Alliance for Responsible Trade

1) Bolivia: Evo Morales' Letter, on E.U. immigration policies.
2) Brazil: Social movements protest big business and Lula's neo-liberal politics
3) The FAO Summit in Roma was a complete failure
4) Argentina: Two looks at the conflict between the government and the "ruralistas"
5) Ecuador: Open letter in support of the Debt Audit Commission
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1) Bolivian President Evo Morales' letter on E.U. immigration policies

Bolivian President Evo Morales' has written a letter to the European Parliament regarding the approval of the "Return Directive" on migration which will be voted on this June 18.  In his letter he criticizes the initiative and appeals for reflection by the entire E.U. about consequences of this proposed law.  He denounces the law for the forms in which it proposes to penalize immigration, and says it violates the basic rights of millions of migrants in open contradiction to various articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The President questions why on one hand the E.U. promotes a commercial Association Agreement with Andean states, and on the other hand intends to adopt rigorous legislation against immigrants, failing to recognize the fact that the Global South has historically been open to European immigrants despite their plundering. Thus, the letter states that while the directive demands "legal security for companies," it is damaging to the legal security of migrants...

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 2) Social movements in Brazil protest against big business and neo-liberal politics

Social movements in Brazil mobilized this Thursday in various states of the country with occupations and street demonstrations. The coordinator of the actions, Vía Campesina explained that the objective of the actions, which will continue until Tuesday, is to denounce the problems caused by large foreign companies who are benefiting from the agro-economic model and by the neo-liberal economic politics of the current government. "The principal objective is to discuss with the public so they can pressure the government, for today the government is pressured only by a small group of transnationals," explained Fray Sergio Görgen, a militant of Vía Campesina.

Read More (Sp):
Vía Campesina: Why do we mobilize? We want to produce food (Sp)
Movement of those Without Land (MST): Massive protests in Brazil (Sp)

3) The Rome Summit of the FAO was a complete failure

The results of the summit of the FAO in Rome which ended on 5 June are deceptive and scandalous. Although over 50 Chief-of-States and Governments met, in pursuing supposedly measured, concrete discussions to solve the food crisis, aggravated in recent months with the explosion in world prices for raw agricultural goods.  The final resolution said nothing about bio-fuels, which consume hundreds of millions of tons of grain; nothing about the stock-market speculation that has exploited food prices; and nothing about dreadful free market policies of the IMF, the WTO, and World Bank. This proves that a consensus has been reached within the UN and the International Financial Institutions is the continuance of current economic and commercial South-North dependence policies, and the total support for multinational agro-agriculture to the detriment of millions of starving people around the world.

Read More:
The price of food cannot be set by the market (Sp)
FAO: More free trade, more hunger (Sp)
Latin Americans reject final declaration of the FAO (Sp)
 Food Crisis: What had to happen happened (Sp)

4) Argentina: Two looks at the conflict between the government and the "ruralistas"

The so-called "crisis of the countryside" in Argentina continues without being resolved after more than 90 days of political confrontation between the Government and owners of agro-businesses, who disagree on the retention of their exports. For many, the agrarian stoppage is being used by radical sectors of the right to destabilize the government and consolidate short-term conservative legislation. On the other hand, there are those who see in the "crisis" the confrontation of two poles of the capitalist model, which delay more radical solutions for Argentine society.

Read More (SP):
About the model and radicalization (Sp)
Conflict of the countryside reflects contradictions in Argentine society (Sp)
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel's letter to President Cristina F. de Kirchner (Sp)
Slowing speculation with life (Sp)
It's democracy, idiots (Sp)

5) Open letter in support of the Debt Audit Commission in Ecuador

An open letter was addressed to President Rafael Correa and the constituents' Assembly supporting the Integral Debt Audit, which will present a public report in the middle of July. The audit's intent is to determine the legitimacy of the process of indebtedness which Ecuador suffers, to advance the application of measures to attain justice, to end the domination and plundering instrumental in creating the debt and restoring sovereignty and deserved resources to the Ecuadorian people. It asks for support from the principal regional and world networks and organizations, which have a long history of action concerning the debt, in order to reinforce the signature campaign and other actions at the local level.

Read More (Sp)

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