Bangladesh and India Trade Consultations
Building Towards the Global Week of Action
The first Asian trade consultations took place in Chennai, India on October 5-6, organised by the Women’s Collective and in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 11-12, organised by UBINIG.
In India around 35 key organisations met to plan campaigns, share ideas and discuss the priority issues for the Week in India. The overarching theme that emerged for the Week was ‘Globalisation and the threat to food sovereignty of communities, in particular Dalits, Adivasis and women’ with the following specific demands:
- Yes to restoration of tariff protection.
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Yes to land reforms in favour of the poor and community control over natural resources.
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Yes to the right to decent work and full employment.
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No to privatisation of water, health and education.
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No to corporatisation of agriculture.
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No to genetic engineering and patents on life forms.
Other outcomes included an agreement to co-ordinate several joint campaign actions during the Week, (including a national signature or postcard campaign) and to hold campaign rallies in all India ’s states. State-level and sectoral contact points were allocated and a further co-ordination meeting will be held at the end of November to finalise plans. Full report of the consultation.
In Bangladesh over 65 activists and organisations participated in the consultation. Within the context of resisting and challenging neo-liberalism, setting out the peoples’ alternatives and taking back the social, political and ethical control of trade, the overall themes chosen in Bangladesh were food and agriculture, water and services and, industry and labour. With the specific demands being:
- No to GMOs and the corporate control of seeds, food and genetic resources.
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No to commodification of water and privatisation of basic services.
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No to IFI liberalisation conditions and immunity.
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Yes to the right to protect and support subsistence farmers and small-scale agricultural and domestic producers.
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Yes to an end to trade distorting Northern subsidies.
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Yes to the free movement of labour.
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Yes to worker protection.
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Yes to land rights in the interests of the landless and small farmers.
A seven member co-ordinating committee was chosen to develop the campaign actions, the media and outreach strategies and to take the various initiatives forward. Full report of the consultation.
The Sri Lanka consultation is planed for 13-14 December 2004 in Colombo and is being co-ordinated by MONLAR.
