Forwarded message: >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jun 6 17:43 PDT 1997 Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 20:36:46 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: World Forum Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Length: 5549 Here is approximately 1/5 of a document outlining a World Forum. It speaks of the same problems that we face here in Canada. Let me know if you want the entire document. =20 Ask for mia\documents\worldforum Thanks! Bob Olsen Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] ................................................. Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 09:45:00 -0500 From: michel lambert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: apec-L: Forum of the alternatives A network of the networks! In Cairo, last november (1996) was lunched a new initiative by Samir Amin to create a new network of progressives organisations and indivuduals troughout the world. Following is the manifesto of the "World Forum for Alternatives" -------------------------------------------- World Forum for Alternatives May 1997 =ABIt is time to reclaim the march of history=BB To confirm your interest in joining the Forum write to the Secretary of the Follow-up Committee :=20 Samir Amin Forum Tiers Monde Third World Forum C.P. 3501 Dakar, S=E9n=E9gal phone and fax: (221) 21 11 44 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Table of Contents - Manifesto - Goals and Objectives - Provisional Programme of Activities - Attachment 1 : List of members of the Follow-up Committee *** Manifesto It is time to reclaim the march of history =20 Humanity s future is at stake. Scientific progress and technical advances, the supreme achievements of knowledge, fortify the privilege and comfort of a minority. Instead of contributing to the well-being of all, these feats are used to crush, marginalize and exclude countless human beings. Access to natural resources, especially in the South, is monopolized by the few and is subject to political blackmail and threats of war. =20 =20 It is time to make the economy serve the peoples of the world =20 The economy provides goods and services mainly to a minority. In its contemporary form, it forces the majority of the human race into strategies for abject survival, denying tens of millions of people even the right to live. Its logic, the product of neoliberal capitalism, entrenches and accentuates grotesque inequalities. Propelled by faith in the market s self-regulating virtue, it reinforces the economic power of the rich and exponentially increases the numbers of the poor. =20 It is time to break down the wall between North and South =20 Monopolies of knowledge, scientific research, advanced production, credit and information, all guaranteed by international institutions, create a relentless polarization both at the global level and within each country. Trapped in patterns of development that are culturally destructive, physically unsustainable and economically submissive, many peoples throughout the world can neither define for themselves the stages of their evolution, establish the basis of their own growth, or provide education for their younger generations. It is time to confront the crisis of our civilization The confines of individualism, the closed world of consumption, the supremacy of productivism - and, for many, an obsessive struggle for sheer daily survival obscure humanity's larger objectives: the right to live liberated from oppression and exploitation, the right to equal opportunities, social justice, peace, spiritual fulfilment and solidarity. It is time to refuse the dictatorship of money =20 The concentration of economic power in the hands of transnational corporations weakens, even dismantles, the sovereignty of states. It threatens democracy - within single countries and on a global scale. The dominance of financial capital does more than imperil the world s monetary equilibrium. It transforms states into mafias. It proliferates the hidden sources of capitalist accumulation drug trafficking, the arms trade, child slavery. =20 It is time to replace cynicism with hope =20 Stock prices soar when workers are laid off. A competitive edge is gained when mass consumerdom is replaced with elite niche markets. Macro-economic indicators react positively as the ranks of the poor multiply. International economic institutions coax and compel governments to pursue structural adjustment, widening the chasm between classes and provoking mounting social conflict. International humanitarian aid trickles to those reduced to despair. It is time to rebuild and democratize the state =20 The programme of dismantling the state, reducing its functions, pilfering its resources and launching sweeping privatizations leads to a demoralized public sector, weakened systems of education and health and the eventual usurping of the state by private economic interests. Neoliberal globalization divorces the state from the population and encourages corruption and organized venality on an unprecedented scale. The state becomes a repressive instrument policing the privilege of the few. It is time to recreate the citizenry =20 Millions of people are deprived of voting rights because they are immigrants. Millions more fail to vote because they are angry or discouraged, because parties are in crisis or because they feel impotent and excluded from political life. Elections are often distorted by influence-mongering and deceit. But democracy is about more than elections. Democracy means participation at every level of economic, political and cultural life. ............................. Bob Olsen Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] ]:-)
