Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie in
IBM Italia
[We let you know this call for action we have received 27 Jan 1998 - G.T.]
> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 21:49:25 +0100
> From: Play Fair Europe! playfair@asta.rwth-aachen.de
> Subject: 1000 multinationals will soon meet - action
>
> **Please help us to distribute this message**
>
> Dear friends,
>
> The 1.000 most important multinacionals of the world will meet in Davos,
> Switzerland, from the 29th of this month to the 3rd of February, to take
> major political decisions that will influence everyone's lives. If you do
> not like this way of setting the "Priorities for the 21st century" (as they
> call their meeting) please do one or more of these proposed actions:
>
> 1. Sign the declaration attached to this letter and propose other
> organisations (trade unions, farmers' organisations, environmental, women's
> and solidarity organisations, church-related groups, etc.) and individuals
> to sign it and collect more endorsements. Every person is welcomed to sign -
> the more signatures, the better. However, in order to have more impact in
> mass media, we especially encourage you to contact well known persons, like
> intellectuals, writers, professors, singers, football players, actors... The
> declaration will be used all over the world as press release.
>
> 2. If you collect some signatures, please type the reply forms and email
> them to playfair@asta.rwth-aachen.de by the 28th of January. We will compile
> all the signatures and email the complete list to thousands of people and
> organisations all over the world. Please take into account that we cannot
> type ourselves thousands of names in one day; this is the reason why we ask
> you to send the names by email. If you do not have access to email, please
> fax your list before the 27th of January.
>
> 3. Once you receive from us the whole list of signatories, please send it
> along with the declaration to the local and national media (press,
> television, radio).
>
> 4. Please organise a local action between the 29th of January and the 3rd of
> February and send your own press release along with the declaration,
> announcing your action and inviting the press. If you do this, you will
> multiply the chances of the media publishing something, since journalists
> tend to report about photogenic stories much more than about declarations.
> Any kind of action that is visual and can be photographed is good, the range
> is very broad and you do not need many people to catch media attention. Just
> to give some examples in increasing order of difficulty, you can stand in
> front of a symbolic building with some banners (the office of any
> multinational of your choice, the parliament, the chamber of commerce, the
> city hall, etc.), or perform street theater (like a symbolic bury of the
> parliament by the multinationals, or two dinner tables, one full of luxuries
> and with nicely dressed people around it, and the other with some rubbish
> and very poor people), or organise an event (a public lecture, a panel
> discussion, etc) or do a direct action (block the entrance of the stock
> exchange or squat it, occupy the office of a multinational, etc). Please
> inform us if you are going to do something (unless you do not want to make
> it publicly known beforehand), since we want to send the list of planned
> actions along with the list of signatures on the 29th, so that you can use
> it too for the media work.
>
> Thank you for your attention. The Play Fair Europe! Team
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------------------------------
>
> (Place), (Date)
>
> Press Release
>
> Declaration against the Globalisers of Misery
> Worldwide opposition to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos
>
> Throughout this week (29th January-3rd February) the World Economic Forum,
> the club of the foremost 1000 Transnational Corporations, is holding its
> Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. During this period, hundreds of
> actions are taking place in many different parts of the world to denounce
> this event (1).
>
> This meeting is, in the World Economic Forum's own words, "the world's
> global business summit" (2), where "each year, major initiatives are
> launched...which go far beyond the pure business realm". At the Annual
> Meeting, "1000 top business leaders , 250 political leaders, 250 foremost
> academic experts in every domain, and some 250 media leaders come together
> to shape the global agenda." As they boast, "the World Economic Forum has
> played a leading role in the economic globalisation process... at the
> beginning of the eighties it played a major role in launching the Uruguay
> trade negotiations. The foundation has made a contribution to the process
> and negotiation of financial services liberalisation."
>
> We oppose the accelerating centralisation of political and economic power
> caused by globalisation, and its gradual shift to unaccountable and
> undemocratic institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We
> denounce the role of "informal" business groups (such as the World Economic
> Forum) in this process, which only benefits multinational business elites,
> while increasing numbers of people are going hungry, unable to afford basic
> health care and education, and forced to cope with environmental destruction.
>
> This denunciation of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum is the
> first coordinated activity of the PEOPLES' GLOBAL ACTION AGAINST "FREE"
> TRADE AND THE WTO. (3)
>
> This declaration has been signed by
>
> *****************************
>
> (1) For information about the actions, please get in touch with ......
> (local contact) or with Play Fair Europe!, e-mail
> playfair@asta.rwth-aachen.de fax +34-8-524.11.21
>
> (2) All direct quotations and factual information regarding the World
> Economic Forum have been taken from the Forum's web page
http://www.weforum.org
>
> (3) For more information about Peoples' Global Action Against "Free" Trade
> and the World Trade Organisation (PGA) and its first worldwide conference
> please contact:
> local contact: .........
> Secretariat: kmp@info.com.ph;
> web page: http://www.agp.org
>
> (ENDS)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------------------------------
> Endorsement to the Declaration against the Globalisers of Misery
> Please email to playfair@asta.rwth-aachen.de or fax to +34-8-524.11.21
> Name of person or organisation:
> Country:
> Contact email or fax:
> Field of action of the organisation / Profession:
> For organisations: number of members:
> Do you want more information about the World Economic Forum and similar
topics?
> Are you going to organise an action? If yes, please describe it in a few
words:
>
> ************************************************************
> Play Fair Europe! Oviedo Tel/fax +34-8-524.11.21
> Pedro Masaveu 1 10 E playfair@asta.rwth-aachen.de
> 33007 Oviedo, Spain check http://www.agp.org
>
www.weforum.org
www.agp.org