An open meeting to discuss and plan action around this call will be held on Tuesday 26th June, 6pm, LHMWU Conference Rm (Miscelaneous Workers Union), 74 Astor Tce, Spring Hill. - Everyone Welcome!!!! Globalise Solidarity! People before profit! Time for a Treaty! Protest CHOGM October 6-9 Brisbane CALL TO ACTION We encourage any anti-corporate activists, indigenous groups and indigenous solidarity groups, trade unions, environment groups, campaign coalitions, political parties, community groups, student unions and all progressive organisations or individuals to endorse this call by adding their name. 1. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) will be held in Brisbane this year on October 6-9. This will occur directly after the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) in Melbourne from October 3-5. CHOGM brings together 54 heads of state and will feature notable guests such as the Queen, John Howard, re-elected British PM Tony Blair, and the PM of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. 2. One of the purposes of the CHOGM meeting will be to put pressure on Third World countries to support the new WTO round of trade negotiations which will be discussed at the WTO meeting this November in Qatar. CHOGM represents 40% of the membership of the World Trade Organisation. During the 1999 Durban meeting CHOGM issued the Fancourt Declaration which called for the implementation of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. 3. A new WTO round would be disastrous for workers, the poor and the environment everywhere, in particular in the Third World. The General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) will be a key part of any new trade agreement. GATS is about opening the 'service sector' - everything from public services and the environment -- to deregulation and privatisation. 4. The failure of the US and others to launch a new round of trade negotiations at Seattle is the most significant concrete victory for the movement against corporate globalisation. That is why we are calling for activists, unionists, students and environmentalists to unite to defend this victory by taking action against the CBF in Melbourne and at CHOGM in Brisbane. 5. We support the call by the prominent leader of the anti-corporate movement, Walden Bello, to boycott the Qatar meeting of the WTO. 6. We support the call from Jubilee 2000 for the unconditional cancellation of all Third World debt.CHOGM and the CBF are dominated by rich Western countries like Australia, Britain and Canada, all of which force poorer member states to meet millions of dollars in repayments every year. 7. Privatisation, cuts to spending on health and education, union-bashing, deregulation, shifting the tax burden to the poor, is a key part of the Howard's corporate agenda in Australia. The Labor party also embraces this agenda. Protesting at CHOGM is crucial to building opposition to this corporate agenda in Australia as well as around the world. 8. We recognise that much of the wealth of the imperialist governments of the Commonwealth has been stolen from indigenous peoples. We support the demands of the Indigenous owners of Australia for real land rights and a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. 9. The convergence on CHOGM will also demonstrate the strength of our international solidarity with the people struggling for workers' and human rights, as well as democratic rights and against homophobia, in counties such as Pakistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Fiji. In addition we condemn the imperialist governments for their ongoing support for military dictatorships. 10. We the undersigned support the call for a ( )mass people's march to converge on CHOGM to send a clear message of our opposition to corporate elite's agenda of globalising poverty and exploitation at the expense of the majority. We intend that such a ( ) mass action will strengthen the will, courage and determination of all those around the world who are struggling for global justice. The whole world will be watching. 11. We are also interested in coordinating activities and discussing other proposals that incorporate the politics of the movement against corporate globalisation such as a Counter-Conference to CHOGM, a Boycott the WTO campaign and (a range of acts) of non - violent civil disobedience planned to protest the CHOGM meeting 12. Our demands include: *Treaty for Indigenous Australians!* Boycott the new WTO trade round! * Cancel Third World debt! * Stop GATS! 13. The union/community group/organisation/individual agreed with the above call to action and resolves to support the mass unity march to converge on CHOGM on October 6. An open meeting to discuss and plan action around this call will be held on Tuesday 26th June, 6pm, LHMWU Conference Rm, 74 Astor Tce, Spring Hill. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink