NORTHEAST REGIONAL ANTI-FTAA/WTO CONSULTA IN MONTREAL (June 21-22)
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All groups and individuals involved in the struggle for global justice are invited to take part in a Northeast Regional Consulta the weekend of June 21/22 in Montreal to organize and to coordinate responses to important upcoming meetings of the FTAA and the WTO.
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CALL FOR A NORTHEAST REGIONAL CONSULTA
IN MONTREAL, JUNE 21-22
** Anti-Capitalist Coalition Against the FTAA (CACZLEA) **
**Mobilization Against the WTO Mini-Ministerial in Montreal**
>>>>>THE CONSULTA
All groups and individuals involved in the struggle for global justice are
invited to take part in a Northeast Regional Consulta. The Consulta will
serve to organize and to coordinate responses to important upcoming
meetings of the FTAA and the WTO -- notably the Montreal WTO
mini-ministerial in late July, the WTO Cancun summit in September, and the
Miami FTAA ministerial in late November 2003 -- as well as to help build
longterm educational initiatives and anti-capitalist networking.
The consulta will occur over 2 days: June 21 and 22, 2003. June 21 will
be focussed on the September and November mobilizations and longer term
educational initiatives, whereas June 22 will be focussed on mobilizations
against the WTO mini-ministerial in Montreal. It is important to create a
network of resistance here and across the hemisphere in order to raise
awareness among people of what is at stake in these trade negotiations.
All interested individuals and groups who are in accord with our basis of
unity are invited to participate. The basis of unity for June 21 is that
of the coalition (see below), and for June 22 is the PGA principles (see
below)
>>>>>COORDINATES / LOGISTICS
**JUNE 21**
-Location: UQAM (University of Quebec at Montreal), Room A-M050
-Time: from 9am to 6pm.
**JUNE 22**
-Location: UQAM (University of Quebec at Montreal), Room A-M050
-Time: from 10:30am to 6pm.
Persons attending are urged to register in advance at
caczlea@cyberso.zzn.com in order to receive an advance agenda and any
subsequent updates.
For people coming from outside of Montreal, a housing and transport
board
is posted at: http://web.infiniweb.ca/leprof
Alternatively, people can include specific housing requests when
they
write to: caczlea@cyberso.zzn.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ANTI-CAPITALIST COALITION AGAINST THE FTAA (CACZLEA)
Around the beginning of 2003, many groups in and around Montreal met to
launch a campaign of local struggle in solidarity with hemispheric
anti-capitalist resistance. The coalition wished to bring a radical
critique against the FTAA as well as other economic agreements. One of our
goals was also to propagate militant critiques of the FTAA by means of
diverse forms of popular education. The coalition foresees organizing
large mobilizations in September in response to the WTO Cancun meeting and
in November in response to the Miami FTAA ministerial. The coalition is
open to all those who desire to be implicated in this struggle and who are
in agreement with our basis of unity as enumerated below. For more
information on the coalition: caczlea@cyberso.zzn.com
MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE WTO MINISTERIAL IN MONTREAL
The World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold a "mini-ministerial" in
Montreal next July 28-30, as announced officially by Pierre Pettigrew,
Canadian Minister of International Trade. The goal of the WTO meeting in
Montreal is to resolve certain key negotiating impasses prior to the next
WTO summit which will take place in September 2003 in Cancun, Mexico. A
"positive" outcome of the mini-ministerial in Montreal is deemed to be
very important to ensure the "success" of the Cancun round, because it
represents the last preparatory meeting before the September summit.
An organizing assembly, conceived to explore anti-WTO actions and to
prepare a "WTO welcoming committee", was called by Montreal region
activists affiliated with various local anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist,
and anti-war groups and collectives. To maximize mobilization and
encourage a wide diversity of struggle, the organizing assembly was
convened on a basis of respect for diversity of tactics and support for a
variety of creative means of resistance against the WTO, ranging from
popular education to direct action. The first assembly has already taken
place, and others are scheduled for the near future. For more information:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The basis of unity of the Anti-Capitalist Coalition Against
the FTAA (CACZLEA) is:
-- Opposition to the FTAA and other neo-liberal agreements
(Plan Puebla Panama, Plan Colombia, NAFTA ...)
-- Opposition to capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy
-- For horizontal, non-hierarchical, directly democratic
organizing
-- For autogestion (self-management) and peoples' autonomy
-- For autonomous alternatives
-- For diverse and creative methods of resistance
-- For the respect of freedom and dignity
-- For an equal and responsible interaction with nature, and
opposition to anthropocentrism and ecocide
The groups which have endorsed the coalition to date are:
-Anti-Capitalist Convergence (la CLAC)
-Student Union of the University of Quebec at Montreal
(l'ASE UQAM)
-Block the Empire Montreal
-Interdepartmental Coalition of Free Students of the
University of Montreal (CIEL-UdeM)
-Solidarity Network to Stop the FTAA (SNSF)
-Libertad
-Biblioteca social reconstruir (Mexico City)
-The No One Is Illegal Campaign of Montreal
-Les chats noirs
The coalition also endorses the hallmarks of the Peoples'
Global Action (PGA) network.
*** PGA Hallmarks ***
http://www.agp.org
The following principles represent the basis of unity of the
Organizing Assemblies for Actions against the WTO in Montreal.
1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and
feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments
that promote destructive globalization;
2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and
discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy,
racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace
the full dignity of all human beings.
3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that
lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and
undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is
the only real policy-maker;
4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for
social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance
which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights,
as well as the construction of local alternatives to global
capitalism;
5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and
autonomy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---We invite those who cannot make it to the consulta to get in touch
anyhow and let us know about your organizing efforts so that we can
establish links.---
In Solidarity,
-Anti-Capitalist Coalition Against the FTAA (CACZLEA)
-Mobilization Against the WTO Mini-Ministerial in Montreal
