Ecuador- Davos WEF
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000

Dear friends,
In the attached file you will find Ya Basta!'s  request to the CONAIE 
for an official statement to be read at the Davos demonstration, in 
the name of all the groups supporting PGA.

Enzo

 The Ya Basta! Association of Milan, part of the international PGA 
(People's Global Action) network, intends to give voice to the 
problems of the people of Ecuador and invites groups, individuals, 
associations and all those who identify with their great example of 
non-violent resistance against neoliberal policies, to launch an 
appeal for solidarity with the indigenous movement in Ecuador and to 
ask the CONAIE for an official document stating the main problems 
emerging during the 'levantamiento'. This document will be read during 
the demonstration in Davos, against the 'World Economic Forum' on the 
29/1/2000.E.

To our sisters and brothers in the Sierra from Chimborazo to Imbaura, 
from Manabi  to the east,
TO the Shuar,
To the Indios of the forests,
To the CONAIE

In Ecuador the Parliament dissolved in the impetus of the 5th 
levantamiento of the indigenous peoples, who have been fighting for 
more than a decade against the ruinous neoliberal policies that aim to 
take over Chaquinare life and culture.  In this very moment their 
brothers and sisters in Europe and all over the world all have a 
watchful eye on the future of the people of Ecuador.   We know that 
multinationals, like Maxxus, Ypf, Texaco, Agip, Elf, Oxy draw profit 
from the soil of Ecuador, leaving behind them burnt-out land and a 
series of mortal environmental disasters (see the example of Texaco) 
for the people of Amazonia.  This is something that directly regards 
European countries as well:  how can a company with state-owned 
shares, such as Agip, enter a poor country and steal profits, leaving 
nothing behind it, thanks to contracts which are, at best, ambiguous.  
Despite opposition to privatisation, the effects of neoliberalism were 
felt in Ecuador in terms of financial speculation and disappearing 
capital, whilst the banks took 4 billion dollars from the pockets of 
the poor, in order to save themselves.  The levantamiento has awoken 
fresh doubts about the whole economic world order.  The problem raised 
regards the true nature of neoliberalism.

We believe it is necessary to re-define some basic concepts in 
Ecuador, as in India, in Mexico and in Europe.  Who owns the land?  
Who owns the forests?  Who owns the rivers?  Who owns nature?  
The European brothers and sisters of the PGA network express their 
full support for the people of Ecuador and ask the CONAIE to send a 
message, containing the claims of the people of Ecuador, to be read 
at the demonstration in Davos, Switzerland.

From 27 January to 1 February 2000, Davos will host the 30th World 
Economic Forum (WEF).  Following the failure of the Seattle millennium 
summit, the Davos conference has assumed special significance: here 
the 'global leaders' will meet to promote informal contacts between 
economic lobbies and political leaders, to draw up programs for 
exploitation worth billions of dollars and to take wide-ranging 
decisions without consulting any of those directly affected.

Many of our brothers and sisters in Europe will be in Davos on 29 
January to shout their opposition to neoliberal policies. At Davos we 
shall give voice to the problems of the people of Ecuador and 
emphasise the necessity of restoring democratic participation to the 
movement of the indigenous people. The odds are high. This is not just 
a question of hunger, since the native people of Ecuador are drawing 
up a proposal for a new state that will involve the whole of civilised 
society. It will address the management of the natural resources, 
which up to now have been harnessed to the needs of the international 
market, as well as the restoration of native cultures, which have been 
rudely torn apart by the interests of the multinationals and repair 
the tissue of democracy, starting out from the basic demands of 
indigenous culture.

We ask the CONAIE and, in particular, the president Antonio Vargas, to 
send us an official statement, which we shall be able to make public 
at the Davos demonstration.  The document should be sent to the 
following e-mail address:  yabasta@tin.it
La lucha sigue!

Associazione "YA BASTA!"
Per la dignitą dei popoli e contro il neoliberismo
Centro Sociale Leoncavallo,
Via Watteau, 7,
Milano - Italy.
Tel: 026705185
E-Mail <yabasta@tin. it