NEWS BRIEFS

Conferences Hold Civil Society Hostage

By Zarina Geloo

Pat Mooney was blunt in his summation of what ails civil society. It is a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome, he said.

Addressing a meeting of the privatisation and control of water and energy yesterday, Mooney said he came to several conclusions after the World Social Summit in South Africa last September. Civil society had fallen in love with its UN captor, and by running from one prepcom to another and then jumping from one summit to another, writing reports and mobilising support, the grouping was providing cheap, un-unionised labour for the United Nations.

"No more bloody summits where we provide the entertainment, we should get ahead of the UN agenda and effect changes without any more summits.“

Civil society had achieved little since the WSS because it was always two steps behind the corporate world. ´´While we are busy at workshops and summits, multinationals are buying up water sources and setting up hydroelectric projects without regard for the environment or people,´´ Mooney said, adding that people were still talking about biotechnology when industry had already gone on to nanotechnology which is more complex.

Elizabeth Peredo Beltran from the Foundation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas said all the promises and pledges of the WSS did not stop an American multinational company from suing the Cochabamba community for $25 million for protecting its water supply.

The World Bank promised the Bolivian government a $50 million debt cancellation if it gave the U.S. company the right to develop water supply in the area. The company raised the water rates between 4 and 25 percent and the government imposed legislation that removed the water rights and management from the villagers. The community resisted and the multinational filed a claim in an international tribunal claiming an abrogation of the agreement signed by the Bolivian government, which had concessioned the water supply to it for 40 years.

"The villagers succeeded in protecting their water but where will the community get the money to pay the company. We must collectively stop the World Bank from coercing countries into giving up their mineral and water resources. We also need to have communities privy to agreements and contracts which are likely to affect their livelihood.“

Greenpeace declara guerra ao nuclear

Por Adalberto Marcondes

A organização ambientalista Greenpeace lançou ontem em Porto Alegre uma campanha contra a construção das usinas nucleares de Angra 3 no Brasil e de Atucha 2 na Argentina. Estas usinas fazem parte de acordos assinados pelos regimes militares dos dois países com a Alemanha nos anos 70 e que continuam em vigor.

“A Alemanha já renunciou à energia nuclear e não há porque os acordos serem cumpridos”, disse Frank Guggewhein, diretor executivo da entidade no Brasil. Ele também defendeu a proibição do transporte de Produtos radiativos e potencialmente perigosos pelo Atlântico Sul e pelos mares do Chile, impedindo que França, Inglaterra e Japão continuem a transportar estes produtos pela região.

Guggewhein reafirmou a oposição do Greenpeace a uma guerra contra o Iraque. Segundo ele, esta guerra deverá custar US$ 200 bilhões, dinheiro que poderia ser melhor utilizado em programas de desarmamento e de limpeza ambiental. ¨A última guerra contar o Iraque custou a morte de 200 mil iraquianos. A próxima pode matar 250 mil se forem utilizadas apenas armas convencionais, se os EUA usarem seus arsenais de destruição de massa, poderão morrer mais de quatro milhões de pessoas¨, disse.

Singing the Civil Society Blues

By Zarina Geloo

Civil society is not what it used to be, lamented John Samuel yesterday. The “NGOisation“ of civil society had diluted the space in which people could talk about government excesses or feel free to debate issues, the head of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies said. “NGOs should not be seen as representatives of civil society, they are not. Most of them have been turned into private business enterprises, become political, and providers of employment. In worst case scenarios, they are government lackeys,“ he charged. Samuel gave an example of a man in India who had three NGOs, and “gave“ one away as dowry for his daughter.

Samuel was speaking at yesterday’s meeting of the Commonwealth Civil Society Consultative Group.

The meeting was wide-ranging, with speakers addressing several topics.

Sara Longwe from FEMNET urged agencies in the North that supported development initiatives in the South to be more sensitive to their issues. “Understand the issues we are articulating and do not prescribe to us. When we talk of a total debt cancellation do not prescribe a debt tribunal to resolve the issue, we have gone beyond that.“

Hassan Sunmonu, from the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) said in the last ten years civil society had forced a change in the political terrain of a few countries. “The positive change of government in Kenya and here in Brazil is because of the support and organisation of the grass roots -- the civil society at its very basic. If we continue to cultivate a society that is broad-based, inclusive, with respect for equal participation and rights, we can get rid of corrupt or non-functioning governments and achieve our dream of another world.“

As a way forward, the meeting suggested holding national level consultations to formulate joint positions for the African Union and the United Nations.

The group also denounced British Prime Minister Tony Blair for supporting the US’s plan to invade Iraq. “The war will obviously affect the poor and further marginalize women and children, we call upon Blair to desist from imposing a war on Iraq.“

It’s All in the Numbers

In spite of the restrictive policies on the accumulation and storage of data in many countries of the Middle East, more Arab nations contributed to this year’s Social Summit report than last year’s.

Ziad Abdel Samad, executive director of Arab NGO for Development said from two countries (Egypt and Lebanon) in the last report, there were now seven countries that had provided statistics.

´´It is a problem for some to collect and send data because information of any social indicators is restricted and in some cases, prohibited. But this year civil society in the Arab world was vigilant and managed to do some research.

He attributes this to the growing need for "consolidating and alternative statistics given out by the United Nations and the World Bank, which were insufficient for their purpose. Society has also realised that they can use the data in the report as a lobbying tool in their work.’’

Editor Robert Bissio said the Social Watch Report was different from the Davos Competitor’s Report and the UN Human Development Report because the statistics were from national governments, they only provided information on situations and ranked countries and were unable furnish a critique because of their limited scope.

“We are not only interested in outcomes, but also progress on policy, measuring political will to implement programmes and measuring the quality of life and access to basic rights.“