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The Alliance in Motion
Alliance Partners in North America join in
the 2000-2001 Assembly for a Responsible, Plural and United World
The Alliance's invitation has sparked the interest of a number of allies in North America, inspiring them to reflect upon and identify the major issues of this new millennium. These issues will determine both the content and the framework for the geo-cultural project in North America for 2001.
North America as a geo-cultural region is already complex on its own. Yet, now more than ever, the dynamics in this region are linked to those in the Americas as a whole. The projects put forward by various public and private demands make it necessary to reflect on the integration of the Americas, which is already underway.
Already, in the context of the Americas Summit (which will take place in Quebec city, Canada, in April 2001), an intercontinental alliance of several civil society groups has been formed in order to express their dissidence with regards to the proposed model of integration and the way in which changes are decided. North American allies wish to contribute to the reflections undertaken and expressed by the Continental Social Alliance in the document, Alternatives for the Americas (see below).
Two main themes run through our current reflections. The first is with regards to the specificity of the Americas : that of being qualified as a "new world", with all that this conjures up in the imagination and in concrete terms. In fact, expressed more concretely, the conquest of "American" territories by Europeans brought about a "genocide" on the one hand, while on the other hand inspiring dreams that gave birth to new societies which, over time, acquired the characteristics of societies that are clearly defined and identifiable throughout the world.
The second theme in our reflection refers to the spirit of renewal which is currently germinating in the soil of civil society and Aboriginal communities. In a less obvious way, but in a manner just as strong as the dynamics to which we refer when we speak of globalisation, this renewal touches upon the many dimensions of daily life (economic, social, political, environmental, relational, and spiritual). It must also therefore be at the centre of the reflection on the future of the Americas.
This situation offers a stimulating context with which to enrich the reflections undertaken by various workshops of the Alliance and to develop practices of inter-American solidarity in view of creating a responsible, plural and united world. We therefore hope to bring a continental dimension to our activities by holding an inter-American meeting of allies, as well as having projects that are specific to North America.
The complexity of current political and economic dynamics and the rise of a new way of thinking which promotes true alternatives for the 21st century make it necessary for profound exchanges between allies and partners in the Americas to take place. We have prepared a programme of meetings and exploration, in order to put in place the foundation which will be necessary for this initiative to succeed. The details of this programme will be more clearly outlined over the course of this summer.
Montreal team, geo-cultural project (June 2000)
Contact: Claire Sabourin (sabourin.claire@uqam.ca), Martin Mujica (mujica@nbnet.nb.ca), Isabel Faubert-Mailloux (ydonnahue@total.net)
and Cécile Sabourin (Cecile.Sabourin@uqat.uquebec.ca)
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Alternatives for the Americas
(Quebec - April 2001)
In April 2001, a Summit of Heads of State of the Americas will take place in Quebec City, as part of a project called "Initiatives for the Americas". Initiated in Miami in 1994, this project has as its aim the establishment of a free trade zone for the Americas, and increased integration of the two continents.
While negotiations involve the ministers of commerce of 34 of the 35 countries in the Americas (excluding Cuba), The Organisation of American States, The Inter-American Development Bank, The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and The American Business Forum - to whom the heads of state have officially given a consulting role - they have taken place in a very non-transparent climate, far from the citizens of the countries involved.
In order to bring this crucial question into the public realm for debate, five national coalitions [Alliance for Responsible Trade (United States), Red Mexicana de Accion frente al Libre Comercio (Mexico), Common Frontiers (Canada), Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale (Québec) and Red Chile por una Iniciativa de los Pueblos (Chili)] have joined together with several unions to create the Social Continental Alliance.
Aware of the negative effects of globalisation, the increase in poverty and the violation of human rights, but also as a result of the failure of the opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Social Continental Alliance has decided to work on an alternative approach to the project of integrating the Americas. This includes popular, sustainable, social alternatives, prepared as part of the People's Summit of the Americas which took place in Santiago alongside the Heads of State Summit in 1998. These first papers, which were circulated in the document entitled "Alternatives for the Americas - towards an agreement between the peoples of the continent", touch on those themes which were neglected or ignored during the official negotiations.
Along with numerous other organisations in Latin and North America and several partners of the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World in Canada, Ecuador, Brazil and Uruguay, the Social Continental Alliance plans to organise a counter-summit for April of 2001 in Quebec City, with the secretariat at Alternatives, a network of action and communication for international development.
Contact: Alternatives
3720 Park Avenue #300, Montreal (Quebec), Canada H2X 2J1
Tel: (1.514) 982-6606; Fax: (1.514) 982-6122
E-mail: alternatives@alternatives-action.org; Website: www.alternatives.ca
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| American Allies' Dream
Two weeks ago, I met with two of my ally friends, Farida and Sterling. As we sat down around a table we began to dream of what the 2001 Alliance event in North America could be.
Convinced that art was the ideal means of communication, I suddenly imagined a troop, part actors of theatre, part storytellers travelling and stopping along the way to present their show and listen to their audiences in order to enrich their play through the contacts they make on the tour. This troop could take the opposite way of colonization and the consumerist, individualist and néo-liberal society. It could leave from Seattle and go to New York, to the statue of liberty, to say "bye bye" to the American myth.
But Farida, being pragmatic, gently brings me back to earth: it is a matter of touching the most people possible and with very few financial resources. Here, almost everyone owns a VCR (video cassette recorder) and likes to spend their evenings watching videos, especially in the winter, when snowstorms prevent us from even sticking our noses outside.
Why not replace our theatre troop with a video camera! The camera would show the allies and their friends in their daily activities; speak with them about their dreams for the future of the planet and the ways of fulfilling those dreams. At the same time, the camera would show them other allies, in order to build a dialogue. Some correspondents, spread across the territory, would play the role of conductors in this continental concert. The camera would make it possible to show the incredible diversity of the Alliance, it could easily travel through this immense continent and reach a great number of those who have never heard about the Alliance. Without preset content, it would make it possible to widely spread the allies' message for the future of humanity.
This project fills us with enthusiasm as much because of its ability to open up towards the various allied groups, as for its flexibility and its modularity. One could watch these videos on an Internet site, just as they could read the accompanying texts. Yves, a correspondent from Victoria, has already shared his enthusiasm for this project with me and has discussed the possibility of collaborating with a Community radio station in its development. It would be possible for him to contribute to diffusing the audio messages to the entire North-American continent, and with the assistance of his daughter Anne Catherine, to reach the radio listeners on the Latin-American continent. Whatever the extent that this project takes, I am looking forward to seeing the films and to you seeing them (or hearing them).
Jean Bernard Addor (Montreal) with the complicity of Farida and Yves
Contact E-mail: Jean-Bernard.ADDOR@crossworld.echo.org
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