Week of Action March 1995
Fighting EuroRacism by Ron Blom The revision of the Maastricht Treaty in 1996 will be an important opportunity for many social movements. It will be possible to demand the amendment of this Treaty, which increasingly determines conditions in each of the member states. The European Anti-Racist Network met in Brussels recently to plan a range of common activities to increase pressure on the European Union Intergovernmental Conference in 1996. The aim of the anti-racist network is ammendment of Article K of the Maastricht Treaty, which deals with common policies on asylum, supervision of the external frontier of the EU, immigration policy, prevention of narcotics smuggling, and with police and customs cooperation. In some areas, common priorities of the member states are resulting in joint repressive initiatives. For example, the European Commission has proposed a list of 127 countries - covering most of the third world's population - whose citizens will need a visa to enter the European space. In other areas, though, common European legislation could be an important step in improving the rights of those facing discrimination in various ways. We need more European directives like those which try to limit discrimination against women. The question of family reunification is particularly important. The lack of a clear common definition of a family often allows national governments to interpret legislation so as to deny family members outside the EU to join EU residents. National Weeks of Action will culminate in an all-European demonstration in Amsterdam on Saturday 25 March. The December 8-10 meeting in the offices of the Socialist Group of the European Parliament brought together the following groups: Belgium MRAX Britain Anti-Racist Alliance
N. Union of Refugee Organisations France Ras I'Front Germany Aktion Courage
SOS Racism Holland Schools without Racism
Nederland Bekent Kleur (Netherlands Announce Colour) Ireland Harmony Italy SOS Racism
Nero e non solo Portugal SOS Racism Spain SOS Racism The participants established a permanent secretariat (c/o MRAX, 37 rue de la Poste, 1210 Brussels) and plan to launch a newsletter in several language versions, including English.
Brussels, 18 March 1995
For a Different World Summit:
The Other voices of the planet
One week after the UN summit in
Copenhagen, the Brussels-based Committee to Abolish Third World Debt (CADTM) and other non-governmental organisations are hosting an alternative world summit. Sessions will cover debt in the South and the East, the
Bretton Woods institutions, the United
Nations, and the role of Non-Governmental
Organisations in the New World Order. *
Contact: 'World Bank, IMF: Enough!'
29 rue Plantin, 1070 Brussels, Belgium tel. (+32 2) 523 4023, fax: 522 6127
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