(QUITO, ECUADOR) — Two months before the Americas Business Forum and the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), preparations for the "reception" of those who are laying the foundation for the second colonization of the Americas are gathering force. Bit by bit, grassroots organizations, collectives, and networks from Quito and across the country are elaborating plans, from counter-summits and forums to actions in the streets.
The mobilizations actually began months ago, with the formation of various anti-FTAA spaces, among them the National Campaign Against the FTAA, the World Social Forum - Ecuador Chapter, RADAK, and a coalition formed by the FENOCIN (see below for more info). In preparation for the actions, dozens of forums, workshops, and meetings have been organized across the country. Between the 13th and 14th of September, this process will accelerate with the Second National Convention Against the FTAA, in the city of Cuenca.
For its part, the Indymedia Ecuador collective plans to add its grain of rice from here forward with permanent coverage and analysis of the preparations, the difficulties that the various campaigns encounter, and general information on October and November. How do we plan to do it? By being the media ourselves, by being Indymedia, every one of us.
To begin, we present various documents we hope will help explain the state of the mobilizations. We have included:
- a list of organizations in the mobilization and their plans
- a timeline (we hope everyone will help us fill in whatever is missing!)
- a brief summary of the international context, including mobilizations around the world
¡ALCA NO PASARÁ! ¡The FTAA will never be!
LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS
The National Campaign Against the FTAA
Under the slogan "Yes to Life, No to the FTAA - Another America is Possible" ("Sí a la vida, No al ALCA- Otra América es posible") the majority of indigenous, campesino and other social movements, along with various NGO's, have come together to form the National Campaign Against the FTAA. Within the campaign, they have created several committees which are preparing for the continental mobilizations against the FTAA.
Right now, the National Campaign is making preparations for the 2nd National Convention Against the FTAA in Cuenca, on September 13th and 14th. The convention will take place in the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas of the Universidad Estatal de Cuenca, and the public portion will be in the Salón de la Ciudad. The goal of the convention is to hammer out concrete proposals for the Continental Days of Resistance, which have been called for October 27th to November 1st.
On the 29th and 30th of October, the political coalition Pachakutik, and the National Campaign are planning a continental gathering of legislators and congress people from across the Americas, in order to hammer out a common position against the FTAA.
The Campaign's logistics and organization committee is made up of the Women's Political Coordinating Body (la Coordinadora Política de Mujeres, CPM), the Latin American Network of Women Transforming the Economy (la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía, RMTE), The Federation of Kichwa Nationality and Peoples of the Sierra (la Confederación de la Nacionalidad y los Pueblos Kichwas de la Sierra, ECUARUNARI), The National Federation for Campesino Social Security (la Confederación Nacional del Seguro Campesino, CONFEUNASSC-CNC) and the Ecuadorian Federation of Free Trade Unions (la Confederación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres, CEOSL). The commission meets frequently.
The National Campaign Against the FTAA is part of the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA (www.movimientos/noalca e-mail: noalca
movimientos.org). On the web page of the Campaign you can download the poster of the Continental Days of Resistance (in Spanish), ready to be printed and distributed in every country.
Beginning in the first week of September, the Continental Campaign against the FTAA will begin a new phase of intensified activity. The process of "popular consultation" will begin with a plebiscite in Brazil, which will take place between the 1st and 7th of September. The consultations will continue in other countries, until March of 2003.
October has been declared a month of mobilization, with two important events. The first will be the 12th of October, a day of action declared by Grito de los Excluids (Cry of the Excluded) which will have as a central theme the struggle against the FTAA. The other, from October 27th to November 1, will be the Continental Days of Resistance, whose epicenter will be in Quito, along side the Americas Business Forum and the FTAA Ministerial Meeting.
From November 25th to 28th, the second Hemispheric Gathering of the Struggle Against the FTAA will take place in Cuba.
As of now, certain logistical questions regarding foreign volunteers have still not been solved. However, the various committees meet frequently and the campaign meets every Wednesday in the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana de Quito (UPS), at 4 PM.
Contact:
Campaña Nacional contra el ALCA "Otra América es posible" a/c CONAIE
Av. Los Granados E10-275 y 6 de Diciembre
Tel./fax: (593) 2 245-3339
E-mail: contralcaecuanex.net.ec Casilla: 17-17-1235
QUITO - ECUADOR
World Social Forum - Ecuador Chapter
As an organization committed to the Continental Days of Resistance Against the FTAA, the WSF- Ecuador is coordinating the Continental Gathering for Reflection and Change: "Another America is Possible". It will take place in Quito from the 27th to the 30th of October, 2002, and will feature participation by representatives of the widest possible range of social sectors and citizens of the continent, in order to:
- Raise awareness about the true goals of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and its consequences.
- Enrich the range of proposals for an alternative integration.
- Make visible continental resistance to the FTAA.
There are several logistical needs for which volunteers may be helpful, including helping with and documenting workshops, debates, panels and committees of convergence; providing information and assistance to forum participants, including workshop locations, directions to hotels, telephones, etc.; coordination of cultural activities, network gatherings, etc.; translation of transcripts and other materials, for distribution and documentation.
Contact:
Secretariat e-mail: jornadasnoalcafsmecuador.org
CONAIE
Over the last 12 years, the federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE) has been a primary organization in the struggles and mobilizations against neoliberal policies and for indigenous rights, in particular the popular and indigenous uprising in 1990 and the toppling of corrupt president Abdalá Bucarám in 1997. In the context of the National and Continental Campaigns Against the FTAA, the CONAIE is organizing and/or participating in a range of activities, including an encounter with Mapuche indigenous people in Chile, which will take place from September 6 to 10, as well as "Alternatives to the FTAA," a continent-wide gathering in Colombia from September 9th to 12th. With regards to the National Campaign, the CONAIE is organizing various activities in indigenous communities, for example, workshops on the impacts of, and alternatives to, the FTAA. These activites are all designed to strengthen the CONAIE's participation in the counter-summit mobilization on October 31 and November 1.
Contact:
For information or to volunteer, call (593) 2 2441 991 and speak with Adriana Barrero, coordinator of the Campaign Against the FTAA.
CEOSL
CEOSL, the Confederacion Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres (Ecuadorian Federation of Free Trade Unions), is Ecuador's largest labor federation. CEOSL played a lead role in pushing ORIT, the Latin American labor federation, and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to take positions against the FTAA.
During the FTAA summit, they are planning on mobilizing 3000 public and private sector employees, informal sector workers, and campesinos, with financial assistance from the AFL-CIO. They are also organizing a forum on October 28 with roughly 50 national labor leaders from across the Americas, in order to produce a labor statement in opposition to the FTAA and to plan strategy for a three-year campaign to defeat it.
INEL, the Instituto Nacional de Educación Laboral, which is affiliated with CEOSL, is planning a program of popular education workshops designed to educate and activate the CEOSL rank and file. CEOLS is also an active member of the Campaña Nacional en Contra del ALCA.
CEOSL would welcome the participation of volunteers, who could help with everything from giving workshops to making fact sheets, signs, banners, and other materials.
Contact:
Carlos Zapata, redhshoy.net
tel. (593) 2 2522 511 o (593) 2 2506 723.
Acción Ecológica
Acción Ecológica is an environmental NGO that works on genetic engineering, food sovereignty, forest protection, urban pollution, oil drilling, the new OCP pipeline, and other issues, using tools like direct action, education, international pressure campaigns and media outreach. They are members of the Campaña Nacional en Contra del ALCA and are actively engaged in building international resistance to neoliberalism and the FTAA.
Acción Ecológica is planning a number of campaigns and encuentros around the FTAA mobilization, and for several months they have been have been organizing workshops across the country on the FTAA, food sovereignty, and other topics, for a wide range of audiences.
On October 27 and 28, they are organizing a meeting of the continental Friends of the Earth network and the groups that make up the regional project Cono Sur Sonstentable (Sustainable Southern Cone), in order to stake out a common position on regional sustainability in the face of globalization and the FTAA.
They are also considering convening a meeting of the Pesticide Action Network - Latin America (RAPAL) and another forum on Plan Colombia and the effects of the fumigations on the border between Ecuador and Colombia.
The Institute for Third World Ecological Studies, which is affiliated with Acción Ecológica, is also organizing two events focusing on water issues. The first is a national meeting on September 26-28 entitled "El Agua: ¿Derecho o Negocio?" (Water: A business or a right?). This will be followed by a continental forum on water in the face of neoliberalism and the FTAA, which will take place on October 26-27.
Acción Ecológica would welcome the support of volunteers on any of these projects, provided they have a good grasp of Spanish. Volunteers are also strongly encourage to bring a laptop if at all possible, since Acción Ecológica have a limited number of computers.
Contact:
Plan Colombia and fumigations, Lucia Gallardo, biodiversidadaccionecologica.org
Pesticide meeting: David Reyes, soberaniaaccionecologica.org
Forums on water, Aurora Donoso, ieetmaccionecologica.org
Friends of the Earth / Cono Sur Sostentable meeting, Ivonne Yanez, ivito99yahoo.com
Tel: (593) 2 2547 516, (593) 2 2230 676, (593) 2 2527 583.
FENOCIN
The FENOCIN, the Federación Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, Indígenas, y Negras, is a national campesino federation that is actively mobilizing against the FTAA summit in October and November. They have convened an anti-FTAA coalition that includes one of the two Coordinadoras de Movimientos Sociales (national social movement coordinating bodies), a number of unions, and other campesino and indigenous organizations, including the la Federación Ecuatoriana de Indígenas (FEI), la Federación Ecuatoriana de Indígenas Evangélicas (FEINE) y la Federación Nacional de Campesinos Libres del Ecuador (FENACLE). They launched their campaign with a 1000 person forum in Guayaquil, during the Summit of the Presidents of South America. They are currently organizing FTAA workshops across the county for community leaders, in addition to participating in forums at various universities.
In the weeks before the Summit, the FENOCIN will organize two marches that will make their way to Quito from the Colombian and Peruvian borders, gathering people as they go. They say that by the 31st of October, they hope to have thousands of campesinos in Quito, where they will surround the summit with a "wall of humanity" (cerco humano) and disrupt or shut it down.
The FENOCIN is also coordinating logistics for a continental summit of campesino organizations under the auspices of the CLOC (the Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo) on October 27 and 28 (see below).
The FENOCIN would welcome volunteers to work on logistics, materials, document production, and other areas.
Contact:
Fábian Surita or Elena Ipaz, fenocinandinanet.net
Tel: (593) 2 2228 191.
CONFEUNASSC-CNC
CONFEUNASSC-CNC (the National Federation for Campesino Social Security), the most powerful national campesino federation in Ecuador, represents over a million indigenous, mestizo, and afro-Ecuadorian small farmers. They plan to bring thousands of campesinos to Quito for the mobilizations. They are proposing that the masses of people who come during the days of action surround the summit and shut it down with an Anillo de la Diversidad ("Ring of Diversity"), which would include many different social sectors and forms of action.
In order to prepare for the mobilization, the CONFEUNASSC-CNC has begun a series of dozens of workshops on the FTAA for local campesino leaders, as well as for rural women and campesino youth.
This will be followed in by four "caravans" which will visit hundreds communities in September and October, giving popular education workshops on the FTAA, Plan Colombia, art and resistance, and nonviolent direct action. Each caravan will represent a collaboration between the CONFEUNASSC-CNC and local leaders in the area through which they travel. The caravans will also build a process of popular dialogue aimed at constructing alternatives to the FTAA, and will recruit for the mobilization at the end of October. The Caravans will also strengthen the internal organization of the CONFEUNASSC-CNC and help build a national network of resistance to the FTAA.
In late September or early October, CONFEUNASSC-CNC, along with Acción Ecológica and other groups, is planning to convene a forum or forums to elaborate a "mandato campesino" (campesino mandate). This will consist of a series of proposals for alternatives to the FTAA in specific areas like water, food sovereignty, democracy, and the environment.
CONFEUNASSC-CNC is also working on several projects that will use the Quito mobilization to build international networks of resistance to the FTAA and neoliberalism. One of these projects, ALCA-NUNCA, will create a network of North American groups that are supporting the mobilization, organizing solidarity actions, and swapping information with local campesino organizations in Ecuador.
CONFEUNASSC-CNC is also working to build teams in the U.S. and other countries who will work with reporters in those countries to get the word out about the Quito mobilization.
Finally, during the days before the mobilization, they are planning to organize a meeting of global networks of resistance, in order to elaborate concrete plans for international campaigns and coordinated actions.
CONFEUNASSC-CNC will actively welcome volunteers to help with the caravans, to coordinate international solidarity activities, to prepare for the protests, and/or to travel to rural areas and help mobilize folks there.
Contact:
Doris Trujillo, gritoandinanet.net.
For ALCA-NUNCA or media solidarity: alcanuncariseup.net or annichkariseup.net Tel: (593) 2 223 5935
CLOC
In May of this year, various networks gathered in Quito in order to plan the October anti-FTAA mobilization. This included a meeting between campesino organizations from México, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Bolivia and other countries, all of whom are part of the CLOC (the Latin American Coordinating Body of Campesino Organizations, La Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo). Ecuador was represented by the CONFEUNASSC-CNC and the FENOCIN.
They agreed to convene a continental gathering of the CLOC in Quito on October 28 and 29, to be called "The impact and consequences of the FTAA in rural communities," (el Impacto y Las Consecuencies del ALCA en el Campo) as part of the Continental Days of Resistance against the FTAA summit. They also agreed to participate actively in the mobilization. The continental gathering is intended to strengthen the CLOC's areas of action, consolidate its regional groups (the Andes, the Southern Cone, and Central America) and to build a foundation for the continent-wide campesino-indigenous struggle.
RADAK- Red Autónoma Desobediente Anti-Kapitalista
La RADAK (the Autonomous Disobedient Anti-Capitalist Network) is a network of collectives. It was formed only a few months ago in order to create an alternative space that is within the anti-FTAA mobilization but beyond NGO spaces and various "counter-summit" forums. RADAK members have yet to define their strategy and role in October/November. But they have agreed, together with the Campamento Permanente Internacional, to form a Welcoming Committee (Comité de Bienvenidos) in order to receive activists from various countries and help orient them relative to what's happening with the mobilizations.
Contact:
ra_dakyahoo.com
El Campamento Internacional Permanente por la Justicia Social y la Dignidad de los Pueblos
The International Permanent Encampment for Social Justice and the Dignity of the People was born in April of 2001 as a collective effort to construct resistance to the FTAA and Plan Colombia. In March of 2002, they organized an international gathering with the participation of more than 1,500 people from 20 countries (to learn more, check out www.camp-ecuador.de.vu). The Campamento Internacional continues to hold open meetings.
The collectives and organizations that are the driving force in the Campamento are preparing a film series from Septmber 9 to September 11, with the goal of raising awareness and bringing more people into the mobilization. The plan is to move from three days of film showings directly into an action that rejects state terrorism, on the part of the U.S. as well as governments nearby (e.g. Colombia). Each night of the film series will end with an open forum. The film series will take place in the Sala Jorge Carrera Andrade (Museos) of the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (CCE).
The program is as follows:
Monday: The Panama Deception (EE.UU.)
Tuesday: La Memoria Obstinada (Chile-Francia)
Wednesday: 3 documentaries on the protests in Genoa, Seattle and the Campamento Internacional in Quito.
The Campamento supports the "Anillo de la Diversidad" proposed by the CONFEUNASSC, which will surround the FTAA summit. The Campamento also works closely with RADAK.
Contact:
campamentoecuanex.net.ec
The Ecuador Indymedia Collective
Indymedia is relatively new to Ecuador (at the moment, it exists only in Quito), and is currently working out how best to cover the days of resistance against the FTAA. Part of this work includes making sure that people know what indymedia is, and how it functions. The collective is also discussing the possibility of establishing an information center that will operate during the mobilization.
Anyone interested in helping with this project should contact indymediaecuadoryahoo.es
TIMELINE OF THE MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE FTAA
September 9-11: Film Series Against Militarization, as it relates to Plan Colombia and the FTAA (Campamento Internacional). Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito.
September 13-14: Second National Convention Against the FTAA in Cuenca, to elaborate concrete plans for the Continental Days of Resistance (National Campaign Against the FTAA).
September 26-28: National Gathering "El Agua: ¿Derecho o Negocio?" (Water: A business or a right?; Institute for Third World Ecological Studies).
September and October: Four caravans, passing through hundreds of communities, giving workshops on the FTAA, Plan Colombia, art and resistance, and non-violent direct action (CONFEUNASSC-CNC).
October: FENOCIN will organize two marches that will bring people from the Colombian and Peruvian borders to Quito for the days of resistance.
October 12: Grito de los Excluids (Cry of the Excluded) day of action, which will have the FTAA as a central theme.
October 26-27: National forum on water issues in the face of neoliberalism and the FTAA (Institute for Third World Ecological Studies).
October 27-28: Continental gathering of campesino organizations under the auspices of the CLOC (Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo): "The impact and consequences of the FTAA in rural communities."
October 27-28: Continental gathering of Friends of the Earth and the Cono Sur Sustentable network, in order to stake out a common position for regional sustainability in the face of globalization and the FTAA (Acción Ecológica).
October 28: Forum with 50 labor leaders from across the Americas (CEOSL).
October 27-30: Continental gathering for reflection and exchange: "Another America is Possible" (World Social Forum - Ecuador Chapter).October 29-30: Forum for anti-FTAA legislators and members of congress from across the continent (National Campaign Against the FTAA, Pachakutik).
October 27 to November 1: Continental Days of Resistance Against the FTAA in Quito (National and Continental Campaigns Against the FTAA).
October 31 and November 1: Direct action against the FTAA in Quito.
INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT OF THE MOBILIZATIONS
September, October, and November will see various actions of global character, including:
- Direct action against the FTAA in Quito, October 31 and November 1;
- Actions against the NATO summit that will take place November 21 and 22 (groups in Prague suffered greatly after the actions against the World Bank and the IMF, and prefer that these actions remain decentralized);
- Actions against the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington, DC, on September 29;
- Decentralized actions against the International Organization of Migration (IOM), the U.N. agency charged with "regulating" flows of migration in order to meet the needs of of global capitalism, promoting entry restrictions, deportations, control and classification of human beings as "desireable" or "disposable" (the main actions have been called for October 10 and 11 but this could change, and firm dates will be set soon);
- Decentralized actions around the globe for Media Democracy Day (October 17), in opposition to global monopolies of disinformation and in favor of the diversity of alternative media;
- The hearing against Coca Cola in Brussels (October 10), which is part of the international campaign to bring Coca Cola to justice for its support of paramilitary groups in Colombia;
- The end of the Caravan of Refugees and Immigrants in Germany on September 21 (the biggest ever mobilization of self-organized immigrant organizations that country has ever seen);
- A campesinos' and workers' strike planned for September 16 in Colombia.
All these mobilizations share a vision that is anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-militarist, and pro-freedom of movement and of communication.