The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) officers led by Danilo Ramos, APC Secretary General and P. Chennaiah, APC Deputy Secretary General joined the successful Our Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) Global Meeting (OGM) in Cape Town, South Africa from May 11 to 14, 2009.
The first day focused on an analysis of the global crises from global, regional and sectoral perspectives. Farmers, trade unionists, women, as well as regional and global focused experts, explained the vast consequences of these crises and discussed the impacts on trade and trade policy, as well as pointing to opportunities for strategic intervention. Whether the global crises now leads to a re-organization of the global economic rules, or an expansion of the same model, depends in large part in how successful we are in stopping its expansion, rolling-back existing harmful policies and institutions, and coming up with viable alternatives (including building up the political power necessary to implement our alternatives).
The second day focused on the development of strategies within the thematic working groups in the context of the crisis. The working groups focused on the World Trade Organization (WTO) which means elaboration of new strategies to go on the offense and demand a roll-back of existing WTO constraints, as well as the continuation of our ongoing capacity-building and pressure campaigns to prevent WTO expansion. The structure allowed the working groups, including those looking at trade & climate change, bilaterals/regional agreements, and transnational corporations; time to present their work and approaches, and gather feedback within breakout groups and in plenary.
The third day allowed for continuing strategic development amongst the working groups; in the afternoon focused on how OWINFS can more deliberately contribute to the struggle towards real alternatives to the neo-liberal trade agenda. The final day of the OGM, brought all this work together into a calendar of key events which targeted the upcoming G20 Summit, the upcoming WTO mini-Ministerial, and the Copenhagen 15 climate talks. With these key events in mind, OWINFS developed a detailed strategy for the next seven months that includes work on services, agriculture, NAMA/industrialization & employment, bilateral and regional agreements, transnational corporations, trade & climate change, trade & the crises, and Alternatives. #