Proposal for Busan International People's Forum

(Proposal for Busan International People's Forum)

We propose a Busan People's Forum against Bush and against an APEC that spreads war and poverty.

This coming November, heads of state from the Asia Pacific region will gather in Busan. The Busan APEC summit meeting, last held in Santiago Chile, will be held from the 12th to the 19th of Nov under the slogan "Towards One Community." Embodied in this phrase is the will to realize economic integration at the Asia Pacific level, as is exemplified by the FTAAP initiative, and also to gather support for a strategy to expand American military control over the region. Arriving at an agreement on making progress regarding the DDA negotiations, ahead of the 6th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong, is also being presented as an important challenge. Thus, APEC is a tool for expanding war and neo-liberalism, which brings violence while exacerbating poverty and inequality. The fact that the Roh government in Korea has sought to limit the rights of the people whil! e referring to "counter-terrorist measures," and that Busan city officials have begun to crack down on street vendors and urban poor dwellings to show off "clean" streets to visiting state heads shows clearly just for who the "One Community" is for.

The struggle against war and neo-liberal globalization by the people all across the globe has been growing as each day passes by. In Seattle, Genoa, and Cancun, social movements all across the world have united against attempts to give up the people's rights to trans-national capital's pursuit of profits. Not only that, the people's struggle to stop neo-liberal globalization has now come to a stage where it seeks alternatives to the present order. The anti-war movement, stirred by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, has spread across the world and further strengthened the alter-globalization movement.

Social movements in Korea have come together to further strengthen the struggle against neo-liberal globalization on the occasion of the APEC summitt meetings.