ASIA PACIFIC PEOPLES' SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE
"Fighting Neo-Liberalism in the Asia-Pacific."
Jakarta, Indonesia
7-10 June, 2001
Come
to Jakarta in June 2001!
Join
the struggle to globalise resistance to the neo-liberal offensive!
The
conference will be held on June 7-10, 2001 and will be conducted bythe Indonesian Centre for Reform and Social Emancipation (INCREASE). The
conference will be held in the city of Jakarta. From inside Indonesia, the
conference supported by the affiliates of INCREASE, namely People’s
Democratic Party (PRD-Indonesia), the National Student League for Democracy (Liga
Mahasiswa Nasional untuk Demokrasi, LMND), the National Peasant Union (Serikat
Tani Nasional, STN), the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (Front
Nasional Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, FNPBI), the People's Cultural Network (Jaringan
Kerja Kebudayaan Rakyat, JAKKER), the People's Youth Movement (Gerakan Pemuda
Kerakyatan, GPK), and the People's Legal Aid Foundation (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum
Rakyat, LBHR).
Aims of the
Conference
INCREASE
sees the conference as having several complimentary aims.
First,
INCREASE intends the conference to raise awareness within Indonesia about the
nature and role of neo-liberal ecnomic policies, as well as the role of the
international financial institutions - such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) - in forcing neo-liberal
policies upon the peoples of the Third World in general and Indonesia, in
particular. In this context INCREASE hopes the conference will provide a forum
whereby Indonesian organisations waging campaigns to improve the welfare and
empowerment of the people can come to see their campaigns as linked to the
generalised fight against neo-liberalism.
Second,
INCREASE hopes that the discussion among Indonesian organisations, intellectuals
and activists at the conference as well as between the Indonesian participants
and overseas participants will help advance the process of the progressive
movement in Indonesia being able to develop its own alternatives to the IMF
prescribed neoliberal strategy being enforced at the moment.
Third,
INCREASE wished the conference to also function as a vehicle for deepening the
cooperation between progressive forces in the Asia Pacific region. Where
feasible we also hope that it can help develop cooperation between the Asia
Pacific and other major areas, such as Europe, North America and Latin America.
At the moment, we have commitments from partner movements in South Korea, the
Philippines, Pakistan, East Timor and Australia that they will attend and speak
at the conference. We also have confirmations of attendance from activists in
the United States and the Netherlands. We expect further confirmations in the
next few months. INCREASE hopes that concrete measures to deepen and concretise
cooperation will develop out of the conference.
Fourth,
INCREASE wishes to introduce the international participants to the struggle for
reform and social empowerment, for fundamental social change, in Indonesia. In
addition, to panels and workshops on a range themes relevant to the general
analysis and struggle against neoliberalism, there will also be many panels and
workshops that will relate these issues to Indonesia. There will be speakers
from all sectors of society and from the progressive political parties and
currents in Indonesia. We intend that some of the affiliates sectoral
organisations of INCREASE will organise 7-10 exposure programmes in their areas
of activity immediately after the conference.
Conference
themes
Some of the specific themes of the
conference will include:
·The nature of the current crisis in liberalism
·Why is neo-liberalism the capitalists current preferred solution
·The nature of the international financial institutions
·Relations between (a) Europe and Asia-Pacific and (b) the US and
Asia-Pacific
·The impact of neo-liberalism in developed as well as developing countries
·The role of the military in defending neo-liberal regimes
·Strategies for fundamental social change: democratic revolution; popular
power;socialism
etc
·How to achieve international collaboration in struggle
·The role of feminist struggle
·The social economic crisis and the environmental impact
·Trade union organising and worker mobilising
·Peasant union organising; land issues; and peasant campaigning
·Political strategies and mass mobilising
·Culture and struggle
The
conference will be an open, public, live-in conference. The agenda will be
decided by the INCREASE conference organising committee, in consultation with
partner organisations. INCREASE is, of course, in hearing suggestions for
additional themes and topics.
There
will be a strong cultural component in the conference programme.
We
will consider possibilities for protest mobilisations as part of the conference
closer to the date.
Exposure
tours
Second,
INCREASE will be facilitation 7-10 day exposure tours for interested activists
after the conference. There will be exposure tours in the worker/trade union,
peasant, student, cultural and women’s movement sectors. Individuals or
organisations can indicate their interest in such tours on the registration
form.
Sponsorship
We
will soon begin the international publicity for this conference. We would be
very pleased to be able to include your organisation as a sponsor of the
conference.
