IFG and Allies Look
Back to Seattle and Forward to Copenhagen
On Monday, November
23rd, 2009, IFG organized a public evening at the First
Unitarian Universalist Center in San Francisco. The forum's
speakers reflected back on the 10th anniversary of the
historic WTO shutdown in Seattle, Washington, in November
1999, and looked forward to the growing peoples' movement
on climate justice about to converge in December of this
year in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event featured activists
involved in organizing around the connections between
them both through local actions taking place across the
US on November 30th and December 7th.
Entitled "From Seattle
to Copenhagen," the San Francisco event drew 200
participants who entered into dialogue with 10 speakers:
Jerry Mander, Victor Menotti, and Claire Greensfelder
from IFG Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Paul Hawken,
David Solnit, and Rebecca Solnit, local author-activists,
Jia Ching Chen, youth-of-color organizer, Kevin Danaher,
Global Exchange and Tim Robertson, California Fair
Trade Coalition.
Click for more information
on Climate Justice Actions in November and December 2009.
The
evening opened with a wonderful video of "Seattle
Flashbacks" - 17 minutes of excerpts from Shaya
Mercer's excellent documentary on the landmark WTO meeting.
The video includes historic speeches and clips from the
famous IFG Teach-In at Benaroya Hall on November 26th
and 27th, 1999 - words that are still totally relevant
today.
Derailing Doha And The Pathway To A New Paradigm (read
the pdf) -By Victor Menotti
From Seattle to
Copenhagen (audio)
Click the play button to start/pause
"IFG's Claire
Greensfelder & Ben Margolis of Global Campaign
for Climate Action Preview Copenhagen Climate Talks" -
KPFA Morning Show: 19 Nov 09 (listen
to the show online)
IFG supports call for
indigenous rights in Brazil. Xavante people are on the frontline
of soy expansion into Amazonia, and defending their land
rights is a global imperative for protecting human rights
and countering climate change. Read
more...
Small islands of forest
dot the landscape of farms and ranches, fulfilling
regulations to maintain percentages of native
forest on agricultural properties. Driven by
profits derived from fertile soil, the region's
dense forests have been aggressively cleared
over the past decade, and Mato Grosso is now
Brazil's leading producer of soy, corn and cattle,
exported across the globe by multinational companies.
Environmentalists
hope UN talks tough on climate change - CNN.com
Source: edition.cnn.com
You're probably not thinking about what you
would like for Christmas yet. But ask any environmentalist
for their ideal gift and you'll get a version of this answer:
a binding agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen this December that is strong enough to match the
science.
The Honorable Hillary R. Clinton
Secretary of State
2201 C Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20520
Simon Maina/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images
Dear Secretary Clinton,
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals,
write to express our appreciation for your upcoming visit
to Africa. As social justice advocates, we are anxious that
the broad vision outlined by President Obama in Ghana be
translated into concrete and specific policies, and programs.
As a first step in facilitating this, we highlight
several of the President's Accra pronouncements and register
our policy expectations.
"WE MUST SUPPORT STRONG AND SUSTAINABLE
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS." To foster democracy across
Africa, we must invest in comprehensive, multilateral solutions,
creating a stronger foundation for a mutually beneficial
relationship. As President Obama noted, these solutions must
be African-led. Success means that we are "partners
in building the capacity for transformational change," not "a
source of perpetual aid that helps people scrape by."
In the spirit of mutual respect, the U.S. should:
A) contribute its fair share to multilateral agencies; B)
recommit to the universally agreed-upon Millennium Development
Goals, C) integrate U.S. funded development programs into
regional and bilateral cooperation frameworks, and D) ensure
that U.S. policy toward Africa is transparent and accessible
to civil society and policy analysts around the globe.
"WE MUST SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT THAT PROVIDES
OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE PEOPLE." President Obama recognized
that progress requires a multilateral approach, and that
America can, and should, do more. We urge the administration
to reform structures for economic recovery to reflect interdependence
and cooperation rather than blind reliance on market forces.
Mobilization for Climate
Justice - The Battle Against Chevron
It's difficult for me to express how excited
I was when I read several minutes ago that on July 2nd, 2009,
a county judge ordered Chevron to halt construction on the
expansion of its Richmond oil refinery.
IFG Executive Director,
Victor Menotti, and Board Member, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz,
in The Guardian
"We
are fighting for our lives and our dignity" Amazonwatch.org
Across the globe, as mining and oil firms race
for dwindling resources, indigenous peoples are battling
to defend their lands – often paying the ultimate price...
Shell
to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case Reuters
June 8, 2009, NYTimes.com: Royal Dutch Shell,
the big oil company, agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle
a case accusing it of taking part in human rights abuses in
the Niger Delta in the early 1990s, a striking sum given that
the company has denied any wrongdoing.
Oil
Industry Braces for Trial on Rights Abuses Charles Miller/Associated
Press
May 21, 2009, NYTimes.com: Royal Dutch Shell will face
charges of
crimes against humanity in connection with Nigerian activists'
deaths.
Hundreds Killed; Thousands
at Risk in Niger Delta
Civil Society Groups call for Immediate Ceasefire
May 21, 2009, Washington, DC: On the eighth
day of full-scale military assault in Nigeria's Niger Delta,
civil society groups around the United States are urging
lawmakers and the Obama Administration to intervene and bring
a halt to the violence and allowing humanitarian supplies
to be brought into the region.
The New Zealand Government
says it may endorse the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Justice Minister Simon
Power said that Prime Minister John Key is keen to review
the declaration, as long as New Zealand's current framework
for indigenous rights cannot be compromised.
Obama Urged to Sign Native Rights
Declaration By Haider Rizvi, May 2009
UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (IPS) -
The United States is considering whether to endorse a
major U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for the
recognition of the rights of the world's 370 million
indigenous peoples over their lands and resources. (Read
Story by IPS)
Shell
Guilty Campaign
Shell must come clean:
* Stop gas flaring in Nigeria, a practice devastating to
the environment and human health, and a significant contributor
to global warming.
* Disclose its role in the abuses committed against the Ogoni
people in Nigeria, including the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa
and the Ogoni 9.
Maude Barlow,
IFG Board Member, Addresses the UN on Water and Human Rights,
April 22, 2009
Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow
will make her first address to the United Nations General
Assembly on the morning of April 22 to support the Bolivian
call for an annual “International Mother Earth Day” celebration.
Her speech will be a call to action to implement the human
right to water. According to Barlow, this means the world
will have to abandon the “hard path” of large-scale
technology -dams, diversion and desalination - in favor of
the “soft path” of conservation, rainwater and
storm water harvesting, recycling, alternative energy use,
municipal infrastructure investment and local, sustainable
food production.
Barlow’s speech comes at a time when the quest for
a formal right to water instrument is gathering strength
both at the UN and within countries. She is hopeful that
it is only a matter of time before the “blue covenant” she
will call for in her speech will be a reality. “The
problem is that we humans have seen the Earth and its water
resources as something that exists for our benefit and economic
advancement rather than as a living ecological system that
needs to be safeguarded if it is to survive,” Barlow
will say in her remarks. “The human water footprint
surpasses all others and endangers life on Earth itself.”
Barlow, who was appointed last year as Senior Advisor on
Water to the President of the UN General Assembly, will also
participate in an afternoon program with Bolivian President
Evo Morales, Brazilian writer-theologian Leonardo Boff, and
UN President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. Barlow will
also be briefing more than 35 countries and meeting with
key UN agencies on this visit as part of her ongoing commitment
to the human right to water.
“Water must be seen as a commons that belongs to the Earth and all species
alike. It must be declared a public trust that belongs to the people, the ecosystem
and the future and preserved for all time and practice in law. Clean water
must be delivered as a public service, not a profitable commodity,” Barlow
is to say. “We need to assert once and for all that access to clean,
affordable water is a fundamental human right that must be codified in nation-state
law and as a full covenant at the United Nations.”
“Watersheds must be protected from plunder and we must revitalize wounded
water systems with widespread watershed restoration programs. Simply put, we
must leave enough water in aquifers, rivers and lakes for their ecological
health. This must be the priority: the precautionary principle of ecosystem
protection must take precedence over commercial demands on these waters,” Barlow
will urge.
Book now available now at Amazon.com ..............................................................
BOOK SUMMARY:
Bay Area author Jerry Mander, director
of the International Forum on Globalization, joins
with Hawaii activist and film-maker Koohan Paik, for
this riveting report on the successful local uprising
in Hawaii against a corrupt global corporate-military
scheme with devastating environmental impacts. Partly
investigative journalism, partly cultural-political
history of militarization in the Pacific, partly an
account of an inspiring popular resistance, the book
is a searing indictment of a project illegally pushed
by Republican governor Linda Lingle in support of powerful
right wing NY military financier, John Lehman, whose
company owns and operates the gigantic catamaran. A
prominent neocon, former Navy Secretary under
Ronald Reagan, public advocate of "winnable nuclear
war," Lehman and his colleagues promoted the Superferry
as a neighborly inter-island transport service, but
the project clearly seems to have far more to do with
U.S. military aspirations in the Pacific. The local
heroes are the people of Kauai, led by surfers into
a spectacular demonstration of mass opposition, leaping
into the waters to block the environmentally disastrous
juggernaut. Critic Gar Smith: "This is great,
it’s like Battle of Seattle meets Baywatch."
“Dive into a story of almost
allegoric proportions. Let it embolden you to stand
up for our Earth, its beauty and its creatures, including
ourselves.”
---Frances Moore Lappe, author Diet
for a Small Planet and Hope’s Edge
“The idea of boats to connect
the Hawaiian Islands is so natural and lovely that
it makes one doubly mad to read how in this case
it’s been perverted into yet one more sad scheme
for our paranoid future. Good for you—people
of Hawaii—who’ve raised the alarm, and
to these authors for pulling back the curtain.” ---Bill McKibben, author Deep
Economy
"I applaud the authors for
bringing the voices of the grassroots to the foreground.
The people make history, and the people of Kaua’I
have made us proud. Kauli’i makou, nui ke aloha
no ka ‘aina. (‘We are small in numbers,
but our love for our land is great.’)"
---Ikaika Hussey, Publisher, The
Hawaii Independent
“In every era, simple events
become symbols of greater forces that shape
human history. The “Superferry Chronicles” brings
one such moment alive. This book captures the spirit
of that defining event and reveals the corporate
manipulation, political bullying, corruption, and
deceit that lay behind the Hawaii Superferry.” ----Lucienne de Naie,
Chair, Sierra Club Hawaii
"(The authors) offer the
world a wide interpretation of indigenous sensibility.
We in Hawaii are grateful and stand ready for more
effective collaboration. It’s time to save
this planet! I mua ka lahui o Hawaii-nui-akua. (‘Let
us all move forward, all people of the world.’)"
---Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer, Hawaiian
practitioner and educator
Jerry Mander is director of the International
Forum on Globalization, and author of the best sellers: Four
Arguments for the Elimination of Television, In the
Absence of the Sacred, and the Case Against
the Global Economy. The New York Times has called
Mander, "The patriarch of the anti-globalization
movement."
Co-author Koohan Paik, is an award-winning
Hawaii filmmaker and social and environmental activist.
Her most recent films include the feature length re-enactment
of the life of the most famous Hawaiian resistance
leader of the 1800s, The True Story of Kaluaikoolau," as
well as very popular YouTube videos including, "Greensumption" and "Discover
Kauai."
2008 News
REPORTS FROM
POZNAN
300+ NGOs Say No to Mickey Mouse Climate
Solutions Poznan, Poland.
Three dozen environmental leaders from 16 countries braved
icy cold weather on Wednesday morning in front of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Meeting in Poznan, Poland
where they called nuclear power “a Mickey Mouse solution” to
climate change. The activists were carrying banners and posters
with lively slogans including “Don’t Nuke the
Climate,” “No Nuclear Power in The Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM)” and “Nuclear Power, No Thanks!”
Most were wearing t-shirts with the familiar “Mickey
Mouse ears” emblazoned with the radiation symbol. The activists,
representing non-governmental organizations from nearby European
countries and from as far away as Taiwan, South Korea, Kyrgystan,
Tajikistan and California, announced the release of a global call
for the elimination of proposals to include nuclear power as an
approved investment for greenhouse gas mitigation in the 2nd commitment
period of the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC.
In only one week, over 300 NGOs representing
millions of individuals from 50 countries in every corner of the
planet signed on to the public appeal to keep the nuclear power
option out of the climate talks.
Spokespeople from the four organizers of today’s
action made their case throughout the morning by talking one-on-one
to hundreds of government delegates and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) as they entered the conference site for morning sessions.
Speaking to the press, Sabine Bock, coordinator
of energy and climate protection for Women in Europe for a Common
Future (WECF) said: “Nuclear energy has proven
in the past that it is a threat not only to our health and the
environment, but also to human rights.”
“In our work at WECF with local communities,” Bock
continued, “we have encountered severe health
problems and human rights abuses of populations due to the harmful
effects of nuclear energy and radiation.” Bock
added: “We can’t understand why governments
still promote this dangerous technology rather than taking the
opportunity to develop safe and sustainable new, renewable, and
clean energy solutions.”
Jan Van de Putte, Nuclear Campaign Coordinator
for Greenpeace described nuclear power as an obstacle
to effective climate protection saying that money invested in
nuclear power is not nearly as effective as money invested in
wind power, for example.”
“Nuclear power is a dangerous and dirty
energy source – it provides too little energy for mitigation
at too slow a pace and at too great a cost.” Van
de Putte continued, “the cost per Kwh of nuclear
power is double that of wind energy. It just doesn’t make
sense to pursue this outdated energy source.”
Vladimir Slivyak, Co-Chair of Ecodefense
Russia called upon his national government as well as
other delegations, to stop promoting nuclear power into the Kyoto
Protocol via provisions for Joint Implementation and the Clean
Development Mechanism. “78 % of Russians are opposed
to nuclear power,” Slivyak said. “We demand that
the Russian delegation stop any plans to develop new nuclear
plants.” “We further call on all governments to
stop new nuclear development.”
Claire Greensfelder, Deputy Director
of the International Forum on Globalization of San Francisco,
California, said: “Despite year after year of
rejection by the state parties to the Convention, the nuclear
industry (and a small group of states) continues to promote the
economic and public health disaster of nuclear power.” Greensfelder
continued: “We also have grave concerns about
the health and environmental impacts of increased uranium mining,
milling and nuclear waste storage, much of which is on indigenous
peoples’ lands, many of whom are opposed to continued nuclear
development.” “Indigenous peoples’ right to
free prior and informed consent of development on their lands,
as established by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, (passed in the UN General Assembly in September 2007),
must be taken into consideration.”
Holding a colorful homemade banner proclaiming “No
Fishy Nukes!,”, Gloria Hsu, Chair, of the Taiwan
Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) said: “Using
nuclear power for CO2 reduction is the same as drinking some poison
to quench your thirst.”
“We have managed thus far to keep nuclear
power out of the Kyoto Protocol,” said Peer de Rijk,
executive director of World Information Service on Energy (WISE) speaking
from Amsterdam. “We will continue to do whatever we can
to achieve the same for a much-needed post Kyoto agreement. Nuclear
energy is a deadlock, blocking real solutions. Don’t nuke
the climate!
Over
160 Citizen Groups from Dozens of Countries Endorse UN Global
Climate Fund: International Call for Fund Outside World Bank
Press Event: Thursday, December 11 at 11:30am (Poznan
time, GMT+1)
Main Press Conference Room, Hall 8 A – 1st Floor
UN Climate Talks in Poznan, Poland
(POZNAN) - On Thursday, December
11, over 160 citizen groups from dozens of countries are releasing
a statement that
calls for the establishment of a major new Global Climate Fund
under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). These groups argue that such a fund would be a vital
component of any new global climate agreement that involves the
large-scale transfer of financial resources from rich to poorer
countries in order to help these nations reduce the emissions that
cause global climate change.
Signing on from dozens of countries on every
continent, these groups include a number of leading environmental,
indigenous, climate justice, debt justice, development and other
organizations, including Oxfam International, ActionAid, Friends
of the Earth International, Third World Network, the International
Forum on Globalization, and the Institute for Policy Studies. (The
full list of signatories is available
online.)
This citizen statement builds upon a proposal
made earlier this year by the Group of 77 developing nations and
China that such a new fund be created, and that World Bank climate
finance funds not be counted towards industrialized country governments’ obligations
in any existing or new global climate agreement. The statement
offers principles to guide the establishment of the new fund in
ways that take advantage of the dynamism that citizen groups can
bring toward solving the climate challenge.
"Social movements and poorer nations have
responded to the climate crisis with a global blueprint for a just
solution,” Says Victor Menotti, Deputy Director of the International
Forum on Globalization. “The challenge now is to build enormous
momentum over this next year to make history happen at the UNFCCC
meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009."
"Hundreds of billions of dollars will need
to be channeled to the poorest and hardest hit regions of the world
as the world's climate careens more out of balance,” said
Daphne Wysham, a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. “This
statement, endorsed by organizations representing millions of people
around the world, recognizes that existing institutions are not
up to the task while calling on the UN to ensure the creation of
an institution that is democratic, transparent and accountable
to those who will need its resources most.”
Poznan, Poland. Over 160 Citizen Groups from
Dozens of Countries Endorse UN Global Climate Fund: International
Call for Fund Outside World Bank, Dec 11, 2008pdf
Global Climate Fund Statement and Signatures, December
2008pdf
For more information:
Victor Menotti, International Forum on Globalization
vmenotti@ifg.org, +1-415-351-8065 (www.ifg.org) (In Pozna? until
Dec. 13)
Janet Redman, Institute for Policy Studies
janet@ips-dc.org, 48-665-703-989 (www.ips-dc.org) (In Pozna? until
Dec. 11)
Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies
daphne@ips-dc.org, 202-510-3541 (In Washington, D.C.)
Call
for a New Global Climate Fund
Dear Friends,
On December 1st UN negotiations
on a new climate deal began in Poznan, Poland. A wide range of
civil society groups are there pushing government officials, delegates
from international institutions and business representatives to
take climate justice seriously.
Heeding the call for bold visions
of practical alternatives to business as usual, a broad set of
groups from the South and North - including the International Forum
on Globalization, Jubilee South, the Institute for Policy Studies,
ActionAid, the Third World Network, Institute for Public Policy
Research, EcoEquity, Oil Change International, Vitae Civilis Institute
for Development, Environment and Peace, and others - drafted the
following statement calling for a new Global Climate Fund.
We invite you to add your group's
name to the call for a new Global Climate Fund that is democratic,
transparent and accountable to all, especially those most affected
by climate change.
To sign on to the Global Climate
Fund, visit www.choike.org.
We plan to present the statement to representatives of the Group
of 77 developing countries during the second week of the climate
negotiations, and use it to begin a global conversation on the
new institutions needed to fight the climate crisis.
We urge you to widely circulate
this statement to your friends, colleagues and networks and encourage
them to add their voices to the call for climate justice.
The Washington Post. Jeter,
Jon. "Summit Delegates Consult The South African Example; Country
Is Emblem of Success, Failure in Globalization Debate." August,
29 2002.
The Washington Post. Jeter,
Jon. "Rich, Poor Further Apart as Earth Summit Nears." August
25, 2002.
The Washington Post. Jeter,
Jon. "Divergent Agendas at Summit." August 27, 2002.
Associated Press. Vales,
Colleen. "Environmentalists Blat Bush on eve of Earth Summit."August
14, 2002.
Poznan, Poland. Over 160 Citizen Groups from Dozens
of Countries
Endorse UN Global Climate Fund:
International Call for Fund Outside World Bank, Dec 11, 2008pdf
Global Climate Fund Statement and Signatures, December
2008pdf
New
Scientific Report to be Released at Washington, DC Teach-In
Challenges Industrial Biofuels as Greenhouse Gas Solution, September
14, 2007pdf
International
Coalition of NGOs Calls for Adoption of the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, August 29, 2007pdf
FIRST WASHINGTON,
DC PUBLIC TEACH-IN ON GLOBAL TRIPLE CRISIS, August
21, 2007pdf
The
Rise and Predictable Fall of Globalized Industrial Agriculture (download
the report), April 18, 2007 pdf
China
Copes with Globalization: A Mixed Review, December
9, 2005 pdf
(Read
the Executive
Summary and Introduction pdf)
Five-Years
After the "Battle of Seattle," Preeminent Global Scholars
Present Real Alternatives to Economic Globalization and
Declare A Better World is Possible! November 16,
2004link
DOWNLOAD
THE ALTERNATIVES TO ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION: A BETTER
WORLD IS POSSIBLE (2nd edition, October 2004)
PRESS RELEASE FROM PUBLISHER BERRETT-KOEHLER pdf
Media Packets From
Past Events
Alternatives
to Globalization and the World Trade Organization 9-14
September 2003, Cancun, Mexico link
World
Summit on Sustainable Development, August 24 - September
4 2002; Johannesburg, South Africa pdf
USDA
Conference on Science, Technology
& Ecology, June 23-25, 2003; Sacramento, CA link
"We
are fighting for our lives and our dignity"
