In several areas there were important steps forward. The final document includes a variety of demands arising from numerous day-to-day struggles against capitalism, especially in the third world. The decidedly anti-bureaucratic form in which the meetings are called and organised is another plus. And here it's worth conference notes World anti-capitalist meeting Gustavo Vasquez* On 23-26 February, two hundred and fifty delegates from all the continents, representing the most varied social organisations - and a few political ones as well - met in Geneva, where the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has its headquarters. The aim of the Peoples' Global Action Conference was to organise a global response to the process of neoliberal globalisation and in particular to the role played by the WTO. Representatives of all WTO countries will meet in Geneva on 18-20 May to celebrate fifty years of the international bodies which 'control" world trade (previously the GATT, now the WTO).
Social activists from all the continents debated concrete ways of staging a counter-celebration of these fifty years. And they swapped information on the social and economic situation in each country and the different forms of struggle
It was four days of intense activity in plenary sessions and commissions, preceded by a number of round-tables on "The power of the multinationals"
, "Indigenous peoples" "Agriculture and the peasantry". There were also various cultural activities.
On Sunday 22nd, in the Conference Hall, two meetings were held for all the delegates who had already arrived. One for the English speakers, introduced and co-ordinated by Charles-Andre Udry (eco34 International Viewpoint #300 nomist and adviser to Swiss trade unions), and the other in Spanish, co-ordinated by the Spanish economist Ramon Fernandez Duran and by Eric Toussaint (President of the Committee for the Cancellation of the Foreign Debt based in Belgium). These round-tables, along with the draft working document, served to guide the discussion of the following days. The meeting
At the invitation of, amongst others, the Karmataka Peasant Association, the Sandinista Workers Confederation, the Socio-Ecological Union of the former USSR, the Filipino Peasants Movement, the Landless Peasant's Movement from Brazil, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People of Nigeria, the Geneva Public Sector and Printers Unions, and a range of solidarity organisations from Geneva and the Spanish State, we spent a total of two weeks exchanging experiences of struggle and anti-capitalist resistance.
As the reports accumulated, we saw how an increasingly centralised capitalism organises its policies on a common basis and with a common aim, pushing vast masses of people into deepening poverty, demanding of each of us a response based
Land seizures, struggles by trade unions, against privatisation, in defence of the environment, for the rights of women or racial or ethnic groups, are just some of
Although the conference had its origins in the Il Intercontinental Meeting against Neoliberalism and for Humanity held in August 1997 and the 1996 meeting in Chiapas, this was not another Zapatista emphasising the attitude of the Latin American participants, many of them with real social weight behind them, who decided to choose the next organisers and co-ordinators on our continent in a pluralist, democratic and combative spirit. As a result, the Black Women's Movement of Colombia, the Free Trade Zone Trade Union of El Salvador, the National Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador and the Argentinean Teachers' Union Looking forward
No meeting of this sort can be assured of its continuation in the future, all the more so in times like these of ideological confusion and social disintegration, which encourage the retreat into purely local concerns. But the potential exists.
The aim of the meeting was not just to bring out a manifesto - it also set out to co-ordinate actions around the world between 18-20 May this year. It remains to be seen what response this will receive. It also remains to be seen how much press coverage there will be in Geneva on those days - given that two weeks of meetings and various demonstrations through the city centre, the last one ending up at the WTO headquarters, merited precisely zero coverage in the both the Swiss and the international press.
Political will is fundamental, on the part of both the organisations and their representatives. Those who launch the appeal will play a key part. They must strive to guarantee the broadest possible involvement, with the only limit being set by the objectives of Global People's Action - all those who support these should take part. To achieve this it will be necessary to work with all the commun cation media we have available. Nobody should be left out unless they want to he or they disagree with the principles.
coming soon
Some other criteria need clarifying. If this is a project exclusively for social organisations, then there should be no political organisations involved, without exception. And if, as we ourselves would prefer, this is not exclusively a project for social organisations, then the invitation should be broad, with only the limits mentioned above, so that no-one gets the idea that there are conceled motives behind the event. The clearst instance of this was with the Zapatista National
Liberation Front (FZLN), whose delegates repeatedly refused to recognise the political character of their organisation.
It is also necessary to break with "third-worldism" "north-southism" or other such visions which vulgarise social contradictions and prevent a clear comprehension of the system of exploitation and the anti-capitalism latent in this initiative. Such conceptions, expressed particularly by the Latin Americans and other comrades from dependent countries, but also experienced in the form of "guilt" by some European social activists, make it more difficult to grasp the struggle on a world scale and in particular the form it takes within the imperialist countries themselves. Thus there was very little discussion of the mobilisations against unemployment in France, and Europe in general: a growing social movement which involves one of the most important social actors, the jobless.
This unrestrained "third-worldism" also clouds the understanding of capitalist oppression in our own countries. This oppression is not new to the neo-liberal period, it is historic. but now "local" capital has reinforced its relationship with international capital, so that any kind of autonomy is "pure fiction". The local ruling classes, governments - whether civilian or military - grow rich on the system of imperialist exploitation now dominated by the multinationals. The current political process of opening up to "globalisation" demonstrates this. The fact that one or two bourgeois go bust in the process does nothing to obscure this. That's how capitalism works.
These weaknesses in the Meeting need to be overcome. But they cannot be blamed on the organisers or the Host Committee in Geneva. Rather, they are the responsibility of all the participants - and overcoming them will be our common responsibility too. * *Gustavo Vasquez represents the Socialist Workers Party (PST) on the Leadership of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) in Uruguay.
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
• 48 bed conference centre with multiple interpretation system, library and television room, ten minutes from the centre of
Amsterdam and two minutes from a park ® (+31) 20/671 7263 fax 673 2106
PO Box 53290, 1007 RG Amsterdam Netherlands. e-mail <iire@antenna.nls
EBRD Action Week
Actions at the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
offices all around Europe, during their annual meeting in Kiev/Ukraine and also during the Chernobyl Action Day.
The Bank has been primarily occupied in privatising Eastern Europe. It also pushes for nuclear power development in the interest of Western corpora-
Contact: Za Zemiata (For the earth) - CEE Bankwatch, PO
Box 975, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria Tel./Fax. +359-2-658216,
E-mail: <ftearth@bulnet.bg>, or Rainbow Keepers, PO
Box 322, Kiev 252 187, Ukraine, Tel. +380-44-2634954, Tel./Fax. 5506068, E-mail: <nadia@glukapc.org> The P8 Peoples' Summit
Birmingham, Britain, 15-17 May
Leaders of the world's most powerful countries come to Birmingham on May
15 - 17th 1998 for the G8 Summit. This year's counter-events include a Sustainable Consumption conference (Friday 15th), a Peoples Tribunal on the G8 and
Globalisation (Saturday 16th), the P8 Summit itself, and a series of events to focus attention on the ongoing crisis in developing countries, including a human chain around the G8 Summit venue. Debt events are organised by the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. For more information, contact: Sara Murphy, Co-ordinator Peoples Summit Secretariat New Economics Foundation 1st Floor Vine Court, 112 -116 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JE, Britain. Tel: +44-171-3775696: Fax:3775720; E-mail: <sara.murphy@neweconomics.org> Global Street Party May 16th
Thousands of people in cities around Europe and other parts of the world will be dancing on the streets, transforming privatised enclosed space into Festivals of Resistance against the car and fossil fuel industry, economic globalisation and corporate rule Contact: Reclaim the Streets!, PO Box 9656 , London N4 4JY. UK. Tel: +44-171-2814621, e-mail: <rts@gn.apc.org> Global Anti-WTO Day
Parallel to the 2nd Ministerial Conference in Geneva (May 18-20), mass protests against World Trade Organisation policies will be organised in Geneva and around the world. For more information: http://www.agp.org 150 Years of the Communist Manifesto Glasgow, Britain, 22-23 May
Organised by the Centre for Study of Socialist Theory and Movements.
Speakers include Istan Meszaros, Bertell Olman, Suzi Weissman, Hillel Ticktin, Mikhail Voeikov, Filio Diamanti, Peter Kennedy, Alexeii, Gusev, Mick Cox, Peter Burnham, Savas Michael Matsas, Cyril Smith, and Peter Hudis. Cost: E12 one day, E20 both days. Half price for students and unemployed. Contact Centre for Study of Socialist neory and Movements, 29 Bute Gardens, University of Glasgow,G12 8RS, Britain <9011731o@student.gla.ac.uk>
Finish young Communists
Solidarity meeting in Helsinki on June 5-
6. A summer camp will be held at the
PL 288, 00171 Helsinki, Finland. <komnuor@dic.fb
All-European Security in the year 2000
Prague, Czech Republic 9-10 June
Organised by the Bloc-free Europe
Information Forum and the Czech Civic
Initiative for a Charter on European
Security. Panel discussions on the
OSCE • the Charter on European Security • the possibilities for a Europe free alliances and nuclear weapons • Ecology
Contact: Roman Raczynski, fax/tel: +42 2 731397e-mail:
<intorum@poboxes.com>
Cardiff Counter Summit
Cardiff, Britain, June 12-14
See page five for details LCR Festival
Paris, France, June 13-14.
A weekend of debates and concerts with a French and international flavour. Contact: LCR, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93100 Montreuil, France. Tel. +33.1.48 70 42 20. Email <redaction@Icr-rouge.org>
Black Radical Congress
Chicago, USA, June 19-21 For full details contact Black Radical Congress, PO Box 5766, Chicago IL 60680-5766 International socialist youth camp Jutland, Denmark. 25-31 July
See page 36 for details. Trade Unions, homosexuality & work Amsterdam, 29-31 July 1998
The 1998 International Conference on Trade Unions, Homosexuality and Work provides a forum for lesbian and gay trade unionists to exchange information, policies and strategies. For full details see International Viewpoint #298 or contact the organisers PO Box 732, NL 2700 AL, Zoetermeer, Netherlands. Tel: +31-30- 273 2627. fax: 271 0512. E-mail: <modıjk@knoware.nl> utopia.knoware.nl/users/modijk Solidarity Summer School Chicago, USA. 3-6 August
The US socialist and feminist group will hold its annual summer school at the usual venue. The group's convention will run from 7-9 August. LCR Summer School
Grenoble, France, August 26-30 Cost: 959FF including accomodation and all meals. Youth/unemployed discount available. Contact: LCR, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93100 Montreuil, France. Tel. +33.1.48 70 42 20. Email <redaction@icr-rouge.org> Latin American Marxist Magazines Buenos Aires, 25-27 September
This year's focus is "the Communist Manifesto in Latin America Today." The deadline for submitting papers is 17 July
Contact Alberto Teszkiewicz at <marxlat@dia.edu.ar>
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