VOICES RISING
YEAR III - VOL 3. Nº157
October 14, 2005
CONTENT
1.- URGENT CALL FOR ACTION FOR ADULT EDUCATION
2.- AN APPEAL FROM ASPBAE FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
3.- AN APPEAL FOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
4.- UNESCO’S LITERACY INITIATIVE FOR EMPOWERMENT (LIFE)
5.- CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS AGAINST GATS-WTO & THE PRIVATIZATION OF BASIC SERVICES
1. URGENT CALL FOR ACTION FOR ADULT EDUCATION
An urgent call for action for adult education from ICAE (texte en français ci-dessous).
Send NOW TODAY Friday this urgent a message to your UNESCO embassy and delegation in Paris (see the email address of your country at http://erc.unesco.org/permdel/protocollist_complete.asp?language=E) asking them to support the Canadian resolution on CONFINTEA VI
Message:
“Next Saturday, the 15th of October the General Conference of UNESCO will vote on a proposal to hold the next International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V) in 2009. This vote is very important for all of us in adult literacy and adult education networks.
· Education for All could only succeed if parents and the adult community is included.
· We could not achieve and improve the Millennium Development Goal without the creativity and competence of citizens, without the right to learn of all adults.
Twelve years after CONFINTEA V in Hamburg, the world needs this Conference in 2009 to debate this priority, to explore ways to implement it, to create lifelong learning networks across sectors of activity.
We ask you, as our national delegation, to support this resolution already adopted at the Education Commission last week.
In French
Un message urgent,
SVP envoyez aujourd’hui vendredi un message urgent à votre délégation à l’UNESCO Paris (voir l’adresse courriel de votre ambassade á ( http://erc.unesco.org/permdel/protocollist_complete.asp?language=E ) leur demandant d’appuyer la résolution sur CONFINTEA VI
Message:
“Samedi prochain, le 15 octobre, la Conférence Générale de l’UNESCO va prendre le vote sur une proposition de tenir la prochaine Conférence internationale sur l’éducation des adultes (CONFINTEA VI) en 2009. Ce vote sera très important pour nous oeuvrant en alphabétisation et éducation des adultes.
· L’Éducation Pour Tous ne pourra être réalisée sans la participation et de la communauté.
· On ne pourra réussir et améliorer les Objectifs de Développement du Millénaire sans la créativité des citoyens et citoyennes, sans leur compétence, sans leur droit de continuer d’apprendre.
Douze ans après CONFINTEA V à Hambourg, le monde a besoin d’une telle Conférence pour redéfinir cette priorité, pour explorer les voies de la réaliser, pour initier des réseaux d’apprentissage tout au long de la vie recoupant les divers secteurs de l’activité humaine
À titre de notre délégation nationale , nous vous demandons incessamment d’appuyer cette résolution déjà adoptée la semaine dernière á la Commission sur l’éducation.»
2. AN APPEAL FROM ASPBAE FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
Maria Khan
aspbae@vsnl.com
Dear ASPBAE Members and Friends,
It is with deep regret and sadness that we send another round of condolence messages to our members this time in Pakistan and India, recently ravaged by a major earthquake which has once again left tens of thousands - mostly poor people - dead and many more in desperate situations.
I am enclosing two messages from ASPBAE members: Anees Jillani who heads SPARC in Islamabad, Pakistan - an ASPBAE member and a leading campaign NGO against child labour; and Lalita Ramdas, an individual member of ASPBAE and currently active in the Pak- India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy. Like the region of Aceh destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami, the areas most affected by the October 8 quake in South Asia have been the terrain of long standing conflict rendering its citizens even more vulnerable to this recent disaster. These emails offer first hand accounts of the current situation in the most affected areas of the quake and both appeal for much needed support and assistance that you may offer.
For further information and indications of support, you may write directly to Anees Jillani through his email address: sparc@comsats.net.pk and/or Lalita Ramdas, email: lramdas@gmail.com . You may also write to us at the ASPBAE Secretariat and we will forward your messages.
We are hoping once more, for your generous response.
Sincerely,
Maria Khan
*********************
Hi everyone,
To all of those who knew and were worried: I'm fine, alive and kicking.
I have been visiting the quake-affected areas on the LoC. The devastation is terrible. What's heartbreaking is that this area has suffered the worst of the India-Pak hostilities with shelling and landmines. They had only just started getting used to the ceasefire when calamity struck. What is shocking is that the civil administration is completely paralyzed. Yesterday I went on foot to villages in the Uri sector which are not
connected by road. Only a few civilian teams had reached with aid. To make matters worse the weather suddenly turned and it started raining and snowing. There were women with young children with thin cotton clothes huddled out in the open under trees or in makeshift shelters. It was freezing cold. I think 7 children died of exposure last night in Uri.
What is urgently needed: tents, plastic sheets, tin sheets these for shelter-- sleeping bags, blankets, quilts, matresses, sweaters, jackets, utensils, rice, dal, wheat, oil, soap, detergent, kersone stoves, kerosene, battery operated lamps. On a longer term: portable shelters which are properly insulated that can withstand the severe winters and can house 10-15 people of a family. A group of NGOs and others have come together in Srinagar to form a relief committee called 'Athrot.' These are: J&K Coalition of Civil Society, J&K Yateem Foundation, Kashmir Times, Help Poor Voluntary Trust, Friends of Humanity, Students Helpline, Kashmiri Womens' Initiative for Peace & Disarmament, Apna Ghar,
Youth for Humanity, Bar Association Budgam, Kashmir University Students and students of various colleges, and members of the business community.
People wanting to help out can coordinate relief work with Athrot. You can send cheques in the name of J&K Yateem Foundation, J&K Bank (Polo View Branch) A/C. No. SB1169.
Material can be sent to J&K Coalition of Civil Society The Bund Amira Kadal
Srinagar Telephone: (91) 9419-2482820, 9419013553,9419046026, 9419009950.
email: p_imroz@yahoo.co.in
Please forward the relevant portions of this email to your friends and colleagues.
Thanks & regards,
Lolly and Ramu Ramdas
`Lara' - Ramu Farm
Bhaimala Village
P.O.Kamarle,
Alibag 402201
Raigad Dist, Maharashtra, INDIA
Phone: 0091-2141-248711
Fax: 0091-2141-248733
********************
I was in Balakot Oct 10 and 11. Returned this morning.
Ninety percent of the buildings in the town have been razed to the ground, including all schools and the only tehsil hospital. One big shopping plaza owned by the Tabligi Jamaat has survived (direct cooperation with Allah), the police station and the mobile phone towers.
Few have survived. Rest of the town remain in rubble, and there is an acute stench of human flesh.
I arrived and rushed to one school Shaheen Memorial School where 400 children were said to be trapped. About four students till then had been rescued by some students of Abbottabad, and a French Rescue Team led by the French Defense Attache in Islamabad was working. I was with them till midnight. They were able to rescue five children in front of me and worked till four in the morning and rescued some more; they then left stating that rest were dead.
One teacher Kinza was recovered dead and she was shielding two children under her; one had died. The Rescue Team said that she saved the child under her.
I visited all the schools. Bodies remain trapped inside all the schools.
There is absolutely no relief activity going on till yesterday night. None whatsoever. The army is moving in but presently in the process of establishing its camps.
There are absolutely no NGOs working there.
There is bumper to bumper traffic with people especially from the Punjab and the corporate sector bringing immense quantity of goods mostly used clothing (lunda) which is now lying in thousands on the streets, juice, water, some biscuits, some blankets.
The survivors are stunned but for some reason are not going to their houses or recovering the bodies or even their goods; they are all sleeping in the open with sheets of polythene over them; a few have tents and big sheet that tents are made of.
There is no food and not a single shop is open. I could not eat or drink tea during my two days there.
I make a small request. I need money to buy tents for the people as everybody is asking for them. Cooking stoves. Torches. Sleeping bags (optional).
No one is giving them tents probably because they are expensive items and perhaps also because market is said to run out of them. We need 1000 to 2000.
This is not a long-term relief activity but an emergency assistance I’m requesting. We will distribute these materials and pull out. We have identified the local contacts in Balakot to help us with this plus we have a Child Rights Committee in Abbottabad that is based in Balakot now along with two of our own staff members.
We are in touch with Sungi and work in coordination with them and all other NGOs. But everybody is spread thin and thus I’m requesting this urgent emergency request. It will go a long way in alleviating the suffering of the survivors including children and women.
I want to look into the possibility of hiring local labor and taking them there to recover bodies at least from schools. This is not an expensive proposition but time consuming. But the least we can do to the children is to give them decent burial since we could not save them. Otherwise, there is no chance of their bodies will ever be recovered. They would simply be bull dozed. The European Rescue teams for obvious reasons are not involved in rescuing children as they say that time is of the essence and they are interested in saving lives rather than working with the bodies.
I’m trying to find out the prices of the tents but in the meantime would request you to look into this matter urgently and see if you could help us with some assistance within this week.
It snowed on the mountains yesterday morning; it rained heavily in Balakot yesterday also and thus evenings and nights are getting cold.
I thank you in anticipation.
Anees Jillani
0300 856 1958
3. AN APPEAL FOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
Purnima Gupta
purnima_203@yahoo.co.in
Life in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the district of Baramulla (Uri is part of Baramulla district) and Kupwara was shattered when the earthquake struck on Saturday 8th October, 2005. Entire villages have been wiped out; several thousand are missing, and injured. Houses have been razed to the ground and lakhs have become homeless. Those who survived the earthquake are not sure they will survive its aftermath. Living under the open skies, in freezing temperatures the prospect of dealing with the long winter ahead threatens to make this a tragedy of even greater proportions.
THE NEED TO PROVIDE RELIEF IS URGENT. AND YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THIS EFFORT.
Since the tragedy struck Sadbhavana Trust has been involved with relief work. Sadbhavana Trust has been working in Jammu and Kashmir (Baramulla and Doda districts) for the last six years. It supports Human Aid Society, a Baramulla based NGO that works with orphans to provide them a chance to complete their education. Sadbhavna Trust also supports Kiran, a Kashmiri women’s group that empowers women through income generation. Hundreds of volunteers of Human Aid Society are working tirelessly to help people bury their dead, provide shelter, food and medicines. (Brief description of Sadbhavana Trust’s work is given below)
You can contribute to this effort by sending a cheque or demand draft to SADBHAVNA TRUST. Sadbhavna Trust is a registered Charitable Trust. Your contribution will be eligible for income tax exemption u/s 80 G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
CHEQUES AND DEMAND DRAFTS SHOULD BE SENT TO:
Sadbhavana Trust, B 64 Sarvodaya Enclave, Second Floor. New Delhi 110016.
Please write your name, address and telephone number with the cheque so that the receipt can be sent to you.
For Foreign contributions: (Sadbhavana Trust has a valid FCRA Number)
1.
2.
SWIFT CODE: BKIDINBBDOS, Account Number 4883, Bank of India, Panchsheel Branch.
Contact details: Renuka Mishra & Primila Lewis. Phone: Renuka (26142614), Primila (26867258), Office (26966334, 26517726). email: renuka27@gmail.com , primilalewis@mail.com
Human Aid Society Kashmir. Near Mini Bus Stand, Tashkent Chowk, Baramulla 193101. Ph: 09152- 238017.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SADBHAVANA TRUST’S WORK IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Sadbhavana Trust launched its Jammu and Kashmir Project in 1999. Our immediate objectives are:
·
·
·
The majority of women and children covered by our projects are survivors of violence.
Our wider objective is to bring back some hope and joy into shattered lives, to rekindle self-confidence, enhance self-esteem, and to stir the social conscience of the community at large.
BARAMULLA DISTRICT
The project facilitates the education of children in the Baramulla, Sopore and Pattan blocks, and also attempts to stimulate the involvement of the larger community in our efforts.
Partner organizations- Human Aid Society.
A women’s programme has been set up in 4 villages in Baramulla district to provide training in crafts and tailoring.
Partner organization: Kiran, Baramulla.
DODA DISTRICT
We are trying to cover the needs of children of all communities, by providing educational material, fees, uniforms, depending on individual needs. These children come from villages and hamlets that are widely scattered over extremely difficult terrain.
Partner organization: Kashmir Foundation for Peace and Development Studies, Srinagar.
4. UNESCO’S LITERACY INITIATIVE FOR EMPOWERMENT (LIFE)
Rosa María Torres
rmtorres@fibertel.com.ar
UNESCO has just launched LIFE (Literacy Initiative for Empowerment), 2005-2015, a «global strategy» to deal with literacy of children, young and adults who are out of the educational system, with emphasis on “poor families, girls and women, particularly from rural areas”, and placing the priority on 35 countries.
Ms. Laura Bush, who was appointed by the Secretary General of UNESCO, Mr. Maatsura, as Honorary Ambassador of the Literacy Decade (2003-2013), is in charge of the Preface.
The complete document is in english and in PDF, and can be downloaded from:http://www.unesco.org/education/literacy/life.pdf
We recommend to read this document, for those of you who can read in english and we invite you to share your ideas about LIFE.
Best regards,
Rosa Maria Torres
Coordinadora, Pronunciamiento Latinoamericano por una Educación para Todos
http://www.fronesis.org/prolat.htm
Moderadora, Comunidad E-ducativa
5. CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS AGAINST GATS-WTO & THE PRIVATIZATION OF BASIC SERVICES
Jubilee South APMDD Secretariat
secretariat@jubileesouth.org / apmdd@jubileesouth.org
Dear Friends,
We are circulating the Call for International Actions Against GATS-WTO and the Privatization of Basic Services.
If you have not signed up, please do so, and help circulate the call. The first of the two days of action, October 19, is only a few days from now and we hope you are already preparing for your protest activity on that day. October 19 is the first day of the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva.
Statements can be faxed to the offices of the WTO. The numbers are:
Fax: (41-22) 731 42 06 (Number for General Inquiries)
Fax: (41-22) 739 54 58 (Number for Information and Media Relations Division)
Fax: (41-22) 739 54 60 (Director General's office)
Fax: (41-22) 721 42 06 (Secretariat)
The next date for International Actions is December 14, during the week of the HK WTO Ministerial Meeting.
Please do send us copies of your statements and information on your plans and actions. We will do a summary and circulate.
Thanks!
Jubilee South APMDD Secretariat
------------------------------------------------
Call for International Actions against GATS WTO & the Privatization of Basic Services
Services Out of WTO, WTO out of Services!
No to GATS! No New Deal in Hong Kong!
In the run up to the December 2005 Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Hong Kong, trade negotiators are under intense pressure by their respective governments to achieve a “successful” outcome in the negotiations for the Doha Development Round, which includes expansion of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). As WTO leaders have tried to ensure by stealthily hatching the July Framework in 2004, services liberalization agreements should be accelerated and
national polices must be made with greater flexibility, such that more markets are pried open to global trade not just in manufactured goods but in services as well.
In truth, there is more than just the acceleration of services liberalization in GATS. Contrary to how it is packaged, GATS is not the trade agreement that it is but one-sided investment tool that gives global corporations increasingly unhampered access to markets and human services, and grants them as much if not even greater rights than citizens to
exploit such access. The WTO and the European Commission have said as much, respectively flaunting GATS as the first multilateral agreement on investments and principally as an instrument of business.
Practically all sectors, from water delivery and transportation to health and education are considered services under GATS. Any barrier to global capital in these sectors, including national safeguards against inhuman working conditions or environmental degradation will be steadily demolished. In fact, the very sovereign rights of nations to protect the interests of citizens and uphold their welfare, above all, have no place under the GATS framework.
Other agents of global corporate domination -- the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- have long imposed policy conditionalities of liberalization, deregulation and privatization upon South countries, with disastrous and fatal outcomes for entire populations and economies of the developing world. Governments have been pressured to deregulate and privatize public services, like water, power and health, depriving millions of the basic requirements for a decent life. Poor farmers, workers, women and children severely suffer the adverse impacts of surrendering control of public services to private corporations.
GATS-WTO further limits developing countries’ chances of development and survival. Water resources and services, recognized as crucial to development, are particularly in danger of commodification and privatization. European water giants have already been making large investments in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The interests of firms like Suez, Vivendi and Thames Water are clearly behind the European Union’s push for the inclusion of water services in the coverage of GATS.
Experiences across South countries show that the basic rights of people, especially the poor and the marginalized, are being progressively eroded by governments surrendering such critical services sectors as health, water, power, housing and education to private big business. Many countries in the South have suffered outbreaks of cholera and other gastro-intestinal diseases because safe water and basic health care are increasingly being made accessible only to those with the capacity to pay.
GATS proponents deceitfully argue that governments can choose to keep certain sectors closed and that privatization of basic social services is not a GATS requirement. But GATS has very clear bias for private business and non-transparent WTO mechanisms favor developed nations, and processes allow them to apply intense pressure on developing countries.
It is most urgent to raise our voices and create a strong wave of international opposition against GATS and the WTO. From now to December, let us mobilize in our own countries and manifest our protests in various ways.
We call on social movements, people’s organizations and non-government organizations to hold regionally coordinated actions on October 19 to protest against GATS and privatization, at the start of the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva.
At the forthcoming 6th Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, let us raise our voices, collectively pool our strengths to mobilize against GATS, and mark December 14 as the International Day of Protest Against GATS and privatization!
(Please sign on and circulate widely. Send signatures and information about your planned actions to apmdd@jubileesouth.org & secretariat@jubileesouth.org )