The spaces for the Peoples Forums and Camping have been approved by the local Benito Juarez Council to the satisfaction of activists and the negotiators from the Comité de Bienvenido and OWINFS (Our World Is Not For Sale). Confirmed are La Plaza de la Reforma, el Parque de las Palapas, the Kuchil Baxal Gym, Expo Cancun. The Casa de la Cultura and the Beto Avila Stadium are to be arranged with the state government.

The expected 20,000 protesters will be comfortably accommodated in these locations for the prospective Forums and camping, although finer details regarding water supplies, sanitary facilities and communications have yet to be nailed down.

According to the Comites calculations, the Social Forum will count on the participation of 10,000 peasants, 2,500 european activists, 300 Koreans, 3,000 indigenous from all over Mexico, 2000 Trade Unionists, and a 1000 environmentalists.

Check out the Comité De Bienvenida, website here - http://www.cancuncommittee.org

Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) have been doing great work on the ground in Cancun, supporting the Comité de Bienvenido and organizing the Peoples Forum
http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/global.asp

b. People's Forum for an Alternative Against the WTO

Actions focused on creating pressure in the capitals on governments or representatives leaving to come to Cancun to negotiate pressure to represent the people. Direct non-violent action, blockades, strikes. etc. Reading of a Global Declaration at all international actions.

09 September - Tuesday

People's Forum: Opening Day

10 September - Wednesday

People's Forum: Suggested theme of "Agriculture"

11 September - Thursday

People's Forum: Suggested theme of "Violence and Trade"
"International Day of Mourning" (or other name) to protest victims of war, military terrorism and economic violence Distinct public activities (vigils, etc?) Remembering the victims of the New York attacks and the Military Coup in Chile in 1973, an appalling act of terror that claimed many thousands of lives.

12 September - Friday

People's Forum: suggested theme of "privatization or services".

13 September - Saturday

Big Anti-WTO March: to coincide with international day of demonstration.
(Co-inciding with the National holiday-Día de los Niños Heroes-in Mexico) Global March against Military and Economic War. Marches all over the world to show our global power.

14 September - Sunday

People's Forum: Suggested theme of "Natural Resources and Environment".
Closing Event of the Peoples Forum and Declaration of our Victory(¡) over the WTO.

Global working group:

At this time, the global working group consists of the following organizations and networks: Bienvenidos a Cancun (Cancun local organizing coalition); Mexican Space Towards Cancun; Continental Campaign Against the FTAA; the Our World Is Not For Sale Network; and others. Any group interested in joining this global working group, please contact Lisa Hoyos (lhoyoscitizen.org) at Our World Is Not for Sale, Gonzalo Berrón (secr-contuol.com.br) at the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA or at www.rmalc.org.mx or www.asc-hsa.org.

c. Good News From Mexico's Peasant Organizations

Via Campesina (http://www.viacampesina.org) Mexican affiliate UNORCA (National Union of Regional Autonomous Peasant Organizations) are mobilizing at least 1,500 of their rank and file peasant and indigenous members and an international delegation of some 200 delegates from farmer organizations from around the world to participate in the International Farmer Forum (8th, 9th), and some 8,000-10,000 in the International Peasant March "For Peasant Rights and Food Sovereignty" on Sep 10. The UNORCA delegation will also participate in the People's Forum, September 11-14, and the International March and Global Day of Action Against the WTO, September 13. Other Via Campesina member organizations from the El Campo No Aguanta Mas - "The Countryside Can't Take it Anymore" - coalition are also mobilizing their membership toward the Farmer Forum and March in Cancun.

An appeal - UNORCA needs funds on an emergency basis to help charter buses. They are sending out an appeal on Tuesday, August 12, asking people to contribute what they can, from a few dollars to a few hundred to a few thousand (each bus costs over a thousand dollars). The appeal — which will also be on their web page as of the 12th - will take people to a secure server where people can make contributions via credit card (tax deductible in the USA). This is great way for those who can't get to Cancun in person to make difference in letting the Mexican people expres their opposition to the WTO.

UNORCA web page -
http://www.unorca.org.mx
Read Via Campesina's convocation to Cancun here -
http://viacampesina.org/art_english.php3?id_article=228

d. Update on the Cancun Alternative Media-Tech Convergence ~ Building Alternatives, Disseminating Realities, September 1-7 in Cancun:

There is less than a month until the Alternative Media-Tech Convergence and Tidal Wave Cancun descend on Cancun with the explicit goals of putting the media tools and skills into the hands of the people.
http://espora.org/cancun03/index.pl?CancunAlternativeMediaTechConvergence

We are in a mad dash to lock down funding for this incredible and rare initiative. Any support is tremendous support and everyone can donate by direct deposit into our http://paypal.com account by using the financiamientoconvergenciamediosindependientes.org paypal account. This is the fastest and easy way to support the Alternative Media-Tech Convergence.

We are reminding people that there is limited space available for participants and that people should begin to register themselves and the workshops that they would like to give as well as receive. Recent workshops that have been announced include:

• Human rights observation and media use in non-violent direct action settings
• Forum on Communication Rights vs. 'Free Trade'
• FM/Server workshops
• Popular communications and popular news
• FM production, edition and live radio
• Construction of Low Power FM transmitters and antennas
• Gender and Communications (Experiences from women making media)
• Tactical Media

To register for this event please go to
http://espora.org/cancun03/index.pl?RegistroRegistration or send an email to
convergenciamediosindependientes.org. The DEADLINE for registration is
AUGUST 24th.

e. The International Women's Forum is the space for the articulation of women's demands, within the People's Forum for an Alternative to the WTO, before and during the meeting of the Minister of the World Trade Organization, in Cancun, in September 2003.

In México, the women's networks have created a space for the articulation of forces, Mujeres Hacia Cancún/ Women on the Road to Cancún, which includes, amongst others, the National Network on Gender and Economy and the Latin American Network Women Transforming the Economy (REDGE-REMTE), the World March of Women, the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC), the Women's Commission of the Continental Social Alliance-Mexico, the National Coordination for a Feminist Millennium, the Gender and Trade Network-Mexico and the Association of Women in Network (AMMOR).

For more information, please contact: mujereshaciacancunyahoo.com.mx
mujerdialogoprodigy.net.mx
Tel/fax/télécopieur: 52 (55) 5 544-2202, Tel. 52 (55) 5 544-6902

f. Political and Cultural Opening Event, 9th Sep, promises to showcase a variety of local, national and international acts that will raise the spirit of the assembled multitude. A dream list of international performers would include Manu Chao, Eddie Vedder, Michael Franti, members of Maldito Vencinidad, etc. Nothing is confirmed as yet, but a wide variety of artists and musicians have been invited. Maybe we should all make an effort to invite personally our favourite performers. There is space for all!
http://www.focusweb.org

g. International Forum on Globalization Teach-in, September 9th, Teatro Cancún. Please see www.ifg.org for more information.

h. Fair Trade Fair hosted by IATP, Comercio Justo Mexico, Oxfam, and others. Please see http://www.fairtradefair.com for more information.

i. New Youth Organizing Group on the ground, Cancun.

Uniting youth, students, counter-culture and non-violent direct action enthusiasts, the JUVENTUD GLOBAL group began a campaign of raising awareness by tabling and flyering a local Tanguis market, holding a press conference and showing the WTO video.

They can be contacted at juventud_globalhotmail.com
Their slogan is For the Art of Change.

j. Legal issues - Mexican legal observers are organizing to insure that the rights of demonstrators will be respected. They promise to have a full team on the streets between the 7th and 14th September.

Red Nacional "Todos los derechos para todos": cancunddhhhotmail.com

k. World anti-WTO leaders in Cancun

This week Walden Bello ("The Other Chomsky..") and Peter Rosset (Food First, Via Campesina) spoke to the Comité de Bienvenido and assorted activists on the balcony of the Comité Offices ( Coco 4, SMZ 25, Cancun City). The tropical night was balmy and a hush descended upon the assembled as the Filipino man spoke.......
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/feature/display/20/index.php

l. Hotel Booking.

Hotel seems to be almost entirely booked out for the duration of the Ministerial. There are some spaces left in Hotels around the centre of Cancun City. For those interested in individual or block booking of the remaining hotel rooms, contact this friendly travel agent.

Hugo's Mayaworld Travel Hotels
Hugomayaprodigy.net.mx
Tel 998 810 4350
www.mundomayatravel.com
Lic. Hugo Menendez S.

For comprehensive information on hotels in the Hotel Zone (the beach) , try perusing the official WTO site Mexican Organizing Committee website where you can make your reservation directly with the hotel of your choice. They may assume you are part of the official activities.

For the real collective experience, the free Mass Camping Facilities could be availble from the first week of September. (Not confirmed). But certainly from the 7th - 14th.

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2. NEWS FROM MEXICO

a. News From Chiapas

The Chiapas State Meeting on the road to Cancun, 2nd August. Report by Ana Laura, Puente a Cancun.

70 representatives from 30 social organizations met in San Cristobal to discuss strategy and tactics towards mobilizing for the WTO ministerial in Cancun in September. Represented were peasant organizations, women, indigenous, social organizations and NGOs from almost every region of the state.

Many more people were unable to attend the meeting due to their commitment to attend the Zapatista mobilization to be held in the Aguascalientes in Oventic 6th-9th. Economic reasons made it impossible for many delegates to make the long trip to both events.

The Ciepac video, "The WTO: A Threat to the People" was received by the assembled with interest, followed by shut down the WTO in Seattle, showing the real and tangible link between Seattle, Chiapas and the WTO protests in Cancun.

As the debate moved around to logistical questions, strategy emerged as an important element. How exactly could we "De-rail the WTO?" The prospects outlined presented many challenges.

The agreements arrived at the Honduras Forum (MesoAmerican Forum Against Neo-Liberalism) were articulated including their decision to try to "Destroy the WTO". Lively debate ensued.

Questions abounded as to the logistical situation regarding the Women's Forum, the Media Convergence and the Peoples Forum etc.

A caravan will set off from San Cristobal on the 7th September with a cooperation of 300-500 pesos required.

The actions planned in Cancun include participation in the various forums, street action, support networks and solidarity with the nation wide actions, including the Mexican piqueteros blocking main artery roads and borders.

The next state meeting will take place 23 August.

b. Zapatistas look towards the Cancun Horizon:

August 9, Oventic, Chiapas , the EZLN inaugurated a "Just Government" in the name of Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism. Before a large gathering of Zapatistas, activists and press, the leadership announced the creation of "Caracol" centers as a point of interchange between the indigenous communities and the people beyond. The attempted launch of Radio Insurgente ( Chiapas.mediosindependientes.org ) was frustrated by the authorities blocking the airwaves. Commandante Zebedeo spoke of the gathering in Cancun and denounced the policies of the WTO claiming "another world is possible". No concrete details yet of how the Zapatistas will support the mobilizations or how many representatives they will send with the Chiapas Caravan.

c. Quintana Roo State Forum on the WTO

On July 27 the Comité de Bienvenida a Cancún organized and hosted a Quintana Roo state forum in Cancun City on the WTO. It brought together 60 people representing local, national and international organizations from NGO's to teacher and peasant groups. The forum was meant to inform local leaders of what the WTO is, how it could effect people locally and to update everyone on the state of organizing against the Cancun ministerial. Speakers addressed issues ranging from the risks the WTO presents to local fishing and forestry to strategies being used by NGO's inside the WTO meeting.

d. The South Resists Forum
Merida, Yucatan, August 2nd and 3rd, 2003.

Around 60 people representing over 25 organizations from the states of Campeche, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Guerrero, Chiapas, Mexico City, and some from other countries met at this forum in Merida, Yucatan to discuss the impacts of neoliberal politics in the Yucatan peninsula. They also discussed the initiatives that will be made during the activities parallel to the 5th Ministerial meeting in Cancun.

The groups that met in Merida came from different experiences working directly with popular groups in the themes of human rights, fair trade, the defense of the environment, gender equality, respect for sexual diversity, the promotions of biodiversity and recently the forces against the war in Iraq, where they have succeeded in bringing more than 800 people to demonstrate in the streets of Merida.

September 8th there will be a final meeting and also the first before the the beginning of the People's Forum, in order to finalize details.

At the end of the successful forum, the following conclusions were reached

• We are ready to combat, from the place and the area in which each organization works, this economic, social, and cultural model that wants to impose, from the centers of international power, the exclusion and marginalization of our people.
• We will participate in the People's Forum, as a converging force of national and international civil society that will make a series of alternate activities to the Ministerial meeting of the WTO in Cancun next September
• "We believe that society should know the grave dangers for the people that hide the open discrimination that permeates from institutions like the WTO. We want to present a united front against this economic politic that has so many social and environmental costs. The globalization that we want is not one of exclusion, accumulation of capital in the hands of few at the cost of many, but the globalization of justice, of equality, of respect for human rights of individuals and of communities, in order that this be a world en which all of us can live with dignity..."

A series of nationwide Forums are being organized throughout August -
North Forum - Torreon, 23-24 August
Tlaxcala Forum - Tlaxcala, 14-16 August
Occident Forum - 11-12 August

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3. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

a. Puente a Cancún Report Back from Honduras
Mid-July in Honduras

The Jornadas de Resistencia, in Honduras (http://foroshonduras.org.hn) during mid-July were based on a series of forums held in Esperanza, Intubicá and Tegucigalpa. These forums led to a series of agreements made about the WTO. The most significant agreement made in the round table discussions held during the IVth Mesoamerican Forum was to launch a collective and concerted campaign against the WTO titled "All of Mesoamerica for the Destruction of the WTO."

The working group agreed upon and defined the following general themes as a point of departure for the Mesoamerican campaign against the WTO:

Parallel local and regional mobilizations in each of our Mesoamerican countries on September 9th 2003 with the expressed goal to derail the WTO negotiations.

Promote wide participation of civil society in Cancún during the Global Week of Mobilizations from the 7-14th of September 2003.

Conduct educational workshops on the WTO, call press conferences, public forums, and show a general rejection of the neo-liberal economic politics imposed by the WTO

After hours of discussion in the working group dedicated to the WTO, with more then 50 participants from dozens of organizations from all of Mesoamerica (México to Panamá) the US, Canada, and several European delegates, a variety of detailed agreements and actions were made decided upon:

Although there had been much murmuring in the wind about the possibilities of organizing a Central American Caravan from Panamá to Cancún, the subcommittee created to discuss the viability of this option deemed that the logistics would be extremely complicated, costly and that time was now short for organizing such a mobilization. No Central American Caravan will be organized.

Most Central American countries will send small delegations representative of the organizations and popular movements in each country. CIEPAC,RAMLC, UCIZONI will help with the visas for Honduras/Guatemala, Nicaragua/El Salvador, an d Panamá respectively.

The following actions were decided upon as parallel actions in each country:

Guatemala: joint action with Chiapas for mobilizations at the border in La Mesilla/Cd. Cuauhtemoc, mobilization at the Mexico/Guatemala border La Libertad, actions in Guatemala City against the BID (International Development Bank) and the World Bank

Belize: Mobilization at the border with Mexico, mobilization in front of the OAS

Honduras: actions at the BID

El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica: Parallel actions to be decided upon, marches, road blocks etc.

Each country will name at least one person to update and post to Cancun Indymedia http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org

Indymedia Cancun and Indymedia Chiapas will create categories and subpages dedicated to Mesoamerica and the parallel actions taking places throughout Mesoamerica during the week of resistance, to then be further established with the ultimate goal of creating an independent Indymedia Mesoamerica
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/?category=2

Please find a complete Spanish list of all conclusions, action plans, and summaries of the working groups that participated in the Forums on Biological and Cultural Diversity and the Forum Against Damns and For Life held in Esperanza, Honduras at the following link
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105479

The final declaration of the IVth Mesoamerican forum can be found at the following link,
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105514

The declaration of the third Via Campesina forum also held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras can be found at the following link,
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105504

Via Campesina confirmed the following dates for their action plan in Cancun
September 8-9 Campesino Forum in Cancun
Septemer 10 Global day of Action for Via Campesina
September 11 day of Symbolic action

Declaration against the International Development Bank
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105494

b. Via Campesina: Turn your back on the WTO!

Via Campesina demands that governments reject the Harbinson text proposal and that all negotiations of agriculture in the framework of WTO must cease.

Read their convocatoria to go to Cancun and more here -
http://viacampesina.org/art_english.php3?id_article=118

c. International Parliamentary Network: Declaration on the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Cancún/México, 10- 14 September 2003 We, members of the International Parliamentary Network (IPN), founded on occasion of the World Parliamentary Forum in Porto Alegre/Brazil, are deeply committed to the idea that another economic and trade paradigm is possible, which benefits the majorities of the populations all over the world. We believe that the present economic world order, with the Bretton Woods organisations as the leading institutions on economic and financial questions on the one hand, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the other, does not lead to this aim. Since the creation of the WTO, in 1995, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened dramatically. The Doha Development Agenda, agreed upon at the Fourth Ministerial in November 2001 in the capital of Qatar, is not worthy of its title.

In the run up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO, which is going to take place in Cancún/México, on September 10-14, 2003, we as parliamentarians, propose the following minimum set of demands to be covered by the conference agenda. We engage ourselves to support these demands in all parliamentarian debates and resolutions before the Ministerial and to lobby for them during the Conference itself.

d. Report from Montreal Mini-ministerial July 27-28, - WTO Frustrated, Protesters On a Move.

Activists converged in Montreal last week to protest against the Mini- Ministerial of the WTO where trade ministers from 26 nations came together to finalize their position before Cancun. Two marches were called by the organizers; on Monday approximately 2,000 people marched for immigrants rights and the "freedom of movement". This march was followed by a "snake march" the next day at 7:30 AM with the hope of disrupting the meetings. After being charged by the police about 700 die-hard direct actionists roamed through the city and caused a significant amount of property damage to downtown Montreal before dispersing. All together 342 people were arrested in Montreal, the majority who were participating in the passive Green Zone, a safe-space for activists who did not want to participate in the "snake march". The protests were tainted by the overwhelming police presence and intimidation, including snatch squads who arrested several medics and a key organizer who wasn't participating in the march at the time of his arrest. According to the Canadian department of Foreign Trade and Development last week's informal meeting was "a useful reality check on the work that remains to be done to bring the Doha Development Agenda to fruition." Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew gave clues to the WTO's fragility by commenting that "With only one month left before Cancun, we must now urgently focus our energies on resolving problems in key areas, if we are to hold true to the goals we set when we launched the Doha Development Agenda." http://www.Cmaq.net.

From Montreal to Mexico, resist the WTO!
From Montreal to Mexico, Resist the WTO!
The anti-capitalist coalition against the FTAA calls for 5 days of direct action, creative resistance and popular education.
http://montreal.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=9059&group=webcast
In the spirit of Seattle and Quebec, and in solidarity with protests in Cancun, Mexico:
http://montreal.resist.ca/articles/acc030616e.htm

e. Tens of Thousands of Anti-WTO Activists Mobilize in France

Tens of thousands of anti-globalization activists gathered in southern France on Friday 9 for a three-day rally taking aim at the upcoming World Trade Organization talks in Mexico.

Both local officials and festival organizers say the festive event on the bucolic Larzac plateau drew between 50,000 and 100,000 participants, with militant farmer Jose Bove — recently out of prison — leading the charge. The Cancun Ministerial figured prominently in discussions...Many thousands of Europeans will come to demonstrate their opposition to the WTO this September.
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/newswire/index.php

f. Worldwide Day of Action Against Globalization and War, September 13th.

While the WTO meets amidst the Bush Administration's continued reckless quest for empire, a powerful series of grassroots mobilizations for peace and justice are being planned for September. Organizations around the world will be organizing o protest the WTO on September 9th, and for a Worldwide Day of Action Against Corporate Globalization and War on September 13th. These actions will remind our trade ministers that they are accountable to the citizens of their own country - not the trade ministers of the rich nations. Read more here -
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105474
Read the Call to Action for the US at
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/805.html

g. Sacramento Revisited

What did we learn from the mobilization in Sacramento in terms of Cancun? Doyle Canning points out that there was a lot to celebrate in terms of the organisational effort. The official meeting was a USDA/USAID/US State Dept. meeting focused on agriculture technology--specifically biotech and genetic engineering, and building international support for the US's position against the EU on this issue and their WTO case. In response to this, there was significant and unprecendented outreach to many grassroots organizations. It was actually the LARGEST PROTEST IN US HISTORY AGAINST GMOs, and was framed as being a " mobilization for food soverignty democracy and justice"--linking with anti-war & empire movements, as well as groups like the United Farm Workers, United for Peace and Justice, the Sacramento Central Labor Council, the Justice for Janitors Campaign, and over 130 others--and of course the 400 million strong via campesina and over 200 organizations from the South. The local Sacramento Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture, and the umbrella Mobilization for Food Soverignty Democracy and Justice (bottom lined by the Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project) were the mainstays doing the public events in Sacramento, and it was regarded by most everyone who works on agriculture and biotech issues as a huge success.

Lesson to take away from the Sacramento mobilization? Even in a difficult time of war and decreasing Civil Liberties, we can still organize and claim important victories....
check out the mobilization webiste, http://www.sacmobilization.org

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4. ANTI-WTO MOBILIZING RESOURCES

a. ANTI-WTO organizing video available

Focus on the Global South has created an incredible video available for organizing against the WTO. Titled "WTO: Why is it BAD for You?" this incredible tool should be shown in any community you want to organize to participate in any anti-WTO activities. Let people from around the world explain why the WTO is BAD for YOU. The video is split into 6 parts which can be viewed separately on the Focus on the Global South webpage
http://www.focusweb.org/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=71
Available in English and other languages from Focus on the Global South.
Contact: maryloufocusweb.org.
Available in Spanish from ATTAC Venezuela. Contact:
attac-venezuelacantv.net

b. www.cancun2003.org

This website is provided by the Boell Foundation of the German Green Party and is available in English and Spanish. The aim is to provide you with up-to-date information in the run-up to the meeting as well as providing day-to-day information on decisions and discussions during the Ministerial. The main focus rests on the issues of water, agriculture, WTO reforms, GATS and Gender. For further information about the Heinrich Boell Foundation
please visit http://www.boell.de

c. IndyMedia Cancun is up and running!

http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org is open for publishing and that we highly recommend people to begin to publish their information, articles, press releases, multimedia etc onto the page.

d. CIEPAC, a Chiapas-based think-tank has produced some excellent resource materials dealing with the WTO in Spanish. Read their "Frequently Asked Questions about the WTO" here, and follow the links...
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/newswire/rate/15

e. Great materials on the WTO in Spanish

Also available on RMALC's site, http://www.rmalc.org.mx

f. Trade Observatory (http://www.tradeobservatory.org/pages/home.cfm) is the new home of WTO Watch. In 1999, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) opened WTO Watch in preparation for the WTO's Seattle Ministerial. As trade, globalization and sustainable development issues have evolved since the Seattle Ministerial, so has WTO Watch. In response to the growing interest in global trade policy, IATP has expanded its focus and merged WTO Watch with the Trade Observatory. Check out the document centre for the last word in analysis of the WTO trade policies as well as a variety of declarations against the WTO from across the world.
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/Library/index.cfm?c_id=45&language=Eng

g. Third World Network almost-daily updates

Third World Network's staff in Geneva and around the world provide almost daily updats about the state of play in the negotiations and how we can become involved in monkeywrenching the WTO process and Derail the WTO.
http://www.twnside.org.sg for back issues of TWN Information Service.

h. Some informative links in the document library and related sites on the Our World Is Not For Sale site-
http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/cancun/NewsUpdates/07.htmç

i. Global Exchange anti-FTAA and anti-WTO organizer's guide

Global Exchange has produced a 60-page organizer's guide to How to Stop the FTAA and WTO. Send an email to deborahglobalexchange.org or download it at
http://www.globalexchange.org/ftaa

j. Some strategic questions posed for those of us about to protest:

• How to co-ordinate the activities and communications of NGOs and others inside-the-negotiations with those of us on the outside
• How to ensure that mass-protests, marches, events, etc., in the town are de-criminalised. They need to be seen by Mexican authorities as politically legitimate, and official WTO delegates and Mexcian authorities need to be held accountable for any repressive measures.
• How to get the mass media to understand that the protests are more than just anti-WTO, and get them to understand the various civ.soc. messages.
• How to ensure agent-provocateurs are effectively isolated from the mainstream peaceful protests.
  (From: http://www.emg.org.za/Documents/CancunActivites2.doc)

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5. THE OFFICIAL WORLD OF THE WTO

a. Draft WTO Cancun Declaration Leaked

A leaked draft declaration for the September WTO Ministerial in Cancun sets surprisingly high expectations for negotiators. The declaration, a binding statement to be agreed upon by the end of the Cancun meeting, pushes for broad agreement in areas such as agriculture, industrial tariffs, access to medicines, and the expansion negotiations into new areas. Currently, negotiations in nearly every major area are stalled by wide and contentious differences.
Read the Declaration here - http://www.tradeobservatory.org/pages/home.cfm

b. Some great news to cheer up anybody dreaming of a better world...

As Samuel Johnson famously observed, nothing concentrates the mind like the imminent prospect of hanging. Five weeks before their ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, World Trade Organisation members are gripped by intimations of impending nemesis. Unless they get down to business fast, the event is more likely to prove a testament to collective failure than a decisive advance towards freer trade.
From the Financial Times (and they really should know)
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/News/index.cfm?ID=4622

c. TWN updates on state of play

If you really want to know what's happening every day in the halls of Geneva, such as the recent update from 10 August: "The 77-member African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) Group of countries held a Trade Ministers' meeting in Brussels on 31 July to 1 August, mainly to coordinate their positions for the Cancun Ministerial Conference. The Ministers adopted a Declaration with quite detailed positions on most issues on the WTO's Cancun agenda. Two highlights were:

• A statement that there is no basis for the commencement of negotiations on the Singapore Issues.
• A call to WTO members to ensure the decision-making process at the Cancun Ministerial is "transparent and inclusive" through adopting procedural rules. They put forward four proposals, including that draft texts contain the views of various members, that Chairs of working groups be appointed by all members, and that all meetings be opened to all members."

Check out the Third World Network's website and updates.
http://www.twnside.org.sg

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6. MEDIA UPDATE

a. New York Times series on the results of the WTO on developing countries

The New York Times is writing an incredible series called "harvesting poverty" about the effects of developed-country's agricultural policies on poor farmers around the world. It can be accessed at
http://www.nytimes.com/harvestingpoverty.

b. The WTO-bloc and the Six-Million-Dollar Man.

Its like a script you couldn't even make up - the Cancun Mayor is threatening to cancel the WTO meeting if he is not supplied with $6m dollars (immediately!) by the Federal Authorities to guarantee the security of the town...Local Mayor Juan Ignacio García Zalvidea has threatened to "pull the WTO Ministerial" if the Federal Government didn't chip into the budget to cover the Municipal costs of hosting the event.

"We are here working to ensure that there is no violence," said the Mayor, referring to the problem of controlling the so-called "globalifobicos", " but if the support is not forthcoming from the Federation and the (WTO) organizers, then we have a right in our own town to re-consider the whole deal..."

It seems fairly certain that the WTO-bloc and the Six-Million-Dollar Man will come to some amicable arrangement.
Cancun.Indymedia reprints the article in Spanish from the local press -
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/newswire/display/19/index.php

c. Local Media Report -

With little over a month to go, the local newspapers are filling with reports about everything concerning the Ministerial, from the kind of hotels booked by the activists to the CIA and Scotland Yards visit to inspect the Airport facilities in Cancun. If, as many analysts say, the "Battle of Cancun" will be won or lost in the media, then its imperative that we take note of Zapatista wisdom and use the word as our weapon.

The Comité de Bienvenida's campaign to raise awareness over the political, social and economical issues around the WTO has made some progress in the local press. While the press has mostly covered the WTO Ministerial in terms of its impact on tourism and security issues dealing with the threat of"globalifobicos", the Comites constant lobbying and weekly press conferences are helping to change that one-sided representation. Recent editions Por Esto actually began referring to protesters as Globalicriticos, or Globalialternativos, instead of the derogatory globalifobicos. On the other hand, the right-wing Voz Del Caribe continues to focus almost exclusively on the threat of violence and encourages an almost paranoid vigilance on the part of "concerned citizens and property owners".

Campaign of vilification against foreigners?

In a report on Radio Turquesa, journalist José Segobiano stirred up local fear of a group of violent foreigners that were coming to tear Cancun apart. Specifically, the journalist referred to foreigners that are currently on the ground in Cancun that are not from Cancun and don't care about Cancun and are in touch with people outside the country that are looking at strategies to break the law, confront the police and, it's inferred, disrupt the lives of the honest people of Cancun. They referred to people that might try to fly to the convention center with hang gliders (see No. 11 of our last bulletin) and others preparing for confrontation by inquiring of what kind of self defense aparatus they ought to bring. It's clear that the journalist read the contents of at least one list-serve that's used for organizing towards Cancun.

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7. VISA UPDATE

The joint Mexico-WTO hosting office has been sending around representatives from their "NGO Attention" section to let foreigners who are accredited to attend the WTO know that they are required to secure "FM3" in order to attend the activities in Mexico. As far as we know, this is only for those people who have been officially accredited with the WTO to attend the offical WTO meeting. Those people who are attending the People's Forum, the Farmers' Forum, or other activities do not need to get an FM3. The FM3 costs $99 and is applicable through your local Mexican consulate. For more information you can contact Guadalupe Gonzalez at ggonzalezomcmexico.org.mx or ongsomcmexico.org.mx.

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About Puente a Cancun....

We are a group of international activists (Mexico, US, Ireland) based in Cancun and Chiapas, who came together to promote and help logistically towards a successful mobilization against the WTO in Cancun. With our experience from a variety of global mobilizations we are providing support for the logistical effort on the ground and with our office in the Comité de Bienvenida headquarters in Cancun, we will provide information and orientation for people arriving from other parts of Mexico, the US and indeed, the four corners of the world. Read our convocation towards Cancun here -

http://www.protest.net/LASC/calendrome.cgi?span=day&day=10&month=9&year=2003&list=Off&state_values=

or contact us here - noomcbuz.org

Special thanks to Global Exchange, Deborah James, Mike McGuire and Cancun
Louie.

--
Deborah James, Global Economy Director
Global Exchange
deborahglobalexchange.org
415.575.5537 direct line
415.846.2061 cell
415.255.7296 x245
415.255.7498 fax
2017 Mission Street #303, San Francisco, CA 94110
http://www.globalexchange.org

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Foro de los Pueblos por una Alternativa a la OMC-Cancún 2003

www.omcmexico.org

Administración de la lista: <asclaneta.apc.org>

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