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There will be several other events before and after the First Conference of the PGA (23-25 February 1998). All these events will be open for all kinds of public, while the conference (due to place restrictions) will only be open to delegates.
These events will be:
(1) A number of information and discussion roundtables on different topics from the 18th to the 21st of February. In these roundtables, groups of about 50 to 100 people will exchange information and discuss the topics on which they work. The roundtables will be organised in a decentralised way, by groups interested in the issue from all over the world, in cooperation with groups from Geneva (which will help with the logistics). An indicative list of topics is given below. However, the roundtables will only take place if there is enough preparatory work, which will not be done by the Convenors' Committee. This means that the existence of the roundtables will depend on the willingness of organisations from different countries to participate in their preparation. So if your organisation is interested in one of these topics, please help us preparing the roundtable.
Contact Play Fair Europe! Aachen (Turmstr. 3, 52072 Aachen, Germany; tel. +49- 241-80.37.92, fax 88.88.394, e-mail playfair(at)asta.rwth-aachen.de) to find out which organisations are working on the preparation of each roundtable.
The roundtables that will probably take place are:
- Culture: the loss of diversity; globalisation of disinformation; alienated culture. Fighting back
- Education
- Economy: mobility of goods and capital; livelihoods; labour; unionism; unemployment; exclusion...
- Environment: consumerism, commons, health....
- Food production: agriculture, peasantry, fisherfolk, biotechnology, etc.
- Gender
- Human Rights: political, economic, social and cultural
- Indigenous Peoples: original nations, tribal organisations, and other traditional communities
- Migration
- Politics: accumulation of power by transnational capital; civil participation; forms of struggle
This list of roundtables is not closed, it is possible to propose new topics to the convenors' committee (through Play Fair Europe! Aachen). The precise topics, scope and programme of each roundtable will be defined by the groups and persons organising them, but should include some focus on the impact of "free" trade on the subject. More general presentations of the subject in the evenings for the general public and other delegates should also be planned as part of all roundtables.
(2)A one-day seminar on the World Trade Organisation on Sunday the 22nd of February, most probably at the University of Geneva. It will be targetted to the participants of the 1st Conference of the PGA and to the general public.
(3)The same roundtables that meet on 18-21 February will meet again on the 26th of February (right after the 1st Conference of the PGA) to have a one-day co-ordination and planning session on their topic. The aim of this one-day session will be to create topic-based platforms for coordination and action of the same kind as the PGA, but on more specific issues.
(4)Finally, on the 27th of February there will be a European meeting to launch a Europe-wide movement of civil disobedience against “free” trade. If you are interested, please contact PFE! Aachen.
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