Around 450 representatives of peoples' movements from the South and the East participated in May and June 1999 in a programme of actions, meetings and demonstrations called "Inter-Continental Caravan for Solidarity and Resistance". This programme, arranged by a large network of grassroots groups in Europe, took the participants of the caravan to a total of 10 countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and culminated in the protests against the heads of state of the most industrialised countries of the world.

Although the largest chunk of the caravan participants represented Indian peoples' movements (farmers' organisations, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, etc. which were the ones that proposed the project in mid-98), there were also representatives of the landless farmers' movement in Brazil, the Zapatistas in Chiapas (Mexico), the organisation of landless labourers from Bangladesh, the indigenous peoples of Chile, the Afro-American Network, human rights organisations from Nepal, environmental organisations in Ukraine, anti-nuclear organisations from Pakistan, etc.

The actions taken by the caravan included demonstrations in front of the headquarters of multinational corporations such as Novartis, Monsanto, Cargill, Nestle and others, at institutions such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the NATO, the FAO and the European Central Bank, and at events such as the summit of the European Union. Some direct actions, such as the destruction of two fields of genetically modified crops and one biotechnology laboratory in collaboration with the French Peasants' Confederation, or the painting Novartis' building in Barcelona along with a wide range of social and ecological organisations, have also been in the programme of the caravan.

The Caravan reached Cologne on 16th June 1999 to hold protests against the World Economic Summit, also known as G7/G8 Summit. The organisations represented in the caravan rose their voice against the plans of the industrial nations to continue pushing for trade and investment treaties that are designed to benefit transnational capital at the expense of people and nature. They specifically opposed any attempts to start a new round of negotiations within the World Trade Organisation, a plan proposed by the European Union and endorsed by the USA and Japan. They also rejected and opposed the very concept of Third World debt, called for a ban on the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture and denounced militarism and the nuclear industry in the North and the South.

The caravan took place in the framework of the worldwide network PGA - Peoples' Global Action against 'Free' Trade and the WTO (E-mail: pga@agp.org ; website: www.agp.org).

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The Common statement on global and democratic sovereign institutions and invitation to participate can be obtained from:

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"We the Delegates Council and participants of the Millenium Peoples Assembly* at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference, hereby establish the Permanent Global People's Assembly, to be based upon a growing network of local and regional assemblies. We resolve that this preparatory People's Assembly shall meet [...] as the First Global Millenium Peoples Assembly (GPA) in Apia, Samoa from April 3-7, in the year 2000.

We hereby invite civil society and the peoples of the world to join us in inaugural session to explore the issues and options for the Global People's Assembly and Youth Assemblies on-going nature and to draft and forward to all peoples and governments of the world our people's Agenda for the 21st Century.

[...] Each region and participating organisation is to select their own representatives, preferably including both man and woman to head their delegation. [...]

The Global People's Assembly welcomes and is prepared to include A Youth Assembly which is being organised by children and youth from around the world, and will continue to work with and support initiatives to establish such a body. G.P.A. welcomes the establishment of local and regional People's Assemblies all around the world and will accept them into the People's Assembly Network as long as they are based upon the principles of open representative participation; subsidiarity, transparency, integrity; etc. and no delegate shall act on behalf of either a government entity or their own organisational interest, but rather always in response to and on behalf of the common good. Commissions are to be established which will respond to and act upon the thematic issue areas of: Peace and Global Disarmament; Rights, Ethics, and Human Responsibilities; Global Governance and Democratic Rule of Law; Economic and Social Justice; Environment."

The first Global People’s Assembly is to be held in Samoa on April 3-7, 2000. It targets to welcome between 150 to 300 Delegations (consisting of 3 to 5 persons) from different countries and territories of the world.

adopted at the Hague on May 15, 1999

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