>Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 19:17:47 +1000
>From: DSP <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
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>To: Links <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Invitation to 2nd Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference
>
>  Call for the 2nd
>Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference
>Easter 2002, March 29 – April 1, Sydney, Australia
>Building Links for Global Resistance
>
>
>A new spirit of resistance, renewal and cooperation is alive among the
>left around the world.
>
>Certainly the capitalist neoliberal offensive of the last 25 years has
>inflicted heavy defeats on the working class internationally; certainly
>the social and political universe has changed a lot during the course of
>the 20th century; and certainly many who used to be on the left have given
>up the struggle.
>
>But after the wave of confusion and despair following the collapse of the
>Soviet Union popular movements have been fighting back, reflecting the
>stubborn reality that the diseases of capitalism are more alive than ever,
>as is the need for a fundamentally different way of organising society –
>socialism.
>
>People continue to rise up, North and South – against Third World debt,
>against the devastation of our environment, against the deepening
>exploitation of women, against the denial of national rights and the
>marginalisation of indigenous peoples, against rural poverty and
>landlessness.
>
>From Seattle to Washington, Bangkok to Melbourne, Prague to Nice, Quebec
>City to Genoa the explosive protest movement against neo-liberal
>globalisation has shaken the confidence of the world’s rulers. Here in
>Australia the September 11-13 blockade of the World Economic Forum in
>Melbourne last year sparked a new mood of hope and enthusiasm on the left.
>The May 1 blockades of stock exchanges in eight Australian cities followed
>it up, and we're building to protests in Melbourne and Brisbane for the
>Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October.
>
>Against this promising background new left parties and alliances are
>developing and new links – national and international – are being
>developed between parties with very different traditions. The radical left
>is rebuilding on new foundations.
>
>Asia Pacific
>
>These trends have been strongly felt in the Asia Pacific region. New
>parties have been formed, like the Peoples Democratic Party in Indonesia,
>the Power of the Working Class in South Korea, and the Socialist Party of
>East Timor. The left in the Philippines continues a process of
>clarification and recomposition. The Labour Party of Pakistan grows and
>draws working class leaders together in its ranks.
>
>In India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
>Malaysia, Australia and other countries, parties coming from very
>different traditions – Maoist, Trotskyist, traditional Communist – have
>developed comradely collaboration and discussion.
>
>These processes became regional with the successful first Asia Pacific
>Solidarity Conference (Sydney, April 1998), which was attended by more
>than 750 people, including 67 representatives from non-Australian left
>parties and organisations. The Marxism 2000 Conference (Sydney, January
>2000), the Socialism 21 Conference (Kathmandu, November 2000) continued
>the trend. And the first left conference in Indonesia for more than 35
>years – the Asia Pacific Peoples’ Solidarity Conference in Jakarta, in
>June  – made a valuable contribution to regional collaboration in spite of
>its disruption by police and right-wing militia.
>
>A similar spirit of searching for new ways of working together exists in
>Europe and Latin America. In Europe, left alliances and new parties have
>grown in Portugal, Denmark, France, Italy, Turkey and other countries. The
>militant alternative being built by the Scottish Socialist Party and the
>British Socialist Alliance marks the strongest effort by the left there
>since 1945. Anti-capitalist left parties from many different traditions
>are starting to meet on a Europe-wide basis.
>
>The ten-year experience of the São Paulo Forum, the insurgent Zapatista
>movement and Porto Alegre’s 15,000-strong World Social Forum (January
>2001) all indicate the strong desire for new forms of resistance. They
>also underscore the ever-urgent need for a resolute fight against
>imperialism and its international institutions, and for a revolutionary
>transformation of society.
>
>At the same time, despite Washington’s increasingly desperate efforts to
>discredit and crush it, revolutionary Cuba still stands as an inspiration
>for all peoples’ struggles. The victory in the Elian Gonzlez case and the
>Cuban people’s ongoing mobilisations against the US blockade, the Free
>Trade Area of the Americas and Third World debt have strengthened the
>position of all of us who are resisting the system.
>
>Who’s coming?
>
>The 2nd Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference at Easter 2002 in
>Sydney (March 29–April 1) aims to provide a meeting place for many of
>these experiences and to draw together the continent-wide discussions that
>have been taking place in Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa. You are
>warmly invited to participate.
>
>We have already had encouraging acceptances from parties and activists who
>have been invited to provide keynote speakers.
> 
>
> *  Alain Krivine, a leader of the French Revolutionary Communist League
>and a member of the European parliament.* *  Alex Callinicos, British
>Marxist intellectual, from the Socialist Workers Party of Britain.* *
>Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian Marxist writer and political commentator.* *
>Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of the Labour Party of Pakistan;* *  Sonny
>Melencio, chairperson of the Socialist Party of Labor of the Philippines.*
>*  Ram Seegobin, leader of Lalit, the principal revolutionary socialist
>organisation in Mauritius.* *  Dale McKinley, South African Marxist and
>activist.* *  Satya Sivaraman, radical Indian TV documentary producer.* *
>The Seraiki National Party president Abdul Majeed Kanjoo, from Pakistan.*
>*  Malik Miah, Barry Sheppard and Caroline Lund from Solidarity in the
>US.* *  Ahmed Shawki and Paul D’Amato, leaders of the US International
>Socialist Organisation.* *  Luis Balbao, from Unión de Militantes por el
>Socialismo in Argentina.* *  The Portuguese Left Bloc has confirmed that
>it will attend, as have* *  The Peoples Democratic Party in Indonesia,* *
>The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist),* *  The Socialist Party
>of Timor,* *  The Communist Party of Nepal (UML).* *  The Labour Left
>Collective from South Africa.* *  We are also confident that a Cuban
>Communist Party delegation will attend, as well as* *  The Power of the
>Working Class in South Korea.* *  We also hope to have a leader of the
>Scottish Socialist Party as a keynote speaker.* *  And there’s been
>interest from other left parties and anti-corporate activists from many
>other countries, including Malaysia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Denmark, Canada,
>Norway, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Japan, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, Iraq,
>Afghanistan, and Nicaragua.*
>
>
>
>Issues and debates
>
>The conference agenda will be wide-ranging.
>
>At its centre will be discussion of what strategies and political demands
>to press in the developing movement against neo-liberal globalisation. How
>to maintain the momentum?
>
>For example, the demand to abolish the WTO, World Bank and IMF has greater
>support than ever, even among many previously reticent NGOs. More people
>demand unconditional cancellation of the Third World debt. And how exactly
>can preferential trade treatment for the Third World be won? Such are the
>core issues.
>
>Another theme will be internationalist solidarity versus narrow
>nationalism. Fighting the dead-end of chauvinist protectionism has been a
>hard battle in Australia, where, as in all privileged imperialist
>countries, it’s been the scourge of the trade unions and labour movement
>politics.
>
>Another unavoidable question for the movement – which so far has been
>rather ignored – is how to go beyond capitalism. The thorny question of
>socialism.
>
>At times this issue appears disguised as a debate over the very right of
>socialist parties to be part of the united front of resistance and to put
>their viewpoint within the movement. However, if left parties are
>excluded, it’s practically impossible to lift the movement’s field of
>vision beyond demands on, and reforms to, capitalist states and
>institutions.
>
>The conference will devote many plenaries and workshops to aspects of
>building socialist parties in today’s conditions. What sort of socialist
>renewal, regroupment and alliances are possible and desirable? What sort
>of party is needed? Should it be on a broadly anti-capitalist basis or do
>we need revolutionary Marxist parties right away? How should parties
>relate to the different networks and spheres of struggle? What sort of
>relations should exist between different national parties? How structured
>an international network should we aim for? How can contact and
>collaboration between parties coming from different traditions and
>different continents be improved?
>
>Contact us
>
>We are calling for international sponsors and partners in this important
>conference. If your party, union, social movement or community
>organisation can attend, contact us as soon as possible so your input can
>be added in. If you would like to present a paper or workshop, let us know
>now so we can plan and advertise the agenda well in advance.
>
>If you look to build a more powerful and effective movement against the
>scourge of neo-liberal globalisation, if you look to strengthen the
>struggle for the anti-capitalist and socialist cause, you should not miss
>the second Asia-Pacific International Solidarity Conference.
>
>The conference is being organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for
>Democratisation and Development. Write to: PO Box 515, Broadway 2007,
>Australia. Email: <[log in to unmask]>. Phone: 61 2 9690 1230.
>
>
>
>

Deborah Knight
CSE/Capital & Class Business Manager

25 Horsell Road
London N5 1XL
(Tel/fax: 0207 607 9615
website: www.cseweb.org.uk)