[E-rundbrief] Nr. I - Sept 2002 Erg. (teilweise in Englisch) zu Nr.6 - August 2002

Mo Sep 2 10:27:17 CEST 2002

Dies ist der e-Rundbrief Nr. I / September 2002 in Ergänzung zum
e-Rundbrief" Nr. 6. - vom August 2002.

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit, Bad Ischl,
www.begegnungszentrum.at -  1.9.2002

Liebe Freunde!

Dies ist ein erster Versuch, unseren Rundbrief" durch aktuelle
Informationen - teilweise in Englisch - zu ergänzen. Weitere sollen folgen.

Beste Grüsse
Matthias Reichl

Inhalt:

1.) Lizenz zum Plündern und Zerstören - Mechanismen der Macht bei
internationalen Verhandlungen und Konferenzen - MAI, WTO und GATS. Matthias
Reichl
2.) Violence at the WSSD - police bomb peaceful protestors at World Summit
Johannesburg
3.)  Timeline on anti-W$$D activities - Report by Via Campesina
4.) Österreichische Stellungnahmen und Teilnehmer zum W$$D Johannesburg
5.) World-wide actions on 11 September 2002 - WRI
6.) Vernetzung in und mit Hawaii - Brief von Glenn D. Paige zum
Rundbrief" Nr. 106 (in Englisch)

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1) Lizenz zum Plündern und Zerstören
Mechanismen der Macht bei internationalen Verhandlungen und Konferenzen

Die Verhandlungen über das Multilaterale Abkommen über Investitionen
(MAI)" im Rahmen der OECD wurde im November 1998 nach internationalen
Protesten von Bürgerinitiativen und Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen (NGOs)
gestoppt. Die Befürchtungen - unter anderem von Susan George und Maria Mies
- bewahrheiten sich jetzt.

Die Forderungen der transnationalen Konzerne und anderer Wirtschaftslobbies
zur Liberalisierung und Absicherung ihrer Handelsbeziehungen sind nun ein
vorbereitender Teil der GATS-Verhandlungen bei der Welthandelsorganisation
(WTO) in Genf. Ein Generelles Abkommen über Handel und Dienstleistungen"
soll wesentlich mehr als das alte MAI umfassen - darunter v.a. die
Privatisierung von öffentlichen Dienstleistungen wie Grundversorgung mit
Wasser, Energie, Bildung, Gesundheitsdienste - aber auch die Ernährung und
damit die Landwirtschaft. Bei dem nächsten WTO-Gipfeltreffen im September
nächsten Jahres in Cancun (Mexiko) sollen diese Verhandlungen - auf Wunsch
der EU- offiziell abgesegnet werden.

Die Positionen der EU-Verhandler bei der WTO berühren unter anderem auch
die Reduktion der Armut" und die nachhaltige Entwicklung" - die auch
Zentralthemen beim UNO-Gipfel in Johannesburg sind.

In diesem Appell von Gruppen der Zivilgesellschaft" und anderen
Initiativen wird gefordert daß:
· alle Vorschläge für WTO-Verhandlungen betreffen die Investitionen
zurückgezogen werden;
· eine fundamentale Reorientierung der Regelung des Handelssystems zur
Reduktion der Armut" und nachhaltigen Entwicklung" und als Alternative
· ein neues System von multilateralen Regeln für internationale Konzerne zu
schaffen, mit denen auch die Regelungen ihrer Verantwortung durchsetzbar sind.

Im Schatten von kriminellen Firmenpraktiken - wie bei Enron, Worldcom und
anderen - ist dies eine längst überfällige Forderung. Ebenso auch nach
sozial akzeptablen Arbeitsbedingungen und sozialen Absicherungen, vor allem
in Billiglohnländern und eine Abschaffung der Export-Produktions-Zonen",
in denen die Arbeitnehmerrechte reduziert bzw. eliminiert wurden.

Der Teufel steckt vor allem in den Details wie es sich schon in den
MAI-Debatten zeigte. Großkonzerne, die sich z.B. durch Protestkampagnen wie
Kaufboykotte, Streiks, Transitblockaden usw. geschädigt fühlen, sollten das
Recht bekommen, von den staatlichen Behörden Schadenersatz zu fordern.
Diese Summen könnten das Jahresbudget eines Kleinstaates erreichen. Um dem
vorzubeugen werden Regierungen die Proteste ihrer Bürger vorsorglich
verhindern und auch entsprechende Gesetze erlassen, die nun im Rahmen der
neuen internationalen Sicherheitspolitik" verschärft werden. Dazu gehören
z.B. auch existenzgefährdende Geldstrafen und Kostenersätze für
Polizeieinsätze, aber auch Überwachung und Reisebeschränkungen gegenüber
suspekten politischen Aktivisten und Aktivistinnen.

In der Aussendung (am 28.8.2002) vom UN-Gipfel in Johannesburg ruft der
philippinische Umweltexperte Nicanor Perlas alle Vertreter von NGOs auf,
den Gipfel zu boykottieren, um nicht als Schachfiguren" der Mächtigen
missbraucht zu werden. Sie sollen sich den Protesten von betroffenen
Gruppierungen anschliessen. Schon im Vorfeld wurde der dominierende Einfluß
durch die Lobbies transnationaler Konzerne kritisiert, der sich auch die
UN-Organisationen beugen. (Die UNO-Behörden sind in ihren Budgets zu mehr
als 40 % von privaten Sponsoren - darunter einflußreiche Großkonzerne -
abhängig.) 

Die friedliche Demonstration wurde von der Polizei mit Tränengas und
Schockbomben auseinandergetrieben. Am vergangenen Freitag wollten 3000
landlose Bauern dem Ministerpräsidenten eine Petition überreichen. 72 von
ihnen wurden einen Tag eingesperrt und zum Teil mißhandelt. Offensichtlich
befolgt die südafrikanische Regierung die Ratschläge und Forderungen der
internationalen Sicherheitsexperten" internationaler Konzerne.

Bei den Beratungen über Ernährung und Landwirtschaft hat sich am 28.8.2002
die FAO dafür ausgesprochen, gentechnisch veränderte Lebensmittel bei der
Bekämpfung des Hungers - vor allem in Afrika - einzusetzen. In einem
umfangreichen Artikel im britischen The Independent"(vom 25.8.2002)
dokumentiert Jason Nissé die weltweiten Erpressungs- und
Einschüchterungsmaßnahmen - vor allem durch die US-Regierung - die damit
den Verkauf US-amerikanischer Gentechprodukte durchsetzen wollen. So soll
nun am 17. Oktober auch der EU-Ministerrat das 1998 beschlossenen
Einfuhrverbot gentechnisch veränderter Lebensmittel revidieren. Vorreiter
sind Österreich, Frankreich, Italien. Dänemark, Griechenland und Luxemburg.
(Siehe http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=327307)

Ein Beispiel der geschickten Personalpolitik von Lobbies ist der
US-Amerikaner Rufus Yerxa, ab 1.10.2002 einer der neuen stellvertretenden
Direktoren der WTO. Er war bis vor kurzem einflussreicher Lobbyist für
Biotechnologie (EuropaBio), auch Cheflobbyist für Monsanto Europa und
früher auch in der Leitung der Amerikanischen Handelskammer" (AmCham)
sowie ein US-Regierungsvertreter bei GATT.

Matthias Reichl, 
28.8.2002
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2) Zu WSSD-Gipfel der Frechheit" in Rundbrief" Nr. 106, Seiten 15 - 16:

VIOLENCE AT THE WSSD
POLICE BOMB PEACEFUL PROTESTORS AT WORLD SUMMIT

Police violence shattered the prospects for a successful outcome at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) being held at Johannesburg,
South Africa. Without provocation, South African police troopers threw
concussion bombs and teargas at activists who were peacefully marching to
protest what they perceive to be the corporate control of the WSSD. Three
protestors were injured and dozens of others were hauled off to jail. 
The WSSD is the largest and most important meeting of the United Nations at
the beginning of the 21st century. The WSSD aims to continue the work on
sustainable development started at the UN Conference on Environment and
Development, known as the Earth Summit of 1992. The Earth Summit produced
Agenda 21, its blueprint for sustainable development in the 21st century.
Thousands of government, business, and civil society leaders have started
arriving to attend the summit in pursuit of concrete steps to advance
sustainable development. In a few days, the UN expects over 100 heads of
states and governments to attend the summit. 

"The police violence at the WSSD marks the beginning of the end of the
sustainable development agenda of governments. It will also mark a
watershed in the way civil society will view future summits by the UN and
its member governments", warned Nicanor Perlas, a veteran of the Earth
Summit and active in the promotion of Philippine Agenda 21. Perlas is also
President of the Center for Alternative Development Initiative, a civil
society organization based in Metro Manila, Philippines. 

"Despite some uneven progress, governments have basically failed to live up
to the various commitments they made in many high profile summits,
including the Earth Summit. Yesterday's brutal tactics simply underscores
the lack of vision and political will by governments to address the
fundamental issues facing the WSSD", continued Perlas. "From this point on,
global civil society will develop strategies to delegitimize expensive
global summits like the WSSD which simply provides a convenient greenwash
for governments to hide policies leading to unsustainable development" he
said. 

Perlas was referring to the failure of governments to close the gap between
their pursuit of sustainable development under the Earth Summit which is
voluntary versus their almost trancelike adoption of WTO agreements, which
are obligatory and often adversely impact sustainable development. Instead,
at the WSSD, governments have sought to collapse its sustainable
development agenda and make it subservient to its WTO agenda, signaling the
demise of the sustainable development agenda, at least in the government
sector. 

As further tension developed in Johannesburg, Perlas called on all civil
society activists, especially those who are part of their official
government delegations, to withdraw their participation from the official
part of the summit and join the protest against government repression and
police brutality. 

"Civil society activists who continue to participate in the official summit
are merely pawns in the power games played by those governments and
corporations who do not have a commitment to sustainable development at
heart. They should already see by now that the language of the official
WSSD documents does not address the structural problems that accelerate
unsustainable practices all over the world. The repressive police presence
at the WSSD should act as a wakeup call to shatter any illusions that there
will be long term benefits that the WSSD will gain for the world",
concluded Perlas. 

CADI NEWS AND FEATURES, 28 Aug 2002
Nicanor Perlas, Center for Alternative Development Initiative, Metro
Manila, Philippines.
e-mail: nperlas at info.com.ph>

========================================================

3) Timeline on anti-W$$D activities
by Bikisha Media Collective " Friday August 30, 2002 at 10:10 AM

This is a brief time-line for those planning solidarity actions around the
world of recent events in South Africa around the World $ummit.

Aug 17: Saturday: Five-hour stand-off between police and members of the
Soldiers' Forum (SF) at Johannesburg central railway station. The SF is a
group of former uMkhonto we Sizwe and SA National Defence Force soldiers
who are part of the Social Movements Indaba (an umbrella group of 25
community organisations fighting the ANC's neoliberal anti-poor policies,
including the Anti-Privatisation Forum). The SF was on its way to stage a
demonstration at Parliament in Cape Town. They claim their carriage was
sponsored by the railways, but police claim they had no tickets and
arrested 93 of them. The personal involvement of National Police
Commissioner Jackie Selebi suggests a political motive behind the police
actions. The arrestees start a hunger strike, maintaining their innocence. 

Aug 20: Tuesday: Seven Soldiers' Forum members hospitalised after police
teargas them in their cells. Police say they had to force their way into
cells to put out a fire, but SF members say they were gassed for refusing
to allow themselves to be moved to the nororiously overcrowded Diepkloof
Prison. Several ex-soldiers suffer broken fingers when forced by police to
be fingerprinted against their will. 

Aug 21: Wednesday: Between 1,000 and 4,000 supporters of the 100,000-strong
Landless People's Movement (LPM) march on the office of Gauteng Premier
Mbhazima Shilowa, a former Cosatu leader appointed by the ANC-lead
government to implement neoliberal privatisation in the industrial
heartland of Johannesburg. The march is legal, Shilowa disdains to meet
marchers and police give them five minutes to disperse, which they do.
Police then allegedly illegally arrest 77 LPM marchers for public violence,
saying they trashed the city while dispersing. Marchers claim they were
peacefully waiting for their transport. 

Aug 22: Thursday: 31 members of the Landless People's Movement who go to
the Johannesburg Central police station to demand the release of the 77 LPM
members arrested the previous day are themselves arrested. 30 of them are
held for several hours then later released without charge, but Ann Eveleth,
a US citizen who has worked in the country legally since 1993, first as a
progressive journalist and lately as the media officer of the National Land
Committee (an NGO linked to the LPM) is still held. Home Affairs announces
its intention to deport Eveleth as an illegal alien within three days. They
do not follow proper legal procedure and Lawyers for Human Rights steps in
to assist Eveleth. 

Aug 23: Friday: Police arrest 12 Greenpeace activists from nine different
countries on charges of trespassing and contravening the National Key
Points Act after they hung an anti-nuclear banner at the Koeberg Nuclear
Power Station north of Cape Town. Police also seized two dinghies. 
All 77 LPM activists arrested on Wednesday released on R100 bail. They are
warned to appear in court on September 12. 

Aug 24: Saturday: National Intelligence acidentally admits Eveleth is not
simply a technical immigration case, but that she was an intelligence
"target". Again the signs of politically-driven arrests are apparent. 
About 1,000 people from the Social Movements Indaba, the Western Cape
Anti-Evictions Campaign (representing 15 community organisations) and the
International Forum on Globalisation marched from the University of the
Witwatersrand to the Johannesburg Central police station to demand the
release of the Soldiers' Forum members. Police fire teargas at protestors,
injuring three and arrest South African film-maker Rehad Desai. Desai is
released on R1,000 bail. 
Human Rights Commission expresses concern at the "apparently pre-emptive
nature of police actions" in arresting people expected to demonstrate at
the Summit. 

Aug 26: Monday: 12 Greenpeace activists appear in court in Cape Town. The
case was postponed to Friday Aug 30 for further investigation. 
Ann Eveleth's lawyers filed papers at the Pretoria High Court demanding her
immediate release pending clarity on her status. Despite being locked up in
a filthy cell alone, she reports having been sexually harrassed by malr
prisoners whenever she is allowed out of the cell. 

Aug 27: Tuesday: National Intelligence Agency leaders pay an evening
"visit" to Anti-Privatisation Forum headquarters in Johannesburg. They
claim they want to broker an agreement between the Social Movements Indaba
(of which the APF is a part) that insists it will march despite not being
given permission, and the police who are denying them that right. 

Aug 28: Wednesday: Ann Eveleth's urgent application for release from
custody heard in the Pretoria High Court, which holds over its decision for
the next day. 
Social Movements Indaba holds mass rally at the poor township of Alexandra,
situated 5km from the Sandton Convention Centre, site of the World $ummit.
Speakers include a Movement for Democratic Change opposition MP from
Zimbabwe and a young Canadian woman who suffered first-degree burns to both
her legs from the stun-grenade attack on peaceful marchers on Saturday 24th. 
Landless People's Movement, which has by today signed up 15,000 paid-up
members (never having been a membership-based organisation before) holds
its "People's Summit" at Shareworld, a defunct theme park south of
Johannesburg. The LPM's 10 member organisations debates its constitution
and leadership but despite much progress, no finality is reached. 
Solidarity actions in support of suppressed and jailed activists carried
out outside the SA embassies in Toronto, Canada, and Buenos Aires,
Argentina, and outside Anglo American (an SA-based mining multinational)
offices in London, UK. 
The Social Movements Indaba announces it has finally defeated the state in
its stand-off on marching on Sandton. The authorities have now backed down
and the SMI will march as planned from Alexandra right through to the $ummit. 

Aug 29: Thursday: LPM announces at a press conference that it too has
forced the state to allow it to march on the $ummit. About 5,000 people
have now gathered at Shareworld and organisers expect a total of 10,000 to
march. The march will be separate to that of the SMI, but the two marches
will converge at the $ummit. 
The Star, a daily newspaper reports that the reformist People's Global
Forum, which consists of ANC allies Cosatu (unions) and Sangoco (NGOs) as
well as church groups will be joined on their march by ANC cabinet
ministers. The ANC itself makes a press statement on behalf of the
so-called Civil Society Initiative which runs the Global Forum. The
ministers and their fake "non-governmental" organisations will march
separately to the genuine social movements. 
Another victory for the LPM as Ann Eveleth is released from police custody
on the order of the Pretoria High Court. She will now be able to march
alongside her comrades on Saturday - but the state still intends deporting
her and her legal battle continues. 

Aug 30: Friday: Cabinet announces it has pulled its ministers out of the
reformist People's Global Forum march on Sandton on Saturday as Sangoco
(ANC-allied NGO coalition) denounces any ANC involvement in the civil
society march. 
The Social Movements Indaba, Landless People's Movement and La Via
Campesina (an umbrella group representing about 100 peasant organisations
from around the world) agree to march together on Saturday August 31. March
totals now expected to attract around 40,000 protestors, twice that of the
World Conference Against Racism in Durban last year.

ViaCampesina-info-WSSD
Nico Verhagen: e-mail: nico.verhagen at t-online.de 

	============================================================:

4) Österreichische Stellungnahmen und Teilnehmer zum W$$D Johannesburg

2 Positionspapiere erarbeitet für AGEZ: www.agez.at.

 Folgende NGO-VertreterInnen nehmen am WSSD teil:
Judith Zimmermann (KOO; AGEZ), Gerad Dick (WWF; Ökobüro), Iris Strutzmann
(GLOBAL 2000) und Eva Lachkovics (WIDE).
Sie berichten täglich abwechselnd im Standard-online: www.derStandard.at
(unter Wissenschaft).
 Die täglichen Berichte aus Johannesburg aus entwicklungspolitischer Sicht
von Judith Zimmermann sind auf der Homepage www.koo.at abrufbar, ebenso
ihre Pressemeldungen.

Pressemeldungen aus Sicht der Umwelt-NGOs: www.wwf.at und www.global2000.at.

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5) World-wide actions on 11 September 2002

The War Resisters' International Triennial Conference, which took place in
Dublin/Ireland from 3-9 August 2002, invites groups and individuals to take
action on 11 September, using the text below - alongside their own text -
as a joint statement.

We have gathered here to commemorate the victims of the carnage of 11
September 2001 and of all the victims of the "war on terrorism".
As we mourn the loss of human life regardless of nationality, ethnic group,
or belief, we express our conviction that no "terrorist" attack can be
prevented by acts of war.
Whether committed by states or any other armed groups, war is always a
crime against humanity."

Please inform the WRI office if and what kind of activities you are
planning for 11 September 2002. The WRI will try to provide information on
what is happening in different parts of the world - but we need your input
in order to be able to do so.

Kind regards,
Andreas Speck

War Resisters' International
5 Caledonian Road * London N1 9DX * BRITAIN
tel.: +44-20-7278 4040 * fax: +44-20-7278 0444
e-mail: info at wri-irg.org * http://www.wri-irg.org

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6) Vernetzung mit Hawaii - Brief von Glenn D. Paige zum Rundbrief" Nr. 106

Eine postalische Meisterleistung: Am 28.8. per normaler Post aufgegeben
landete der Rundbrief" schon am 31.8. im Postkasten in Honolulu!
M.R.

Honolulu, 31.8.2002
Subject: Mahalo and Aloha

Dear Matthias,

Your good newsletter #106 just arrived in our mailbox.  Thank you so much
for your very informative introduction of our Center for Global Nonviolence
free books. 

And for your introduction of several websites that can be consulted by
persons interested in Hawai'i. I'll bet that most don't even know about the
other ones. It takes an outsider activist-researcher-networker like you to
connect them up to each other and to the German speaking world.

Congratulations!  Again thank you,

I'm sure you will receive Johan Galtungs marvelous acceptance speech on
occasion of the Morton Deutsch  Memorial Conflict Resolution Award of the
American Psychological Association. 

Aloha, looking forward to seeing you in Hawai'i again,
Glenn

Glenn D. Paige, President, Center for Global Nonviolence
3653 Tantalus Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822-5033 USA
e-mail: cgnv at hawaii.rr.com
www.globalnonviolence.org

"No More Killing!"
"Everyone can be A Center for Global Nonviolence"

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Texte zusammengestellt von Matthias Reichl 1. Sept. 2002
 	Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
          Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr.26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,  fon/fax: +43 6132 24590
                        http://www.begegnungszentrum.at

**************************************************************************

Maria Reichl
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Wolfgangerstr. 26
A-4820 Bad Ischl