Contents

• Screaming, Dreaming for Human Security
• Women's Security is Human Security
• Reaching the (Parallel) Summit
• World for Borrow Only
• Ed Broadbent - Needing a New "Bretton Woods"
• Surviving the Green Revolution
• Threshold: "We Have an Opportunity here in Halifax"
• G-7 MediaSpeak!
• Labour in Perspective
• In all, quite a mixed bag
• True Aid
• Crack open these concepts
• Summit Events - Thursday June 15 - Friday June 16

[Return to table of contents]

Screaming, Dreaming for Human Security

"There is something to dream about and there is something to scream about!"

So remarked Dr. Surendra Patel, keynote speaker at the "Human Security and Development for All" conference held Wednesday, June 14 at Saint Mary's University. He was referring to an approach participants could take in confronting the grim condition of development in the current Age of Anxiety.

The objective of the conference was to analyze human security prospects for the next century, particularly aspects which relate to the G-7 summit agenda. The participants collectively produced a communique which provided an alternative vision to the G-7. The communique was released at a press conference Wednesday evening where both local and international were in attendance.

To an audience of 55, Dr. Patel urged for the consideration of the 1970-1995 era which he labels the Age of Anxiety. This period is characterized by the economic mismanagement by global powers like the G-7 which has given rise to increased unemployment, exacerbated poverty, and widening inequality within and between the South and North. Separated into four theme groups, participants were asked "to scream" and state the problems associated with each theme. Following the identification and analysis exercise, the groups engaged in formulating visions and strategies which challenge the status quo. Through this, participants were encouraged "to dream".

• The causes of human insecurity are rooted in the misuse of society's resources. Production must be reoriented from profit and death to utility and life. To achieve this, the people must regain control over commerce. The creation of new democratic processes and institutions for the control and regulation of monetary speculation and corporate power will provide means to diminish human and environmental costs of current economic processes.
• These costs have been most felt by women, something which needs to be recognized if women's security is to be ensured. Pivotal to this is a fundamental shift to a life-centred model of social, political and economic organization. Also of critical importance is the elimination of values and structures that oppress and subordinate women.
• The debt burden on the poor must be alleviated. Affirmative policies are essential. This includes holding corporations accountable to acceptable standards of conduct, renegotiation of third world debt and reform of interest rates, effective tax rates on the wealthy and corporations, the promotion of cooperatives and other economic alternatives, the revitalization of the United Nations to better reflect the interests of the people, and measures to deter capital flight.
• Human beings must take the responsibility of consciously choosing policies and actions compatible with global environmental realities. New economic concepts centred on ecological principles and human needs must be reformulated to secure sustainable economic activity, the preservation of biological and cultural diversity, and the equitable distribution of costs and benefits. Reform of the educational agenda which places life, not commerce, at the centre, is necessary to preserve the integrity of nature, culture, identity, and spirit.

With the release of this communique, another set of viable alternatives enters the arena of principle and policy, an arena which is desperate for more critical screams and idealist dreams.

[Return to table of contents]

Women's Security is Human Security

We are living in a world that has been built by centuries of colonialism, of cultural, political, and economic homogenization, and of oppression of nature, women, indigenous peoples, geographic regions, and workers. This process has marginalized production for life, devalued nature and women's work, devalued cultural and artistic expression, and suppressed the knowledge and wisdom of peoples around the planet. Global competitiveness is destructive; it divides and increases competition between peoples, between men and men, and women and women.

The destructive effect of this process has been felt most extremely by women. For example, UN statistics show that although women do approximately three quarters of the world's work, they receive only 10% of the income and own only 1% of property. In addition, they experience more extreme and more varied kinds of violence; these include sexual violence, infanticide, female genital mutilation, pornography, forced marriage, prostitution and sex tourism. One measure of that vulnerability is the fact that of the 25 million refugees in the world, 80% are women.

Ensuring women's security will mean transforming the way the world works. We need a fundamental shift to a life-centred model of social, political and economic organization. It is essential that women are freed from fear of threatened or actual physical violence, that both their paid and unpaid work is much more highly valued. This will require the elimination of traditions, behaviours, beliefs, values, institutions and structures that oppress and subordinate women.

Security for women means that the market cannot be permitted to determine society's central values. Present and future social and economic priorities must be life-centred, cooperative, creative and support a healthy earth and human communities. This means that human security, and more specifically, women's security depends on women's empowerment.

This statement was the result of twelve people of various ages in the working group, "Human security is women's security" within the workshop, "Human security and development for all: Building a better planet" held on June 14. Look for upcoming events addressing these issues.

[Return to table of contents]

Reaching the (Parallel) Summit

The profit motive and the old economics is alive and well and living in rainswept Halifax.

Not so much because of the G-7 leaders and all their blindness and motorcades - but because of the rain. One British journalist I met was charged $70 for an umbrella this morning.

But don't get too down-hearted. From the point of view of the heart of the People's Summit, it may well seem that our message and our vision has a long way to go. But if you look back even seven years - to the last G-7 summit in Canada - we have come a long way.

When the first parallel summit was run by The Other Economic Summit (TOES) in London in 1984, many of the new economic solutions which were discussed seemed completely pie-in-the-sky. Now some of them are almost mainstream.

The idea of shifting taxes away from good thing like jobs, and onto bad things like pollution and energy-use, was talked about then. Now every country in the world is discussing it.

The idea of local currencies - then in their infancy - are now on the agenda of the European Union and are busily revitalising communities all around the world.

Ethical investment was just a bright idea then. Now millions of dollars are screened for their effects on people and the planet.

Whether the G-7 leaders like it or not - and although it sometimes seems a long way away - a parallel economics, like the parallel summit, is taking root and changing the world.

David Boyle is editor of New Economics, published by the London-based New Economics Foundation, which administers TOES.

[Return to table of contents]

World for Borrow Only

At the Youth Perspectives on Our Global Future workshop (sponsored by World University Service of Canada - WUSC) we expressed our ideas and voices and put them into action. Through interactive participatory communications utilizing video, newspaper and cameras, we learned the skills necessary to create and control our own media. Another aspect of this workshop included outreach to local high school students. We shared our concerns on three key issues and will produce a video, newsletter and press releases on these issues.

(1) On poverty and employment

We felt that it is unfortunate that world leaders will not take a long-term approach in discussing economic issues at the G-7. We emphasized the need for leaders to understand that trade is a means not an end! Trade can and should be used to improve the condition of the environment, human rights and democracy. Leaders must begin to integrate these and other social issues with economics. Failure to do so will result in loss of power by governments, and by people. We felt that our future is being mortgaged and that the Earth we will inherit will not be sustainable.

(2) On Cultural Diversity and Peace

We put forth that the promotion of cultural diversity and peace lies primarily in the hands of educators. We must educate the educators about issues that concern us and our communities; we need student evaluations on curriculum and teaching in high schools. Youth are concerned with cutbacks in education, especially development education. These cuts will transform education into a mechanism for the elite, reducing our power to develop critical awareness and analysis of systems of oppression. We resolved to take action on social justice and development.

(3) On environment

There was an agreement that the concept of "environment" is all-encompassing and needs to be further understood both in the context of our everyday lives, and in the interconnectedness of our future. To counteract the impact of environmental ignorance, we agreed to undertake the following in our communities: to promote the reduction of automobile usage which causes a significant smog problem; to instigate municipal recycling (St. John's); to mitigate harbour pollution problems through education programs; to discourage materialism through lifestyle alternatives.

As youth we remind everyone, "We are not only inheriting the world from our ancestors but borrowing it from our children."

Written by a coalition of youth participants

[Return to table of contents]

Ed Broadbent - Needing a New "Bretton Woods"

Mr. Ed Broadbent, ex-leader of the federal N.D.P. party in Canada from 1975 to 1989, spoke to a packed house at Saint Mary's University Tuesday night. Quickly rising to the occasion, he described his curiosity upon arriving in his hotel room in Halifax. He found that the beds in Halifax are the same as anywhere else and wondered why Helmut Kohl of Germany would bring his own bed to the G-7 meetings this weekend. He said "I'm sure its not the size of the bed; its whether you sleep with a guilty conscience. I hope for the next one (G-7) they don't have to bring any of their own beds since they will all have clear consciences."

He compared this weekend's G-7 to the Bretton Woods meeting of 1945 where the world leaders forged new initiatives to solve the economic problems that created the Great Depression of the 1930s. They attempted to establish financial institutions to prevent another depression just as the U.N. had been established to deal with the kind of political crises that facilitated the rise of Nazism - the most extreme expression of human rights violation. Broadbent insisted that likewise, with the current G-7 meeting, the reforming of international financial institutions cannot be divorced from the need to raise international standards for human rights protection. Reinforcing a theme common to other P-7 speakers, Mr. Broadbent challenged the crowded room : "Our task is to tell the G-7 leaders what we think the G-7 agenda ought to be."

Criticizing the G-7 leaders for their lack of action on global human rights violations and rampant speculation in financial markets, he said, "The problem is ideological. Thatcherism is no substitute for Leninism. They both have to go".

Tuesday night also marked a first in his career. He plugged a manufacturer by name. Sporting a Levi Strauss shirt with red tag intact, he described how the company is setting an example by having a human rights policy and living up to it. As evidence of this, Broadbent cited the example of Levi closing factories and moving out of Thailand and China due to their abominable rights records. However, he reminded us that it is not only up to individuals and corporations to try to maintain human rights in the world. After quoting chilling statistics on poverty and labour abuses from countries around the world, he concluded, "The main responsibility of those who have power is the responsibility to represent the majority (not just the few rich). It's time the G-7 leaders address the world's problems. The whole world is watching".

[Return to table of contents]

Surviving the Green Revolution

The Food Security Caucus was launched 13 June at the P-7 Summit. It was agreed that the "Green Revolution" has been a tragedy for most countries int he Southern hemisphere. Very serious action must be taken to remedy this damage -- in effect, we need a food security revolution. Some of the issued identified are:

1) Reject so-called modern seeds and chemicals;

2) Many peasants using these modern seeds and chemicals have been swamped with debt and lost their lands;

3) Local cultures have been destroyed by this piracy;

4) The myth that credit for Third World peasants is accessible must be exposed as untrue.

The caucus continues in Room 204 at Nova Scotia Community College, 12 noon to 1 p.m. everyday this week.

"The Cuban people cannot help but to continue on in their struggle because they are a revolutionary people." - Paulino Mesa Cardenas, Director, Cuba Communications Union, presenting at "Workers Around the World", a workshop held by the P-7 to discuss the impact and effect of G-7 economic policies on workers.

[Return to table of contents]

Threshold: "We Have an Opportunity here in Halifax"

Last year, gathered in Naples, we issued the following challenges to ourselves:

"50 years ago, at Bretton Woods, visionary leaders began to build the institutions that provided our nations with two generations of freedom and prosperity...As we approach the threshold of the 21st century, we are conscious of our responsibility to renew and revitalize these institutions and to take on the challenge of integrating the newly emerging market democracies across the globe.

"To carry out this responsibility, we have agreed that, in Halifax next year, we will focus on two questions: (1) how can we assure that the global economy of the 21st century will provide sustainable development with good prosperity and well-being of the peoples of our nations and the world? (2) What framework of institutions will be required to meet these challenges in the 21st century? How can we adapt existing institutions and build new institutions to ensure the future security and prosperity of our people?"

We recognize that the real poser in the world no longer resides in the nation state. We, and leaders before us, have allowed that power to be abdicated. It has been eroding through the imposition of an increasingly harsh economic order. First and foremost, that order serves the needs of transnational corporations. The emerging global marketplace, the free trade agreements impose this model on industrialized countries. The IMF and the World Bank, backed up by commercial banks, impose that order on the rest of the world. International financial institutions, initially created in 1944 to fight poverty and promote global prosperity, have now been perverted in those aims to serving the needs of transnational corporations. Those corporations want easy and cheap access to raw materials, cheap and ready supply of labour, less environmental protection, favourable conditions to attract their investments and no barriers to the distribution of their products. The World Bank and the IMF serve these ends far more than they serve their founding principles.

We have an opportunity here in Halifax -- indeed we have an obligation here in Halifax -- to set in motion the change in course that will take us into the next millennium. We do so based on a series of important and often cited principles that bear repeating: Governments exist to serve the interest of the people. Human needs come first. None of us is wealthy when millions, indeed billions, live in states of absolute poverty. Our future is in our children. The loving care of the world's babies should be our first concern. We, and our economies, do not exist outside the natural world. We are part of the natural world. We depend on the planet's living systems for every breath we breathe, every drop of clean water we drink, every mouthful of nourishing food. Destroying our planet's living systems is not good business.

"The Structural Adjustment Programmes are a war against working people" - Wendy Waseltien, Local Labour Board, Halifax, Nova Scotia at "Workers Around the World", June 13, 1995.

[Return to table of contents]

G-7 MediaSpeak!

"I can't help it," I said to my new journalist friend. "I really like the G-7 leaders. They seem nice. And they dress so darned well!".

"Nice, shmice," my friend snorted. She emptied her brandy glass, called for a refill and proceeded to tell me "the facts of life".

"You won't read this in the newspapers or see it on TV but four of the G-7 leaders are up to their necks in the world's dirtiest business, the arms trade. And, their good pal, Yeltsin's rights in there too!"

She opened her handbag and brought out a book called 'Our Global Neighbourhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance'. It said that the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany are the world's top arms exporters. In 1993, the U.S. sold more than 22 billion dollars worth. The Russians were a distant second with 2.8 billion in sales. The British sold arms worth 2.3 billion; the French 1.1 billion and the Germans 800 million.

She pointed to a quote from the book: "All states have a right to acquire arms for national self-defence but the existing arms flows, by any reasonable standard, greatly exceed the defence needs of governments. Moreover, in many parts of the world, the easy availability of arms is fuelling local wars. It is also well known that the covert arms trade is making advanced weapons easily available to terrorists, drug traffickers and other unconventional militia around the globe. But the biggest regular suppliers of weapons to the covert arms trade are not free-lancing private dealers but governments themselves."

"And Chretien's no angel either," she added. "Canada makes hundreds of millions manufacturing parts for American weapons. We won't admit it officially but Canada also sponsors research on weapons like fuel-air explosives that asphyxiate and incinerate human beings. Charing eh?"

"So why don't the media report all this instead of just showing pictures of smiling, nicely dressed leaders?" I asked.

"Because arms aren't part of the official agenda at G-7 summits and the media always follow the agenda," she answered. "That's why you won't read or see anything about the Demilitarization Fund that's been proposed to encourage poorer countries to reduce military spending. It's just not part of the G-7 story."

I glanced up at the bar's wide-screen TV. It was showing the G-7 leaders siting around a conference table. They were all dressed in expensive looking suits.

"Ah, the business suit," my journalist friend muttered. "No wonder it's called the cloak of morality!" She raised her glass in a mock toast. "To the leader," she said. "To arms and the men!"

[Return to table of contents]

Labour in Perspective

The "Labour Perspectives on International Development and North-South Relations in The Global Economy" (June 12, 1995) explored the way labour unions are responding to the crises resulting from free trade.

Victor Baez argued that we can work within the framework of Free Trade Policy to create alternatives. In contrast, Ann Emmett of the Toronto Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform(COMER) questioned whether we should work with the concept of free trade at all. "Will we let trade dictate our economics?"

The Cuban delegation offered insight into Cuban trade policy which allows a maximum of 49% of profit to foreign companies. Elizabeth Davies, another COMER member, remarked that the Cubans who attended the workshop were inspiring because they "have put people and country above trade."

Susan Emberg, a production line worker and member of Canadian Autoworkers 1285 at Chrysler in Bramalea, Ontario, argued for a shorter work week. She also responded to Torontonian Michael Rosenberg's comment that technology is displacing workers by arguing that we must question who is in control of technology as well as technology itself.

Judith Marshall of Toronto spoke about the Steel Workers' Humanity Fund. This Fund, formed in 1985, supports long-term development and solidarity with both community and labour organizations.

The question remains--is unemployment the main problem? The challenge facing us is to start thinking in new language. We must use concepts such as community and job clearly. Action, education, protest and new proposals must arise from all sectors of our lives.

[Return to table of contents]

In all, quite a mixed bag

The People's Summit was organized by a coalition of organizations, non-governmental organizations, activists, artists, students, service industry workers, teachers, concerned individuals for social justice, in all, quite a mixed bag. We'd like to re-assert the 7 P's; Poverty elimination and employment; Progress for all; Protection of the environment; Power to the People; Promotion of equality and fairness; Preservation of cultural diversity; and Peace.

Summit News is produced (in 27 hours) by a collective of ten odd individuals supported by a cast of thousands. This issue was produced by: Greta Regan, Cheryl Tingley, Michael Welton, Robert Pollard, Isaac Saney, Mike Clarke, Brooks Kind, Luis Soto Rubio, Michelle Welton, Heather Macmillan, Dawn Hall, Janice Brown and David Pringle /P>

[Return to table of contents]

True Aid

The idea of "third world" development is often in question. Some people seem to think that "third world" countries need to be led merrily into economic development. Others think these countries should deal with their problems in their own way. Financial aid from more developed countries can lead to massive debts and endless exploitation for the borrowing nation. But without this aid many "third world" countries would be left behind in the fast-paced global development of the "first-world" nations.These attitudes imply that the current status of "third world" countries is sub-standard when compared to "first-world" nations. But they instill the idea that under-developed countries must be interfered with whether asked for or not.

The media is almost always there to glorify foreign aid coming from a "first-world" nation. Yet when it comes to portraying what kinds of problems this causes the borrowing nation in paying back the "loan", the media is greatly lacking. In the long run, not only will the lending nation get their original investment back, but the compounded interest on these "loans" will keep the borrowing nation in debt indefinitely.

The only thing that most of these "third-world" countries can do is to keep exportation of their country's exportable resources up to a maximum. This leads to more problems, most especially for the poor, working class. The money-makers and huge industrialists, seeing that better prices for the out-going goods and resources are not forth-coming from the wealthier nations, find only one solution. They push harder on the labour force, the majority of which are the poor, working class, slash wages. They make a deplorable situation even worse. All this to pay off an unpayable debt! Its no wonder that the majority of the population is usually ignorant as of how they are being exploited, and living in awful human conditions.

All this while people are still wondering why revolts like the one in Chiapas, Mexico, occur. The Chiapans were fighting for their right to their land, which had been taken away and decreasing in size for 500 years. This land has been taken away by the multi-national corporations and big Industrialists in Mexico so that they may expand their crops, make pasture lands, etc. So because of these loans, the social, cultural, financial, and many other aspects of "third-world" society are detrimentally affected.

Next time you hear about "aid" being given to under-developed countries, you should listen to the facts and look at things critically. True aid is help given that will get people to create sustainable development so that developing countries can become self-reliant without being so dependent on hand-outs from "first-world" countries.

Ernesto Garay is a member of the Youth for Social Justice Network

[Return to table of contents]

Crack open these concepts

Gender: The meaning of the word "gender" has evolved as differentiated from the world "sex" to express the reality that women's and men's roles and status are socially constructed and subject to change. Gender recognizes the multiple roles that women fill throughout the life cycle, the diversity of needs, concerns, abilities, life experiences and aspirations as individuals, as members of families and households and in society as a whole.

Racism: Like sexism, racism is a form of discrimination. It is prejudice, plus the back-up of institutional power, used to the advantage of one ethnic group and to the disadvantage of other ethnic groups. The critical concept differentiating any form of discrimination including racism, from prejudice, is the "back-up of institutional power." Racism is any action or institutional practice - backed by institutional power - that subordinates people because of their colour or ethnicity.

[Return to table of contents]

Summit Events - Thursday June 15 - Friday June 16

Thursday

Redefining Sovereignty: Sustainable Economics in the Global Context 9 am -noon, Community College Room 208- workshop

P-7 Communique discussion meeting 9 am -noon, Community College Room 206- Open P-7 discussion

Local and International Community Issue Documentary Films By Nova Scotian Filmakers 1 pm - 5 pm, Community College Auditorium (AV room)- Videos

The Halifax Initiative - Beyond 50 years (cont's from Wed.) 11 am - 5 pm, Community College Room ?- workshop for NGO's

The P-7 Marketplace: Products and Services for People and the Planet 10 am - 7 pm, Green & White Tent on Commons adjoining Community College

Hanging with the Big Cheeses 11 am - 5 pm, Grounds outside Community College- Art

Women in Cuba: with Dr. Clara Alonso Suarez Noon to 2 pm, Community College Room 206 - talk

First Nations Gathering 2:30 pm, Grounds outside the Community College

Corporate Economic Power and Community Sustainability: The Search for New Patterns of Economic Democracy (cont'd) 1 pm - 4 pm, Community College Room 208 - workshop

An Independent Review of the State of the Northern Cod Fishery hours TBA, "OO" Gallery, 2098 Gottingen St - Visual Art

Drumming Circle Times TBA, grounds outside the Community College- entertainment

World Weavers 6 pm - 8 pm, grounds outside Community College (rain location room 316)-workshop

Giving Them the SHAFFFFT 6:30 pm, grounds outside the Community College-skit

Structural Adjustment and its Effect on Women: Locally and Globally 7 pm, Community College Boardroom - Panel Discussion

Human Rights in the Global Village 7 pm - 9:30 pm, Community college Auditorium (AV room) - talk

Francophone's Meeting with Michael Chossudousky 9 am - noon, also with Carlos Heredia at 10:30 am, Community College room 234

Food Security Caucus Noon - 1 pm, Community College Room 204

Friday

Economic, Political, Social and Ecological Implications of Information Technologies 9 am - noon, Community College room 208 - workshop

Marketplace continues; 10 am - 7 pm, Grounds outside Community College

The Green Revolution Now Requires a Food Security Revolution 9 am - noon, Community College Auditorium (AV room) - workshop

The Glenview Initiatives Time TBA, Community College room 212

Women's Political Participation Noon - 2 pm, Community College Boardroom -Forum

P-7 Communique Press Conference 9 am, Community College room 206

Press Conference 11 am, Community College room 206

Partnership Presentation 12:30 - 1;30 pm, YMCA Boardroom 1565 South Park St. - talk

"Power to the People": Producing and Using Electricity 1 pm - 4 pm, Community College room 208 - Forum

Environmental Popular Education 1 pm - 4 pm, Community College room 316 - workshop

Drumming Circle Times TBA, grounds outside Community College

Hanging with the Big Cheeses 11 am - 5 pm, grounds outside the Community College - Art

Low Level Flights and the Innu 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm, Community College Boardroom- Panel Discussion

Giving them the SHAFFFFT 4:30 pm, grounds around the Community College- skit

Neighbourhood Noise Times TBA, "OO" Gallery, 2098 Gottingen St. - audio event

Marquee Speaker Series Presents: Dr. Vandana Shiva 8 pm, McNally Main Auditorium at St. Mary's University