Migrants’ 10-Week Countdown to Junk WTO
The road to the Peoples Action Week against WTO MC6
The World Trade Organization shall meet the strong resistance of migrant workers against its neoliberal globalization policies.
For the past few months, migrant workers in Hong Kong mostly foreign domestic workers (FDWs), probably one of the most politically and socially active sector in the Hong Kong society, have been very busy preparing for the Peoples’ Action Week (PAW) against the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 6th Ministerial Conference (MC6) to be held in Hong Kong from December 11 to 18 this year.
The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), the biggest grassroots alliance of Asian migrants’ organizations in the territory, is one of the most visible groups planning and preparing ahead for the PAW.
AMCB, known for consistently leading the biggest and most organized protest actions against wage cuts, tax levy and other anti-migrant policies of the Hong Kong government including the 12,000-strong protest march in February 2003, is a member of the Hong Kong Peoples Alliance on WTO (HKPA), the organization responsible for the PAW in coordination with other international anti-globalization movements.
AMCB together with the Hong Kong chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), an international alliance of anti-imperialist people’s organization and the MIGRANTE International, the global alliance of overseas Filipino organizations, are planning to mobilize thousands of migrant workers during the action in December.
When the WTO comes to Hong Kong, we shall be ready.
The road to the Peoples Action Week against WTO MC6
The World Trade Organization shall meet the strong resistance of migrant workers against its neoliberal globalization policies.For the past few months, migrant workers in Hong Kong mostly foreign domestic workers (FDWs), probably one of the most politically and socially active sector in the Hong Kong society, have been very busy preparing for the Peoples’ Action Week (PAW) against the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 6th Ministerial Conference (MC6) to be held in Hong Kong from December 11 to 18 this year.
The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), the biggest grassroots alliance of Asian migrants’ organizations in the territory, is one of the most visible groups planning and preparing ahead for the PAW.
AMCB, known for consistently leading the biggest and most organized protest actions against wage cuts, tax levy and other anti-migrant policies of the Hong Kong government including the 12,000-strong protest march in February 2003, is a member of the Hong Kong Peoples Alliance on WTO (HKPA), the organization responsible for the PAW in coordination with other international anti-globalization movements.
AMCB together with the Hong Kong chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), an international alliance of anti-imperialist people’s organization and the MIGRANTE International, the global alliance of overseas Filipino organizations, are planning to mobilize thousands of migrant workers during the action in December.
When the WTO comes to Hong Kong, we shall be ready.
Migrants say Junk WTO! Kong Yee Sai Mau!
Migrant workers, under the banner of the AMCB, have been consistent in our stance against globalization and its policies in Hong Kong and in our home countries.
AMCB’s commitment to the anti-globalization struggle of the Hong Kong peoples can be traced back to 1997 when it joined trade unions, labor groups, student activists and women’s organizations in protesting the IMF-World Bank meeting. Interestingly, this meeting was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) – the same venue where the MC6 will meet though they will be in the new wing.
As early as September last year, AMCB together with the Pesticide Action Network – Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) jointly organized the Hong Kong leg of the Peoples’ Caravan for Food Sovereignty. The activities included a conference on WTO and Migration and public speaking at a huge rally organized by the Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (ATKI), an active member of the AMCB. More than 300 migrant workers, students and migrant advocates attended the conference where Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita and PAN-AP, Tony Tujan of APRN and Ibon, and Connie Ragalado of MIGRANTE International were resource persons.
Since the founding of the HKPA, the AMCB and all its affiliates have been very active in its participation in all centralized activities. From the International Labor Day celebration in May 1st to the annual July 1st Hong Kong peoples protest; AMCB marched with our local counterparts.
The “Three Monkeys” was first introduced in the HKPA’s community drive event in Causeway Bay last July 17. The “Three Monkeys” – representative of the WTO, big businesses and governments that implement neoliberal globalization policies – was a short cultural presentation that, in a very simple form, showed the impacts of WTO and globalization to the people.
The following week, July 24, AMCB mobilized its members to join the protest march from Hongkong Bank to the Central Government Office (CGO) to coincide with the WTO Council Meeting in Geneva.
On September 10, members of AMCB joined the HKPA in a candlelight vigil to commemorate the sacrifice of Lee Kyung Hae, the Korean peasant leader who killed himself in protest of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico and to reaffirm the people’s commitment to end the tragedies brought about by the neoliberal policies of the WTO.
Last October 1, AMCB members marched with the local groups to protest the privatization program of the HKSAR government. Most recently in October 16, AMCB stood side-by-side with our local brothers and sisters in a protest action during the visit of Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General, at the Hong Kong University.
Migrant workers, under the banner of the AMCB, have been consistent in our stance against globalization and its policies in Hong Kong and in our home countries.AMCB’s commitment to the anti-globalization struggle of the Hong Kong peoples can be traced back to 1997 when it joined trade unions, labor groups, student activists and women’s organizations in protesting the IMF-World Bank meeting. Interestingly, this meeting was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) – the same venue where the MC6 will meet though they will be in the new wing.
As early as September last year, AMCB together with the Pesticide Action Network – Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) jointly organized the Hong Kong leg of the Peoples’ Caravan for Food Sovereignty. The activities included a conference on WTO and Migration and public speaking at a huge rally organized by the Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (ATKI), an active member of the AMCB. More than 300 migrant workers, students and migrant advocates attended the conference where Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita and PAN-AP, Tony Tujan of APRN and Ibon, and Connie Ragalado of MIGRANTE International were resource persons.
Since the founding of the HKPA, the AMCB and all its affiliates have been very active in its participation in all centralized activities. From the International Labor Day celebration in May 1st to the annual July 1st Hong Kong peoples protest; AMCB marched with our local counterparts.The “Three Monkeys” was first introduced in the HKPA’s community drive event in Causeway Bay last July 17. The “Three Monkeys” – representative of the WTO, big businesses and governments that implement neoliberal globalization policies – was a short cultural presentation that, in a very simple form, showed the impacts of WTO and globalization to the people.
The following week, July 24, AMCB mobilized its members to join the protest march from Hongkong Bank to the Central Government Office (CGO) to coincide with the WTO Council Meeting in Geneva.
On September 10, members of AMCB joined the HKPA in a candlelight vigil to commemorate the sacrifice of Lee Kyung Hae, the Korean peasant leader who killed himself in protest of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico and to reaffirm the people’s commitment to end the tragedies brought about by the neoliberal policies of the WTO.Last October 1, AMCB members marched with the local groups to protest the privatization program of the HKSAR government. Most recently in October 16, AMCB stood side-by-side with our local brothers and sisters in a protest action during the visit of Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General, at the Hong Kong University.
10-week Countdown
Since last August, AMCB has been organizing monthly seminars to train “Migrant Educators on WTO” for three consecutive months. Already, more than 65 educators have been trained and are doing their rounds in different places in Hong Kong where migrant workers congregate. Armed with their copies of “You and the WTO”, “What you need to know about the WTO” and the “WTO, migration and GATS Mode 4” – the three education modules given during the seminars – the migrant educators provide group discussions, short talks and in some occasions, public forums among migrant workers in Hong Kong.
Last October 2, the AMCB launched the “Migrants’ 10-week Countdown to Junk WTO” campaign. The countdown aims to create the atmosphere and climate of anticipation for the Peoples Action Week among the ranks of migrant workers.
Every Sunday starting October 2, small, medium and large-scale activities will be held to mark a week of the countdown. From public forums, cultural events, public information drive, distribution of flyers, walking billboards, volunteer sign-up campaign and formal and informal public gatherings – AMCB affiliates are determined to rally the sector that they represent in order to contribute significantly to the overall success of the peoples action week.
October 2 – Migrants Seminar on WTO – this was the last of the three-month series of training of the AMCB among its members in order to develop migrant educators on the negative impacts of the WTO. We have proven wrong the perception that WTO is “too hard to understand” for domestic workers who mostly came from the peasant and labor ranks. We have proven that this issue is not “only for experts” but is in fact for people who are mostly affected by the WTO policies.
October 9 – Lightning Drama Presentations – a short cultural presentation featuring the famous three monkeys and the peoples struggle and their inevitable victory against imperialism and its instruments including the WTO. The performers went around the Central area and performed whenever and wherever possible.
October 16 – Migrants Confront New WTO Director-General – around 50 migrant educators of the AMCB joined the HKPA in the protest action and roundtable discussion during the visit of WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. The event was an eye-opener for the migrant educators in terms of engagement with the WTO. It made their resolve to raise the consciousness of fellow migrants on the issue even firmer.
October 23 – Echo-training, Documentation Team Training, “Praktikultura” – as the PAW gets near, the need for more educators to reach more migrant workers is more evident. Echo-trainings where our trained educators conducted their own training-seminar to train new educators were held.
During the action, we will need people to take pictures and video footages for the documentation team. Thus, training on basic principles in video and photography was also provided for our volunteers focusing on how documentation work can contribute in advancing the struggle of migrant workers.
Praktikultura (culture in practice) is a new concept in people’s cultural work where our cultural activists are practicing and rehearsing in public areas so they can do propaganda work and at the same time solicit public opinion on how to further improve their skills and presentations.
This coming Sunday, October 30, AMCB will again go full-blast with the Junk WTO campaign.
To gather the broadest support among the Filipino migrant workers, UNIFIL-HK, an AMCB affiliate, will organize the first ever All Presidents’ Meet. The APM will gather more than 70 presidents, chairpersons and religious leaders of different Filipino migrants’ associations, unions, religious groups, alliances and federations in a meeting to come up with a common position on the issue of WTO and to get their commitment to the PAW. Trade unionist and legislator Hon. Lee Cheuk Yan is invited as the guest speaker and is expected to seek the participation of the Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong for the people’s action week.
In Chater Garden, Filipino migrant organizations from indigenous communities in the Philippines will celebrate the Tribal Filipino Sunday (TFS). This year’s TFS will focus on the WTO policies destroying the livelihood, environment and culture of the indigenous peoples especially by the big multinational mining corporations. TFS is expected to draw thousands of migrant workers including the members of more than 50 organizations affiliated with the main organizers namely the Cordillera Alliance (CORALL) and Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS) both of which has at least 20-member organizations and the Mindanao Federation with more than 10 affiliates. The Palawan Association is also involved in the organizing of this year’s TFS.
The second Public Information Drive Against WTO will be held side-by-side with the TFS. Information booths with photo exhibit and reading materials will be distributed the whole day. Meanwhile, the migrant educators on WTO will be around to make sure that fellow migrants’ inquiries and questions will be properly addressed.
Since last August, AMCB has been organizing monthly seminars to train “Migrant Educators on WTO” for three consecutive months. Already, more than 65 educators have been trained and are doing their rounds in different places in Hong Kong where migrant workers congregate. Armed with their copies of “You and the WTO”, “What you need to know about the WTO” and the “WTO, migration and GATS Mode 4” – the three education modules given during the seminars – the migrant educators provide group discussions, short talks and in some occasions, public forums among migrant workers in Hong Kong.Last October 2, the AMCB launched the “Migrants’ 10-week Countdown to Junk WTO” campaign. The countdown aims to create the atmosphere and climate of anticipation for the Peoples Action Week among the ranks of migrant workers.
Every Sunday starting October 2, small, medium and large-scale activities will be held to mark a week of the countdown. From public forums, cultural events, public information drive, distribution of flyers, walking billboards, volunteer sign-up campaign and formal and informal public gatherings – AMCB affiliates are determined to rally the sector that they represent in order to contribute significantly to the overall success of the peoples action week.
October 2 – Migrants Seminar on WTO – this was the last of the three-month series of training of the AMCB among its members in order to develop migrant educators on the negative impacts of the WTO. We have proven wrong the perception that WTO is “too hard to understand” for domestic workers who mostly came from the peasant and labor ranks. We have proven that this issue is not “only for experts” but is in fact for people who are mostly affected by the WTO policies.
October 9 – Lightning Drama Presentations – a short cultural presentation featuring the famous three monkeys and the peoples struggle and their inevitable victory against imperialism and its instruments including the WTO. The performers went around the Central area and performed whenever and wherever possible.
October 16 – Migrants Confront New WTO Director-General – around 50 migrant educators of the AMCB joined the HKPA in the protest action and roundtable discussion during the visit of WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. The event was an eye-opener for the migrant educators in terms of engagement with the WTO. It made their resolve to raise the consciousness of fellow migrants on the issue even firmer.October 23 – Echo-training, Documentation Team Training, “Praktikultura” – as the PAW gets near, the need for more educators to reach more migrant workers is more evident. Echo-trainings where our trained educators conducted their own training-seminar to train new educators were held.
During the action, we will need people to take pictures and video footages for the documentation team. Thus, training on basic principles in video and photography was also provided for our volunteers focusing on how documentation work can contribute in advancing the struggle of migrant workers.
Praktikultura (culture in practice) is a new concept in people’s cultural work where our cultural activists are practicing and rehearsing in public areas so they can do propaganda work and at the same time solicit public opinion on how to further improve their skills and presentations.
This coming Sunday, October 30, AMCB will again go full-blast with the Junk WTO campaign.
To gather the broadest support among the Filipino migrant workers, UNIFIL-HK, an AMCB affiliate, will organize the first ever All Presidents’ Meet. The APM will gather more than 70 presidents, chairpersons and religious leaders of different Filipino migrants’ associations, unions, religious groups, alliances and federations in a meeting to come up with a common position on the issue of WTO and to get their commitment to the PAW. Trade unionist and legislator Hon. Lee Cheuk Yan is invited as the guest speaker and is expected to seek the participation of the Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong for the people’s action week.
In Chater Garden, Filipino migrant organizations from indigenous communities in the Philippines will celebrate the Tribal Filipino Sunday (TFS). This year’s TFS will focus on the WTO policies destroying the livelihood, environment and culture of the indigenous peoples especially by the big multinational mining corporations. TFS is expected to draw thousands of migrant workers including the members of more than 50 organizations affiliated with the main organizers namely the Cordillera Alliance (CORALL) and Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS) both of which has at least 20-member organizations and the Mindanao Federation with more than 10 affiliates. The Palawan Association is also involved in the organizing of this year’s TFS.The second Public Information Drive Against WTO will be held side-by-side with the TFS. Information booths with photo exhibit and reading materials will be distributed the whole day. Meanwhile, the migrant educators on WTO will be around to make sure that fellow migrants’ inquiries and questions will be properly addressed.
Be WISER, JUNK WTO!
The countdown continues.
On November 6, 13 and 20, AMCB will be showing short documentary films featuring the disastrous impacts of the neoliberal policies to different sector, particularly the workers, the peasants and the students.
This will culminate in the biggest pre-MC6 parade dubbed “Hong Kong Peoples’ Mardi Gras”, a festive parade featuring different cultural presentations, national costumes, traditional rituals and movements carrying different themes reflecting peoples’ calls against WTO’s anti-people policies. This event will be held on the 27th of November.
And finally, on December 4, the 10th week of the countdown, simultaneous programs featuring open forums and cultural presentations will be held in different parts of Central, Causeway Bay, Kowloon City and New territories to cover the biggest number of migrant workers in Hong Kong and to rally them in the Peoples’ Action Week.
Defend our rights, livelihood and life! Junk WTO!These and more are some of the events that migrant workers and the general public are looking forward with much excitement and enthusiasm.
The worsening economic crises in our respective countries and the systematic attacks of the Hong Kong government to our wages as a result of the neolibeal policies being promoted by the WTO and other imperialist instruments globally, are more than enough reasons to protest the MC6.
Carrying forward the migrant workers’ struggle for Wage Increase, Services, Employment protection and workers Rights, AMCB believes that it is WISER to junk the WTO together with all its anti-people agreements and this December is one opportunity we can not miss.
The people united, will never be defeated!Together with our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong and from the other countries, we say KONG YEE SAI MAU! JUNK WTO!
AMCB/26Oct05
The countdown continues.On November 6, 13 and 20, AMCB will be showing short documentary films featuring the disastrous impacts of the neoliberal policies to different sector, particularly the workers, the peasants and the students.
This will culminate in the biggest pre-MC6 parade dubbed “Hong Kong Peoples’ Mardi Gras”, a festive parade featuring different cultural presentations, national costumes, traditional rituals and movements carrying different themes reflecting peoples’ calls against WTO’s anti-people policies. This event will be held on the 27th of November.
And finally, on December 4, the 10th week of the countdown, simultaneous programs featuring open forums and cultural presentations will be held in different parts of Central, Causeway Bay, Kowloon City and New territories to cover the biggest number of migrant workers in Hong Kong and to rally them in the Peoples’ Action Week.
Defend our rights, livelihood and life! Junk WTO!These and more are some of the events that migrant workers and the general public are looking forward with much excitement and enthusiasm.
The worsening economic crises in our respective countries and the systematic attacks of the Hong Kong government to our wages as a result of the neolibeal policies being promoted by the WTO and other imperialist instruments globally, are more than enough reasons to protest the MC6.
Carrying forward the migrant workers’ struggle for Wage Increase, Services, Employment protection and workers Rights, AMCB believes that it is WISER to junk the WTO together with all its anti-people agreements and this December is one opportunity we can not miss.The people united, will never be defeated!Together with our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong and from the other countries, we say KONG YEE SAI MAU! JUNK WTO!
AMCB/26Oct05
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We say "Junk WTO!" and we unite with everyone who opposes the WTO for various reasons. We encourage you to participate in the People's Action Week spearheaded by the HK Peoples' Alliance on WTO (HKPA) of which we are a part. We hope that this blog continues even after MC6 in Hong Kong.
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