[Imc-newsroom] Re: Imc-newsroom digest, Vol 1 #458 - 1 msg

[Pauline Bartolone]

Hey Guys, if anyone is playing with the idea of going down to Ecuador for 
this, please let me know, a coupld of SF indymedia people and i want to 
fundrasise to go down....

miss you, pauline


>Subject: [Imc-newsroom] solidarity request for Urbana from Ecuador
>
>
>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.
>
>
>
>--__--__--
>
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>
>
>End of Imc-newsroom Digest




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