AUT: Report of Preparatory Meeting for 2nd American Encounter

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks:
We now have an English translation of the report issued by the Preparatory
Meeting for the 2nd American Encounter to be held in Belem, Brazil in
December. The preparatory meeting set a tentative agenda for the December
encounter and the report lays out the intentions and suggestions of the
organizers for how they think the encounter should work and some of the
plans they have for its organization. The report is reproduced below and
is available on the web on the US 2nd Encounter Web page at URL:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu:80/Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/2ndencounter.html

(Please note: We do NOT yet have a Spanish version of this report, so if
there is anyone out there who would like to translate it (preferably from
the Portuguese) and send it to us we would greatly appreciate it.)

                                Resolution
                                     of
                          the Preparatory Seminar
                                     to
                          the II American Encounter

                                May 14, 1999

The entities, parties, movement, institutions and communities who undersign
this document, having convened in the city of Belem on the 14th of May of
1999, respond to the outcry of the Zapatista people and convoke the II
Encounter For Humanity and Against Neoliberalism.

The II Encounter will take place in the city of Belem do Para in Brazil from
6 to 11 December 1999. Although its objectives - the construction of unity
among the American peoples, against barbarian imperialism - are the same as
those of other international events, the II Encounter in Favor of Life
Against Neoliberalism is a new challenge for the Continental Left and is
dissimular to other pro-unity encounters which have taken place on our
continent. This is due firstly to the amplitude of participation: In the II
Encounter, political parties, indigenous and afroamerican communities,
governments, institutions and diverse entities, and particularly the people
of the city of Belem (who will be one of the primary spokespeople for the
event) shall participate equally. No delegation or delegate will hold any
kind of privilege. No other criteria will level the delegations [render the
delegations uniform] besides the commitment with the struggle of all
humanity to overcome the devastation wrought by neoliberalism.

Secondly, the II Encounter is intended to be more than an act; it is
intended to be a movement. More than a congress to ratify predrawn
conclusions, it is to be a space for revolutionary action. Much more than a
reunion of the representatives of the people, it intends to be a process
that incorporates [com vez e voz] ample sectors of the peoples. Recognizing
the fundamental role of the political vanguards, the II Encounter
furthermore recognizes the importance of the mandate that says, "to command
by obeying." (mandar obedecendo)

To be loyal to these intentions, the II Encounter will be constituted
through an original process, wherein the very travel of the delegations to
Belem will be part of the Encounter's construction. We recommend that each
delegation ultilize an itinerary during the journey to the site of the II
Encounter that permits maximum contact with local populations and forms of
popular organization in various countries (or, in the case of Brazilian
delegations, in various states). The objective is to amply discuss with the
people of each locality the Proposal for the Manifesto for Humanity of the
American Peoples, to be approved in the Preparatory International Meeting of
the II Encounter to be held at the end of the month of August in Belem.
Proposals for alterations in the text, suggestions, criticisms, proposals
for struggle and organization, commentaries, approvals and rejections shall
arise from the discussion with individuals, communities and professional
categories reflecting the various facits of the people, and shall be highly
considered by the plenary of the II Encounter at the moment of the
elaboration and definitive approval af the Manifesto. This task demands
detailed planning on the part of each delegation.

It will be necessary to carefully choose the trajectory to be followed and
to discuss the methods for establishment of a friendly and mutually
beneficial relationship with the people along the way, who will be our
travelling companions during the entire time. Special attention must also be
given to the annotation and systematization of the opinions thus collected,
which should be communicated in a report to be delivered to the Organizing
commission of the II Encounter upon the arrival of each delegation to Belem.
If we are successful in the construction of this process, the II Encounter
will not only be a tribune for the announcement of struggle, but indeed a
multiple movement, combining combat with the sowing of seeds, consciousness
and organization. For the first time in our history, social organizations,
parties, movements, particular individuals - and not only words - will
participate in a common action united, in practice, throughout all parts of
America. For the first time we will be able to see and touch the unity of
our people.

Beyond the objectives declared above, the II American Encounter for Humanity
and Against Neoliberalism aims at a comprehensive political and cultural
interchange among the various delegations and among the people of Belem. In
the list of debates the following panels will convene:

  1. Dealing with the crisis of the Left and the crisis
  2. Trade union resistance and its perplexity in face of Capital
  3. The futureless biosphere: The unbreathable environment of capitalism of
     the late 21st century
       1. Sustainable development in the Amazon
  4. How to break the enchantment of globalized capitalism
       1. Crisis and alternatives
       2. What socialism do we want?
  5. What to do about the Fourth World War?
       1. Pacifism in face of the "just" wars of NATO
       2. Living with missiles
  6. The condemned of the Earth: Peasants, students, unemployed, the youth
     of the periphery, women, indigenous movement, black movement, the
     encarcerated and the disappeared', the disquiet future: children
  7. Culture: To live in struggle and to struggle for the way one lives.

Besides these debates, there will also be forums (for the exchange of
experiences lived during the delegation caravans and panels) dealing with
two special themes, which are:

"Brazil 500 Years of Afro-Indigenous-Popular Resistance" (with talks and
communications about the popular rebellions of Brazilian History - Palmares,
Canudos, the Cabana Revolution and others); and

"Homage to the Heros of the People", with attention to the life and work of
great American revolutionaries such as Jose Marti, Ernesto Che Guevara,
Simon Bolivar, Zumbi, Antonio Conselheiro, Antonio Vinagre, etc.).

The methodology to be employed in all activities is aimed at stimulating the
participation of each delegate to the utmost.

Beyond the discussions, the II Encounter will have a varied range of
cultural activities, such as film and video screenings, photo and art
exhibits, dance parties and music shows and a cultural fair.

We also forsee political acts to take place at the opening of the encounter:
an act in homage to the Cabana Revolution ( which shook the Amazon and
particularly Belem in 1835 and 1840) and a closing [comicio] in favor of the
unity of the American peoples.

Until the end of June, the National Organizing Committee will receive
proposals of activites to be included in the program. The definitive program
will be published at the end of June. The existence of a program defined by
the Organizing commission should never be considered a kind of
straightjacket. On the contrary: The II Encounter will only be successful if
it is the stage for a varied array of bilateral and multilateral
initiatives, which correspond to the expression of all the political and
cultural richness of its participants.

The visiting delegations will be lodged in an international campsite to be
constructed called Comandante Cabano Antonio Vinagre (after
commander-in-chief of the Cabana Revolution who fell in combat when Cabana
forces defeated imperial troops after nine days of battle and retook Belem)
and will also be lodged in the homes of inhabitants of the city, who will
offer the delegates the traditional and affectionate hospitality of Para.

The organization of the Encounter will be led by the National Organizing
Committee, to be elected during this Seminar, and its Executive Commission,
which will be headquartered in Belem. Bersides these forums, an
International Preparatory Meeting will be held and will be made up of at
most two representatives of the entities, associations, movements or
committees engaged in the preparation of the II Encounter. Its charge will
be the approval of the proposal of the Manifesto for the Unity of the
American Peoples and to make all the necessary decisions for the success of
the II Encounter.

Auditorium of Antonio Lemos Palace ­
Headquarters of the Government of the People of Belem May 14, 1999

Entities and Participants of the Seminar:

[See original text for list of entitities and individuals who undersign this
document]


............................................................................
Harry Cleaver
Department of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1173  USA
Phone Numbers: (hm)  (512) 442-5036
               (off) (512) 475-8535   Fax:(512) 471-3510
E-mail: hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cleaver homepage:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/index2.html
Chiapas95 homepage:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
Accion Zapatista homepage:
http://www.utexas.edu/students/nave/
............................................................................



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