[bru-info] Health Work as Resistance to Imperialism and War

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

Health Work as Resistance to Imperialism and War: Report Back on the 
"International Conference on Challenges in Health Work in a Globalized 
and Terrorized World"

On Thursday, December 11, Grassroots Women will host a report-back from 
the International Conference on Challenges in Health Work Amidst 
Globalization and War, which was held in the Philippines from November 8 
to 10, 2003. The evening of multimedia presentations and discussion will 
begin at 7pm, at the Kalayaan Centre (451 Powell Street), and will 
feature the experiences of three local community organizers who attended 
the conference.

Over 120 participants from more than 10 countries around the world came 
together at the conference to talk about how the World Trade 
Organization and other agreements like the GATS (General Agreement on 
Trades and Services), as well as wars of aggression and militarization, 
are attacking public health systems and allowing the unrestricted entry 
of transnational corporations in the delivery of health care for profit.

"The conference provided a new and exciting opportunity to exchange 
ideas and deepen our understanding of how war and imperialism are 
impacting people's health," states Martha Roberts of Grassroots Women, a 
participant at the conference and one of the December 11 speakers. "It 
provided inspiration and insight for our campaigns in BC against 
increasing privatization of health."

Victor Wong, from the Vancouver Association of Chinese-Canadians, will 
speak at the Report Back about how the privatization of health is 
impacting people around the world, based on presentations and workshops 
at the international health conference. Conference participants heard 
about how people's health in Third World countries in Africa, Asia and 
Latin America was being attacked amidst increasing militarization and 
globalization.

While at the conference, participants were given the exciting 
opportunity to visit local grassroots organizations in parts of the 
Philippines to observe the attacks on people's basic right of health and 
to speak with community health workers who are organizing in local 
communities. Roberts will share some of these stories and discuss how we 
can learn from those in the Third World who have already had to face the 
problems that we are now beginning to face here in Canada.

According to Roberts, "In BC, we are currently being threatened by the 
increasing privatization of health care services. This means that more 
and more marginalized and working class women are losing access to our 
basic health needs, like eye-care services, under privatization. There 
is a lot we can learn from the advanced movements of the Third World."

The international conference was organized by local health groups in the 
Philippines and the International League of Peoples' Struggles (ILPS). 
Cecilia Diocson, a member of the International Coordinating Committee of 
the ILPS and a Vancouver-based organizers, will speak about the 
importance of building coordinated international campaigns and actions 
in the struggle against privatization of health, globalization, and wars 
of aggression.

Grassroots Women is hosting this report as part of our three-year long 
campaign for 'Health for All' to call for the basic human right of 
health to be available to everyone and not based on a system of profit.

Everyone is invited to join us for this free session, to learn more 
about how imperialism and war are affecting our health and our lives, 
and what we can do to resist and to fight for genuine health for all.

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