Towards an Economic System that Works for People and the Planet

A civil society statement on the G20 summit from IPS Director John Cavanagh and coalition members.

On November 15, the leaders of 20 nations and the major multilateral financial institutions will gather behind closed doors in Washington to discuss the future of the global economy. Led by outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, this group includes many of the people, governments, and institutions whose policies are responsible for the current financial meltdown. As such, we believe they are the wrong group to be charged with reworking global economic rules and institutions. The world needs a process that is much more inclusive of other nations and the peoples of those nations.

This statement begins to sketch an agenda for change that would resolve the crisis by putting people and the planet first. It starts from the experiences of groups and communities around the world. It speaks to a financial meltdown triggered in the very heart of the globalized capitalist economy that has combined with the growing crises of climate chaos and hunger, and that now reaches into every corner of the planet. This new crisis of predatory and unregulated “casino capitalism” is destroying jobs, lives and livelihoods, while wreaking havoc on currencies and stock markets around the world. It has taken resources from the many, while concentrating wealth in the hands of the few.

To date, governments have largely responded by spending more than one trillion dollars bailing out private financial institutions and corporations. Meanwhile, the crushing needs of communities, ordinary citizens and fragile ecosystems have been largely ignored.

Now is the time to learn from this experience and from the consequences and devastating impacts of other recent crises, such as the debt crisis unleashed in 1982 and the financial crises in Mexico (1994-95), Asia (1997-98), Russia (1998), and Argentina (1999-2002). History continues to repeat itself. This pattern, culminating in the current global crisis, demonstrates quite definitively that a real transformation of the system is required.

New rules and institutions should be created in an open and inclusive process of dialogue. They should be based on a new set of principles to guide economic activity. We offer an overview of those principles and an outline of new rules and institutions.

1. We need a new set of principles to support new national, regional and global financial institutions.

The following principles should underpin new rules and institutions:

• Economic democracy and equity, including the development of local economies, and community control and protection of water, seeds, genes, air, communal lands, fisheries, and other “commons”;
• ecological sustainability and environmental justice, including promoting long term, productive green investment;
• the fulfillment, protection, and promotion of all human rights, including the right to food, air, and water, and the rights of workers, small-hold food producers, rural and urban communities, indigenous peoples, women, children, and the elderly;
• gender, racial, ethnic and intergenerational justice and equality;
• self-determination and sovereignty of peoples and nations; and
• non-interference, mutual cooperation, complementarity and solidarity.

On the basis of such principles, finance should be aimed at and linked to strengthening national and local real economies to meet the requirement of sustainable and equitable development. And governments should support innovative new regional financial bodies such as the South Bank in South America, which has the potential to serve the needs of those regions more effectively than the IMF and World Bank. Regional emergency funds are also needed to help ensure the food and energy sovereignty of nations.

2. Enough with market fundamentalism:

The world doesn’t need another “Washington Consensus.” The so-called “Washington Consensus” that has preached deregulation, privatization, the over-leveraging of banks, and trade and capital liberalization over the past 30 years has been extremely damaging to workers, communities and the environment. It is discredited and should be officially abandoned. It should not be replaced with any new “one-size-fits-all” dogma.

Rich world leaders and institutions not only promoted the frenzy of deregulation and privatization in their own countries, but pushed it on developing countries through aid and loan conditionality. As they mobilize trillions of dollars to clean up the mess at home, they must do their fair share to redress the devastating impacts of their mistakes on the South. This should include cancellation of all unsustainable and illegitimate debts claimed from countries of the South and restitution and restoration of the social and ecological debts owed to peoples of the South. These resources, together with the rapid and full disbursement of previously scheduled aid increases, should be provided free of macroeconomic and structural conditions. The right of all countries to define their own paths toward sustainable and healthy economies must be respected. The onerous conditions attached to existing aid, loan, and debt-reduction programs should be removed before they do further damage.

3. Curb the power of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO:

The present crisis has again demonstrated how we are all impacted by three powerful global institutions whose policies have been instrumental in its creation: the IMF, World Bank, and the WTO. Nonetheless, much of the current debate among financial institutions and governments involves giving them enhanced roles. The WTO, for example, continues to press for further deregulation and privatization of the financial sector, principally through its General Agreement on Trade in Services. For individual countries and the global community to adopt critical new regulations of the financial sector, not only should the WTO’s current Doha Round be suspended, but also existing WTO rules constraining regulation of financial services should be rolled back. Likewise, efforts by the IMF and World Bank to expand their influence as a result of the financial, climate, energy and food crises should be rejected. Furthermore, global, regional and national economic governance institutions must be democratic and accountable to the women and men they are supposed to serve.

4. Regulate the global economy effectively:

Governments should take immediate action to develop a new international regulatory architecture with democratic checks and balances that is aimed at promoting the interests of workers, small-hold farmers, consumers, and the environment and preventing future financial crises; the United Nations should play a central role in its development. This should cover not just banks but also the parallel and under-regulated financial system, including hedge funds and private equity funds. Some first steps should include regulating derivatives, stopping speculation on staple food commodities, applying stricter international capital reserve requirements, a speculation tax on international transactions, closing tax havens, and stronger transparency rules. Governments will also need to renegotiate the dozens of free-trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties that currently ban governments from placing controls on capital flows and applying other sensible conditions to foreign investment and other financial transactions.

Such steps are possible and many more will be needed to build a truly just global economic system that works for people everywhere, local communities, and the environment. This is the change that the world needs and for which we will continue to struggle.

Signatories (526 total: 211 organizations from 52 countries and 315 individuals):

International and Regional Organizations (10)
1. ActionAid International, Johannesburg, South
2. Africa
3. Africa Jubilee South
4. CADTM International Network (Com. para la Anulación de la Deuda)
5. Comité Ejecutivo Regional Asamblea de los Pueblos del Caribe
6. European Solidarity Towards Equal Participation (EUROSTEP)
7. Jubilee South
8. JUBILEO SUR / AMÉRICAS
9. Social Watch
10. South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)

African Organizations (10)

11. EHRCEPA (Ethiopian HHRR and Civic Education..), Ethiopia
12. African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Kenya
13. Kenya Adult Learners’ Association, Kenya
14. Kenya Debt Relief Network – KENDREN, Kenya
15. Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Center, Nigeria
16. Centre for Civil Society Economic Justice Project, South Africa
17. Network of Ugandan Researchers and Research Users (NURRU), Uganda
18. Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Center, Kenya
19. African Forum on Alternatives, Senegal
20. ARCADE, Senegal

Asia-Pacific Organizations (37)

21. Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET), Australia
22. Foundation for National Renewal, Australia
23. Jubilee Australia, Australia
24. BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
25. Equity and Justice Working Group (EquityBd), Bangladesh
26. Unnayan Dhara Trust, Bangladesh
27. Humanist Association of Hong Kong, China
28. Public Services Committee, HKCTU, China
29. All India Bank Emp Association (AIBEA), India
30. Alternatives Asia, India
31. Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, India
32. IT For Change, India
33. Public Agenda, India
34. Anti Debt Coalition (KAU), Indonesia
35. Cakrawala Timur, Indonesia
36. Cindelaras paritrana Foundation, Indonesia
37. IMPARSIAL – Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, Indonesia
38. International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Indonesia
39. LSM Bismi, Indonesia
40. Jubilee Kansai Network, Japan
41. Himalayan & Peninsular Hydro-Ecological Network (HYPHEN), Nepal
42. Least Developed Countries Watch (LDC Watch), Nepal
43. Nepal Policy Institute – NPI, Nepal
44. Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), Nepal
45. Water & Energy Users’ Federation-Nepal (WAFED, Nepal
46. creed, Pakistan
47. Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Philippines
48. Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines
49. Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Philippines
50. Philippine Indigenous People’s Links (PIPLINKS), Philippines
51. Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement – PRRM, Philippines
52. Social Watch Philippines
53. Women’s March Against Poverty and Globalization (WELGA!), Philippines
54. Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform ( MONLAR), Sri Lanka
55. Focus on the Global South, Thailand
56. Local Talk Project, Thailand
57. Social Agenda Working Group, Thailand
58. Center for Encounters and Active Non-Violence, Austria

European Organizations (68)

59. Attac Austria, Austria
60. ECA Watch Austria, Austria
61. 11.11.11- Coalition of the Flemish North-South Movement, Belgium
62. European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD), Belgium
63. Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Bulgaria
64. Pancyprian Public Employees Trade Union – PASYDY, Cyprus
65. Finnish NGDO platform to the EU, Finland
66. Attac France, France
67. Les Amis de la Terre, France
68. Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED), Germany
69. Global Policy Forum Europe, Germany
70. terre des hommes Germany, Germany
71. The Hunger Project-Germany, Germany
72. URGEWALD, Germany
73. Attac-Hellas, Greece
74. Greek Forum of Migrants, Greece
75. One Earth, Greece
76. Anthropolis, Hungary
77. Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, Ireland
78. Kimmage Development Studies Center, Ireland
79. ARCI, Italy
80. Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale, Italy
81. Campagna per la riforma della Banca mondiale (CRBM), Italy
82. Fair, Italy
83. Federazione Italiana Metalmeccanici FIM-CISL, Italy
84. Transform! Italia, Italy
85. Kopin (Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali) Malta, Malta
86. Tax Justice NL, Netherlands
87. Transnational Institute (TNI), Netherlands
88. SOBREVIVENCIA, Amigos de la Tierra Paraguay, Paraguay
89. Network of East-West Women, NEWW (Polska), Poland
90. Association for the Development of the Romanian Social Forum, Romania
91. Civil Society Development Foundation, Romania
92. Romanian Social Forum, Romania
93. ACSUR – Las Segovias, Spain
94. Área de Justicia y Solidaridad de CONFER, Spain
95. Asamblea verde, Spain
96. Asociación Ecologista Solidaria”Kima Berdea”, Spain
97. Asociación Nexos, Spain
98. Associacio Audiovisual Debitas, Spain
99. Attac España, Spain
100. Attac Galicia, Spain
101. CEPAC (Asoc. d’Educació en DDHH i de Prevenció de Conflict), Spain
102. Comitè de Solidaritat amb els Pobles Indigenes d´ Amèrica, Spain
103. Comunidad Carmelitas de Vedruna, Spain
104. ECO DESARROLLO, Spain
105. Ecologistas en Acción, Spain
106. Fed. Humanista Centro de las Culturas, Spain
107. Fondo de Solidaridad, Spain
108. Fundació Quepo, Spain
109. HUACAL (Solidaritat amb el Salvador), Spain
110. Icaria Editorial, Spain
111. Jesús Santamaría, Spain
112. Mundo sin Guerras (Marcha Mundial por la Paz y la No Violencia), Spain
113. Observatori del Deute en la Globalització, Spain
114. Periódico digital El Guanche, Spain
115. Plataforma 2015 y más, Spain
116. unaymedia, Spain
117. Alliance Sud, Switzerland
118. Terre des Hommes International Federation, Switzerland
119. Bretton Woods Project, United Kingdom
120. Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice, United Kingdom
121. Foundation for Gaia, United Kingdom
122. Jubilee Debt Campaign, United Kingdom
123. Jubilee Scotland, United Kingdom
124. MEDACT, United Kingdom
125. War on Want, United Kingdom
126. World Development Movement, United Kingdom

Latin America and Caribbean Organizations (29)

127. Ecoportal.Net, Argentina
128. FOCO – Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Der, Argentina
129. FUNDACION DA VINCI, Argentina
130. Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Laboral y Agrario – CEDLA, Bolivia
131. Centro de Mujeres Aymaras Candelaria, Bolivia
132. Fundación Solón, Bolivia
133. Radio Emisora Saywani, Bolivia
134. Red de Comunicaciones Apachita, Bolivia
135. IBASE, Brazil
136. Asoc. Inmigrantes por la Integración Latinoamericana (Apila), Chile
137. Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (CEDEM), Chile
138. Chile Sustentable, Chile
139. Asoc. De Fomento De Integracion De Las Negritudes, Colombia
140. Instituto Latinoamericano Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILSA), Colombia
141. Instituto FRONESIS, Ecuador
142. SERPAJ Ecuador, Ecuador
143. PAPDA, Haiti
144. Colectivo Parlamentario Partido Unificaciòn Democratica, Honduras
145. Americas Policy Program, Mexico
146. CACTUS-Oaxaca, Mexico
147. México nación Multicultural -UNAM- Oaxaca, Mexico
148. Federacion Nacional de Trabajadores del Agua Potable del Peru, Peru
149. Comité de apoyo al Llamado Mundial de Acción contra la Pobreza, Perú
150. Food and Water Watch Latin America, Uruguay
151. ICAE, Uruguay
152. Instituto del Tercer Mundo – ITeM, Uruguay
153. International Council for Adult Education – ICAE, Uruguay
154. REDES – Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay, Uruguay
155. Asamblea Popular Revolucionaria de Caracas (APR), Venezuela

Middle East/North African Organizations (2)

156. El Amel Association for Social Development, Algeria
157. Forum des Alternatives Maroc, Morocco

North American Organizations (54)

158. African Reform Group, Canada
159. ATTAC-Québec, Canada
160. centre des femmes, Canada
161. Centre justice et foi, Canada
162. Common Frontiers-Canada, Canada
163. Femmes Entre-Elles, Canada
164. Halifax Initiative Coalition, Canada
165. Sudanese Calgarian Community Centre, Canada
166. TROVEP Estrie, Canada
167. Africa Action, United States
168. African American Environmentalist Association (AAEA), United States
169. Alliance for Democracy, United States
170. Anglican Consultative Council, United States
171. Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC), United States
172. Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice, United States
173. Center of Concern (COC), United States
174. Colombians For Sovereignty, ASOCOL, United States
175. Columban Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office, United States
176. Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, United States
177. Congregations of St. Joseph, United States
178. Democratic Socialists of America, United States
179. Essential Action, United States
180. Food First, United States
181. Foreign Policy In Focus, United States
182. Friends of the Earth-US, United States
183. Gender Action, United States
184. Global Policy Forum, United States
185. Hal F. Keene, United States
186. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, United States
187. Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project, United States
188. International Accountability Project, United States
189. International Forum on Globalization, United States
190. International Labor Rights Forum, United States
191. International Women’s Anthropology Conference, United States
192. Jubilee Montana Network, United States
193. Jubilee USA Network, United States
194. Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas, United States
195. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, United States
196. Missionary Oblates, United States
197. National Family Farm Coalition, United States
198. New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, United States
199. Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, United States
200. People-Centered Development Forum, United States
201. Planning Alternatives for Change LLC, United States
202. Quixote Center, United States
203. Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, United States
204. Sisters of St. Joseph, United States
205. Transafrica Forum, United States
206. Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, United States
207. United Church of Christ Network for Environmental & Economic Res, United States
208. United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, United States
209. USAction, United States
210. Wheaton Franciscans, United States
211. Witness for Peace, United States

Individual Signatories (315): For a full list, see: http://www.choike.org/bw2/listado_conf.php

The Parable of the G-20: Blind to the Elephant

By Devinder Sharma*, November 20, 2008 by STWR (Share The World’s Resources)

The leaders of the G-20 Group of countries who met in Washington DC for an emergency meeting to revamp the global financial landscape can be compared to a parable in the Hindu ‘Panchantra’.  Like the six blind men who failed to see the elephant, they grappled in bright light for six hours and yet failed to frame an action plan that could truly stimulate the global economy.

The elephant in this case is the parasitical global financial system. It has thrived all these years on the hungry stomach of starving millions, extracting every last available ounce of blood. Untamed and unregulated, it demolished the borders of the nation-state to emerge unfettered and free — unrestrained by governments, and liberated from society’s control. In the process, speculative and mobile financial capital has played havoc with the global economy. The elephant has been on a rampage.

Instead of placing a wreath on the tottering financial system and acknowledging that the free market cannot survive without a massive life-saving blood transfusion from governments the world over, the blind leadership has worked out a 16-week roadmap to tackle the global crisis. What appears to be a concerted plan to pave the way “for reforms to help ensure a similar crisis does not happen again,” is in reality a recipe for yet another bubble ready to burst.

The economic policies that remain in vogue will continue to impoverish workers, promote jobless growth, push developing country farmers out of agriculture, mine natural resources (and render the commons barren in the process), and allow corporate control over farming while aggressively pushing for one-way trade — from the rich to the developing countries, adding to global warming and thereby driving the world towards an unforeseen ecological crisis. In providing enormous bail-outs to banks, the international leadership has not only acknowledged but applauded the role played by financial robbers and business pirates.

Isn’t this a sad travesty of the truth? If you rob a bank of a few thousand dollars, you are inevitably arrested and sent to prison. If you rob the entire international banking system, you not only receive a pat on the back but also a handsome retirement package. If you are personally unable to pay your debts to the banks, you are hauled before the courts and have both your movable and immovable property confiscated. But if the bank is unable to pay its debts, it is bailed out with catastrophic urgency. If you fail to pay your insurance premium, your policy is terminated. But if the insurance company falters, it is nationalised by the government while the CEO is relieved of his job with a multi-million dollar severance package.

The proposals of the G-20’s 16-week ‘action plan’ — boosting standards of credit rating agencies, addressing weaknesses in accounting and disclosure standards, and setting up a risk warning system for banks — are a whitewash. Yet we couldn’t have expected anything better from a blind leadership that has merrily facilitated the commodification of the Earth’s limited natural resources in the name of trade, and outsourced countless thousands of jobs in the name of competitiveness.  Whether it is free trade or global warming, this entire stratagem is supposedly enacted for the benefit of developing countries — and all in the name of eradicating poverty and ending hunger. Such benevolence!

The memory of the world public is very short. We have forgotten that the last time Europe came to the ‘rescue’ of Africa, the whole continent was colonised. When the East India Company began to trade in India, the entire sub-continent was colonised for 200 years. When the British finally left, the fourth largest economy was left pauperised and hungry. In the last 30 years (including 13 years of the World Trade Organisation), 105 of the 149 developing have already become food importing economies. If the Doha Development Round is successfully completed, the likelihood is that these few remaining developing countries will be turned into food dumps for surplus produce from the West.

No wonder that the blind leadership is in a tearing hurry to push through further trade agreements.  Here is an incident you probably missed; just prior to the Washington conclave, Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega hosted a meeting for central bank presidents and finance ministers from G-20 countries. “We have to change the tires of the car with the car moving,” he said. “This means that in 60 to 90 days we will need the solutions for new financial regulations.”  Mantega and his colleagues need to be informed that changing tires with the car moving is a prerogative of James Bond, requiring either the aptitude of 007 or the imaginative skills of Ian Fleming.

Much has already been written, analysed and spoken about the present crisis. Although not an economist, I firmly believe that neo-economic thinking is the primary cause for all the misdemeanours currently being played out on the world stage and wreaking havoc throughout the globe — as witnessed in the financial crisis, food crisis, energy crisis, climate crisis, and the increasing crisis of international terrorism. If this is the garden path where modern economics has led us, isn’t it time to call out the elephant? It may well be politically incorrect to stand up against the might of the faulty economic system, but isn’t it time to call a spade a spade? Why wait for doomsday or Armageddon?

A retort I often receive is ‘where is the alternative?’ The question is asked because, in our myopic economic thinking, everything is measured in terms of ‘growth’ and ‘profit targets’, but we are never taught to calculate happiness and contentment or told that food, human genes and nature is not a commodity to be sold on the marketplace.  We have never been taught, in other words, that it is sustainable ethics that leads to sustainable development. We have been too busy partying, and the hangover is too strong for us all to see the silver lining.

Before we discuss alternatives, allow me to draw your attention to another sinister design. The financial crisis is now leading us to a more terrible food crisis in the near future. The recent surge in food prices, accompanied by food riots in 37 countries in the beginning of this year, was a mere tip of the iceberg. After destabilising the global economic structure, the financial forces are moving into agricultural markets. Speculation in commodities trading is now widely acknowledged to be the major cause behind the food price crisis. But what happens when the hedge funds and the bailout packages are used by insurance companies, banks and investment firms to purchase farm lands across the globe?

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are eyeing a takeover of China’s livestock industry. Morgan Stanley has purchased 40,000 hectares in Ukraine. Landkom, the British investment group, has also bought 100,000 hectares of land in Ukraine. The two Swedish investing firms, Black Earth Farming and Alpcot-Agro, have purchased 331,000 hectares and 128,000 hectares of farm land in Russia, respectively. Along with these investment firms, the governments have joined in the mad race to purchase land in Asia and Africa to grow food to be exported back home (see my article: Land Grab for Food Security: Corporatising Agriculture).

What happens when the food bubble bursts? Who will bail out the hungry?

Returning back to the ‘TINA factor’ (the assumption that ‘There Is No Alternative’ to economic globalisation), there is in fact a very plausible alternative. The solution lies in the principle of self-reliance that Mahatma Gandhi advocated so many years ago. It is time to revisit Gandhi and dig out his vision for a sustainable world; where production by the masses is not replaced by production for the masses; where food security does not mean importing cheaper food; where every hand is provided a decent job; and where growth does not translate into profits, but happiness. A vision in which the earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed. Such a world is surely possible. All it requires is for us to stand up, throw away the blind covers, and be counted.

*Devinder Sharma is a New Delhi-based food and trade policy analyst. He is a regular contributor to STWR and can be reached at hunger55@gmail.com

Coming up: 2008 Spring Meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund

The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings are on this week. The official meetings will be held over a 2-day period, from April 12 to 13, at the headquarters of the World Bank and IMF in Washington D.C. Parallel to those meetings, beginning on Thursday, April 10, a program of policy dialogue sessions will bring together WB and IMF staff, government delegates and civil society representatives. Other events are being organised by civil society independently of the institutions. Some of the topics to be discussed are: the World Bank’s strategic frameworks on climate change and engagement with civil society, odious/illegitimate debt and extractive industries transparency initiative. Most attention is likely to be focused on the global credit crisis that has been spreading in the last few months, with losses estimated by the IMF this week at a stunning $945 billion. Many opinions have been ventured about what the IMF’s response to the crisis can and should be; many more will likely be voiced over the weekend. In addition, the World Bank anticipates substantial discussion of the recent global rise in food and fuel prices, which has led to riots in many more impoverished countries, from Haiti to Egypt. Those price hikes are blamed in part on the credit crisis, but also on the surging demand for land and crops by the agrofuels sector, which demonstrates the concrete links between the climate crisis and immediate economic concerns in vulnerable countries. If you are attending the Washington’s Meetings, please list yourself in the Who’s in Town list, use the 2008 Spring Meetings WB- IMF blog to reflect on your personal experiences and view the list of events where actions of Civil Society will take place. We would like to hear your opinions! Check the IFIwatchnet coverage during the spring meetings season and keep yourself informed with day to day updates and analysis!

A Statement of Concern on the Situation in Tibet from Asian NGOs

Republished from Focus on the Global South, April 3 2008

We are saddened and alarmed that the peaceful protest led by Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital on March 10, which was followed by a wave of sympathy protests in the neighboring Tibetan areas after that day, has drawn a strong response from the Chinese authorities. We also deplore the unrest that followed, even though we understand the problems that gave rise to them.
 
We are concerned about the police and military build-up in response to these events not only in Lhasa but also in Tibetan areas of western China.

We believe that news blockade and censorship of the media are not helpful for the Chinese people and the international community and damage the credibility of the Chinese government. 

The problems in Tibet are complex and long-standing and the demands for cultural and religious freedoms are well known. However, the more recent rapid economic development of the region has created huge inequalities and further marginalized
 
Tibetans. As we have seen in many other regions of the world, inequality and marginalization are the consequences of rapid economic development and globalization, all too often resulting in tensions and conflicts.  These tensions and conflicts cannot be addressed through force and suppression, but rather through dialogue based on respect.
 
As concerned Asians, we call on the Chinese government to respect the aspirations of the Tibetan people, to listen seriously to their problems, and to engage in open and transparent talks with the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan groups.
 
We believe that violence offers no solution and we call for restraint from both sides: the Chinese government should not arrest innocent people and should give fair trial to those who allegedly committed crimes during the unrest. We also advise Tibetans to avoid attacking or destroying properties of Han Chinese and Chinese Muslims as this could result to more militarization.
 
We urge the authorities to continue allowing foreign and independent press to enter the region to ensure that events are reported and for arrests of protesters to be known.
 
Finally, we ask the governments of India and Nepal to desist from using force to disperse demonstrations by exiled Tibetans in support of their compatriots and to allow them freedom of speech and assembly.
 
Signed:
 
Alyansa ng Kabataang Mindanao Para sa Kapayapaan (AKMK), Philippines
Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma
Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
Association of War Affected Women, Sri Lanka
BRP – Bahujan Maha Sangh, India
BALAY Rehabilitation Center , Philippines
BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD), India
Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), Philippines
Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation, Sri Lanka
Committee for Asian Women
Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM Asia )
Demokratikong Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Lanao, Philippines
Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange , Thailand / US
EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai, India
EQUAL GROUND, Sri Lanka
Focus on the Global South
Forum Asia
Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)
Human Rights Working Group, Indonesia
Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), Indonesia
Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD), Philippines
International Gender and Trade Network-Asia
International Friends for Global Peace, Sri Lanka
International Women’s Rights Action Watch – Asia Pacific
KAISA – KA, Philippines
Lanao Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (LAHRA), Philippines
Lanao Fisherfolks Advocacy Network (LFAN), Philippines
Law & Society Trust , Sri Lanka
Liga ng Makabagong Kabataan (LMK), Philippines
LIPS / Sedane Labor Resource Center, Indonesia
Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), Philippines
Mindanao Tri-People Women Forum (MTWF), Philippines
Nonviolence International – Southeast Asia
Northern Development Foundation, Thailand
Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy, India
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Pakistan .
Peoples Media Initiative, India
Peoples Partner for Development and Democracy (PPDD), Thailand
Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties, India
Ranao Tri-People Movement for Genuine Peace and Development, Philippines
Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), Thailand
Social Development & Research Organization, Sri Lanka
Society for Alternative Media and research, Pakistan
Solidarity Workshop (International)
Southeast Asian Press Alliance
South Asia Left Democratic Alliance – Canada
Sumpay Mindanao , Philippines
Transnationals Information Exchange Asia (TIE Asia )
World March of Women – Asian members