Peoples Global Action against WTO and free trade In February 1998, more than 300 representatives of peoples' movements from 71 countries from all continents met in Geneva and launched a worldwide coordination of resistance against the global market, a new alliance of struggle and mutual support called the Peoples' Global Action against "Free" Trade and the World Trade Organisation (PGA). This new platform will serve as a global instrument for communication and co-ordination for all those fighting against the destruction of humanity and the planet by the global market, building up local alternatives and peoples' power. The PGA is an instrument for co-ordination, not an organisation.

The hallmarks of the alliance are:
new Hallmarks!

• A very clear rejection of the institutions that multinationals and speculators have built totake power away from people, like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other trade liberalisation agreements (like APEC, the EU, NAFTA, etc.).
• A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.
• A call to non-violent civil disobedience and the construction of local alternatives by local people, as answers to the action of governments and corporations.
• An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.

The political analysis and call for action of the PGA are reflected in its manifesto, a living document that will be revised at every PGA conference. The PGA has no membership, and it does not and will not have a juridical personality. No organisation or person represents the PGA, nor does the PGA represent any organisation or person. The PGA will only facilitate coordination and information flow with the help of conferences and information tools. There will be conferences of the PGA approximately every two years, about three months before the Ministerial Conferences of the WTO. The conferences of the PGA will be convened by a committee conformed by organisations and movements from all continents representing different sectors of society (plus the local organisers of the conference). The current committee is formed by:

• Black Communities' Process (Colombia)
• Canadian Union of Postal Workers
• Committee of Female Workers of El Salvador
• Confederation of Education Workers of Argentina
• Confederation of Indigenous Natinalities of Ecuador
• Maori Independence Movement (Aoteoroa - New Zealand)
• National Alliance of People's Movements (India)
• Reclaim the Streets! London (UK)
• Rural Organisation for Mutual Help (Mozambique) Socio-Ecological Union (federation of more than 200 groups in different countries, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe).

Since the first conference of PGA, in May, a lot of actions took place all around the world, while the second ministerial conference of the WTO took place in Geneva, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the GATT. 10 000 peoples in the streets of Geneva 200 000 peoples in the streets of Hydarabad 50 000 peoples in the streets of Brasilia 30 streets party around the world for the protest G8 summit

Links

For more information about the PGA and the actions which took place in may, pleace consult www.agp.org

Grassroots Globalisation. An article written by Johua Karliner and token from the Corporate Watch site. Grassroot organisations from all over the world have to co-orporate to be effective against global problems.

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