Invitation to
Conference on PEACE AND JUSTICE IN SOUTH ASIA
Keshav Gore Smarak Trust, Goregaon (W), Mumbai; Feb. 24-26, 2006
The
entire region of South Asia is scarred by poverty and deprivation on
one hand, and on the other, by conflict and war. Both India and
Pakistan have developed nuclear weapons, and despite all talk of
nuclear deterrence, this makes the region extremely volatile and
dangerous. India spent $5.7 billion for weapons last year, overtaking
Saudi Arabia and China to become the developing world's leading buyer.
The huge amounts of money that India is wasting on the F-16s and F-18s
being peddled by the US, should be more fruitfully spent on critical
developmental needs like health, education, housing, public services
and social welfare, areas which constitute real human security. The
rejection of this arms race would go a long way towards bringing about
peace in the region, with Pakistan. Both countries have dismal rankings
on the Human Development Index: India being 127 and Pakistan 135 in the
world.
Similarly
border skirmishes and migration issues divide India and Bangladesh. Sri
Lanka, still staggering under the impact of the tsunami and then the
politics of Tsunami aid, relief and reconstruction, is being
systematically plundered by multinationals, while it is still in the
throes of conflict surrounding the statehood of the Tamils. Nepal's
economy is in deep crises and the monarchy has thrown out all
democratic institutions and established a dictatorship in the name of
fighting communism.
India's
foreign policy has been extremely short sighted, centering on achieving
economic and geopolitical domination in South Asia and even the rest of
Asia, rather than developing friendly ties and strengthening equal
regional cooperation. The Indian government is also taking about
defence liberalization and opening of this sector to private and
foreign investments.
India
wants to curry favour with the US-UK-Israeli axis and become part of
the so-called 'war against terror' peddled by the US, which is nothing
but a vicious war against ordinary people, only to promote US military
and economic interests; an illegitimate war against the people of Iraq,
Palestine, Afghanistan and all the nations of the world.
WTO: War by other means
The
US Empire, the corporations and those who control global finance try to
maintain their supremacy through their trade and financial
institutions, through the neo-liberal market philosophy and by physical
force, by war. Trade is war by other means and deeply affects human
security everywhere. In Iraq, for example, the invasion was followed
shortly by so called 'reconstruction' and imposition
of extreme neo-liberal policies of privatization, deregulation and free
trade. Even before the Iraqi people could elect a sovereign regime, the
govt. had applied for the WTO membership at the behest of theUS government.
The
WTO and global financial institutions: the IMF, World Bank and ADB
often determine national policies affecting the lives of the ordinary
people. Through these institutions, the powerful governments of the
North drive the hardest bargains possible to gain further access to the
resources and markets of the South, without regard for the terrible
impact that it may have on the people of these countries, including
South Asia.
India's
long-term interests are best served by making common cause with the
developing countries. In the WTO, the formation of the G 20 and the G
33 at the time of the Ministerial in Cancun in 2003 was a positive step
in that direction. Subsequent events, especially India's becoming a
part of the "Five Interested Parties" (FIP's), its role in bringing
about the "July Framework Agreement" in 2004, and lately, India's
co-chairing the Services group with USA, show a different trajectory.
Both on Non-Agricultural Market access (NAMA) and GATS, India has
broken ranks with the developing countries. The main issues in the Hong
Kong Ministerial are agriculture and basic services, provision and
access to which entails real human security and it is possible that at
the ministerial the developing countries might have to compromise to
the market access negotiations, which could be a denial of services to
poorer people in the developing countries.
What we need:
Considering
all of the above, for lasting peace in South, regional cooperation is
crucial at all levels: political, diplomatic and economic. If the
region stays divided, it provides a profitable opportunity for the
global arms dealers, for the international financial institutions, the
multinational co-operations, global capitalism, for the US Empire. The
people of South Asia must see through the veil of illusion that has
been created by the free market neo-liberal profit mongers, they have
to reject the nihilist nationalism that is being used by rightist
forces to divide and destroy, and they have to come together on the
common aspiration for peace and justice for all.
The main themes
of the conference are: War and trade; the nuclear threat, gender
violence, nationalism and sovereignty; religious sectarian violence;
India-Pakistan peace process; Sri Lanka – ethnic strife and aftermath
of tsunami; democracy movement in Nepal; Bangladesh - migrants, water,
textiles; etc.
An important aim of the conference is to link the issues and the movements working on Trade issues and Peace issues.
Also to forge closer links between movements in South Asia.
To discuss all these issues, to develop
an alternative paradigm, a three- day conference is being organised in Goregaon from February 24th to 26, 2006. We are still contacting organizations in the rest of the country and South Asia to co-sponsor the event.
We
have made arrangements for moderate accommodation, which is available
on a first come first serve basis and the last date to book is 15th January 2006.
The registration fees are Rs. 200/- for 3 days and Rs. 75/- for a single day.
Please join the conference as well as the process of organising it. Please write to us.
Name and contact
PEACE MUMBAI
C/o Focus on the Global South, India
A-201, Kailash Apartments, Juhu Church Road,
Juhu, Mumbai – 400049
Telephone – 91-22-55821141/51, 26254347
Email id –
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Coalition
for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), National Alliance of Peoples
Movements (NAPM), India Center for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL),
Initiative, Explorations, Asia South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education
(ASPBAE), Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), National Youth
Federation (NYF), Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy
(PIPFPD), Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD), Focus
on the Global South, India, Indo-Pak Youth Group, Media for People,
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK), Akshara, Documentation Research and
Training Center (DRTC), Institute For Community Organization and
Research (ICOR), Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ), Salokha, Henry Martin Institute (North East India Programme, Guwahati, Assam),
All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO), Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER,
Pakistan) Human Rights Education Programme (HREP, Pakistan), Didibahini (Nepal), People's Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL, Sri Lanka
), MONLAR (Sri Lanka)
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"If we fight, we may not always win, but if we don't fight, we will surely lose."
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SAVAD RAHMAN
subeditor,MADHYAMAM daily,
pooppalam, perinthalmanna,kerala,
india
cell:(91)-9846085873
