The second PGA Conference took place in Bangalore, India, in August last year. For six days people from over 25 countries as diverse asNicaragua and Indonesia, gathered to talk about the network, itsstrengths, weaknesses and the direction in which it was moving. Formany the gathering also provided a focus for discussion on how toco-ordinate global resistance to the forth-coming WTO Ministerial on Nov 30th.
The conference resulted in a number offundamental changes to the structure, philosophy and self-perception of the PGA. It was felt by almost all of those present that there wasa need to extend our critique beyond the WTO and free trade and toattack capital and other forms of domination in their entirety.
Although meetings were characteristically chaotic (being in English, Spanish and often two Indian languages), it was decided to explicitly distance the PGAnetwork from groups who hold fundamentally different ideas to ourown, for example far-right groups, political parties and reformistNGOs.
The conference also provided an opportunity to begin calculating methods of both expanding and consolidating the network, whilst taking it out of the realms of cyber-space andrelating it to our own, and others, lived experiences. Mostimportantly, the convergence of individuals from the most disparateand diverse social movements allowed for inspiration andunderstanding to be shared, built upon and taken home to be put intopractice. http://www.squall.co.uk (features) for fullreport.
Enquentro:
The latest Zapatista-inspired 'enquentro' was for the Americas only,and took place in the Amazonian city of Belem in December 1999. Oversix days nearly 3000 people participated in hundreds of discussionsabout linking struggles, sharing information and ideas, andimportantly some serious partying. Groups attending ranged from theWorkers Party, Brazil's main opposition political party, toindigenous peoples including the Yanomami, to Brazil's strong blackmovement, and the inspirational radical 'hip-hop' street movement.While problems arose leaving two parallel meetings for two days -broadly the 'official enquentro' attended by the left politicalparties, and another 'alternative enquentro' attended by most of theother groups - it was impressive that the spirit of continueddialogue allowed these parallel meetings to coalesce for the finaltwo days.
'If you come only to help me, you can go back home. But if you consider my struggle as part of your struggle for survival, thenmaybe we can work together'.
The Inter-Continental Caravan, spring 1999 was made up of 400 farmers and grassroots activists including members of India's KRRS,Zapatistas, Colombians and women from the landless movement inBangladesh. It was a month-long tour to protest against debt, unfairterms of trade, economic globalisation, GM foods and recolonisationof the South. Eleven buses carried them around 12 European countriesto meet and exchange experiences with local environmental and socialactivists. Actions took place at Monsanto and Cargill's Europeanheadquarters, at an anti-GM 'crop squat' in Norfolk, England. Therewere also meetings with Polish ecological farmers. The Koln G8 laughparade was frustrated by a state crackdown and logistical problems,but many strong links were made across cultures and countries.
More details:
www.agp.org
N30:www.nadir.org/nadir/ initiativ/inter/UScaravan/