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Updated October 25, 2002
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(QUITO, ECUADOR) -- Two months before the Americas Business Forum and the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), preparations for the "reception" of those who are laying the foundation for the second colonization of the Americas are gathering force. Bit by bit, grassroots organizations, collectives, and networks from Quito and across the country are elaborating plans, from counter-summits and forums to actions in the streets.
The mobilizations actually began months ago, with the formation of various anti-FTAA spaces, among them the National Campaign Against the FTAA, the World Social Forum - Ecuador Chapter, RADAK, and a coalition formed by the FENOCIN (see below for more info). In preparation for the actions, dozens of forums, workshops, and meetings have been organized across the country. Between the 13th and 14th of September, this process will accelerate with the Second National Convention Against the FTAA, in the city of Cuenca.
For its part, the Indymedia Ecuador collective plans to add its grain of rice from here forward with permanent coverage and analysis of the preparations, the difficulties that the various campaigns encounter, and general information on October and November. How do we plan to do it? By being the media ourselves, by being Indymedia, every one of us.
To begin, we present various documents we hope will help explain the state of the mobilizations. We have included:
- a list of organizations in the mobilization and their plans
- a timeline (we hope everyone will help us fill in whatever is missing!)
- a brief summary of the international context, including mobilizations around the world
¡ALCA No Pasara! ¡The FTAA will never be!
/a>The Organizations The Caravans
La FENOCIN, la CONAIE, la CONFEUNASSC (entre otras) están preparando tres marchas, las cuales llevarán gente desde la frontera peruana y la colombiana hasta Quito.
El recorrido comenzará en Loja el 23 de octubre(10am parque central) y pasará por Saraguro (24 de octubre), Cuenca (25 de octubre),Tambo (26 de octubre), Riobamba (27 de octubre), Salcedo (28 de octubre), Latacunga - con ceremonia indígena (29 de octubre)y, Guamaní/Quito (30 de octubre).
La segunda marcha saldrá el 27 de octubre, 10am desde el puente de Rumichaca en la frontera colombo-ecuatoriana.
La tercera marcha, saldrá el 28 de octubre de la ciudad amazónica de Tena. Las personas que quieren participar en una marcha tendrá el apoyo logístico hasta la llegada a Quito, el 30 de octubre.
International Context of the MobilizationSeptember, October, and November will see various actions of global character, including:
- Direct action against the FTAA in Quito, October 31 and November 1;
- Actions against the NATO summit that will take place November 21 and 22 (groups in Prague suffered greatly after the actions against the World Bank and the IMF, and prefer that these actions remain decentralized);
- Actions against the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington, DC, on September 29;
- Decentralized actions against the International Organization of Migration (IOM), the U.N. agency charged with "regulating" flows of migration in order to meet the needs of of global capitalism, promoting entry restrictions, deportations, control and classification of human beings as "desireable" or "disposable" (the main actions have been called for October 10 and 11 but this could change, and firm dates will be set soon);
- Decentralized actions around the globe for Media Democracy Day (October 17), in opposition to global monopolies of disinformation and in favor of the diversity of alternative media;
- The hearing against Coca Cola in Brussels (October 10), which is part of the international campaign to bring Coca Cola to justice for its support of paramilitary groups in Colombia;
- The end of the Caravan of Refugees and Immigrants in Germany on September 21 (the biggest ever mobilization of self-organized immigrant organizations that country has ever seen);
- A campesinos´ and workers´ strike planned for September 16 in Colombia;
All these mobilizations share a vision that is anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-militarist, and pro-freedom of movement and of communication.
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