12]

Food First, Toward an Agroecological Alternative for the Peasantry, and many groundbreaking research studies that support the benefits of localization and agrarian reforms. See: New Oxfam Campaign Contradicts Demands for WTO Reform, April 12, 2002; Why Should We Care About Agriculture in Cuba? 2002; Policy Think Tank Releases New Report on Cuba's Successful Organic Farms, February 6, 2002; International Seminar on the Negative Impacts of World Bank Market-Based Land Reform Policy, April 2001.

13]

A. Via Campesina is an international movement which coordinates peasant organizations of small and middle-scale producers, agricultural workers, rural women and indigenous communities from Asia, Africa, America and Europe. It is autonomous, pluralistic movement. independent from all political, economic or other denomination.

The principle objective of Via Campesina is to develop solidarity and unity in the diversity among small farmer organizations, in order to promote economic relations of equality and social justice; the preservation of land; food sovereignty; sustainable agricultural production, and an equality based on small and medium-scale producers.

In its publication, "The Struggle for Agrarian Reform and Social Changes in Rural Areas," under "The Historical Reality, Section 2." they state: "In the countries of the Third World, with rare exception, it cannot be said that there were true agrarian reforms that helped peasants to get out of poverty. The absence of agrarian reform is due to two factors: The dependent, colonial capitalist model that developed the large properties with exportation of primary products and the political power of rural oligarchies, large landowners, united with the local and foreign bourgeoisie."

Section 3. The Agrarian Problem says: "In all countries where agrarian reform has not been implemented, grave agrarian problems persist, manifested in the existence of large landed properties, the high concentration of lands in the hands of a minority and the use of land only for exploitation and profit... These problems are the cause of the high levels of poverty, the enormous social inequality, the chronic and economically dependent underdevelopment and the general lack of perspectives for workers in general."

Section 4 shows how this has become worse in the last ten years because of the further adoption of neo-liberal policies.

The section, "The Nature of Agrarian Reform," lists the following criteria: Agrarian reform has to start with a broad process of distribution of land ownership and with changes in the whole economic, social and political model; only those that work the land, depend on it and live there with their families, have right to land... We defend the principle of the maximum size of the social ownership of the land per family in relation to the reality in each country; families have the right to use the land for survival and in a beneficial way for society, not for commercial purposes. There should be no speculation and capitalist enterprises should be prohibited from obtaining large amounts of land.

B. "Peasants Speak, The Via Campesina: Consolidating an International Peasant and Farm Movement," Annette-Aurelie Desmarais, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 29, January 2002.

This 36 page examination of the origins and the dynamic growth of the Via Campesina provides a firsthand look at the tensions between various organizations, farmers and NGOs.

"What really unites us is a fundamental commitment to humanism, because the antithesis of this is individualism and materialism... what also unites us are great aspirations. We are all convinced that the current structures of economic, political and social power are unjust and exclusionary... and we aspire to a better world."- Operational Secretariat, Rafael Alegria, 2000.

They believe that corporate globalization is "leading to the destruction of biodiversity and subsequent loss of cultural diversity, further degradation of the environment, increased disparity, and greater impoverishment in the countryside... sustained by human rights abuses and increased violence - to intimidate peasants.

The concept of Food Sovereignty is discussed and the stereotype of a "romantic and anti-modern return to the past is deconstructed. Via Campesina hopes to combine aspects of traditional or local knowledge with appropriate technology.

14]

International Forum on Globalization (IFG) is an alliance of sixty leading activists, scholars, economists, researchers and writers formed to stimulate new thinking and public education in response to globalization.

Representing over 60 organizations in 25 countries, the IFG associates come together out of shard concern that the world's corporate and political leadership is undertaking a restructuring... that is happening at tremendous speed, with little public disclosure of the profound consequences.

They have many forward thinking publications: "A Better World is Possible: Alternatives to Economic Globalization;" "IFG Special Report: Does Globalization Help the Poor?," by Debi Barker and Jerry Mander with articles by Walden Bello, John Cavanaugh, Michael Chossudovsky, Victoria Tauli-Corpus, Martin Khor, Vandana Shiva and more.

"We are dedicated to educating activists, policy-makers, and the media about the negative effects of economic globalization and to advocating policies that are more equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable. We advocate the following principles:

*Revitalization of local communities by promoting maximum self-reliance, economic and political control, and environmental sustainability.

*Establishment of economic enterprises and accompanying institutions that enhance people's abilities to exercise democratic control over all decisions that affect them, while promoting meaningful and sustainable livelihoods for all.

*Replacement of economic policies based on such concepts as "comparative advantage," which have destroyed local economies through emphasizing regional specialization and environmentally disastrous global transport activity. We urge emphasis on the use of local resources for local production and consumption to produce a better balance between local commerce and long-distance trade.

*Abandonment of the paradigm of unlimited economic growth-which is blind to ecological limits and seeks to maximize consumption and material output.

*Recognition of the rights and sovereignty of indigenous peoples.

*Encouragement of biodiversity, cultural diversity, and diversity of social, economic, and political forms.

*Development of autonomous, regional and local cycles of production and consumption based primarily on renewable resources of energy and raw materials, and recycling all types of wastes, thus preserving natural resources for future generations, as well as the wisdom and beauty of nature.

We believe that the creation of a more equitable economic order will require new international agreements that place the needs of people, local economies and the natural world ahead of the interest of corporations. It is possible, necessary, and in the long run, far more viable to seek such paths rather than a globalized economic system doomed to fail." (from web archive, "About IFG.")

15]

A. Excerpts from the Porto Alegre II Statements: A Call of Social Movements: Resistance to Neoliberalism, War and Militarism: For Peace and Social Justice

"In the face of continuing deterioration in the living conditions of people, we, social movements from around the world, have come together. We are diverse - women and men, adults and youth. We are a global solidarity movement, united in our determination to fight against the concentration of wealth, the proliferation of poverty and inequalities, and the destruction of our Earth... We are resistance to a system based on sexism, racism and violence, which privilidges the interests of capital and patriarchy over the needs and aspirations of people.

"In Argentina the financial and economic crisis caused by the IMF precipitated a social and political crisis, spontaneous protests of the middle and working classes, failure of governments and new alliances between different social groups. With the force of Cacerolazos, piquetes, Assambleas and Piqueteros, the popular mobilization has demanded basic rights of food, jobs and housing.

"We demand the unconditional cancellation of the debt of southern countries and the reparation of historical, social, and ecological debts.

"It is essential to preserve biodiversity. People have the right to safe and permanent food free from genetically modified organisms. Food sovereignty at the local, national and regional level is a basic human right; in this regard, democratic land reforms and peasant access to land are fundamental requirements."

B. Porto Alegre 2002: A Tale of Two Forums, James Petras, February 2002, Rebelion.

"The radicals see the mobilizations as leading to the creation of new organizations of popular power, based on the mass organization of urban neighborhoods, workers, unemployed peasants, and class based women, Indian and black movements. Their orientation is to create new class based international movements, like Via Campesina, which seek to implement radical transformations of property rights and social relations of production.

"The reformists, referring to "civil society" are disinterested in "state power"; they are content to pressure the existing imperialist powers to secure greater regulation, limitations on speculative capital (Tobin tax). Radicals point to the need for a new state power, based on representative grassroots assemblies and social movements capable of socializing the means of production and democratizing social relations -- totally displacing the current corporate elite and their benefactors.

"In the discussion of "alternatives", the official organizers emphasized "reformed" imperialism and "regulated" capitalism, while the radical social movements opened a debate and put on the table a discussion of socialism.

"There is little space and place for reformist politics. The new imperialism is polarizing the world in a way that fits the analysis of the radicals. The scope and depth of U.S. militarization cannot be confronted by sporadic protests by networks of NGO without organized popular support. The radical social movements building powerful local, national and regional anti-capitalist movements and engaging in direct action at the sites of state power are far more effective than the international globe-trotting NGO'ers."

In "The Struggle for Socialism Today," March 2002 Rebelion:

"Petras further develops his analysis of the new imperialism - this new phase of capitalism - US neo-mercantilist empire. "In Latin America, the EU is proposing an integration and free trade agreement with MERCOSUR - the regional trade organization including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. While the gap in military power between the U.S. and the EU widens, the integrated market of the European Union and its overseas linkages provide a formidable challenge to neo-mercantile empire building."

He also continues to develop his analysis of the split between radicals and the mostly-defunct social democrats. "History and experience teaches us that direct popular mass action is the only road to fundamental changes in power, property and self-respect. Elections to impotent parliaments have not led to any significant reforms in the last quarter of a century. Popular leaders who start on the left, and are elected to parliament are assimilated into the system and end up talking to the people and working for capital."

Though we find Petras economic and political economic analysis excellent and useful, we believe that many of the demands of "socialists" for socializing the means of production are covered in this plan or that these will not matter in the world we will end up in - the charred ruins of industrialism. Focusing on the jargon and stridency of some socialist topics may drive more people away from the movement than it accomplishes in its education value.

The IAPE and this paper were written in an attempt to bridge the gap between radical and reformist. The IAPE is a reasonable proposal that includes the concerns of most NGOs and other groups around the world. But the reformer leaders (though maybe not their followers) will not support all these demands. Their intransigence will only help the radicals look reasonable as they build the class-based solidarity movements that will confront global capital.

16]

A. The IAPE was produced by The Eco Solidarity Working Group and released May 19, 2002. Support for the IAPE is found in the documents of nearly all anti-capitalist or pro-peasant groups, NGOs, radical political parties and most Green Party organizations. See examples below for other groups and writers that echo similar sentiments and solutions.

B. ICCI-RIMI Boletin, a monthly publication of the Institute for Indigenous Sciences and Cultures, Year III, No. 28, July 2001; Native Web, waccom email.

"Globalization has become 'strong discourse' used to justify and legitimize power structures that respond to the interests of the big transnational corporations, finance capital and governments of the industrialized countries.

In reality, the globalized world is a predatory one with its central idea of accumulation. Accumulation implies that there will never be enough and that given the system's existing power relations, need will always be used for its strategic purposes. The concept of accumulation inherent in capitalism's epistemological matrix is a form of black hole that negates any possibility of sustainability or respect for other people and nature.

Those who question globalization because of its authoritarianism and capitalist framework, are really contributing to a new form of democracy that goes beyond the ideas of the nation state and incorporates new elements such as social responsibility, human commitment and solidarity.

C. "The Heads of the Hydra: Turning the Tide of Globalization," The Ecologist, vol.;. 29, No.3, May / June, 1999. "The Battle for Land: Linked with the expansion of the economic infrastructure is the issue of ownership and control of the land itself. From the deforestation of the Amazon to the construction of dams in India, from the transmigration programme in Indonesia to the expansion of industrial farming in Europe, land is increasingly being expropriated for large scale projects that power the global market." He examines the Brazilian rubber tappers and the Movimiento Sem Terra (MST), Maori independence movement, Masai of Africa, the UK's The Land is Ours Campaign and several others.

D. "Self Imposed Sanctions: The Indian Population Needs More Trade Barriers to Prevent Free Trade Starvation," Vandana Shiva, President of the Delhi-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, The Ecologist, Vol. 31, No. 9, Nov. 2001. "The area under traditional grains has declined by 18 percent, whilst the area under non-food cash crops such as cotton and sugar cane has increased by 25 percent. In three years food production has shrunk by 12.8 million tons to 196 million tons, Central and state governments are dismantling the people's food security system through trade and globalization policies. Other threats include increasing costs of inputs, particularly due to price deregulation [floating currency?], and falling farm prices caused by the withdrawl of government procurement. The situation has been exacerbated by WTO-induced dumping of imported products from rich and poor countries, itself made worse by the removal of import restrictions (quantitative Restrictions/quotas).

In essence the fundamental change required in the world food system involves putting people and nature, not trade, at the center of food and agriculture policy.

In September, two former Indian Prime Ministers, Singh and Gowda, joined with political parties, trade unions, farmer's organizations, tribals, people's movements and grassroots workers to launch the Indian People's Movement against the WTO... The poor are being sacrificed for a repeat of the cruel free market experiment that created the famine of 1942 and is now doing the same in the 21st Century."

E. "India Will Not Behave: India's Most Unreasonable Author," Arundhati Roy, Whole Earth, Winter, 2001, page 28. "Something akin to an undeclared civil war is being waged on its subjects in the name of 'development'."

As Indian citizens we subsist on a regular diet of caste massacres and nuclear tests, mosque breakings and fashion shows, church burnings and expanding cell phone networks, bonded labor and the digital revolution, female infanticide, husbands who continue to burn their wives for dowry and our delectable stockpile of Miss Worlds... India lives in several centuries at the same time.

F. "From the point of view of the German Council for Sustainable Development, a national sustainable policy needs more fantasy for the future. We must dare to take on the future and we must dare to take on responsibility. What we believed to be progress only yesterday must be reviewed in terms of our responsibility for ecological and economic development in the world, poverty, environmental catastrophes, world food crises, urbanity and basic cultural values. Environment is an important element of sustainability but it is not identical with it. Sustainability policy is not a prolongation of environmental policy with different means, it is a precondition for any successful sustainablility policy." - Dr. Volker Hauff, Head of the Council for Sustainable development.

G. "Recommendations for Actions and Commitments at Earth Summit II: Non-Governmental Organization Revised Draft Background Paper," building on an earlier draft recommendations that were developed at the Intersessional Ad Hoc Working Group of the Commission on Sustainable Development. June, 23, 1997; csdngo.

The document reflects a commitment by the CSD/NGO Steering Committee to set up an open and transparent process of consultation among NGOs.

A Preface to NGO Recommendations for Actions and Commitments

We are a group of local, national, regional and global NGOs who have monitored and supported the CSD since the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, and who are active in advancing the goals of Agenda 21 and other Rio agreements.

The true basic needs and life activities of human communities must be fulfilled, in relation to the carrying capacity of local and global ecosystems.

Action, not words should be the rallying cry at the Special Session of the General Assembly / Earth Summit II.

2.8 Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

We call for: Implementation of the provisions of Chapter 14 of Agenda 21 that call for sustainable and ecological food, production and distribution systems to protect the environment, contribute to the well-being of human and non-human inhabitants of the earth, and ensure the human right to food, including access to land, for all women, men, youth and children.

Implementation: Commit to capacity-building opportunities and structures to support farmers, women and men, especially small- scale producers and peasants, to enable them to employ agricultural methods that are ecologically sound, socially acceptable, and sustainable.

Rationale: Long-term food and nutritional security depends upon the ability of primary food producers to achieve sustainable food systems both now and in the future. Locally controlled ecologically-based production and distribution systems are better suited to protect the natural biodiversity, health and well-being of their communities. Increasingly the globalized food system is the root cause of the social and environmental crisis in agriculture. This kind of energy-intensive and chemical-dependent agriculture degrades the fertility of soils, intensifies the effects of droughts, pollutes water, causes salinization and compaction, destroys genetic resources, wastes fossil fuel energy, contaminates the food supply, and contributes to climate change. (Refer to NGO Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture paper).

2.9 Land

We call for: priority to be given to land use for food production for domestic consumption rather for export crops; conservation of ecosystems that sustain life; urgent land reform in developing countries to provide land to the landless; the recognition of indigenous peoples rights to land; and a participatory approach to land use and land management.

17]

A. More policies and values could be included in the IAPE. Farmer groups in India and the Landless Women's Association of Bangladesh are fighting the introduction of genetically modified seeds. They prefer that the IAPE specifically address this crisis. The Program of International support to ecological rural development (Section II.3 of IAPE) addresses this concern as does the ban on multinational corporations.

B. Groups have also expressed the need for additional statements on human rights and a clarification of enforcement mechanisms.

18]

IAPE Section II. 3 The International Social Investment Fund for Land Reform, Agrarian Reform and Ecological Rural Development.

A. Multidisciplinary panels of scientists from a region will assist communities (typically, 900 - 2000 people ?) to spend their annual budget allocation in order to realize the needs which the community has discussed and agreed upon. Surveys of human and environmental resources will be used to guide the choices of the community within the financial and the environmental constraints.

Various schemes to maintain the objectivity of the scientific panels are possible, for example, drawing scientists from national, regional and local lists (or drawing some by lottery). As this new program evolves many people will be qualified to serve on the panels and once the initial planning stage passes (two years) the contentious issues should be already be resolved. (See Note 29). Educational institutions and resources will be focused on training and research for these programs and scientific panels.

19] Statements from groups against the US and the WTO

A. Of course, there is an obvious reason why the US is so strongly opposed to the Kyoto Treaty, a UN enforced Earth Charter, The International Criminal Court or any slowing of the global economy: the US is completely unsustainable spiritually, economically (except by military force) and ecologically. Why the world makes so little outrage over the excesses of the US will be one of the great debates of the future - if there is one. The US will suffer the most of the wealthy countries because it is built on an empire and requires trillions of dollars to flow through it every year. The US makes most of its foreign exchange income from tiny fees on money transfers and stock sales - banking services.

Just restricting US arms exports would probably cause an economic depression in the US. Or imagine that the US gave its whole weapons industry to Brazil along with its majority share of world arms exports. Brazil would soon be as wealthy a nation as the US and as powerful too. For the world to tolerate high levels of US arms sales is like an old lady giving guns to her would-be mugger. Stupid.

B. "The reality is that power and wealth in this world are very, very unequally shared, and that far too many people are condemned to lives of extreme poverty and degradation... the perception, among many, is that this is the fault of... the people who attend this gathering (WEC)." Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, 2001.

C. Bolivarno from ECO SOLIDARITY: ANDES, Bush continues a long tradition of giving billions of dollars to corrupt governments and US friendly terrorists: from global corporations to death-squads in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela. This terminal madness of the rich elites can be arrested by a strong, clear program alternative to WTO/FTAA Neo-liberalism.

D. Key statements can be found on the following websites:

MST Brazil or MST The Brazilian Landless Rural Workers Movement.

Argentina Now

Food First Food sovereignty activists and research.

Camp Ecuador Ecuadorian action camp against the OCP pipeline and organizers for the ACLA (FTAA) protests in Quito in October 2002.

Rebelion Excellent left perspective analysis of Latin America and US imperialism around the world.

Conaie Website of the main Ecuadorian Indigenous organization.

Anncol Colombian independent news with statements from the FARC-EP and ELN guerrilla groups.

Z-Mag Economic discussion forum with SES economic plan proposed by the Colombian and regional organization known as COLACOT.

Argentina Indymedia

20] People share the conviction that another world is possible -a world where the basic needs of all are met, persons and the environment are respected, and all have access to joy and community. -Global Exchange, 2001.

21] Italy, Spain, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela have all seen civil society working in a variety of venues with diverse tactics to make their voices heard and to stop privatization and changes in labor and other laws designed to facilitate neoliberalism. Large protests are planned for the IMF in Washington DC and the ACLA (FTAA) in Quito in October. It is now imaginable that continuous large mobilizations worldwide could soon be a common occurrence. These tactics have worked well but despite great success the struggle is just beginning and it will have to clarify its positions and draw on its creativity to bring the full power of the people to bear.

22] A moratorium on debt payments could be phased in with the cost/losses spread around to many banks and governments. The ideas suggested in "A New Approach to the Third World Debt Crisis," Global Exchange, could be a part of a debt cancellation agreement that compliments funds for IAPE. See also Jubilee 2000 UK for information on the failures of current efforts and proposals.

23]

A. Bankruptcy (Porto Alegre Statement)

The nonsustainability and bankruptcy of the ruling world order is fully evident. The need for alternatives has never been stronger.

We commit ourselves, and call on all citizens and governments, to join us in working towards a vision of sustainable peace in which divergent views and interests coexist in a manner that reinforces a common good and builds a world of justice and peace where basic needs are met and human rights and dignity are respected.

We commit ourselves, and call on all citizens and governments to ensure that:

1. There is a collective acknowledgement of the uselessness of destruction and violence and a profound shift in direction in the struggle to find solutions to the crisis in which we find ourselves.

2. These solutions are people centered and build on that which already exists.

3. We must change our thinking and break free from a preoccupation with economic and material prosperity, illustrated by patterns of overproduction and overconsumption.

4. Build and strengthen sustainable links that support the process of organising civil society groups and global solidarity networks at all levels.

5. Ensure that these networks become sustainable civil movements that can build connections and relationships with current decision makers at all levels in order to influence the changes proposed below.

6. Transform the United Nations to ensure that the General Assembly becomes a global parliament with elected representatives.

7. Abolish the United Nations Security Council so that all nations meet as equals within a reformed General Assembly.

8. Redirect military spending to prioritise the conversion and reallocation of military resources to alleviate poverty and environmental degradation.

9. Suspend the arms trade by working towards a moratorium on the import and manufacture of arms and in the interim legislate and implement rigorous controls on arms transfers.

10. Transform the WTO's trade rules and dispute settlement procedures towards the needs of sustainable development and in support of its mandate.

11. Cancel the global debt.

24]

A. There is a strong incentive for land reform because the wealthy control most of the best land and so the poor are forced onto marginal lands or into sensitive habitats. This lowers agricultural productivity and destroy important ecological areas.

B. de Janvry, Alain. 1981, The Agrarian Question and Reformism in Latin America. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press.

C. Donner, Peter. 1992, Latin American Land Reforms. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.

D. "Brasil: El MST Mantiene Su Decision de Llegar a Una Revolucion Agraria." March 27, 2002, El Movimiento de los Trabajadores Sin Tierra, MST.

25] Agrarian Reform: HOW TO BOOKLET: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, csdngo. The "Between the Summits: Down to Earth" Inter-regional Meeting on Common Action for Sustainable Development.

The essence of the meeting was to evolve policy action strategies and concrete implementable project proposals for future actions by citizens' associations to more effectively implement the agreed NGO positions as contained in the three historical documents produced at the Roots of the Future Conference held in Paris (Agenda Ya Wananchi - Citizens' Action Plan for the 1990's); the Miami Conference (World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet/Women's Action Agenda 21); and the International NGO Forum, Rio (Alternative NGO Treaties).

The Policy Action Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security:

"Many of the chapters in Agenda 21 have relevance to the issues of sustainable agriculture and food security. Of most direct relevance is chapter 14; Promoting Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development, and chapter 32; Strengthening the Role of Farmers. Chapter 12 is one of the longer chapters in Agenda 21 and it provides a framework which would provide the "major adjustments [that] are needed in agricultural, environmental and macroeconomic policy, at national and international levels, in developed and developing countries, to create the conditions for sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD)."

The policy approaches identified in chapter 12 emphasize that the "priority must be on maintaining and improving the capacity of the higher potential agricultural lands to support an expanding population. The success of SARD will depend largely on the support and participation of rural people, national governments, the private sector and international cooperation, including technical and scientific cooperation." Twelve separate policy areas are outlined in chapter 12 as necessary components of SARD policies, these being:

(a) Agricultural policy review
(b) Ensuring peoples participation
(c) Improving farm production and diversifying farming systems
(d) Land-resource planning information and education for agriculture.
(e) Land conservation and rehabilitation
(f) Water for sustainable food production and sustainable rural development
(g) Conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources
(h) Conservation and sustainable utilization of animal genetic resources
(i) Integrated pest management control in agriculture
(j) Sustainable plant nutrition to increase food production
(k) Rural energy transition to enhance productivity
(l) Evaluation of UV radiation damage resulting from depletion of the ozone layer

Recognition of the role that rural peoples will play in this process is given in the second programme area... The objective of ensuring 'equitable access of rural people to land, water and forest resources and to technologies, financing, marketing, processing and distribution'; and the strengthening and development of the "internal capacities of rural people's organizations and extension services". The focus of these objectives being "especially women's groups, youth, indigenous people, local communities and small farmers."

26] Ecological Rural Development

A. "For an Agriculture that Doesn't get rid of Farmers: An Interview with Miguel Altieri," by JoAnn Kawell, NACLA, Vol. 35, No. 5, March 2002. See also CNR; AgroEco for more info on agroecology and Altieri.

B. The 'free trade', which from the standpoint of the corporate economy brings 'unprecedented economic growth', from the standpoint of the land and its local populations is destruction and slavery. Without prosperous local economies, the people and the land have no voice. -Wendell Berry, a poet, ecologist, farmer… (see: In the Presence of Fear, ww.orionlonline.org).

27] Taxes on International Trade and Finance: "Another world is possible," Peter Rosset, New Internationalist, 342, Jan / Feb 2002

"If we want to create viable small-farm economies based on sustainable technologies, then the steps are more or less clear. We need trade policies that don't damage local farm economies - and that means at the very least removing food crops from World Trade Organization purview. We need genuine land reform, and we need an end to visible and hidden subsidies for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, together with a renewed emphasis on supporting and upscaling successful cases of sustainable small-farm agriculture."

28] Value Added Taxes (VAT) for fossil fuels would be similar to those used throughout Europe and much of the world. A tax is applied at each phase of production or marketing (when value is added). Although the rest the article "The Eco-Economic Revolution," is sadly flawed, Lester R. Brown begins it well with a discussion of externalities and how the market gives bad signals and information when the prices of products like petroleum do not reflect their full costs to society and the environment," The Futurist, March 2002, page 23.

29] The People-Decided International Social Investment Fund for Sustainable Development replaces WTO, IMF, World Bank, and bans Multi-National Corporations.

A. Governmental budgets at the state and national level would be reduced and most governmental resources and personnel will be re-oriented toward regional planning and coordination between communities and regional needs. The armed forces will be reduced and most soldiers will perform educational and labor projects in the most needy regions.

The priorities of all planning should be the reduction of pollution, reduced impact on the environment and sustainability, and the restructuring of local and regional economies toward localization (import substitution) and of making the best longrun use of local resources and opportunities.

In an ideal world the funding for these economic development programs would be easy. Sources include: the UN which could eliminate much of its bureaucracy and give the money directly to communities ($5 to 10 billion); the combined foreign aid funding by the OECD ($60-80 billion) and the budgets of the extinct World Bank ($25-30 billion) and the IMF ($18-20 billion) would be enough to fund a worldwide Ecological Rural Development program; half the world's spending on military forces would suffice ($900 billion per year); a one percent tax on world trade would raise $250 to 300 billion a year. The Tobin tax can raise $50 to 80 billion per year and even small VAT taxes on fossil fuels could raise $50 to 100 billion per year.

Initial estimates for the first five years of a fully funded IAPE program range from $900 to 1200 billion per year. Money is not the problem it is the issue of control and of independence that worries many economic and political leaders. After 10 years of the program the costs should quickly drop to a quarter of the initial levels - by this time the use of fossil fuels and the volume of world trade will have declined as well.

It is hoped that this program will overcome concerns of the left (for social justice), the right (small government, local rights and a market economy) and the greens (sustainability and ecological respect). It is hard to imagine a program that better balances these concerns.

How to phase in such a program in order to reduce instability without going so slow as to douse people's expectations is an important area of study. A full examination of Section II. 3. of the IAPE is forthcoming from The Ecosolidarity Working Group: Chapter II of The Agrarian Manifesto. Contact ecosolidarity@yahoo.com.

B. After IAPE and Earth Charter are adopted and enforced, some of the consequences and policy necessities will be:

a. Phase out private car use
b. Phase out private land ownership beyond subsistence needs
c. Restrict water use for non-essential uses
d. Research Biodiversity and threats to Amazon Basin region and other key biodiversity
e. Identify bottlenecks, excess profits, pollution, corruption, input substitution potential
f. Watershed planning for ecological development with land reform (condemnation) to protect and to share available resources
g. Develop weighted criteria for participatory budgeting
h. Research and experimentation on small development projects: 1. State and region micro credit for sustainability. 2. Mini canteens locally or coop owned to travel and sell things cheap (trade/barter) with some subsidies for important, health, education and sustainable farming items. 3. Donations of Cattle, pig or chicken herds with the condition that in the second year the community turnover a part of the herd to neighboring communities (or farmers chosen by ballot) A condition being that the operations are run collectively or as a cooperative. 4. Farming bottlenecks are common in transport, marketing, sales, value adding, packaging and promotion
i. Put the Localization Alternative first: 1. lower consumption world wide (of fossil fuels, high energy products like cars, steel, transport), 2. more local production (import substitution, infant industries), 3. focus on producing sufficient basic goods (food, water, housing, education, health care) in sustainable and empowering ways, 4. Participatory budgeting and planning for the above, 5. Popular assemblies and regional commissions to build a new political power and citizen involvement- to push regional/national restructuring
j. Improve the usefulness and facilitation skills of the rotating panels of scientists, planners and citizens from other regions who review and investigate communities to see how their development plans, look, work, were arrived at, and how well they meet the IAPE/Earth Charter/ Regional Plans
k. Mechanisms for appeal and precaution
l. Incentives for countries to turn in arms or reduce defense spending

30] Penalties for spending more than one percent of GDP on the military could be a point of intense negotiation over the timeline for reductions, the level of fines and what would be counted as military. Many will want to count all armed forces (including police and private security), the industries that supply the armed forces, and the pensions of all these individuals as part of the military budget.

31] A Ban on weapons sales worldwide would hurt the US which has always been the largest arms dealer - nearly half of the world trade in weapons is by the US. Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Colombia, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Gulf states are among the largest recipients. This has to end. The US has refused to sign or blocked tentative international agreements on small arms trade.

32]

A. End most agricultural chemical use in OECD: Organics are popular and any increase in food prices would be modest with government programs assisting the poor. If production and export subsidies are eliminated then an abundance of food could be produced organically on the remaining land even if yields were lower.

B. Coward's Stand: Cap in Hand?, by Ros Coward, The Ecologist, vol. 32, no. 2, March 2002, page 9. How consumers and many legislatures across Europe support a new agriculture.

33] Ending agricultural production and export subsidies in OECD is long overdue. Europe has moved in That direction by changing much of its agricultural subsidies to direct payments - welfare for farmers. The US said that it would do the same, but for domestic political reasons Bush reversed himself and signed a "monstrous" increase in production and export subsidies. This coupled with his sudden turn to protectionism over steel earned Bush the title "The Great Anti-Globalizer" from The Economist of London. See also Note 3.

34] More information and ideas on enforcement for the IAPE and Earth Charter should be forthcoming from the IFG and from the 2002 Earth Summit.

35] Waiting for UN to act. Ultimately the UN may play an important role, but even the Alternative World Social Forum is not the center of change. Change is happening everywhere and spontaneously - at the seams. Look at the seams on your shirt made in some other country's sweatshop. Maybe change isn't about what is said and done in the centers, its about the seams, the in-between spaces with their hidden strength. Some say the rising energy in Argentina is a revolt from the seams - a revolt that will spread along the weak links to the next seam. Demonstrators aren't calling for a change of the political guard, but have instead adopted the sweeping slogan, "Get rid of them all."

36] How will Society enact change through their numbers ?

A. In some parts of Argentina, the piqueteros have created quasi-liberated zones, where their ability to mobilize is far more influential than anything the local government is able to do. In General Mosconi, formerly a rich oil town in the far north, which now suffers with a more than 40% unemployment rate, the movement has taken things into its own hands and is running over 300 different projects, including bakeries, organic gardens, clinics, and water purification.

What is extraordinary is that these radical actions, practiced by some of the most excluded and impoverished people in Argentina

B. There is only one evil - it is the evil of me just caring for me and mine, and not caring a damn for him and his. To wage war on evil we have to wage war on this terrible delusion: that only We matter, that we can best protect ourselves by caring only about ourselves. But how do you dispel the delusion when your entire economic system, your entire cultural system is designed to take from him and to give to an opulent few? - David Edwards, Editor of Media Lens, Ecologist, vol.31, No. 10, December-January 2002.

C. Many remain unimpressed, still waiting for a new top-down ideology to chart the course against global capitalism. The new proletariat is the two billion peasants who still have a type of revolutionary energy to improve their lives where they live.

In considering the importance (or not) of the working class it is well to observe that most people in the world are not (post)industrial workers, but peasants. The relationship to the land is most important, and the categories of discourse associated with Marx and other 19th-century radicals are still relevant, especially the emphasis on capitalism's origins as an agricultural revolution.

Camatte, who advocates movements based on community rather than class, has written much on this subject. The concept of community is frustratingly vague when applied to contemporary Western societies, but is easier to see in relation to that greater part of the world where capital has still not completely penetrated the traditional societies, and social formations whose roots predate capitalism are still the norm. In his essay on the Russian Revolution, Camatte emphasized the populist, peasant-based dimension rather than the class-struggle dialectic of bourgeoisie vs. proletariat. He made the case that the workers' councils were in a sense extensions of the peasant commune, because many of the insurrectionary workers in the rapidly industrializing Russia of that time were recent migrants from the countryside ( like much of Latin America today), where communal social forms prevailed.

Today, in non-Western societies, urbanization and industrialization continue to grow and capital makes further inroads through the same means by which it became established in the West: enclosures and the uprooting of people from their means of subsistence on the land. But there is still at least a trace of communitarian dimension in workers' lives. People in many parts of Africa and Asia, for example, who have become workers in cities still have family, food, and other resources in their native villages in the countryside. These regions are poor in relation to North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but in the event of far-reaching industrial collapse it is conceivable they might actually fare better based on this surviving relationship to the land.

If peasant-based socialism were to take hold on a large scale, many areas of the world could be pulled out of the global market. But as long as capital remains securely in power in its metropolitan strongholds, this scenario probably won't work. Surely there has to be a way to accomplish it without domination and coercion of our fellow human beings, or insult to the rest of nature.

The "small is beautiful" idea is appealing. "Appropriate" technologies, city gardens (horticulture), and, wherever possible, the revival of artisanal rather than industrial production are possibilities. The sheer size of the earth's human population, however, might make these solutions difficult to implement under all circumstances. Even if industrial society were cut down to size right now, the regeneration of nature could take a considerable time. In the event of another devastating world war-at this moment, alas, not just possible, but likely resulting in the destruction of much of human society, the survivors may indeed be compelled to live as primitivists.

D. "The struggle for Socialism today," James Petras, March 3, 2002. "Bourgeois electoral campaigns have served as a facade to legitimate the power and decisions of non-elected elites from the IMF, the World Bank and the local functionaries serving the local capitalist and financial ruling class. As a result the elected political leaders pursue regressive politics: concentrating land at the expense of the landless workers and small producers; eroding the democratic rights of the people by ruling by decree and supporting anti-labor legislation, and imposing macro-economic policy ("neoliberalism") that destroys the domestic market, undermines national public control and ownership of strategic productive, raw material and financial sectors. In contrast to the failures of electoral politics, the politics of direct action embraced by the socio-political movements in Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina and elsewhere have been successful in realizing significant social and political changes. The Landless Workers Movement in Brazil via its land occupation policy has settled over 250,000 families.

The CONAIE in Ecuador have toppled two presidents. In Argentina the combined forces of the unemployed workers' movements, (Piqueteros), the neighborhood organizations (Cacerolas), and young activists have forced the non-payment of the foreign debt, the toppled 5 presidents and created a national mass popular movement against the whole established bourgeois political class.

The contrast between the practical accomplishments of socio-political movements engaged in mass direct action and the impotence, corruption and co-optation of the electoral left is striking.

The electoral process has no impact on the policies of the elected officials. Repeatedly during electoral campaigns the bourgeois and left candidates promise to create jobs, to attack "neoliberalism" and to create a more equitable economic system. However, when the politicians take office they deepen and extend privatization, impose new structural adjustment policies and heighten repression against popular movements.

37] Targets For Protest:

A. Many of the protests in Latin America have followed the (IAPE) guidelines for targeting.

B. These targets should also be the priority of civil society in OECD countries. More public ownership of public goods: utilities, schools, medical care, water resources and farm lands. This public ownership or trusteeship would be part of the policies of economic localization and democratic localism with the decisions made by community public participation and environmental guidelines.

38] These sales tend to stay in the public's mind and they are often a matter of local or regional pride. The riots in Aeriquipa, Peru in June were triggered by Toleando's breaking his campaign promise not privatize the utilities in Southern Peru. Public services should be locally owned and their investment, safety and environmental budgets should be decided by local assemblies.

39] Corporations Out! should be the rallying cry. Under FTAA and the WTO, banks and other corporations are working hard to make sure their investments are permanently and legally protected. Despite fraudulent advertising in Argentina, Citibank (the largest company in the world with 1.1 trillion in assets) would not honor its commitments on deposit guarentees and could not be sued in US court by Argentinans who had been deceived.

40] Few of these people live on the land they own, some live in a different country and have never even seen the land - just the profit reports. Land taxes have been increased in Brazil and a few other countries in order to try and get idle lands productive. In a world of hungry people and damaged ecosystems, land must be considered a public resource. See also Note 4 and Note 7.C.

41] It would be helpful for more students and researchers to help track who owns who. Corporations are wise at hiding some of their connections.

42]

A. Corruption is widespread in many Latin American countries, especially Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil. See Colburn (Note 2.B]. Now we know from Enron, Anderson, World Com and Martha Stewart that corruption may be even bigger in the US.

B. "Guatemala: Lethal Legacy of Immunity," Amnesty International, 2002.

C. "The New Battle for Central America," Ana Aranal. Foreign Affairs Vol. 80, No.6, 2002, p. 88.

43] Stopping major polluters is called for in the Earth Charter and is ample justification for direct action. People need to realize how important the environment is and how wrong it is for corporations to make profits by abusing our commons.

44] Corporate media are always easy and popular targets, just don't shut them down during the tele-novelas. How can people allow governments to give monopolies to corporations to control the airwaves, information and culture?

45] Genetically engineered crops are a threat to farmers, health and all life. The Earth Charter's Precautionary Principle would halt this mad science.

46] Until Food Sovereignty plans are in effect it is a crime to export food while people are hungry.

47]

A. TACTICS:

A. A general strike, drawing in the unemployed, the road picketers, the students, the youth, the women, 'Tous ensemble,' all together as the French workers say, can unite all these sectors behind the working class and prevent the bourgeoisie from playing one off against another. The aim must be to arm the working class with the capacity to launch a general strike when the government launches its inevitable counterattack on the masses.

In every district of the biggest cities and in every smaller city and town, delegates need to be elected in every workplace and from every fighting organisation. Not only in the factories and offices but in the picketers assemblies, in the schools and colleges too. These delegates, recallable at will by their electors, can form powerful councils to run the strike and force all union leaders to follow the wishes of their members, preventing their sell-outs and betrayals or replacing them directly. From instruments of struggle they can rapidly become organs of power.

Another key task is the organisation of the most fit and active workers, students, unemployed into a militia to undertake the acquisition and equitable distribution of food, keep order in the popular districts and protect the demonstrations, picket lines etc. Then if the government tries to uses the police and the army again to impose its will it will be possible break or halt their first attacks and agitate to win them to the side of the people. Such a revolutionary general strike could bring down any government that tries to impose austerity in a matter of days. And what then?

A government may simply let the economic crisis ripen claiming it cannot control it. They will hope that worsening economic conditions will demoralise and demobilise the masses. A forced default on the debts will lead to a mass flight of capital. The country (Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela) will be treated as a pariah by the international bankers and corporate investors. Recession will deepen along with a rise in unemployment. A devaluation on the other hand will lead to a massive increase in pauperisation since middle class household debts and mortgages are in dollars.

Hence the burning need to expropriate the banks and finance houses who hold these debts and put them under workers control. Indeed in a situation of deepening economic crisis workers must impose their control over the factories, offices, banks.

B. The following tactics represent actions or tools that various citizens groups have employed. People will have to decide for themselves which tactics or group of tactics are appropriate for their situation, the level of the threat, the repercussions and how far they are willing or forced to go:

III. TACTICS

POPULAR ASSEMBLIES: Form Popular Assemblies in neighborhoods and in rural communities. Organize and complete research on the local needs and desires of the people. Operate as if the IAPE and the Earth Charter are the law. Inventory the local environment and draw up sustainable development plans. Identify problems and resources. Conduct surveys of poor people and education campaigns to inform and recruit participation in the Popular Assemblies. Do participatory budgeting and demand your share of funding from local, national and international institutions and governments.

BOYCOTTS: When combined with picketing, protests and creative media campaigns, boycotts can be modestly effective against corporations or products. Boycotts are most effective when the corporation cannot easily move or switch markets. Example: a soda or beer producer (fixed investment and heavy/cheap product). Food products are easy to boycott because the consumer can easily buy something else to eat from a different (local/national) company. Gasoline is a poor item to boycott because consumers have little choice and the product is valuable enough to re-ship to other markets.

MASS PROTESTS, GENERAL STRIKES, AND ROLLING STRIKES: There is nothing that corrupt governments fear more than masses of people in the streets, especially if they are joined by striking workers. Rolling strikes and work slow-downs can be disruptive and leave the government or corporation uncertain about what will happen next.

PHONE, FAX AND E-MAIL JAMMING: Many people continuously flooding a government or corporate communication systems with complaints and requests can seriously disrupt their operations. Inside knowledge of all phone and e-mails addresses is helpful.

ROAD AND RAILROAD BLOCKADES: Burning tires, burning cars and masses of determined people can block roads for days and shut down transportation routes and port facilities. THIS IS EMPOWERING!, EDUCATIONAL, BONDING. (see Appendix 40.B.5)

DIRECT ACTION: Sometimes drastic tactics have been used in community self defense such as burning genetically modified crops or destroying bridges and powerlines that lead to polluting projects that threaten the community. Broadcast towers and satellite uplinks are also vulnerable.

Be creative and confident and remember that the whole world is watching through independent media - the actions in one region inspire action in the whole world.

IAPE is what Global Participatory Democracy looks like - A Globe of Citizen-Directed Sustainable Villages Working in Solidarity for a new world.

CONTACT: Earthcharter@care2.com, TO ENDORSE THE IAPE AND SUPPORT ITS ADOPTION WORLDWIDE.

C. Phone, Fax and E-Mail Jamming: In a recent HLS protest against animal rights violations, activists preprogrammed cheap computers to redial fax, phone and email accounts of HLS corporation and hid the computers in large office buildings so that it would take days to find all of them.

D. Groups in India and Bangladesh have used confrontational direct action tactics such as burning GM crops and violently seizing and defending vacant lands. See The Landless Women of Bangladesh, Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed, Winter 2001.

48] Jubilee 2000 UK

49] The upper class have worked hard to find or create new wars and new places to waste "excess" money: Star Wars, The Drug War, Afghanistan, etc. ad nauseum. Surprisingly, the peace dividend wasn't even used to buy up Soviet nuclear weapons which the US could have acquired for a song.

50]

A. Many think that war and terrorism is just what the upper class wants - an excuse for high security and military spending.

B. One wonders though whether the debt, drugs and violence may have spread a little deeper and wider than planned. The WTO and neoliberalsim are destabilizing whole regions of the Earth. In 1998, even before officially accepting the IMF loan conditions, Colombia paid close to $4.6 billion in debt services (interest and repayments). This was equivalent to three times the entire healthcare budget and more than the total sum spent on education. In 2000, after the implementation of IMF policies, debt servicing increased by 20 percent. In 2001, this figure grew again by almost 30 percent. In fact, 86 percent of tax income is now being used to pay debt services.

Debt service payments have been financed through falling real wages, as well as by state cutbacks in healthcare, education, and public employment. It is not surprising that the number of dissidents in Colombian society has increased. Even during negotiations for the IMF bail out there were massive demonstrations in the cities. In the past year, unions, public employees, students, human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations have taken to the streets demanding decent wages; the right to health, employment and education; an end to privatization and austerity; and a moratorium on debt payments

51] Coward's Stand: Cap in Hand?, by Ros Coward, The Ecologist, vol. 32, no. 2, March 2002, page 9. How consumers and many legislatures across Europe support a new agriculture.

52] See Note 4 and 7.C.

53] US Farm Bill makes Bush look like a WTO Protester or as the Economist puts it The "great anti-globalizer." The spirit of the Uruguay Round has surely been broken if not destroyed. Brazil and Canada (among others) are suing the US under the WTO claiming the US farm bill violates the letter of the agreements too. Some wonder whether the WTO can survive the avalanche of lawsuits that are piling up. They have still not ruled on a single "Safe Guard" clause challenge.

54] A long list including Kyoto, Declaration on Women, Ban on trade in hazardous materials, the ABM Treaty and The International Criminal Court.

55] Much is on the agenda, but action is not. The Summit will be - once again - all talk unless a European leader steals the show and puts Bush on the recalcitrant pedestal he so wants to be on.

56]

A. "A Better World is Possible: Alternatives to Economic Globalization;" IFG Report, final page (page 20), IFG.

B. See also Note 29

57] Global ATTAC groups have strongly pushed for the Tobin Tax, ATTAC.

58] 'Tobin Tax' - a small tax on foreign currency transactions, originally proposed by Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin in the early 1970s. Tobin proposed that the tax, which should only be a very small percentage of transactions, would put 'sand in the wheels' of international finance, and thus help to preserve stability in the global financial system.

The need for such a tax has never been more evident. At present, $1.5 trillion dollars change hands every day through currency trading. A staggering 97% of all currency trades are for speculative purposes, rather than to fund the exchange of 'real' goods and services. The result of this speculative mania is that currency speculators get rich quick - while developing countries such as Argentina, Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia are blown off course by their collective financial muscle.

The Tobin Tax would have a further big advantage. Even the most conservative estimates show that the tax would raise at least $50 billion each year for development aid. This figure is almost exactly the amount that Jubilee Research estimate will be needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals in the HIPC countries, provided there is full debt cancellation. Implementing a Tobin Tax could, quite literally, save millions of lives.

Tobin's innovative proposal has been around for almost three decades, but has been largely dismissed by policy makers and many economists as an impractical dream. But ironically, the September 11th terrorist attacks in the US may have changed all that. As Baroness Shirley Williams has argued, many of the systems that have been put in place to monitor terrorist financing could equally be used to monitor currency transactions.

But even without such reforms, economist Rodney Schmidt from Canada's North South Institute has argued that the tax should not be difficult to implement. He argues that each currency trade, even if agreed on a bilateral basis between diffuse traders, must be settled through the computer systems hosted in Central Banks. Each Central Bank, therefore, could easily impose the tax on all trades which pass through their systems - all trades, in other words, which involve their own currency.

The main constraints to the Tobin Tax are, therefore, political - in particular the desire of Finance Ministers and Central Banks not to upset rich and politically powerful speculators. But the signs are that this is changing. The French and Belgian Parliaments have already voted in favour of the tax, while Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor, has said that he is 'open to the idea.' And around the world, civil society groups such as Attac, War on Want, and the New Economics Foundation, are increasing the political pressure.

In the immortal words of Victor Hugo, 'an invasion of armies can be resisted; but not an idea whose time has come.'

For more information on the Tobin Tax, see 'The Robin Hood Tax', published by the New Economics Foundation and War on Want. See PDF Document

59] A. John Andersen ran for the US Presidency on this platform in 1980. B. See Earth Charter Section 7. D. Earth Charter; and Note 28.

60]

A. Berry, Wendell, In the Presence of Fear, Oriononline.org and numerous articles in the Atlantic, Progressive and Utne Reader (August 2002).

B. Hines, Collin, Localization: A Global Manifesto, London, 2001.

61] Welton, Neva and Linda Wolf, Global Uprising,New Society, British Columbia, Canada, 2001. "Capitalism a Pathology of the Market Economy" by David Korten, page 103. This former Ford Foundation official says that corporate globalization is "Market tyranny... extending its reach across the planet like a cancer, colonizing ever more of the planet's living spaces, destroying livelihoods displacing people, rendering democracy impotent and feeding on life in an insatiable quest for money." Global Uprising also has succinct articles by Vandana Shiva, Starhawk, Naomi Klien, Shannon Service, Global Exchange and 55 others.

62] Colburn, Forrest D. 2002, Latin America at the End of Politics. Princeton University Press. He cites the Latinbarometrica polling data showing how few people in most of Latin America even believe in the concept of democracy.

63] In the US, corporations get subsidies for everything: export and foreign advertising subsidies for tobacco; gold-plated military contracts; free insurance for nuclear power plants and free nuclear waste disposal; troops, banks and the IMF to rescue their poor or corrupt foreign investments; and even mortgage interest deductions (tax write-offs) for their executives 100 million dollar homes.

64] "The Case for Localization," Helena Norberg-Hodge, Earth Island Journal, Spring 2002.

65) "The Idea of a Local Economy," Wendell Berry, The Ecologist, Vol. 31, No 9, 2001. See also, "Relocalization," Collin Hines, The Ecologist, February 2001

66]

A. Fernando Funes, Luis García, Martin Bourque, Nilda Pérez and Peter Rosset, Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming food production in Cuba, Food First Books 2002. Cuba was able to resist adversity by turning inwards toward self-reliance, substituting organic farming techniques for the no-longer-available imported farm chemicals. Today Cuba produces more food than ever before, with a fraction of the pesticides it once imported, providing an inspiring national case study from which we can all learn.

They organized the First National Conference on Organic Agriculture, held in May at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA), with the participation of more than 100 Cuban delegates and 60 from abroad, and founded the Formative Group of the Cuban Organic Farming Association (ACAO).

Its principle objectives were:

• to develop a national consciousness of the need for an agricultural system in harmony with both humans and nature, while producing sufficient, affordable, and healthy food in an economically viable manner

• to develop local agroecological projects, and promote the education and training of the people involved in this new paradigm of rural development

• to stimulate agroecological research and teaching, and the recovery of the principles on which traditional production systems have been based

• to coordinate technical assistance to farmers and promote the establishment of organic and natural agricultural production systems

• to encourage the exchange of experiences with foreign organizations (with emphasis on the Latin American tropics and subtropics), and with specialists in sustainable agriculture and rural development

• to promote and publicize the importance of marketing organic products

Since the founding of ACAO a strong effort has grown through workshops, field days, talks in universities and research centers, conferences, events, and meetings with farmers, as well as portable agroecological libraries which rotate through different production, research, and education centers, agricultural cooperatives, and other interested institutions.

67] There really isn't an art or a science of economics. It is simply an elaborate accounting system for measuring the outcome of growth policies. This is accomplished by ignoring the many underlying assumptions about the distribution of income, monopoly and oligarchical structures, externalities and stability. Governments don't pay much attention to economic theory because they aren't focused on efficiency but rather they care about the kind of country they want to fashion with policies. Economics is used to mystify and justify the great decisions and the public relations of political campaigns.

68]

A. Feeding People In The 21st Century: An Organic Farmer Responds To The Father of the 'Green Revolution', Shepherd Bliss, D.Min., studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, and currently owns an organic farm in Northern California. He can be reached at sb3@pon.net, Published May 31 2002.

A "Slow Food Movement" that began in Europe is also now spreading around the world. This movement defends the growing, preparing and eating of nutritious food as integral to diverse, healthy, independent cultures. Food not only feeds individuals; its growing and preparation nurtures families, communities, and cultures.

Credible alternatives to Borlaug's 'Green Revolution' are outlined by Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet, 1971) and her daughter Anna Lappe in their new book Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. They visited Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a city of 2.5 million. Its citizens, under the leadership of the Worker's Party, decided that good food was a human right, rather than a matter of wealth. It is the only city in the capitalist world to make food security a right of citizenship. Belo Horizonte offers a model for communities to solve hunger on a local level. It focuses on programs such as community and school gardens, fresh food delivery to poorer neighborhoods, and linking hospitals, restaurants, and other big buyers to local organic growers.

Don't be fooled by the term 'Green Revolution.' It harms people, plants, animals, and the environment in order to enhance the profits of a few. Humanity and nature are currently on a collision course, which the 'Green Revolution' hastens.

We need to work to restore natural harmony and the balance of nature, rather than extract more of its gifts for human consumption. Everything that's labeled "green" and all "revolutions" are not necessarily helpful for people or nature.

B. From Peacework, June 2002 - p. 21 a story on Cuba from Siri Colon who went there. "This is my second time in Cuba and being here reinforces my re-evaluation of the word poverty. I've come to agree with this statement that being poor is a relative and moral term rather than a quantifiable term. The other day I heard a Cuban speaking about the extreme poverty in Honduras. She said how lucky she feels to live without need in Cuba. 'Well. in Cuba, we don't have much but we have a house, food, and a job.

' I immediately concurred. I understood, I told her that what she speaks of when she says poverty, has more to do with the soul than material wealth. Poverty is when people hopelessly witness exaggerated wealth that they do not have access to. Poverty is when a people have little power to change their circumstances. Poverty, I thought, is also complacency. In contrast, the immeasurable wealth I saw in Cuba was one of family, community, pride and a joi de vivre evident in the way that they carried themselves in their daily interactions.

C. "Lessons from the Green Revolution," Tikkun, Vol. 15, No. 2, page 55.

69]

A. "Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre," Adalmir Marquette, Indictor SA, Vol 17, No 4, 2002.

"Participatory Budgeting (PB) is an institutional innovation that is capable of empowering large segments of the population, particularly, poor sectors of society that traditionally never had an active role in the definition of state policies. The empowerment of the poor is possible because the PB is an institutional mechanism that goes well beyond liberal democracy. Porto Alegre's experience shows that it is possible for the large majority of the population to control the state, implementing a developmental and distributive economic policy that contradicts the neo-liberal paradigm.

"The strengthening of the social groups outside the traditional political and economic elites opens up the possibility of a new political coalition between poor community associations and the more traditional leftist movements, such as the unions. The PB in Puerto Alegre also shows that the leftist movement has an humanitarian alternative to the liberal approach implemented in a number of developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s. It demonstrates that, even in a capitalist system, it is possible to implement redistributive and socialist policies that enhance economic growth under the control of the majority of the population and the working class."

B. "Assessing and Strengthening the Sustainability of Community Development Organizations," WN, World Neighbors, 2001. Not exactly about PB but gives interesting techniques for village assessment.

70]

A. "Politics Without Politicians: An Update on the Argentine Assemblies"

by Lisa Garrigues, June 04, 2002, Argentina_Now@yahoo.com.

Neighbors in Argentina Continue to Weave a New Solidarity

The Argentine Neighborhood Assemblies, born in early January 2002 from the December cacerolazos, are almost a half a year old. Despite repeated rumours that the assemblies are "dying out", the opposite seems to be true.

Though the individual assemblies are smaller in attendance than they were in January, and some are still beset by problems in organizing and finding common aims to work on, these 200 plus groups of neighbors continue to be an important force making "politics without politicians" in Buenos Aires and other major cities of this country, where poverty, unemployment and an unpopular bank freeze have magnified the struggles of every day life.

One assembly is actively participating in the administration of a local hospital, another is working with the streetside recyclers to help them maintain their source of income in the face of city government threats to turn over the recycling to private business, and others have continually showed up en masse to support the efforts and actions of their neighbors. Three weeks ago two pot-banging assemblies showed up to help a retired couple get their savings back in, and assemblies in Pompeya and San Telmo have gathered in large numbers to support workers who took over factories in those neighborhoods.

Julio Tamae of the Pompeya assembly says new participants are showing up every week at the meetings in his barrio. Another resident of Pompeya, Hernan Gonzales, says: "The assemblies continue to be the red line that is drawn before repressive government policies, the line that says "Here, and no further."

The Interbarrial

The profuse and enthusiastic chaos of the early "interbarriales", the inter-neighborhood assemblies, has been replaced by a structured delegate voting system in which each assembly sends two delegates to the interbarrial with a mandate to vote on particular issues from the neighborhood assembly. This was done because some assembly members felt the assemblies were being taken over by organized left wing political parties, and they wanted to restrict voting to people who were actually participants in the assemblies. Proposals currently being discussed include the organization of an interneighborhood press committee and actions against the raising of prices by the private utility companies.

Threats and Harassment

A few months ago stick-wielding supporters of President Dualde descended upon the assembly of Merlot and beat up several members. In other assemblies people have been followed by unmarked cars as they walked home. Assembly members continue to receive threats and harassment.

La Trama

Despite the threats, and the onset of winter chill, assembly members are still meeting on streetcorners and inside buildings, continuing their experiment in solidarity, organization and direct democracy. Last weekend, the assembly of Palermo organized an event called La Trama ("The Weaving") which consisted of music, dance, encounters and other cultural events in which local businesses and neighbors participated. Here is what one asambleista, Eduardo Coiro, had to say about La Trama:

"Yesterday, I lived the closing event of La Trama, a beautiful and powerful experience that went beyond listening to ideas and proposals. I heard the sounds of soul and communion in each participant, each drumbeat, each fire juggling, each dance to bossa nova, afro, folklore or rock. I watched people thoroughly enjoying themselves, living with the intensity of those drumbeats that echo in your chest, the rythms of a shared heartbeat. I felt a strange pride in knowing that among the originators of this assembly, born the 17th of January, there were friends with whom I had banged on pots in front of Congress, with whom I had demonstrated against the Supreme Court.

Today they, these doers and sustainers, are a part of the collective miracle that is La Trama and that speaks of how in the neighborhood assembly we have managed to overcome internal differences in an activity that was real, shared and open to everyone.

(It) was overflowing with people, it was a fountain, a force full of impact. There were kids dancing with their moms and dads, all ages, all stories, lots of different political ideologies. Everyone of us on the same ground, one made of dreams and hope.

In this profound wound that is Argentina, it is not easy to get organized, go out onto the street, and recognize in each one of us the seed of what is human and equal despite our differences. We have to overcome the prejudice and terror that has destroyed time and again the collective body, the continual crises that have left us without bread or illusions, that have stripped us of words, of the capacity to love, of the capacity of the direct and transparent human encounter.

We have been forced to retreat into immobility, into the defense of our own entrenched solitude, into a culture of desperation. I see no remedy that is more healing than the collective action of the people, whether it be a roadblock, an assembly, a cacerolazo, or this indefinable collective creation of La Trama, a beautiful experience of initiation into political life for whole families.

With a certain difficulty in describing experiences that go beyond mere reason, I can't stop telling you of my admiration for La Trama, for the work of the wonderful and honest people of the Assembly of Palermo Viejo.

Hasta La Victoria Siempre - Eduardo Coiro"

For more news and article on Argentina, see Argentina Now and Argentina Indymedia

B. The Power of the Piqueteros by Argentina Arde and Andrew Stern artactivism@gn.apc.org

In May, 2002 in Argentina, the piqueteros, or literally, picketers, joined the cacerolazos (Street demonstrations with pot banging, singing and small fires). The piqueteros are Argentina's militant movement of unemployed workers, who launched this social rebellion five years ago.

Born out of frustration with the corruption and constant political compromises of official unions and the failure of all political parties to represent them, the piqueteros (the term refers to their common tactic of road blockades) grew out of the excluded and impoverished communities in the provinces. They are predominantly unemployed workers who have been organizing autonomously in their suburban barrios, the neighborhood districts which are key to many Argentineans sense of place and identity.

Demanding jobs, food, education, and health care, they began taking direct action in the mid 1990s, blocking highways across the country. The action of blocking the flow of commodities was seen as the key way to disrupt economic activity; as they were unemployed, the option to strike was no longer available to them, but by blocking roads they could still have an enormously disruptive effect on the economic system. One of them explained, "We see that the way capitalism operates is through the circulation of goods. Obstructing the highways is the way to hurt the capitalist the most. Therefore, we who have nothing -our way to make them pay the costs and show that we will not give up and die for their ambitions, is to create difficulties by obstructing the large routes of distribution."

"We block the streets. We make that part of the streets ours. We use wood, tires, and petrol to burn," adds Alejandro enthusiastically. He is a young piquetero who sports the red and black bandanna of the MTD (Unemployed Worker's Movement) around his neck and carries the three foot wooden club that has become one of the symbols of this movement.

"We do it like this because it is the only way they acknowledge us. If we stood protesting on the sidewalk, they would trample all over us."

These tactics have proved extraordinarily successful. Whole families take part in the blockades, setting up collective kitchens and tents in the middle of the street. Many of the participants are young, and over 60% are women.

71] Bolivarian Circles: Accused of being hoodlums for leftist president Hugo Chavez, these organizations of the poor residents of the hillside slums that ring the capital Caracas, are mostly women and children who clean the alleys and slap some paint on community centers.

72] "Earth Charter Transition to Sustainable World?" Marcel Idels, Earth First Journal, Vol. 22, No.6.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR AND THE EARTH, WE SALUTE THE DETERMINATION OF HUGO CHAVEZ AND THE BOLIVARIAN CIRCLES IN VENEZUELA; THE PIQUETEROS OF ARGENTINA; THE HEROIC STRUGGLE OF CAMPESINO & INDIGENOUS REBELS IN ECUADOR & THE MARVELOUS YOUTH OF THE FARC-EP & ELN …IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLOMBIA - "We wage war to conquer peace with social justice." - Ejercito Liberation National (ELN)

LIST OF RESOURCES:

Argentina Now

Food First Food sovereignty activists and research.

Camp Ecuador Ecuadorian action camp against the OCP pipeline and organizers for the ACLA (FTAA) protests in Quito in October 2002.

Rebelion Excellent left perspective analysis of Latin America and US imperialism around the world.

Conaie Website of the main Ecuadorian Indigenous organization.

Anncol Colombian independent news with statements from the FARC-EP and ELN guerrilla groups.

Z-Mag Economic discussion forum with SES economic plan proposed by the Colombian and regional organization known as COLACOT.

Argentina Indymedia