Read, spread, translate, publicize, protest, send this text:

Bureau International des Expositions:  bie@bie-paris.org

Heraldo de Aragón:  expo2008@heraldo.es

Italian newspapers (Trieste is other city their council authorities want the International Exposition, too):

 ufficio.centrale@ilpiccolo.it

 larepubblica@repubblica.it

 http://www.corriere.it/mondo_corriere/mailcenter/carta.shtml

 lettere@lastampa.it

 cronaca@ilmessaggero.it

 redazione.milano@ilgiorno.it

The opposition against the Expo 2008 in Zaragoza increases

The Zaragoza candidature to the International Fair 2008 is been questioned by social collectives, neighbourhood associations & part of the citizenship.Each day the opposition to this project, which attempts to point out as a virtue a non-existent social consensus, is on the increase.

After the social debate proposed by Zaragoza ecologist collectives, debate never offered to the cicizenship by Zaragoza council, several values of this project have been cast doubt on.

On the first place, we reject this kind of sumptuous, expensive & loss-making fairs “typical from another centuries” of which the contents & aims are unknows. In the internet age, this kind of events don´t generate real interest & neither have a practical sense. We don´t want International Fairs neither in this nor in anyother city of the world. We don´t want spendthrift & corruption generating agencies as the Bureao International des Expositions (BIE).

Besides, we object to the holding of the Expo 2008 at Zaragoza for reasons:

Ecologist: The Meandro de Ranillas, which give shelter to riverside forest of special ecological interest & the last vegetable garden close to the city, one of the few outskirts green spaces, would be destroyed & built on.

Economic: Zaragoza council is in total bankrupcy since the beginings of this year, removing inversions for neighboorhoods & social projects for this reason. In last summer beginings Zaragoza council presented suspension of payments to its suppliers. In this context Zaragoza council wants to face a massive squandering of money on a project that is beforehand loss-making & of boubtful social interest

.On the other hand, as far as we squander money coming from the DGA (Aragon Delegation), the Spanish government & the European Economic Community , we are forgetting about the solidarity with the rest of territories.

Speculative: a public money trasvase towards the private construction companies would occur, with the exclusive finality of getting benefits from the artificialy revalued lands. The true purpose of the Expo is the speculation, that´s why the main sponsorship came from local & national promoters & construction companies.

Town-planning:becouse we don´t share the city pattern associated with the Expo, which seek to incorporate, without debate, another proyects of great social disagreement. They offer us a quick, expansionist & unteable growth, which worsen our life style, instead of the mediterranean city, with high population density & sustained growth.

Social interest: the Expo hasn´t caused social interes among the citizenship, nobody knows exactly what is all this about.
Its promoters show it as something positive for Zaragoza & big investments generator, without any other content.

& because the supposed citizen unanimity about the Expo is virtual & fake. There hasn´t existed social debate, nobody has asked nor informed to the citizenship.

The Plataforma Ciudadana Contra la Expo 2008 (citizen platform against the Expo) has been shown by different actions: at the crowded city festivities opening speech, at the council plenum , at ambassadors talks, giving out leaflets or organizing citizen debates.

Our opposition & our critical attitud agaist the Expo 2008, the International Fairs & the BIE will get harden as the voting on 16 December approachs & afterwards if Zaragoza is victim of the election as venue.

You know that...

Hannover 2000, the last International Fair, had a deficit of 204.000 millions of pesetas? ...the 94% of visitors were Germans?

The forecast fluctuate between 7´5 & 10 million visitors? Do you think the 3 million visitors of Forum de Barcelona, the half of the expectations, would be exceeded ?

The budget for the Expo 2008 is about 110.000 million of pesetas?

Citizen Platform against the Expo2008
 expo2008@ecologistasenaccion.org
www.ecologistasaragon.org/expo2008