstrations To Be Held Across the United States This Coming Saturday

meanwhile.....
where do we turn for updates on the WTO/Cancun when global-IMC is almost totally non-funtional, Cancun-IMC is overwhelmed, la-imc's front page is pitiful, mainstream media are unable to see what is in front of them, etc....?

some good sites for updated coverage:

http://sf.indymedia.org/
http://houston.indymedia.org/
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/77041_comment.php#77118
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/media/index.php
http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/cancun_journals.html
http://arkansas.indymedia.org/
http://www.neravt.com/left/newslinks.html

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

getting a little stuffy here.
thanks for the dig.

A Korean farmer took his own life in protest against the policies of the WTO. Fifty-six year-old Lee Kyang Hae of the Korean Farmer’s Organization stabbed himself to death. The Korean farmer climbed the metal barricade, screamed something in Korean and jammed a knife into his stomach. His body fell from the top of the fence amid screams of help from the rest of his contingent who later reflected their sadness over the event.

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Oh yeah! You people are really fucking STABLE individuals.

Hopefully soon, all you you leftwingers and anarchist will follow this Koreans man's lead.

Bunch of damn whackos.

It's always nice to know the sympathies of the right wing.
Their superiority and their benign sense of care towards the victims of economic warfare against the people of the world.
So sane and concerned with the results of their policies.
here's to your NWO.

"victims of economic warfare"

Unsubstantiated Allegation

For more on logic at YOUR level, try reading "Logic for Leftwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)."

"Logical Fallacy"

Unsubstantiated Allegation
For more on logic at YOUR level, try reading "Logic for Rightwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)."

"debate coach's mentor"

Unsubstantiated Allegation

For more on logic at YOUR level, try reading "Logic for Leftwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)."

"debate coach"

Unsubstantiated Allegation
For more on logic at YOUR level, try reading "Logic for Rightwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)."

"victims of economic warfare"

Unsubstantiated Allegation

For more on logic at YOUR level, try reading "Logic for Leftwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)."

In an article written for the periocical, Korea AgraFood (April 2003), Mr. Lee Kyung-hae talks about his own personal experiences and the reasons why he opposed the WTO.

On the 23rd of February 2003 Mr. Lee Kyung-Hae, a farmer President of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation, put up a tent in front of the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and started a solo protest against the first draft modalities drawn up by Mr. Stuart Harbinson, who is the chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture of the WTO. From the 20th of March Mr. Lee began a hunger strike expressing his demands on picket boards, which read: “WTO Kills Farmers.” “Stop your agricultural negotiations.” And “Exclude Agriculture from the WTO.”

"I am 56 years old, a farmer from South Korea who have strived to solve our problems ourselves with a great hope in the ways to organize farmer’s unions, but is the one who have failed mostly as many other farm leaders elsewhere.

Soon after the Uruguay Round (UR) Agreement was settled, we, Korean fellow farmers, and myself realized that our destinies are out of our hands already. Further, so powerlessly of ourselves, we could not do anything but just looking the waves destroy our lovely rural communities that had settle-downed over the hundred years. To make myself brave, I have tried to search the real reasons for and major forces of those waves. Reaching to my conclusion now here in Geneva, at the front gate of the WTO, I am crying out my words to you that have been boiled so long time in my body.

It is true that Korean agricultural reform programs increased the productivity of individual farms. However it is also fact that increased productivity simply added another volume to over-supplied market in which imported goods occupied the lowest price portion. Since then, we never be paid over our production costs. Sometime, price drop recorded four-timers of normal trend in a sudden. How would it be your emotional reaction if your salary drops suddenly to a half without knowing clearly the reason.

One part, those farmers who gave up earlier his farming went to urban slum. The others who had tried to escape from the vicious cycle had to meet bankruptcy with accumulated debts mostly. Of course, some fortunate peoples could come further but not all of them may go longer, I suspect. For me I couldn’t do anything but just looking around this vacant house of old and eroded.

What I could do was to check sometimes his house with hoping him back. Once I run to a house where a farmer abandoned his life by drinking a toxic chemical because of his uncontrollable debts. I also could do nothing but hearing the howling of his wife. If you were me, how would you feel?

If you walk into Korean rural villages, we may firstly see many ruined structures – mostly livestock shelters and green (mostly glass) houses, which swallowed such big amounts of money. If you get into some houses, you can easily meet old-aged-peoples who suffer from illness in most cases. Rural amenities can be felt, at a glance, only in riding on your car in the road. In fact, good road systems of being paved widely pulls large apartments (a thousand people live in it, usually), buildings and factories in Korea. Those lands paved now mostly were the paddies that constructed for the generations of thousand years and provided the daily lives foods and materials in the past. Now in the contemporary society, the environmental functions of paddies, ecologically and hydrologically are even more crucial. Who shall keep our rural vitality, community traditions, amenities and environment?

By the help of a farmers union, I had the chance to travel abroad to see how farmers outside are doing for their competitiveness or for survival at least. It was good to see that European Union farmers kept their prides in keeping their community settings, foods, traditional heritages and cultures. To see their strong feelings of social responsibility, union loyalties and a high social support from their governments, I was aware that they would not easily give up tilling their lands.

So far they were efficient enough to manage such size with limited family labor. But without such support, they may not continue farming and otherwise may go to tourism. Difficulties of small farmers were similar to that of ours. Farmers in the U.S. were looked upon as big and more calculating but also as more risky in other ways. While they wanted to export more, they always worried about their possible bankruptcy. I wondered why they were not content with their big farms and good machines. Many of them told me that the situation of prices dropping significantly had gone on for a long time and that they just barely earned their agricultural salaries no matter what the statistics said about ever-increasing exports. Besides, the stomachs of our business partners (grain dealers, agro-industries, processors) are just getting bigger and bigger, they said. In conclusion, they told me that many farmers in the U.S. will have to file for bankruptcy soon, especially if there are not any additional subsidies available because of their possible failures in paying the interests for the loan in increasing their size and inputs.

I believe that farmers situation of many other developing countries is similar – but may be from different sources of internal problems. However commonly, the problem of price-dumping imports continues to surge, lacking governmental budgets, and too many populations in the background. For them, protection by tariff would be the practical solution.

I have felt so bad watching the TV and hearing news about starvation and that it is prevalent in many less developed countries, even though the price of international grains is so cheap. Earning money by trade would not be a way of securing food. But securing land and water resources would be their way, I think. Whenenver I watched this kind of disaster unto a human being, I naturally remembered the big and fat people in some urbanized countries of the North. Charity? No! Let them work again!

My warning goes to all citizens that human beings are in an endangered situation that uncontrolled multinational corporations and a small number of big WTO official members are leading an undesirable globalization of inhumane, environmentally degrading, farmer-killing and undemocratic policies. It should be stopped immediately, otherwise the false logic of neo-liberalism will perish the diversities of global agriculture with disastrous consequences to all human beings. "

See also:
http://antiwto.jinbo.net/eroom/index.html, http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=345100&group=webcast

Does anyone know where I can buy a copy of "Logic for Rightwing Dummies (pardon the redundancy)?" I've been told by many that I should read it.

Vandana Shiva is in Cancun now and was recorded by Cancun-IMC journalists speaking about the suicide of Lee Kyung-Hae....

here is a relevant excerpt from an interview with Shiva last December:
Barsamian: Your organization issued a report called “Seeds of Suicide: The Ecological and Human Costs of Globalization.” What kind of discoveries did you make?

Shiva: I remember specifically it was winter 1997. The first few tiny, two-line reports started to come out about farmer suicides. We immediately rushed to the affected areas. In this particular case it was Andhra Pradesh, one of the states that is supposed to be the most integrated with the global economy. Why did the farmers start to get into debt? We were able to establish through very detailed studies that it was the shift from staples and ecological agriculture done with no purchased inputs to cash crops like cotton, which overtook 99 percent of these regions since globalization started to change our agriculture. New seeds and hybrid seeds can’t be saved by farmers and the companies don’t tell the farmers these are non-renewable seeds. The hybrid seeds are very pest-prone and therefore the farmers need pesticides. The farmers have no money.

The same companies, through their agents at the local, village level, who happen to be the moneylenders and landlords, end up providing the credit at very high interest rates to move the seeds and the chemicals. Within a year or two, farmers are in hundreds of thousands of rupees of debt.

Usually, in traditional agriculture in Third World societies, farming is a collective decision. People decide the weather will be like this, the rain is like this, this crop will work, this is how much water we have. Let’s plant this way. The new package converts a farmer from being a member of a community and a producer to being a consumer of purchased inputs like seeds and chemicals. Quietly, the men will take a loan. The family doesn’t even know. The man doesn’t have the guts to go home and say, I have created 200,000 rupees of debt. Last year there was a case where when the man couldn’t pay back his debt, the moneylender, the local agent of the multinationals, said, Don’t worry. Give me your wife. The man couldn’t bear that violence to himself and his wife and he drank the same pesticide that he was using, that got him into debt.

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9/11/03 report from Tom Hayden in Cancun: ".....as many as 10, 000 indigenous people have streamed in from the Mexican countryside to join global non-governmental organizations in a broadening alliance against the trade agreements that leave them out."

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is this really about agricultural subsidies?
another seattle?....
All ‘Seattle Ingredients’ Present In Cancun

links for more info and updates:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/
http://belgium.indymedia.org/
http://www.sdtjmobilization.org/
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/
http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/cancun_journals.html
http://sept.globalizethis.org/
http://newjersey.indymedia.org/
http://www.cascadiamedia.org/news.html
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/media/index.php
http://austin.indymedia.org/
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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

campesinos, black bloc, koreans, unite....

2:03 pm: Last 12 foot barricade is coming down. Police are getting agitated as crowd uses huge ropes to pull remaining barricade down. Black bloc poised to go as campesinos pull down fence.

2:06: pm: THE BARRICADE IS DOWN! Portland Indy Radio reports "The Battle Has Begun!"

2:20 pm: 7 people have been arrested at Kilometer Zero. it appears that more people are being arrested. Two people, a Canadian and a Korean are injured.

2:42 pm: Once the barricade went down, the crowd stopped so the Korean delegation could hold a ceremony in honor of their fallen comrade. An effigy of the WTO was burned. The mood at the Memorial is somber as Lee's message is repeated: The WTO is killing farmers all over the world.

The announcement was made that after the memorial ceremony ends, people will press on to the Conference Center, right through the hordes of Mexican riot police.

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two IMC sites that are sometimes even more up-to-date than Cancun-IMC:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/09/271449.shtml
http://arkansas.indymedia.org/
see also: http://www.base21.org/
jump up in thread

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anticrisis

lynx

latest comments

a lot of these people are NOT spoiled rich kids! how can you (josef) talk about people you don't even know? many of these people have worked really hard, and figured out how to get by without money. i admire all of them for putting themselves on the line. it's really not that much fun out here under the sun,and cancun itself is no place for a good time...unless of course, we make it one by taking apart the infrastructure that supports the real rich people of the world, and excludes those people who make it work.

another victory - prepare for backlash
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/82862.php
background: http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/77041_comment.php#77118

where to go from here?
just a few hints at possible directions:
http://www.wsfindia.org/
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2002/12/25045_comment.php#27290
http://zmag.org/lacsite.htm