[mobglob-discuss] Asia-Pacific Co-operation meets on 4 -5 June 2004 in Mapuche Territory

[ClaudioE.]

Mapuche Organizations and Regional Entities reject APEC summit in their
ancestral territory

  In Opposition to Free Market Globalization and Neo Colonialism, We Say: No
  to APEC
  (Mapuche Nation for the Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples and
  Nations)

  Contrary to the claims made by governments, businesses and transnational
  corporations about economic globalization, we do NOT understand
  globalization as a world of opportunity. We understand it as a world of
  exclusion, marginalization, oppression, ex-appropriation; a world where
  indigenous people are displaced and their land and natural resources
  over-exploited; a world in which big corporations use their instruments
  the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the FTAA, Free Trade Agreements and APEC
to
  exercise imperialist power - a power which in many cases transcends that
  of  government and the state to control markets and trade.
  The current globalization of free trade promotes a neo-colonialism, which,
  in contrast to the colonialism of yesterday, affects not only indigenous
  people and nations but vast sectors of the world's population. In other
  words, in this new system the big corporations are devouring their own
  colonies.
  The globalization of a free market economy, the standardization and
  homogenization of production and the fixing of world prices in economies
  which are at unequal stages of economic and technological development is
  leading very many social groups - among them indigenous peoples - to fall
  victim to the new economic model. For example: control over food
  production  is lost, increasing privatization benefits transnational
companies;
  mono-agricultural policies are implemented which have terrible
  consequences for environmental degradation; a market which over-exploits
natural
  resources is consolidated; repressive, militarily conceived strategies are
  implemented which seek to benefit the multinationals by controlling and
  destroying social and indigenous movements; and finally, policies of
  assimilation are followed which attack the rights and cultures of
  indigenous people and nations and lead to corporate power, corporate
transnational
  looting, and social and environmental disaster.
  We question whether the colonialist states which are part of the Asia
  Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and of other multi-lateral
  organizations have the authority to subscribe to international trade
  agreements on commerce and investment, given that they have continually
  denied the rights, land titles and autonomy of indigenous people and
  nations. Such is the case in Chile, which hosts APEC in 2004. In Chile the
  rights of indigenous peoples are comprehensively violated. A racist and
  discriminatory refusal to recognise their identity and their collective
  rights is driven by state policies and motivated by the desire for
  absolute control on the part of powerful, groups such as: domestic
companies and
  transnational corporations.
  In their just struggle for the recuperation of their land and their
  dignity,  and the right to exercise political, civil and social rights,
the Mapuche
  people are the victims of constant, systematic and planned violations of
  their human rights. Police aggression is designed to jail and persecute
  Mapuche leaders. At the same time, in both Chile and Argentina, the
  Mapuche people are losing both their identity and their natural resources
as a
  result of the actions of the transnational corporations (mining, oil,
  forestry and hydroelectric power companies) and big landowners who are in
  close alliance with and receive the strong support of the Chilean and
  Argentine States. In the name of the reigning economic model, these same
  States oppress all those who seek to defend their rights.
  Faced with these circumstances, we are aware that the current resistance
  to a globalized free market model propelled by transnationals must not
lose
  sight of those injustices which are taking place within "nation states"
  themselves. An anti - globalization movement which denounces only the
  global protagonists runs the risk of tacitly legitimating those
colonialist and
  exploitative states whose historic base has always been the displacement
of
  indigenous people and nations.
  NO TO APEC!
  APEC is the means by which its 21 member countries intend to implement
  standards which are internationally accepted as likely to improve security
  and facilitate the commercial activities of neo-liberalism. In fact, this
  is exactly what was agreed during the Second Conference on Secure Trade in
  the APEC region, which took place in Chile in the beginning of March.
  Mapuche organizations and regional groups reject all those practices or
  forms of globalization which systematically exclude, ignore or marginalize
  indigenous people and nations and any social sector. APEC is another
  instrument which will do this.
  The current oppression of indigenous people and nations across Latin
  America  is closely linked to the aspects of globalization reflected in
APEC, among
  them the modernization of agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining;
  export-oriented economic policies; agricultural policies that promote the
  extensive use of chemical and bio-chemical products; energy policies
  focussed on the use of oil and big hydroelectric dams. These are the
  clearest examples of how globalization impacts on Mapuche people in both
  Chile and Argentina.
  One of the most important meetings during Chile's year long hosting of
  APEC will take place during the 4th and 5th of June at the very heart of
the
  Mapuche nation's historic territory, in the towns of Pucon and Villarrica
  and at the centre of the Araucania Region (850 kilometers south of
  Santiago, on the shores of Lake Villarrica). The meeting will be attended
by
  Ministers of Trade and commercial representatives from the following 21
countries:
  Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, the Peoples Republic of China, Hong
  Kong,  Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua
New
  Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the
  United States, and Vietnam. They will meet to establish economic and trade
  policies, and plan treaties and accords behind the backs of their people.
  For this reason, the voice of the people who actually live on this land
  must be heard. In order to achieve self-determination we must call a halt
to
  the false presentation of our history and culture as mere 'folklore', we
must
  show the representatives of APEC governments and the groups of businessmen
  which they serve that we do exist, that we are here, and that it is
  possible to build a just and equal world with an economic system that
allows the
  participation and the decisions of its peoples.
  We are calling on Mapuche organizations and regional entities, indigenous
  people and nations, and all people and social organizations (local,
  national and international) that aspire to shape a just society founded on
a
  respect for life and for cultural diversity to attend this meeting during
the 4th
  and 5th of June and to show their opposition to the new colonialism, whose
  instrument (APEC) is attempting to place itself like a seed into the heart
  of our land.
  We are calling on you to join us, to intervene at this meeting and to
  express your views.
  Mapuche Forum
  Coordination of Mapuche Organizations and Territorial Entities
  E-mail: Foromapuche2004 at yahoo.es
  http://www.mapuexpress.net/contraapec.htm

  Translated by Heidi Walter