Global Week of Action events at the World Social Forum
The Global Week of Action on Trade was high on the agenda of all of the trade campaigns present at the WSF and endorsements came form all over the world. MST and Via Campesina said they for them the Week would finish on April 17, the international day of the small farmer. Jorge from MST urged everyone to get
involved saying 'we are with you in your struggle'.
A call came from the South Asian movements, from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka for a day within the week to focus specifically on the IMF and the World Bank.
The India campaign already plans to launch an e-mail campaign towards the World Bank director in India, and urgred others to do the same in their own countries.
The seminar specifically focusing on the Week was packed as speakers form 20 different countries updated participants on their action plans for the Week. A full report is available here.
Ely Peredo from Fundacion Solon in Bolivia said 'every one of the key trade movements in North, Central and South America have agreed to participate in the Global Week of Action. The focus ácross the Americas will be on regional free trade agreements. In Bolivia we will look specifically at privatisation of water and our struggle against multinationals'.
J John from the Centre for Education and Communication said 'more than 65% of India´s population live in rural areas and are employed in agriculture. For the Week we plan to show how agriculture is being devastated by free trade policies.
Food security will be a major focus for us. We are planning postcard, e-mail and signature campaigns, as well as rallies and press conferences in all state capitals'.
Mamadou Diouf and Dame Sall from RADI, Senegal shared experiences of their national trade campaign launch two weeks ago. 'We are focusing the campaign on rice, onions, chicken, milk and tomatoes. Cheap imports mean our local producers cannot sell their products in Senegal and so we are proposing that the Senegalese government increase tariffs on some products like rice and introduce seasonal quotas on others like onions. This would allow local producers to earn a living from agriculture again. We are planning activities from February 2005 and farmers, NGOs, students, musicians and journalists are all involved'.
Jairo Barriga from CLAI (Latin American Council of Churches) in Colombia said 'we have begun a systematic process to reach all churches in Central America and the Caribbean. We are planning a whole series of publications and a 9 day vigil. It is critical to take this campaign into the churches'.
The participants were urged to register their events, so that soon we will be able to have a detailed picture of the global nature of the Week
