[Imc-newsroom] solidarity request for Urbana from Ecuador

[alca-nunca]

Indymedia Contact, 

I am contacting you because, according to the Stop FTAA website, you work (or 
worked) with Urbana Indymedia.  I am writing from Quito, Ecuador, where 
indigenous, campesino, labor, womens´, environmental, and youth organizations 
are currently planning a massive anti-globalization protest in response to the 
seventh summit of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which will take place on 
October 31st in Quito. 

Not only have organizations here called for national resistance on 
Ecuadorian soil, but they have declared October 27 through November 1 to be 
Continental Days of  Resistance Against the FTAA.   People in the North 
American "global justice movement" have been talking for several years about 
the need to take leadership from frontline communities in both the North and 
South. This October, if we organize and get moving, we will have the 
opportunity to do just that.  The CONFEUNASSC-CNC, the largest campesino 
organization in Ecuador, has recently launched ALCA-NUNCA, a project intended 
to create a network of groups in North America to support the mobilization, by 
connecting them with sister groups here in Ecuador. 

Would Urbana Indymedia be interested in joining this project?  If you are no 
longer the contact for Urbana Indymedia, who should we send this to?  Is there 
anyone else in Urbana who we should contact? And can you forward this to any 
one else you think may be interested?

I have pasted a full description of the ALCA NUNCA project below.  Feel free to 
write to us with any questions or ideas you may have. Hope to hear from you 
soon. 

In Solidarity, 

Claire 
alcanunca at riseup.net
        


*********PROJECT DESCRIPTION*********

ALCA-NUNCA
(Americas Linked, Cooperating Against Neoliberalism and for Unity, Community, 
and Autonomy)


Hyderabad...Seattle...Washington, D.C....Gothenburg...Prague...Quebec 
City...Genoa...QUITO


BACKGROUND

On October 31, the 7th summit of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (the FTAA, 
or ALCA in Spanish) will take place in Ecuador. As the Youth of North America 
don witch and cowboy costumes, a far scarier bunch of middle-aged men, dressed 
up like corporate executives, will be converging on the capital city of Quito. 
34 foreign ministers and secretaries of state from across the Americas are 
coming to Quito to negotiate the FTAA, an agreement that will extend the NAFTA 
to the rest of the hemisphere (except Cuba).

The FTAA will give unprecedented power to major corporations and investors, 
exacerbating poverty and insecurity, and causing widespread environmental 
disaster. The corporations and investors are hoping that major portions of the 
FTAA will be finalized in Quito, paving the way for its adoption in only a few 
years.  But many people here in Ecuador have other ideas.  This country`s 
powerful social movements are planning to mobilize tens of thousands of 
campesinos (small farmers), indigenous people, trade unionists, students, and 
many other groups to non-violently surround the summit, reject the FTAA, and, 
if possible, stop the negotiations.  And thousands of people from Colombia, 
Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and other countries, are coming to join in.

This will be a critical moment for people of the Americas, with all eyes 
focused on Ecuador.  If the protests fail, the FTAA process will likely take 
a "great leap  forward," accelerating what amounts to a death sentence for 
communities from Anchorage to Argentina.  If the protests succeed, not only 
will we disrupt the FTAA process, but it will be impossible for the architects 
of corporate globalization to continue claiming that the only thing standing 
between prosperity and the global south is a bunch of anarchists, misguided 
students, and selfish trade unionists.

But the success of the protests will depend, in part, on our ability to 
mobilize support OUTSIDE of Ecuador.  It will take hard work in the U.S., for 
example, to make sure that people know what happens here.  And if people 
throughout the continent ensure that "the whole world is watching," it will be 
harder for the  Ecuadorian government to repress peaceful opposition to the 
FTAA, a process which already began with the unprovoked arrests of dozens of 
social movement leaders at 2nd Summit of the Presidents of South America (see 
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/08/139267.php ).  Finally, activists in North 
America have ready access to resources that could help enormously in the 
process of mobilization.  It is this possibility-that we can use the summit to 
create new mechanisms of solidarity and build networks of resistance that span 
the continent-that is perhaps the most important aspect of this mobilization.

It has become increasingly clear that the only way to stop corporate 
globalization, (or "neoliberalism" is it is called pretty much everywhere 
outside of the U.S.), and to safeguard the alternatives that are being 
painstakingly constructed by local communities, is through concerted 
international action. There is no doubt that resistance to "free trade," and 
neoliberalism exists in literally every corner of the world.  But the effective 
coordination of that resistance remains a long way off.  The CONFEUNASSC-CNC, a 
powerful national campesino federation that is mobilizing against the summit in 
Ecuador, views October as an opportunity to take a step in that direction.  We 
are looking for people interested in participating in ALCA-NUNCA,  a project 
that will build connections between grassroots groups in Ecuador and North 
America, help us learn from each other, and strengthen the mobilization for the 
FTAA Summit.


PROJECT GOALS

ALCA-NUNCA will build direct relationships between grassroots U.S. and 
Ecuadorian groups fighting neoliberalism, in order to:

1)        Gather resources for the Ecuadorian mobilization against the FTAA 
(which will directly benefit movements in both countries).

2)        Help North American groups learn from Ecuadorian groups` analyses, 
experiences, strategies, and techniques, and vice versa.

3)        Build a web of relationships and common experiences that can serve, 
in the future, as a base from which to launch joint campaigns and to coordinate 
strategy.


HOW IT WORKS

1.        We are looking for groups in Ecuador and North America (primarily the 
U.S. and Canada) that want to participate.  We will join each North American 
group with an Ecuadorian "sister group."

2.        Each group will begin by creating a message for its sister group.  
This message will communicate
a.        Something of the reality in that group`s community, and why they are 
fighting against the FTAA.
b.        A message of solidarity which can be read at a demonstration, forum, 
or other event during the continental days of resistance planned for October 31 
and November 1, and  
c.        Some questions which that group has for its sister group, which can 
be answered by email.

This message can take various forms, including a letter or email, a poster, a 
video or audio recording, or anything else that is not too hard to transport.  
(No hand-painted anvils, please).

We ask that all communication be in Spanish, or at least include a Spanish 
translation.  We will try to find or provide assistance for any North American 
group that has trouble with this requirement.  Perfect Spanish is NOT necessary.

3.        Each North American group will raise at least $500 to support the 
campesino mobilization in Ecuador.  These funds will be used to pay for 
transportation to the Quito protest (buses have become very expensive as a 
result of dollarization).  They will also be used to support four "caravans" 
which will visit hundreds communities in September and October, giving popular 
education workshops on the FTAA, Plan Colombia, art and resistance, and 
nonviolent direct action.  The caravans will also build a process of popular 
dialogue aimed at constructing alternatives to the FTAA, and will recruit for 
the mobilization in October.   This powerful tool will strengthen the internal 
organization of the CONFEUNASSC-CNC and build a national network of resistance 
to the FTAA.  We are also inviting participating North American groups to send 
volunteers to join the caravans.


We can help North American groups figure out how to raise $500.  Possibilities 
include: 
•        A raffle
•        Hosting a fiesta with Ecuadorian food and music and showing a video on 
the Ecuadorian resistance to the FTAA (which we are currently putting together).
•        Selling Anti-FTAA t-shirts and CD´s which have been created  by 
activists in Ecuador
•        Getting 25 group members to pledge $20
•        Sending funds from the group treasury
•        Anything you can think of

Obviously, not all North American groups have equal access to resources.  
Groups which would like to participate but feel that a $500 is impossible or 
inappropriate should let us know.  In the same vein, some groups can and should 
try to raise more than $500.

4.        We encourage North American groups to organize a solidarity action 
during the continental days of resistance at the end of October.  During these 
actions, and during the mobilization in Ecuador, each group will read or 
present the message it has received from its sister group.  Each group should 
also make some kind of record-for example, a photo diary or video diary-that 
can show their sister group how they mobilize.

5.         In case the Ecuadorian mobilization faces serious repression, we may 
ask that North American groups take action, e.g. sending a fax to the 
Ecuadorian Embassy.

The goal of this process is to build a foundation for coordinated action.  For 
this reason, it is important that the relationships we build last beyond 
November.  We will ask sister groups to continue exchanging experiences and 
information, and building connections, after the FTAA summit in Quito.  We also 
hope to explore more concrete forms of cooperation in the future e.g. 
coordinated campaigns.


HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

CONFEUNASSC-CNC is looking for global justice networks, student groups, 
community organizations, union locals, collectives, environmentalists, 
environmental justice activists, small and/or organic farmers, food coops, and 
anyone else who would like to join ALCA-NUNCA (and/or join the caravans). If 
you think you might be interested, or have questions, contact 
alcanunca at riseup.net.