It took us a while, but we finally managed to do what many of you expected/demanded of us, and what had actually been decided by the PGA Convenors' Committee at their meeting in Helsinki at the beginning of September: Here is the forum for discussing the structure, communication, action strategies of PGA. At this stage, we do not have a fancy setup where your contributions are automatically added to the page, but please e-mail us your comments to the PGA secretariat address: agpweb (AT) lists.riseup.net. We will put them up on this page as quickly as we manage.
Skip introduction and go directly to discussion
The idea of this discussion forum is the following:
PGA is an action network which aims to coordinate struggles against disempowering and exploitative policies and strategies of states and transnational corporations on a global scale. Networking world-wide is a difficult task, a process which demands mutual trust among the people and movements involved, respect for differences in historical, social, political and personal backgrounds, while at the same time seeking common empowering strategies. Such a collective process does not happen accidentally, but must be supported by an active discussion on experiences within and with the network, and much thought must be given to means of ensuring information flow and communication on various levels (Convenors' committee, informal support group, plenaries and work groups of a PGA conference, other people participating in the PGA process). How can we make sure that the knowledge about and the understanding of each other's various backgrounds keep growing and make us all stronger and more able to unite and mutually amplify our struggles?
In Western Europe, the recent experiences of state repression directed not only at local groups, but also at selected infrastructure perceived to be part of the PGA structure, combined with the call by Helmut Maucher, president of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and initiator of the Geneva Business Dialogue between the ICC and top UN officials, for state repression against networks like PGA, bring out another important question: How do we minimize the vulnerability of the network? How precisely should the principle of decentralized organization be implemented for PGA to become a hydra with so many heads that states will not know where and what to repress?
But the enforcement of hegemonic ideologies, analyses, behaviours and identity norms is not achieved only through repression. How should the structure of PGA, its communication channels, discussion fora and action strategies reflect the need to concentrate also on our own roles in our societies, our own contribution to maintaining oppressive systems, our own little privileges which make it hard for us to be always and everywhere radical and uncompromising in our analysis and actions, even if we do not outright wish to have those privileges (the privileges of men in patriarchy, of light-skinned people in a racist society, of the Northern working class in a colonial world, ...)? How do we go about deepening our understanding of these phenomena, and turn this knowledge into a common practice of actions which truly disrupts the status-quo?
On this page, we will document all the replies/comments/suggestions/discussions we receive, in the language(s) they are sent to us. We cannot guarantee translations, but if the people offering a comment could try to make it available in English and in Spanish, that would be very helpful for the continuity of the discussion.
manifesto-related questions: agpweb (AT) lists.riseup.net
information about PGA : info@agp.org
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