The only Plan-for-Change that is understandable, applicable worldwide and cuts straight to the critical restructuring needs: Debt, Land; Reparations; Bans on Corporations and Arms Sales; and Ecological Rural Development. Nothing can stop IAPE from rallying International Civil Society and changing everything.

INTERNATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR EARTH - IAPE

ANDES LIBRE: INFO-NEWS SERVICE
Jason Marti, Director
 webmaster@andeslibre.zzn.com
01 520 312-6662 (USA

To realize the Earth Charter many groups from Food First and Via Campesina to India’s Vandana Shiva and the International Forum on Globalization have been working on a range of policy proposals. The Puerto Allegre Statements, the “A Better World is Possible,” publication and the International Action Plan for Earth (IAPE) cover the economic restructuring issues that could make a world based on the Earth Charter real. Radical re-structuring programs are becoming the rallying cry of billions of people opposed to any continuation of US-led Global Corporate Hegemony The People—International Civil Society—demand autonomy, land reform, political overhauls, agrarian policy shifts and an end to US military, economic and corporate interventions worldwide.

INTERNATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR EARTH
(IAPE)
I. GOAL:
TO CREATE A WORLD OF DIVERSITY, EXPERIMENTATION AND TOLERANCE WHERE CIVIL SOCIETY CAN IDENTIFY AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT EQUITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECOLOGICALLY AND SOCIALLY SUTAINABLE COMMUNITIES – A GLOBE OF AUTONOMOUS VILLAGES. DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL IN THE NEXT TEN YEARS.

II. STRATEGY: Exert concerted pressure in the streets, legislatures and international forums to force governments and international institutions to adopt the following programs and policies:

a. A moratorium on all debt payments (government and commercial) by the poorest 100 nations until an international economic structure of sustainability and localization replaces the WTO Neoliberalism.

b. Erasure of all debts owed by the 50 poorest countries and any countries to which significant reparations are owed for past exploitation OR environmental damage.

c. Guaranteed and automatic funding for a comprehensive international program of land reform, agrarian reform and ecological rural development, accomplished through taxes on international trade and finance and additional taxes on all stages of the production and consumption of fossil fuels. This people-decided social investment program would replace the World Bank, the IMF, their clones, all foreign aid programs, and all corporate investments outside of their home nation.

d. Penalties for countries spending more than one percent of their GDP on the military.

e. A ban on weapons sales worldwide.

f. An end to most farm chemical use in the OECD countries and an end to all agricultural production or export related subsidies in the OECD.

g. Enforcement mechanisms for the Earth Charter and the IAPE, such as increased taxes for non-compliance, international boycotts and the seizure of the foreign assets and bank deposits of violators.

The social, ecological and economic crises mount moment by moment. We cannot wait for the United Nations to act decisively. People and communities must quickly push forward their demands. Civil Society has the power in their numbers to enact the changes necessary.
II. TARGETS: People should protest or target their rage at those businesses or institutions that they feel are the greatest threat to their communities. The following list presents a generalized prioritization:
1. Any public service or public goods like water, electric power, education, mass transit or telephone service that have been privatized should be high priority.
2. Foreign corporations, especially banks.
3. Large landowners.
4. Local partners of large foreign corporations or their subsidiaries.
5. Corrupt public or business officials.
6. Any business or government enterprise, which creates significant pollution.
7. Media outlets (Television, Radio, Newspapers) which refuse to cover popular issues fairly.
8. Genetically engineered crops
9. Facilities used to export food commodities.

The following tactics represent actions or tools that various citizens groups have employed. People will have to decide for themselves which tactics or group of tactics are appropriate for their situation, the level of the threat, the repercussions and how far they are willing or forced to go:

1. POPULAR ASSEMBLIES: Form Popular Assemblies in neighborhoods and in rural communities. Organize and complete research on the local needs and desires of the people. Operate as if the IAPE and the Earth Charter are the law. Inventory the local environment and draw up sustainable development plans. Identify problems and resources. Conduct surveys of poor people and education campaigns to inform and recruit participation in the Popular Assemblies. Do participatory budgeting and demand your share of funding from local, national and international institutions and governments.

2. BOYCOTTS: When combined with picketing, protests and creative media campaigns, boycotts can be modestly effective against corporations or products. Boycotts are most effective when the corporation cannot easily move or switch markets. Example: a soda or beer bottler (fixed investment and heavy/cheap product). Food products are easy to boycott because the consumer can easily buy something else to eat from a different (local/national) company. Gasoline is a poor item to boycott because consumers have little choice and the product is valuable enough to re-ship to other markets.

3. MASS PROTESTS, GENERAL STRIKES, AND ROLLING STRIKES: There is nothing that corrupt governments fear more than masses of people in the streets, especially if they are joined by striking workers. Rolling strikes and work slow-downs can be disruptive and leave the government or corporation uncertain about what will happen next.

4. PHONE, FAX AND E-MAIL JAMMING: Many people continuously flooding a government or corporate communication systems with complaints and requests can seriously disrupt their operations. Inside knowledge of all phone and e-mails addresses is helpful.

5. ROAD AND RAILROAD BLOCKADES: Burning tires, burning cars and masses of determined people can block roads for days and shut down transportation routes and port facilities. THIS IS EMPOWERING!, EDUCATIONAL, BONDING.

6. DIRECT ACTION: Sometimes drastic tactics have been used in community self defense such as burning genetically modified crops or destroying bridges and powerlines that lead to polluting projects that threaten the community. Broadcast towers and satellite uplinks are also vulnerable.

Be creative and confident and remember that the whole world is watching through independent media – the actions in one region inspire action in the whole world.

IAPE is what Global Participatory Democracy looks like – A Globe of Citizen-Directed Villages

FOR MORE INFO on the Earth Charter CONTACT:  Earthcharter@care2.com

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The Western Hemisphere Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee,
May19, 2002,
Oficina del Norte
 Verdad@Comision.zzn.com


DECLARATION OF MAY 19, 2002:
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION:
THE ANDEAN AND CENTRAL
AMERICAN CONFLICT ZONE

WE are people who have lived and worked in the war zones of Central America and the Andean region, and WE are the Civil Society of Earth who reject completely the WTO, FTAA and the existence of the US-led corporate agenda for World Government.
WE declare these demands in order to initiate a hemisphere-wide dialog for negotiating Peace with Social Justice. An end to the violence of the US supported Oligarchies that rule Latin America will only come when people of the region and the International Civil Society stand up to the US and demand that the US cease arms shipments to the region and withdraw its intelligence agents, military trainers and other tainted personnel.
We call for the establishment of a permanent Truth and Reconciliation Commission to assist similar national commissions in the region. Due to the emergency conditions of the Latin American economic, social and political crises WE commit our efforts to host a Hemispheric Meeting to Establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on August 1, 2002 in Caracas, Venezuela.
WE demand that the Organization of American States (OAS) appoint an
Independent Commission to investigate the role of the US in the Carmona Venezuelan coup and in other criminal acts in Latin America. The US must open the books on the US Central Intelligence Agency and let the world know the truth.
We demand that the US remove the Colombian FARC-EP and ELN from its list of terrorist organizations and WE demand that the US stop supporting the AUC death squads in Colombia which the US has on its own lists of terrorist groups and known major cocaine and heroin traffickers.
AL Giordano and Narco News Service stated the situation in Colombia precisely: “WE reject the cowardly and ignorant statements from some "moderate" quarters that seek to create a moral equivalence between the rebel guerrillas and the paramilitary troops. That view reflects official propaganda, not reality. The rebels oppose the rule of the large landowners, foreign capital, and the Colombian oligarchy. The paramilitaries seek to maintain that status quo. The governments and the paramilitaries, together, wish to enforce a brutal and undemocratic regime to violently prevent every aspect of an open society; they seek to keep the impoverished majority from participating in elections, in unions, and in civil organizations. By assassinating and repressing all social movements, they have made violent revolution inevitable.”
WE declare our support for taxes on international trade and fossil fuels to fund major agrarian reform programs of ecologically sustainable development throughout the zones of conflict in Latin America, as others have proposed for countries worldwide.
WE declare our support for the International Action Plan for Earth and call on Civil Society in all parts of the world to fight for adoption of the UN Earth Charter and for international legally binding enforcement mechanisms.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR WHO SAY “ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE” AND THE EARTH WHICH WE ALL DEPEND ON:
The Western Hemisphere Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee,
May19, 2002,
Oficina del Norte
 Verdad@Comision.zzn.com