From: Montyneill-AT-aol.com
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 14:33:49 EDT
Subject: AUT: FW: PGA caravan update from ecuador 



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Subj:   <caravan99> PGA caravan update from ecuador
Date:   10/5/2001 11:27:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:=A0 =A0 desaparecido-AT-nadir.org (el desaparecido)


Friends!
I am forwarding you this quick report on the first part of the PGA Caravan
returning from Bolivia via Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Could some of you see that this (plus the report on the 3rd PGA conference
in Cochabamba sent before and the call for financial aid sent separately)
all get around the PGA and related networks in NA? I actually only have
this handful of addresses. If someone could get me the addresses of the
lists that must exist it would be great.

My best to all of you in the central part of the empire! Hold on tight,
history is accelerating.
Olivier
______________________________________________________________________


Magical Mystery Tour......

The third international gathering of the Peoples Global Action (PGA) network
has formed a peoples caravan which is crossing the Latin American continent.

Starting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the caravan, made up of people from over 15
countries, has arrived in Ecuador after visiting a number of peasant
communities across Peru.

The third conference of PGA was attended by over 400 delegates from more
than 50 countries. Discussions ranged from North/South solidarity to Plan
Columbia, indigenous peoples struggles, gender struggles, and many more. In
addition, two international days of action have been called, the first to
coincide with the WTO's next meeting in Doha, Qatar November 9th-13th 2001,
and the second to coincide with the FTAA meeting in Quito, Ecuador March
2002.

The aim of the caravan is to exchange information regarding our respective
campaigns and issues and to witness first hand the impacts of neo-liberal
and military expansion in Latin America. Its not hard to pose as tourists at
the almost hourly police and army checks we are being subjected to, when the
contingent comprises of delegates from South Africa, New Zealand, Germany,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, USA, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Basque Country,
India, Nepal and Columbia.

With the imminent expansion of both the Free Trade Area of the Americas
treaty (FTAA) and Plan Columbia throughout this region it is pertinent to
witness the devastating effects policies of this kind have already unleashed
here.=A0 In addition to the negative effects of capitalism we are learning
about the positive elements of widespread and diverse resistance being
mounted by people across this continent.

Unfortunately after leaving Cochabamba and battling for visas in La Paz two
Bangladeshi and one Sri Lankan delegate were forced to leave and were unable
to continue with the caravan. Next stop was Puno, on the border of Bolivia
and Peru where a bus of delegates was stopped a week earlier en route to
Cochabamba. After the happy reunion we continued north.

A bus load of tired people arrived at Cusco, the Southern
Peruvian town and gateway to the infamous Machu Pichu ruins. We were warmly
welcomed by the FDCC - the Peruvian Peasants Federation - and put up in one
of their training centres, a cosy and amusing scene of thirty bunks in one
room!

Some of the more gung-ho among the crew embarked on a late night tour of
local Inca ruins, pricey, guarded and over run with tourists during the day,
by the almost-full-moon-light the five hour trek was by all reports quite
magical.

The next morning after a 6am rise we set off on a two hour ascent to over
3900 metres to visit the peasant communities of Jabomayo. Five years ago
these communities had to travel miles to get food and relied on pesticides
and chemicals for limited local production. Now they have organic green
houses,fields of alfalfa and and increased variety of vegetables. The health
of the community has increased markedly and techniques of sustainable
chemical free agriculture are being shared throughout neighboring
communities.

Started in 1994 aided by the Institute for Alternative
Agriculture, the training project, which has already involved over 1500
families, is wide ranging and includes a number of different areas including
conservation, organic agriculture, agricultural techniques, business
management, leadership skills, civic education and communication skills. All
training is organised locally through a model of skill sharing. Once
trained, families pass on the knowledge to others in the community, to other
communities, districts and so on.

The curriculum was developed in consultation with the communities and
comprises of a blend of traditional inca agricultural models and modern
techniques. The agricultural practices of the Cusco area are being viewed as
a test-case, if successful agricultural reform of this kind could be
implemented across the country.

The IAA is completely independent from the government and emerged from the
grass roots, largely funded by 'The Fund for Social Development', a Belgian
NGO. Training is completely free and has two main aims. Firstly democracy
and organisational training and secondly land management and agricultural
skills.

For these communities the fundamental thread running through all of this
training is that of food sovereignty. Under former President Fujimori food
imports were increased from $250M USD to $1.4B USD despite the rich
agricultural industries of Peru. In response to this, and the push towards
big agro-businesses, small peasant farmers are organising through Peasant
Federations and setting up sustainable local alternatives and thus becoming
more autonomous.

Furthermore the increased production in the Cusco area since the shift in
agricultural practice feeds in to a 'Food Aid' program, whereupon after
individual families and local communities are fed, excess production is used
to feed over 30M people through schools etc.=A0=A0

The forty strong group were invited for breakfast and lunch at the home of
Theodore and Segundina. This family were one of the first to undertake the
training and now have organic vegetable gardens and produce organic dairy
products. It was with much pride that they give us a tour of their stables,
from which manure is transformed to garden fertisliser by worm farms,
allowing them to do away with chemical fertilisers.

That evening we had a slumber party of sorts at the IAA back in Cusco, and
were treated to a late night meeting with Carlos Paredes of the FDCC. He
informed us about the history of the peasants movement in Peru, an inspiring
and rich history of stuggle from feudalism to neo-liberalism, which has had
a profound impact on Peruvian politics. He outlined the idea of
participatory democracy being practiced in Limatambo and the Act of
Committment which they are developing to influence government policies. This
'act' is essentially a contract where the FDCC commits its members to voting
for a particluar candidate based on their commitments to instigate
favourable policies once in office.

Another early rise, with little sleep for some who chose to party on in
Cusco and share the celebration with others upon their return at 4am! At 6am
we piled in to the bus and headed for Limatambo where we were introduced to
their model of participatory democracy which they have been developing since
1991.

This model allows for the 10,500 (est.)members of the community to set the
agenda for public works to be undertaken by the council and gives them full
rights to oversee local council budgets and the councilors themselves.
Alejandro Toledo, the recently elected President of Peru, who prior to his
election signed an Act of Committment with the FDCC, is set to visit
Limatambo in early October with a view to enacting this model of local
community autonomy across Peru.

After leaving Cusco we travelled non stop by bus to Lima, a mad overnight
trip through the awesome mountains of Peru, sometimes reaching over
altitudes of 4500 metres!

Delayed by a stuck bus blocking the road we unfortunately arrived in Lima
only to catch the final half and hour of the Third Annual Peruvian Peasants
Conference, where Toledo had been the day before. We were treated to lunch,
shook lots of hands, expressed solidarity and took lots of photos, it was a
shame we arrived late, but we were greeted warmly nonetheless.

Furter complications ensued when the four russians and other
travelling companions did not arrive in Lima as expected and we were forced
to leave minus another of our comrades who stayed in Peru to look for them!

The rest of us continue en route for Quito and Sucumbias,
unfortunately we had to cancel our trip to the Peasant community in Saragayu
as once again we are running behind schedule.

Much time is spent on the bus, the Australians can be seen
practicing yoga at any opportunity and there are some cosy
relationships being developed. Surprisingly, given the bumpy
roads, lack of showers and the levels of tolerance required to live with
forty people on a bus for weeks straight, the morale is high. Furthermore
the long days on the bus are spent with presentations on local struggles
from Plan Columbia to the Landless Peoples Movement in South Africa, and
some amusing karaoke sessions to boot!

>From here the caravan will travel to Sucumbias far north Ecuador and then
through Columbia with a view to learning more about Plan Columbia, arriving
in Bogota around the 12th October.

More in depth reports on the PGA conference, Jabomayo, Limatambo and
different peasant communities across Latin America are being collated,
hopefully a caravan reader will be published in Spanish and English in
several months, in the mean time we plan to put out a few more reports from
the road...

More later,
alexk +
the bus kids,
PGA Caravan October 1st 2001.

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