UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has cut short a holiday to return to New York for last-minute talks aimed at securing a deal on reforming the world body.
I had not even heard of the "United Nations Millennium Declaration" until today. Apparently it included a set of Millennium Development Goals.
The word's leading finance officials and ministers appear to have failed to reach agreement on debt relief for the poorest nations.
Brazil, Germany, Japan and India have launched a joint bid for permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
The McLibel two have launched a battle against the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights.
Arundhati Roy gave a speech in San Fransisco titled "Public Power in the Age of Empire", and Democracy Now have the transcript.
Round-the-clock meetings have produced a "historic" breakthrough at the WTO, which Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi claims will greatly enhance the chance of successful completion of the important Doha negotiations. The 147 member governments have apparently agreed to abolish all forms of agricultural export subsidies, which (it is claimed) will benefit the poorer nations.
The 2004 US presidential election campaign has entered a new phase, as Kerry picks John Edwards as his running mate. The BBC have a Vote USA 2004 section on their website.
Design Action has a good May Day Slide Show.
Apparently, in the late 1800's, lawyers in the US subverted the Bill of Rights by establishing the doctrine of Corporate Personhood.
Oil giant Shell has admitted it inadvertently fed conflict, poverty and corruption through its oil activities in Nigeria.
I have added a Palestine page to this section of my website.
Tony Blair, speaking at the end of the 2004 G8 Summit, has announced that the next meeting will take place at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire. It was already known that the 2005 G8 Summit was going to be in the UK (I recall reading something about Manchester), and some of those planning protest activities have been coming together under the umbrella of the Dissent! network.
Someone recently suggested I read a book called "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast. I don't have much time for books these days, but it looks like Greg's website is worth checking out.
Space Hijackers have announced a game of Anarchist Mayday Cricket. Meet 13:00 at the Bat and Ball pub, dressed in whites and prepared to wield a bat against the global menace!
For the past few years London has seen lively Mayday protests, so what is happening this year? Well the London Mayday Collective have decided not to proceed with plans for an anti-capitalist event this year and you can read all about the decision on their website. Instead they have invited anti-capitalists to join them for a picnic on 2004-05-01 from 15:00 in St James Park. This announcement seems to have caused some consternation and Globalise Resistance are throwing their weight behind a workers march from Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square. Perhaps some of those who would have been protesting in London are planning to travel to Ireland for the Dublin Mayday No Borders Weekend.
I was just checking out some stuff about the artist Mark Lombardi (1951-2000) who documented major political and financial scandals in the form of elaborate large-scale charts. A travelling retrospective called "Global Networks" is currently doing the rounds of galleries in North America.
The World Social Forum is underway in Mumbai, see this Wired report.
According to a report by Amy Driscoll in the Miami Herald, Judge Richard Margolius said in open court that he saw "no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers" during the FTAA demonstrations. In addition, Amnesty International issued this press release about allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment of protesters in Miami.
Today in Greece at 16:00 local time a council of 3 judges freed the Thessaloniki 7 pending trial.
Last week I was preoccupied with George Bush's State Visit to the UK, but at the same time there were people on the streets protesting at the FTAA meeting in Miami FL. With 8.5 million dollars of federal money allocated for "security" it appears that the protests were met with excessive and unnecessary police aggression. For reports and information see the FTAA Independent Media Center or have a look at Starhawk's Miami Journals.
I just found this outline of a course called "Globalisation from Below?" by Laurence Cox which helps make sense of the forces at work within the the anti-globalisation movement. One particularly interesting reference is to a pamphlet called Monopolise Resistance? published by SchNEWS in September 2001, in which it was argued that the Socialist Workers Party were attempting to hijack the UK anti-globalisation movement using a front organisation called Globalise Resistance.
After a long period of stasis this page gets it's second update in less than a week to mention a couple of important things going on in London this weekend. On Friday there is a Peoples' Global Action Info & Social Night at the London Action Resource Centre, followed on Saturday by the Anarchist Bookfair. Both should be good events for anti-WTO activists to get some inspiration and do a bit of networking - be there or be square.
I happened to tune into Resonance FM tonight during an Alternative Radio Bulletin featuring a presentation by Kevin Danaher, co-founder and public education director of Global Exchange and it prompted me to add a long overdue update to this page.
In his presentation, titled "Global Health or Global Wealth", Kevin referred to The Earth Charter Initiative which seeks to promote a set of values, principles and aspirations shared by a growing number of men and women in all regions of the world. He suggested that this initiative, based on extensive international consultations, offers a positive vision for the future which can be presented as an alternative to the sort of nightmare corporate takeover being orchestrated through the WTO.
www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010