>
>Knowing that it will take a little while for the many things decided in
>Cochabamba to be put in form, on the web page, etc. (many people are still
>traveling on the caravan to Colombia), I propose a personal and provisional
>synthesis.
>
>The conference was a great step forward for PGA in several ways, despite
>the very difficult conditions created by the events in New York. A large
>number of people of course arrived late (some not at all) and this quite
>disorganised the first days. However, this reunion of amazing movements and
>people had a common purpose and a great common will to go forward. The
>dynamic of the meeting became more and more intense as things got organised
>and as mutual understanding and confidence developed. The last day of the
>conference, an incredible number of agreements were reached in a marathon
>of meetings in which working together seemed to be more and more efficient
>and agreable. At 2 AM Monday morning ( !), we finished the agenda in high
>spirits, topping it off with " chicha " (a traditional indigenous beer made
>from fermented corn) and a collective dance ! On a human level, this was
>perhaps the warmest PGA meeting yet : what are now old friends from across
>the world meeting again, and the pleasure of seeing that dozens of new ones
>feel immediately at home - simply because so many grassroots movements seem
>to share our practices and dreams.
>
>The airline chaos stopped all United States participants except one from
>coming and caused many others to arrive late. Worse, the new repressive
>world order that the USA plans to justify by the attack in NY was
>immediately evident. Already, there had been some police pressure on people
>organising the conference, but after the attack, the Bolivian government
>practically sealed the border for PGA. Delegates with valid visas were
>turned back or detained (sometimes for days !) at the frontier, the
>immigration authorities stating that " visas for PGA people are no longer
>valid ". Several persons who had already passed the frontier were rounded
>up in a police sweep of the airport and threatened with expulsion. The bus
>from Colombia, with delegates of Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and several other
>countries was stopped at the frontier. The arrival of nearly all the asian
>delegation was retarded for days. When finally forced (by political
>pressure) to grant visas, immigration demanded prohibitive prices for a "
>business " visa. Meanwhile, the governor of the province declared to the
>press that the PGA delegates were all " potential terrorists " and had
>organised the riots in Europe and North america. The US ambassador actually
>publicly threatened Evo Morales, the leader of the host organisation (the
>Cinco Federaciones del Tropico de Cochabamba, Bolivia's most powerful
>farmer's movement) for having dared to condemn together the terrorist
>attack and the state terrorism practised by the USA in Iraq, Colombia, etc.
>The first day of the conference was a little tense.
>
>Fortunately, political pressure from our hosts and from the bolivian human
>rights organisations finally had its effect. In the end, about 170 foreign
>delegates made it, but 25 (essentially from the caravan on the border) were
>excluded. They improvised their own discussion table with the local
>Peruvian farmer's movement, while awaiting the caravan that is now
>returning from Bolivia to Colombia, via Peru and Ecuador.
>
>With the Bolivian participants, the conference thus brought together about
>230-250 people from (from what I can remember) Argentina, Chile, Colombia,
>Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala,
>Mexico, USA, Canada, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland,
>Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, India, Nepal,
>Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Papoua New Guinea, Aorotea
>(New Zealand) and Australia.
>
> >From Canada there were representatives of the CLAC (Comité de Lutte
>Anti-Capitaliste), PGA convenors for North America and organisers of the
>highly successful direct action against the Quebec summit of the Americas,
>and a delegate of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees), the largest
>and one of the most progressive unions.
>
> >From India, there were representatives of NAPM (National Alliance of
>People's Movements) and of BKU (the national farmers' federation), who
>brought with them news from a movement that is more and more powerful and
>unified (apparently thanks in part to the dynamic initiated by the
>InterContinental Caravan). The movements take turns organising huge
>demonstrations once a month, with as many as 50,000 people arrested at a
>time in non-violent direct action. Prof. Nanjundaswamy could not come, as
>the KRSS was organising a rally of 500,000 people for the 2nd of October.
>The whole indian farmers federation has already served notice to the
>government that they must distribute the 20 million tons of grain in their
>stocks by the 5th of November or the farmers will do it themselves for the
>opening of the WTO summit in Qatar !
>
> Among the new arrivals, there were three representatives of the huge
>Indonesian farmers federation, a representative of the Nepal farmers
>federation and four enthusiastic and inspiring delegates from the new
>popular movements of South Africa (landless peasants, Forum Against
>Privatisation, urban struggles against evictions and service cut-offs).
>(Unfortunately, the other african delegates failed to get visas.)
>
> >From Latin America, there were representatives of some of the most powerful
>movements : the Cinco Federaciones, the ecuadorean peasants (CONFEUNASC)
>and indigenous (CONAI), the Zapatistas of Chiapas, the MST of Brazil. From
>Colombia there were representatives of the two peasant federations, the
>afro-colombians (PCN), the national indigenous organisation (ONIC) and the
>national women's movement. There were also representatives of various
>indigenous peoples : of Guatemala, the Kuna of Panama, the Mapuche
>(Chile-Argentina), the Meskitos of Nicaragua and of course a strong
>presence of the Aymara and Quechua of the Andean region. There was also a
>good number of delegates from Argentina and Brazil, who (like the delegates
>in the bus from Colombia) traveled up to six days each way to get there.
>
>Many of the brazilians and argentinians were from a new network of young
>mostly urban organisations that had specifically organised for the Global
>Days of Action of May 1, for Prague or against ALCA. Their presence
>highlighted the echo that the new anti-globalisation movement in the North
>has had in the South. In the beginning of PGA, southern struggles (in
>particular civil disobedience from India) inspired the northern activists.
>Now, the circulation of forms of struggle is also bringing ideas from north
>to south. Groups are linking up in horizontal networks to take action
>together. Indymedia sites exist in Brazil and Argentina, and delegates from
>Bolivia, Ecuador and other countries were asking for help to set up their
>own.
>
>The presence of delegates from northern groups like Reclaim the Streets, Ya
>Basta from Italy, CLAC of Canada, MRG of Catalonia, the swiss Anti-WTO
>coordination - groups which were responsible for the victories of direct
>action in London, Prague, Genoa, Quebec, Barcelona and Davos - of Swedes
>who had organised for Goteborg or Australians from anti-WEF demos in
>Melbourne, also marked the incredible advances made by the movement in the
>North since the last PGA Conference. These young movements can hardly be
>compared to the massive southern organisations, but they have earned their
>place in the discussion. Everyone at last understands that northern groups
>have their own struggles and perspectives and do not exist only in
>solidarity with southern struggles.
>
>Turning to the actual content of the conference :
>
>- A call for Global Days of Action was of course issued against the next
>WTO minsterial summit in Qatar (November 8-12th), including proposals to
>block the departure of trade ministers in each country, to block stock
>exchanges and financial centers and to use popular consultations or other
>means to mobilise the huge majorities that sympathise with our action. (see
>call below)
>
>- A call was also issued to mobilise the Americas against the next meeting
>of the Free Trade of the Americas Accords (FTAA) in Ecuador next March and
>the simultaneous meeting of the Interamerican Bank in Brazil.
>
>- The Global Sustained Campaign against militarism, paramilitarism and
>state terrorism, already launched with respect to " Plan Colombia " (tours
>of Europe and North America, demonstrations, etc., have been going on since
>the end of 2000) will be continued and enlarged, not only to the whole
>Andean region, but also to the general problem of repressive violence that
>social movements the world over have to face - and more than ever after the
>events of New York and Washington.
>
>- Two other proposed Global Sustained Campaigns, one on water and the other
>on land, were finally brought together under one larger heading of "
>Territory and Sovereignty ". This was largely due to the input of the
>indigenous delegates who pointed out that such themes were much richer if
>taken together. The questions are not only those of land reform versus
>expropriation by the multinationals, or of privatisation of water. The
>larger question is that of the right of communities to freely organise
>their societies, livelihoods and relation to nature. This can include
>options that stem from their particular cosmovision, for example.
>
>This campaign can thus include opposition to all kinds of privatisations of
>public services - or much more generally of global or local " commons ". In
>particular reference was made to climate change and the rejection of carbon
>trading and other market based " solutions " which are de facto a
>privatisation of the right to clean air.
>
>A particularly rich round table concerned the struggles around water, with
>the exemplary struggle of the people of Cochabamba, who rose up last year
>and threw the US multinational Bechtel (which had taken possession of the
>city's water supply) out of the country, at the same time blocking the
>general privatisation of all water (including agricultural uses !) being
>pushed by the World Bank. (Their beautiful, inspired texts are in appendix
>4). Similar struggles are going on in Canada, Sri Lanka, South Africa,
>Spain, etc. A coordination of these resistances can be an important task
>for PGA.
>
>And of course, huge extents of land are being taken over - directly or by "
>subcontracting " agroindustrial enterprises to locals - by multinationals
>world over : Brasil, Colombia, Mexico, Africa, Asia., in particular with
>coercion from the IMF/WB and treaties such as NAFTA which makes the
>privatisation of traditional communal lands of the indigenous and of the
>black communities of Africa a condition for financial " aid ". (To some it
>seems that a huge speculative bubble is happening in agriculture. This
>could be compared to the urban land speculative bubble of the early
>'90ties. But of course if it deprives hundreds of millions of small farmers
>of their subsistence it will have incomparably more serious consequences.)
>Here too, sharing experiences (for example those of the landless of
>Bangladesh, Brazil, India and South Africa) and coordinating struggles
>could be decisive.
>
>- A third Global Sustained Campaign of a different type was proposed for
>the construction of grassroots alternatives to the capitalist system and
>included popular education campaigns and popular consultations (" Consulta
>") among the tools envisaged. (A consultation was in particular proposed at
>least in the European region by the MRG of Catalonia.)
>
>- Other round tables and working groups developed their own projects. Among
>them the strong indigenous group, which decided to organise a specific
>latin american indigenous meeting next year.
>
>The conference also took important decisions concerning PGA's
>organisational principles, its political hallmarks and the manifesto.
>
>- Hallmark 1 was modified to read :
>
>"A very clear rejection of feudalism, capitalism and impèrialism; all trade
>agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive
>globalisation."
>
>In the Bangalore Conference the opposition to " free " trade had already
>been extended to capitalism in general, but the change was made in the "
>goals " of PGA, less often cited than the principles. At the same time, the
>Nepalese and Indian delegates asked that feudalism should be added as it
>remains the immediate form of domination for many in that area.
>
>- The hallmark number 4 was modified to read :
>
> "A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social
>movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect
>for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of
>local alternatives to global capitalism."
>
>This change removes the word " non-violent " from the principle. This was
>considered a change of verbal form more than of political substance. The
>problem with the old formulation was first that the word " Non-violence "
>has very different meanings in India (where it means respect for life) and
>in the West (where it means also respect for private property). This basic
>misunderstanding has proved quite impossible to correct in media - or
>indeed in the movement itself. The north american movement felt that the
>term could be understood to not allow for a diversity of tactics or even
>contribute to the criminalisation of part of the movement. The latin
>american organisations had also objected to the term in their regional
>conference, saying that a " call to civil disobedience " was clear enough,
>whereas " non-violence " seemed to imply a rejection of huge parts of the
>history of resistance of these peoples and was as such badly taken by large
>parts of the movement.
>
>This point of view was particularly put forward by the movements of Ecuador
>and Bolivia, who at the same time have actually been practicing civil
>disobedience by the hundreds of thousands these last years, although they
>may throw some rocks when the army kills with bullets (as it regularly does).
>
>In fact, there was always an understanding in PGA that non-violence has to
>be understood as a guiding principle or ideal which must always be
>understood relative to the particular political and cultural situation.
>Actions which are perfectly legitimate in one context can be unnecessarily
>violent (contributing to brutalise social relations) in another. And vice
>versa. Precisely to make this clear, the zapatista army (EZLN) was invited
>to be among the first generation of convenors. The wording finally found
>seemed to respect this fundamental stance, since it explicitly advocates
>MAXIMISING respect for life.
>
>- The PGA manifesto was extensively reworked by a working group that sat
>for a large part of the conference to incorporate a gender perspective
>throughout. (Consult the web page www.agp.org in a little while for all the
>changes, too many to include here.) The gender group also worked out the
>declaration below (see Appendix 3).
>
>- The manifesto was also modified to include a paragraph relating to
>climate change. The section on the environment now refers not only to the
>effects of WTO, WB, etc., but also says :
>" The global commons´ is being appropriated....this now includes the
>atmosphere. Climate change is a result of capitalist resource exploitation.
> It reinforces existing global inequalities initiated by colonialism. As
>the climate warms, essential resources with further become the privilege of
>the elite, who will use increasingly militarised force to acquire them.
>Also, the very problem of climate change is being seen as a profit making
>opportunity. Market based ´solutions´ include carbon trading) in which
>governments and TNC´s buy and sell their ´rights to pollute, and carbon
>sinks appropriated forest areas or GM plantations which theoretically
>absorb carbon pollution) to avoid reducing their own emissions´. "
>
>The organisational principles of PGA were also extensively modified to
>bring the theory into line with actual practice and experience. It was
>generally admitted that three successive convenors committees had not been
>able to assume many of their tasks, lacking either the necessary means,
>time or information to do so. At the same time, PGA has been scoring
>amazing successes due to a much more decentralised, spontaneous form of
>organisation. Solutions must therefor be looked for in that direction.
>
>- The choice of convenors and the convening method will be left to regions
>to decide in their continental meetings : one convenor or more, collective
>convenorship (Eurasian proposal), sub-regional assemblies (North American
>option), etc. The only imperative is to have a contact point for
>circulating information, practical work, decisions, etc., from one
>continent to the rest.
>
>- Adapting to the actual practice (Indymedia, for instance, being the way
>by which in fact infos about Global Days of Action circulate), information
>will be open, decentralised and have no " official " PGA stamp. The web
>page will be restructured in a series of open " Indymedia-type " pages for
>information or discussion of different campaigns and themes. Bulletins will
>be printed (using this information or others) by participants in the
>network on their own responsibility.
>
>- Of conferences and caravans.
>There was generally agreement that anti-globalisation actions should be
>more grounded in local struggles. First, in order to continue to widen the
>mobilisations and make the link with the day to day struggles that are the
>real resistance to capital. Second, to avoid the isolation and
>criminalisation that threatens after Genoa and New York.
>
>But localising means risking losing unity and general perspective unless we
>can better analyse and communicate the common aspects of our different
>struggles. And PGA has been as bad at stimulating debate and communication
>as it has been brilliant in inspiring action across the globe. So how can
>we make sure this happens, and that the next conference is preceded by a
>real debate on strategies, alternatives, etc. ? Or, in the worst case, how
>to assure that PGA can continue to grow even if repression (visa
>difficulties, etc.) and the drying up of institutional funding for
>anti-globalisation movements (aggressively organised now by the
>multinationals) make future conferences impossible - or much smaller ?
>
>Several ideas were approved :
>
>The first was to not necessarily have the next conference in two years
>(that is before the next WTO summit), although a conference within two to
>three years seemed necessary.
>
>Debate and communication in the whole network could be stimulated by a new
>variant of the " caravan " formula. The idea would be to have for example
>one participant from each continent in a small group that would tour one
>continent or region with a mandate to investigate and debate on certain
>clearly defined subjects. The results of these exchanges would be
>regularly broadcast to the whole network via email lists, webpages, etc.,
>as the caravan advanced. This contact at the grassroots would also be a
>much more effective way of getting to know movements and making known PGA,
>thus preparing a richer convening process.
>
>This formula implies taking MUCH more time, say a minimum of two or three
>months, with at least several days in each place, to be able to discuss in
>depth, take time to write up results, etc. This in turn implies that it
>could not involve movement leaders but people less centrally involved or
>younger people who can take the time to fill this role of " movement
>reporters ". It could be much more efficient, less costly and easier to
>organise than conferences or regional meetings. Smaller conferences could
>possibly be just as effective and representative if the delegates could
>thus come having already debated the questions at home.
>
>Other ideas included finding more volonteers for the support group
>(particularly in the South), including some with a precise committment to
>communication and debate facilitation. Making sure that convenors and other
>southern partners have real access to email (not just an expensive hotmail
>account in a café).
>
>- On the next to last day, the whole conference boarded four buses to make
>the incredible descent (more than 3000 meters in a few hours !) from
>Cochabamba to the Chaparé region, stronghold of the cocaleros of the Cinco
>Federaciones del Tropico. A demonstration organised to welcome us (and to
>protest against the yanqui army base) gathered 20,000 peasants from all
>over the region in an impressive show of strength. Men, women and children
>of all ages, gathered under dozens of the rainbow colored huipil banners,
>responded with enthusiasm to speaches from spokespersons of the asians,
>africans, maoris, europeans, north americans and divers latin american
>countries and peoples. There own slogans and banners (" El pueblo unido,
>lucha sin partido ! ", " El pueblo unido vive sin estado ! ") showed that
>PGA had found appropriate partners there. A strong and moving response to
>the post-NY media hysteria.
>
>- And the next conference ? We will have to choose. PGA is invited to
>Russia and South Africa !
>
>Well, I guess this wasn't finally so short, but there would still be so
>much to tell. What is impossible to communicate is the richness and warmth
>of an international meeting of popular, grassroots organisations. In this
>space so many very different human beings and cultures can so quickly find
>so much in common, sharing enemies, but also so many visions, hopes,
>questions and practices.
>
>Amandla ! ! Power to the people !
>
>Olivier
>
>Appendix 1
>The PGA call to action against the WTO summit in Qatar
>
>Peoples Global Action calls on all grassroots social movements, community
>based organisations, trade unions, student organisations, indigenous
>peoples, farmers organisations, autonomous collectives and everyone who
>wishes to participate around the world to carry out actions against the
>World Trade Organisation (WTO) during the next ministerial summit in Doha,
>Qatar, November 9th-13th, 2001.
>
>The WTO´s aim is very simple: to remove anything that gets in the way of
>big business and free trade, upholding the freedom for multinational
>companies to act as they please. Made up of 135 member countries, the WTO
>polices international trade rules and continues to set an agenda that
>places profit above people and the planet.
>
>Faced with a rapidly expanding grassroots resistance to capitalist
>globalisation, the WTO has fled to an isolated desert dictatorship for its
>next meeting. Already built into the agenda are three immensely
>destructive trade agreements: the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), the
>General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) and the Trade Related
>Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Between them, they cover issues like:
>the privatisation of health, education and water, forcing GMO foods and
>seeds on member countries and patents on life forms.
>
>THEY CAN RUN BUT THEY CAN`T HIDE: WE ARE EVERYWHERE!
>
>RESIST THE WTO THROUGHOUT THE WORLD THROUGH DIRECT ACTION AND CIVIL
>DISOBEDIENCE WHEREVER COMMUNITIES ARE DESTROYED AND ECOSYSTEMS SACRIFICED
>FOR THE SAKE OF FREE TRADE!
>
>Regardless of whether the WTO meeting is maintained or not, we will be in
>the streets, because the streets are ours. Grassroots organisations all
>over the world are organising the following kinds of actions and call on
>others to do the same:
>
>1) Awareness-raising campaigns against WTO and the effect of their policies
>on a global and local level: community based consultations,
>counter-meetings, public debates, publications.
>2) Maximum disruption of the work of the trade ministers attending the
>conference: demands for the publication of national positions, blocking of
>communications or of departures of delegations, etc.
>3) Mass coordinated actions on a national and international level: work
>stoppages, road blocks, occupation of stock exchanges and other financial
>institutions (New York, San Francisco, Sao Paolo...), liberation of grain
>stocks (India) on Nov. 9th.
>4) Decentralised local action: land occupations, creative demonstrations of
>grassroots alternatives... Nov. 9th-13th.
>
>
>
>Appendix 4
>
>Texts of the Coordinadora del Agua of Cochabamba
>
>(Texts of the "Water Coordination" which came together last year to resist
>the privatisation of all water in Bolivia, and in particular the city water
>of Cochabamba, imposed by the World Bank and obsequiously organised by the
>Bolivian government.
>
>After days of street blockades involving practically the whole population
>and street battles (in which the police were firing live ammunition), the
>US multinational Baechtel was thrown out of the country, parliament was
>obliged to revoke the privatisation law. In Cochabamba the "coordinadora"
>is now self managing the water of the city. First result, the water company
>is for the first time making a tidy profit, while charging a tiny fraction
>of the rates that Baechtel wanted!)
>
>"We have been the object of a great robbery, we are owners of nothing.
>Therefore, we, bus and taxi drivers, workers and neighbors together, sign
>this agreement and public statement in order to defend ourselves, in order
>to no longer permit this drunken spending spree of luxuries - of the good
>life for some, and suffering and privation for almost everyone else.
>
>Because behind the deceitful government "dialogue", they impose upon us
>.The workers and the community listen, respectfully pay attention, and
>suffer.
>
>We unite because we are fed up with the simulation of democracy which only
>renders us obedient and impotent, and turns us into obliged voters and tax
>payers for the benefit of the rich; because it is urgent to begin to take
>action together. each sector does not have sufficient strength to resist
>alone. There is no individual salvation, we will improve everyone's well
>being or no one's.
>Communication of the Coordinadora, December 1999
>
>
>The Bolivian government would rather respond to the directives of the World
>Bank than take into account what the people themselves consider to be their
>needs. The heart of the problem is this: who decides about the present and
>the future of the people, resources, work and living conditions. We, with
>respect to water, want to decide for ourselves: this is what we call
>democracy.
>Communication of the Coordinadora, January 28, 2000
>
>The other great success of this movement is that we have lost our fear. We
>left our houses and communities in order to talk amongst ourselves, in
>order to get to know one another, in order to learn to trust one another
>again. We occupied the streets and highways because we are their true
>owners. We did it counting only on ourselves. No one paid us, no one sent
>us orders or fined us. For us, urban and rural workers, this is the true
>meaning of democracy: we decide and do, discuss and carry out. We risked
>our lives in order to complete what we proposed, that which we consider
>just. Democracy is sovereignty of the people and that is what we have
>achieved.
>Communication of the Coordinadora. Sunday, February 6, 2000
>
>The cost of the repression: A six month supply of tear gas was used, 3,840
>tear gas grenades, on the first day of the repression. Each grenade costs
>between $5 and $10. It can be deduced that on Friday, $28,800 was spent on
>tear gas grenades alone.
>
>The second day of the repression, fewer tear gas grenades were used because
>their reserves had been depleted. It can be presumed that 5,600 grenades
>were used over the two days of conflict, at a cost of approximately
>$42,000. 480 police officers arrived from La Paz, each having received $7
>per day for food and other needs. From this, it can be calculated that the
>government spent $15,480 over five days. It cannot be confirmed but it is
>supposed that each police officer who participated in the repression
>received a bonus of $35. The government also incurred costs for a small
>plane and for the leaflets which were distributed by this means during the
>first days of the conflict.
>
>Los Tiempos, Tuesday, February 8, 2000
>
>
>After 15 years of neoliberalism, when we all believed that the model had
>snatched away the most important human values, such as solidarity,
>brotherhood, trust in one self and one another; when we believed that we
>were incapable of losing our fear, of having the capacity to organize
>ourselves and unite; when they had imposed upon us with all their strength
>a culture of obedience, of following orders; when we no longer believed in
>the possibility of being able to offer our lives and die for our hopes and
>dreams, to be heard, to make our words be taken into account; our humble,
>simple and industrious working people, composed of men and women, children
>and seniors, showed the country and the world that it is still possible.
>
>
>There is a sort or rebirth of people's capacity to believe. People want
>to have faith in themselves again something that neoliberalism had taken
>from us. Before, we had to believe in the "expert", in the sort that
>barely speaks Spanish, who speaks English instead, in the sort that comes
>from Harvard.
>
>What can we do when they charge us so much for water that does not even
>reach our houses? We had to fight in whatever way we could. Of course,
>what we have seen is that we are fighting between brothers, but they have
>not left us any other option.
>
>Neighbor quoted in Opinion, Friday, February 7, 2000
>
>Men and women of Cochabamba, rights cannot be begged for, they must be
>fought for. No one is going to fight for ours. We will fight together for
>what is just or we will tolerate the humiliation of bad government.
>
>Declaration to Cochabamba from the Coordinadora, Monday, January 10, 2000
>
>They want to make us believe that the privatization of water is going to
>save us, that it is a lifesaver. As if we don't have experience with
>privatization? Privatization is total chaos, privatization has failed in
>Bolivia. Now we see that the corporations, the corrupt and the politicians
>work together against the people.
>
>A neighbor on the radio, Saturday, February 5, 2000
>
>We aren't going to forget what they have done to us.
>
>Citizen cited in Pulso, February 11, 2000
>
>After having been passive, almost accomplices, in the selling off of 60% of
>our economy, we have finally reacted. What we have done means that we have
>redeemed our honor, in order to construct a common home with our own ideas
>and our own hands.
>
>Editorial in Opinion, Saturday, April 8, 2000

>We are enlarging our blockade. We are entire families. Perhaps the
>government thinks that with each passing day we are getting tired, but it
>is mistaken. With each day that passes, the people lose more patience and
>when the people lose patience [the situation] is much more dangerous. The
>government is mistaken if it thinks that it is making us tired, we have
>more enthusiasm and more people.
>A Neighbor in Quillacollo on the radio, April 2000
>
>If there isn't an agreement that benefits the 27,000 retired people in
>Cochabamba after the robbery committed by Aguas del Tunari, we reserve the
>right to seize all the installations of this mafiosa company that steals
>from the poor.
>Declaration of the Federation of Retired Workers of Cochabamba, February 2000
>
>We have won. We came to the plaza and here we are. We said "no" to the
>new water rates and they have been frozen.
>
>Communication of the Coordinadora, February 2000
>We are defending our water. Communities have the right to defend and manage their resources and don't need corporate management.

>Citizen cited en Nawpaqman, May 2000
>