GLOBAL PROCESS PROPOSALS
1. Proposals regarding the 4th Global PGA Conference proposed by the Asian conference to be in Nepal 2005 The Asian regional PGA conference (Dhaka, Bangladesh, 20-25 May 2004) proposed to the rest of the network to host the 4th Global PGA Conference in Nepal in June 2005 (3 months before the next WTO Ministerial Conference). The draft of the call can be found in the blue magazine about PGA Asia, in page 49. They also propose to hold a global Gender conference just before the PGA conference, at the same place (Kathmandu, Nepal).
A. The working group on the global process at the Belgrade European conference enthusiastically supports this proposal and asks that it is endorsed by the spokescouncil. We also developed a number of proposals for the preparatory process, in order to (a) make the best possible use of the conference in Nepal, (b) avoid people from Europe playing a disproportionate role (as has unfortunately happened in previous conferences) and (c) set up a transparent, horizontal and participatory process during the whole preparation. We therefore suggest the following proposals as a basis for how to do the preparitary process in Europe should progress.
B. Process for preparation in Europe for the Global Conference:
a) Contents of the discussions in Nepal that need to be prepared months before the conference: Prepare texts (and possibly videos) on the different points that will be discussed at the conference to exchange them with the other continents months before the conference. Make sure that these texts will be translated in different languages and that there will be enough translators at the conference itself. Prepare and discuss proposals for modifications of the documents that define PGA network globally (manifesto, organisational principles, etc) Prepare the discussion about what to do with the non-existant " sustained campaigns " (which came out of the previous Global Conference but were not realised). Prepare the Gender Conference which will take place immediately before the 4th Global conference at the same place. Discuss locally what kind of actions people want to do against the WTO Ministerial Conference in September 2005 (and against the G8, IMF/WB, etc).
b) Participation from Europe and financial aspects Making sure that we avoid inequalities and imbalances (both within Europe and between Europe and other regions) due to access to travel funding. Sharing travel funds. (Maybe, deciding to have a maximum quota of people from Europe or a " compulsory co-financing " in order to make sure that the representation from different continents is balanced - we are not proposing any of these things to the Belgrade conference, but people should be aware that these measures might be necessary, they might be considered during the preparatory process). Fundraising for the general conference costs (other than travel expenses) Participating (together with the rest of the global PGA network) in contact-making with movements in continents where the PGA process is not consolidated, such as Africa, the Arab world, the Caribbean, and ex-soviet republics. (Also part of extending the Network, see bellow) Discussing ways to make sure that people from Europe do not dominate discussions or impose our ways to discuss and facilitate. Taking this conference as an opportunity to learn about the ways grassroots movements communicate and function in other continents.
c) Contact with other continents Keeping in regular contact with the preparatory processes in other continents and feeding information to the whole network in Europe Inviting, if possible, the 3 Asian convenors to the preparatory meeting in Europe (see below), to learn from them about process there and their organisational culture. Spreading information about the Nepalese and Asian movements Perhaps (if the organisers agree), sending a couple of people from Europe to the 1-month basic training camp that PGA Asia is organising before the conference, as a way to get to know the local struggles and to refer that knowledge back to Europe and other continents.
C. For doing all this, we propose the following timeline :
After this conference : sending our proposals regarding the preparatory process to the other continents and asking for their feedback (especially from Asia). After getting the feedback (and if the feedback is positive) : setting up a working group with people from all over Europe who want to participate in the preparatory process. This working group should work in a totally transparent and participatory way.
From the moment the proposal to hold the conference in Nepal is agreed by other regions until shortly before Easter 2005 : OUTREACH all over the continent, and participating in outreach to regions where there is not a consolidated process yet (Africa, Caribbean, etc). Encouraging outreach processes that are already planned (such as the mobilisation against the G8 summit, the tour of grassroots movements from the Middle East, etc) to include outreach for the PGA conference. We should make sure that extra efforts are made to reach out to more women's organisations, migrant and diaspora organisations, organisations of people with disabilities, etc. Also, make sure that the call is translated in Russian, Arabic and as many Diaspora languages as possible. Preparing the contents and receiving applications from all over the continent. Some days before Easter 2005 : Deadline for people from Europe for : (a) applications to participate in the conference and (b) content contributions and proposals
Easter 2005 : Preparatory meeting for people in Europe going to the conference. This gathering will be compulsory for all the organisations that want to send people to the conference (although the person attending does not neccesarely have to be the person attending the conference), and there should be solidarity mechanisms to make sure that groups with fewer resources (especially from the East) can participate. However, it should be open to people who won't participate in the Global conference. We would also like to invite the Asian convenors (from Nepal, India and Thailand) to the meeting. Issues to be discussed at this meeting : checking how the preparation of the contents is going and making sure that we cover soon anything that is still missing (writing texts, receiving and sending feedback to texts sent from other continents, etc) checking how we are doing in terms of finances (travel funds and conference budget) checking how we are doing in terms of participation from different continents, and deciding what to do if it seems that there will be an imbalance between participation from Europe and other continents (quotas ? compulsory co-funding of travel costs from other continents ?) preparing the connection between the Global conference and local groups that want to distribute information locally while it is happening (video streamings ? reports ? etc). (This meeting might be combined with the international gathering that is planned for Easter 2005 as culmination of the tours of representatives of grassroots movements from the Middle East that is meant to strengthen the relationship between groups in the Arab world and Europe. This has to be agreed before by the groups organising this gathering, but we want to know what people think of this possibility)
Easter - June 2005 : Gathering information locally to take to Nepal (especially, from groups that cannot go to the conference)
JUNE 2005 : 4TH GLOBAL PGA CONFERENCE ! !
meanwhile postponed to September 2005
June - September : Feedback from the conference across Europe (also through events like the anti-G8 mobilisations). For those who want, build-up of actions against the WTO Ministerial in Hong-Kong.
2. Extending the Global Network
The Global conference will hopefully facilitate strengthening of the Network interactions that already exist (i.e. Europe, the Americas, Australasia and the Asian Networks). We were very aware that large parts of the world are virtually not represented in the PGA Network therefore in order to change this situation we provide the following proposals (with the understanding that these processes should come from the grassroots in each area rather than the European Network)
A. Contact South African convenors: and ask how they want to take the process forward? Can Europe help? (Possible suggestions e.g. Send out a call to global lists for other contacts in Africa Be ready to replace money that was lost in last conference.)
B.PROPOSAL: Support speakers tour of grassroots organizations from the Middle East to Europe.
3. Visibility of the Global Network
There is a problem of visibility and accessability between different part of the PGA network, for example lack of awareness as to who are the different convenors in different regions of the world, as well as the problem that individual networks and groups may belong to more than one geographical PGA regional Network.
A. Propose the creation of a Global list of convenors, make it freely available on the web, and when you meet new people, pass this list on. This will hopefully make it easier for groups to self define their relationship with the Global PGA process.
B. It would be nice to have some kind of informal (i.e. not in the name of PGA, but inspired by PGA) European PGA Conference 2004 Newsletter, as done in Asia. The goal of which would be giving people a better general insight into European PGA process. (This does not require full PGA concent but seemed a good place to raise the idea.)
4. Global Communication
Although time was too short to come to any concrete proposals we felt that significant work should be done to clarify and improve the procedures of Global communication (i.e. mailing lists, Convenor contacts etc.)
A. Working groups for Nepal address the issue of a global communication tools. Communication: Africa: 1st conference: problems finding grassroots organizing. they argued that the only way to work was to work with the government. the point of pga was having a space for people who didn't want to work in that way. 3rd conference September 16th: african leaders arrested, only that were able to come were South African. South African: good grassroot organizing (soweto, etc.). Good contacts in africa needed. brother, contact with NGO in Mali. 1st conference, African convenor were actually Nigerian.(Mosop). Groups working in terms of africa... how far does africa go into the arab world? disagreements... problem: 11 month to get a network started in africa solution: international working group in africa.
- there is a african convenor in south africa, problem: if we are going to set up an international group, it might be seen offensive/colonial.
- work from links we have (diaspora and african) to get dialogue going.
- PROPOSAL: 1) contact south african convenors: and ask how they want to lead the process? can europe help? e.g. Send out a call to global lists for other contacts in africa
Section 5: Global process
1. Proposals regarding the 4th Global PGA Conference proposed by the Asian conference to be in Nepal 2005
A. The working group on the global process at the Belgrade European conference enthusiastically supports this proposal and asks that it is endorsed by the spokescouncil. Vote as to if people were in favour of the Nepal conference. No objections. Outcome: PGA Europe (enthusiastically) supports having the 4th Global PGA Conference as proposed in Nepal in 2005.
B. Process for preparation in Europe for the Global Conference:
a) Contents of discussions in Nepal to be prepared before: Ammendment: We want to change the 'sustained campaigns' text to acknowledge the hard work that some have put in. Under the heading 'Contents of the discussions in Nepal that need to be prepared months before the conference' change the sentence 'Prepare the discussion about what to do with the non-existant "sustained campaigns" (which came out of the previous Global Conference but were not realized)' to read: 'Prepare the discussion about what to do with the "sustained campaigns" suggested at the previous Global Conference that were not realized and better communicate those that have been realised'. Ammendment passed.
b) Participation from Europe and financial aspects: Concern On the issue of the quotas and limiting numbers from an area we feel that this is problematic and that it creates tension. European over representation has more to do with political backpacking rather than real engagement with the issues. Suggestion People who go should go to an information point to get reading materials before the conference and should commit to feeding back information. In Prague 2000 there was a meeting with all global PGA convenors where it was decided that there should be a quota system of 30% European and North American participation with 70% of the conference body being made up of people from the rest of the world. The Prague meeting made the quota decision for the one conference only it was not agreed as PGA principle. Suggestion: on how to deal with European overparticipation. It could operate a spokes council system where there are only a limited number of speakers at the conference from Europe regardless of how many European people go. Do we need some kind of quota system to avoid an imbalance of representation from different regional networks? There should also be a gender balance. Translation needs a special budget. Some proposals now suggested at this meeting conflict and will have to be resorted at the winter meeting. This will be work in progress as other regional PGA conferences need to feedback. We need to agree a system to deal with the tendency of European overparticipation?
Do we need to agree the 30% to 70% split here? Maybe we could have an objective of maximizing participation but be aware of the balance. We should leave discussion on this till nearer the time when numbers are more fixed.
Outcome: How to deal with European over representation will be discussed further at the winter meeting. c. Contact with other continents:
Concern: We feel that there is a lot of descriptions about understanding cultural issues from Asia but there should also be information given to the Asian convenors about European and other cultures, for example about gender. The convenors should pass on this information to the wider society.
C. Timeline Proposal:
Amendment: change the text of section C Easter 2005 section from 'Preparatory meeting for people in Europe going to the conference' to read: 'Preparatory meeting for groups in Europe that want to go to the conference'
Amendment: Section C Easter 2005, add 'or an imbalance within Europe' to the paragraph that currently reads 'checking how we are doing in terms of participation from different continents, and deciding what to do if it seems that there will be an imbalance between participation from Europe and other countries'.
Amendment: Add 'Post conference meeting to prepare the follow up work and share with people who could not attend the conference' to the June-September paragraph.
Amendment: Under the heading 'Easter 2005' in the first paragraph, add 'to give training on cultural flexibility to European groups' at the end of the sentence 'we would also like to invite the Asian convenors (from Nepal, India and Thailand) to the meeting'. This last addition is potentially patronizing and maybe shouldn't be included or should be phrased differently. However this text was agreed at the meetings previously and was missed off the minutes even though it had been discussed at the meeting and put on the list of things to come forward to this meeting. It isn't right for facilitators to independently change what was agreed.
I felt that the point was covered by different words within the text. We support two way cultural exchange before the conference e.g. to describe some of the difficulties faced in Europe as people can think that Europe is some kind of paradise.
2. Extending the Global Network
A. Contact South African convenors: and ask how they want to take the process forward? Can Europe help? There are South African convenors. The South African delegation agreed to host a conference but no contact has since been made. Someone agreed to take on contacting the South African convenors.
Outcome: The South African convenors will be contacted to ask how they want to take the process forward and if Europe can help?
B. PROPOSAL: Support speakers tour of grassroots organizations from the Middle East to Europe. There is a group of people from Iraq, Lebanon and Israel working on establishing a speakers' tour from the Middle East to Europe. The PGA support this though it is not a PGA initiative.
Outcome: The PGA supports the speakers tour though it is not a PGA initiative.
3. Visibility of the Global Network
A. Propose the creation of a Global list of convenors, make it freely available on the web and when you meet new people, pass this list on. One person volunteered to put a list of current global convenors onto the website.
Outcome: A list of current global convenors will be put onto the PGA website
B. Informal European PGA Conference 2004 Newsletter There has already been talk about having a report and there is a working group started.
ADDINGS : $ LETTER FROM ANPA JANUARY 2005
Dear all Greetings from Kathmandu! First of all let me apologize for being late to come up with the date and venue for the fourth conference of PGA. I supposed to come up by the end of December. It was a little late. It happened as ANPA (All Nepal Peasants Association) also wanted to have some programs during the global conference. ANPA central committee just met (we were waiting for that) and decided to organize its national conference. You would also be happy to know that ANPA is going to convene its national conference after finish the PGA conference. It is organized in such a way that PGA conference is over and ANPA's conference starts. There would be also mobilization in between. Any way we are so happy to announce both programs together. The PGA conference is proposed for 17-21 September for 5 days. On 21 there would be a mobilization. ANPA' conference would be started on 21 with the mobilization and continue to 23 September. All the international participants of PGA will be very much welcome as observe on the ANPA's conference. These dates have been chosen because still second week of September there would be rainy season in Kathmandu and just after one week or so there would be the biggest festival for hindu called Dashin" and people would be very busy. We request all the friends to accept the above mentioned dates. Now we have to finalize the number of the participants for the conference. As proposed before there would be 600 participants all together. Among them 300 would be international and 300 from Nepal. The representatives for the conference can be proposed as following: South Asia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives mostly to be travel by surface : 100 East and South East Asia: 60 Pacific : 10 Latin America and Caribbean : 25 North America and Europe : 50 Africa and Middle East : 20 Others : 35 Total 300 from Nepal 300 Total 600 How do others in the networks feel about the number of the participants? We have also prepared initial funding proposal based on the abovementioned numbers. I will circulate it very soon and we will send it to the funding agencies. I am going to Brazil to attend a program just before the World Social Forum. I know Pablo would be in WSF. Who others would be there? Please let us know so that we can meet ourselves and plan further. We can also meet many funding agencies during the WSF as most of them around the world would be in WSF. How do you think? Before going there we have to send them the proposal so that follow up can be done. As proposed before the theme of the conference is proposed to be the food sovereignty and gender". Looking forward to hearing from you all,with best regards,Prem Dangal
REPORTS FROM THE SAMBA CLIMATICO MEETING IN LONDON
notes S.... Climatica Caravan
LARC, London 18 Oct 2004
Deciding
We need to decide a.s.a.p. if we will go for the caravan idea or not. But it's very much dependent on information we still need to obtain. We are giving ourselves two weeks to gather as much information as possible about the route, costs, safety etc. We all help gather the necessary information, while tasks in these minutes followed by [*___] have people especially focusing on that.
Deadline for gathering information is SUNDAY OCTOBER 30. Information should be posted on the climacaramba
lists.riseup.net list and/or gathered by the appointed responsible person.
One week later, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7 - UK time 7pm - EUROPE time 8pm, we will have a virtual meeting using a chat programme, to take some necessary decisions. Details about the chat will be posted later.
1. Update Global Conference
Asian PGA networks are more or less sorted regarding preparations and mobilisation in Asia for the conference but need assistance from Europe to raise funds for travel reimbursements from less privileged parts of the world. We had a small discussion concerning the worries that most people in Europe will be focused on the anti-G8 mobilisations and will not have much time to work on the caravan project nor join. Though acknowledging that this could become a potential problem for the conference itself, whether it will happen or not and/or be global or not, we chose to continue the discussion as if we would definitely have a conference to go to and we want to get there with a caravan. Anyway it's a good project idea, wether it's now for this conference or for what ever events we will converge at in the future.
[post-note: now following the discussions on the list that the WTO conference will be delayed and then possibly the PGA conference and the caravan as well, maybe the doubts about IF the conference etc will happen are not so valid anymore. more likely, we will be satisfied to do the G8 thing and then focus on Nepal, with both the caravan and the conference happening after G8.]
2. Route
Exiting Europe through Turkey, the caravan will pass through Iran-Pakistan-India, all this hopefully by train. From Delhi bus to Nepal/Katmandu.
In Europe, the idea is to start in Belgrade as a continuation and kick-off from the European PGA conference. Groups in Bulgaria have already expressed interest for the caravan to stop there for actions, before continuing to Turkey.
Before and around the take-off of the caravan, there can be actions/workshops/debates in countries in the south-eastern region of Europe (or elsewhere, as people wish), from where people will merge with the caravan as it departures.
3. Duration
We want to try to keep the caravan to a maximum of one month, including the days of the conference, as most people cannot take leave or be away for much longer than that. For people who have even less time, there is always the possibility to catch up with and join the caravan along the route.
In order to make most use of the caravan, we will make alternate stops with parts of the caravan. One group will stop somewhere while the rest continues to the next stop, where after the first group will travel to the next stop beyond that etc. From time to time the whole group will get together.
After the conference, we should arrange to take the quickest possible land route back, for those who'd like. In any case we should try to avoid flying ;-) !!
4. Transportation
The idea is to go by train, as far as possible. We need to check how possible it is to access and cross the different countries along the route, with a group of around 50 people.
We will make inquiries at travel agencies for train routes, costs and safety situations/measures [*A-e+K-t] and check Lonely Planet books/web sites/chats [*N-a] for people's experiences of traveling in that region.
We thought of getting bigger organisations to support the project in negotiations for cheap deals with train companies.
We can also get useful information on this from the groups in Asia [*T-u].
5. Preparations
We also need to know the costs of VISA for people from different European countries, as well as health insurances etc [*P-r]. (And vaccinations, which was thought about after the meeting.) VISA information can be obtained from the cultural attache of each country, or maybe at the travel agency
[*everyone checks what visa is needed from ones home country and M-l check a bit more in general].
We can also get useful information on this from the groups in Asia [*T-u].
6. Contacts
We need contact with groups in the countries along the route - for action/workshops preparations and other programmes, local logistics and general networking. Together we probably cover a whole range of groups and issues, we just need to network them and get the picture together. Everyone checks their contacts to see if we have a least a basic network to start from and do not need to start from scratch (which could be the factor that determines whether we go for the project or not.) Contacts will be gathered by G-g: <renegadoblueyonder.co.uk>
7. Funding
To not loose time for important fundraising, we need to take a decision as soon as possible whether we are going to go ahead with this project or not. This will be dependent on the practical possibilities to travel with the caravan through the planned countries AND on how much effort and time people think they can and want to put into the project.
At the moment not everyone who attended the meeting were sure on how much they could devote to the project. But there are also all the people who are on the list but couldn't make it to London, who has expressed interest to work on the project. (And now when it looks as if the whole project will be delayed until after G8, maybe more people will have more time and we will make it happen :-) )
As we are running late it might be tight with finding funding. For some funders you need to send your applications WAY in advance. It was proposed that we should send pre-announcement letters to the funders we think we will apply for money from, just to let them know who we are, what we are, get an idea of the project and when we can be expected to submit our funding applications. establish contact! no one volunteered to do this, so it is not happening at the moment.