Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

G20: A Threat to Peoples’ Economic and Political Rights!

Philippine Organizations | 10.11.2010 10:05 | Globalisation | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements

The G20 and its global economic agenda are an affront and a threat to people’s rights and welfare.

Josua Mata (APL)
Josua Mata (APL)


The detention and deportation of Filipino activists from Seoul and the harassment and intimidation of a number of other activists at the hands of Korean immigration authorities are manifestations of the undemocratic and anti-people nature of the G20 and further exposed the illegitimacy of this group of self-proclaimed caretakers of the global economy.

The protests and mobilizations in Korea of tens of thousands of people in clear defiance of the Korean governments security measures, is an indication of a clear disconnect between the agenda of the governments of the G20 countries and the interests and aspirations of their people.

The G20 Summit in Korea was supposed to address the issue of the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the wake of the global economic crisis. The G20’s prescriptions for economic recovery and development, however, anchored on the perpetuation of a flawed corporate driven, export-oriented development model would further exacerbate poverty and inequality and undermine social cohesion across the world.

The whole point of the Peoples Conference in Korea, and the reason why the deported Filipino activists came to Korea, is to articulate the peoples’ opposition and resistance to the G20 and to collectively discuss and put forward alternatives to the failed model of development that the G20 is so desperately trying to preserve.

We say NO to the G20 and the policies that continue to threaten jobs and peoples livelihoods, and erode workers’ rights and welfare;

We say NO to the G20 and policies that cause the expulsion and repatriation of migrants in the name of restrictive and Draconian migration policies and rules;

We say NO to the G20 and the policies that use women as safety nets in crisis, and is blind to the differential decision-making powers in the household and economy in general;

We speak out against the free trade agenda and the push of the G20 governments for more ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreements disguised as economic partnerships but are really instruments of economic domination and control by the rich over the poor within and across countries and regions;

We speak out against the development agenda of the G20 which threatens peoples’ right to food, destroys the environment, and perpetuates unequal access and control over natural resources in support of the profit-driven motives of corporations;

We say NO to the G20. It does not represent the interests of the peoples of the world and it cannot speak on our behalf.

We call on the peoples of the world to come together against the G20 and to intensify the struggle for a better and more just and peaceful world.

Action for Economic Reforms (AER)
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)
Aniban mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA)
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP)
Focus on the Global South
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)
Jubilee South – APMDD
KAISA-KA
Kilusang Mangingisda (KM)
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center
Migrants Forum for Asia (MFA)
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)
Task Force Food Sovereignty (TFFS)
World March of Women – Pilipinas


_____________________________



Seoul Deports a young Anti-G20 Activist Anew

By Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Despite the threat of detention and deportation, Joanna Bernice “Nice” Coronacion, 22, courageously travelled to South Korea to try and enter the country to participate in the activities of the Peoples’ Collective Action Against G20. She was invited by Korea Women’s Alliance, as the labor sector representative of the World March of Women (WMW)-Pilipinas.

Coronacion, who is also the National Coordinator of Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)-Youth, did not go out of the Incheon Airport, three hours after her flight’s touchdown. Jean Enriquez, Coordinator of WMW-Pilipinas was burning lines with Young Soon of Korea Women’s Alliance, who is supposed to pick Coronacion at the airport. Enriquez is concerned that Coronacion will be made to board the 8PM flight back to Manila, as was done to Josua Mata, Secretary-General of APL, and 4 others, last night.

“Young Soon was told by the immigration officer that they were still interviewing Nice, and never returned call despite our insistence,” according to Jean Enriquez, Coordinator of WMW-Pilipinas. At 8:20 PM, Enriquez received a call from KWA that the immigration officer finally informed her that Nice is on the 8PM flight to Manila via Korean Airlines.

Coronacion was supposed to talk on the impact of neoliberalism on women workers during the Gender Justice Action Workshops on November 8 and10, as well as the protest action on the 11th, ahead of the G20 Summit.

“The South Korean Government and the G20 have exposed themselves to be violators not only of economic rights, but political rights as well,” Enriquez was indignant.

“If there’s anyone who should be detained, it should be the G20 leaders who are trying to resuscitate a flawed model of development – the very same model that has led to the global crisis,” Mata added.

The People’s Collective Action against G20 – Philippines will be holding an indignation rally tomorrow, Monday, in front of the South Korean Embassy in Manila.


APL lambasts South Korean gov’t for deporting alternative G-20 activists


Josua Mata interviewed by reporters in NAIA airport shortly after arrival. With 5 other activists, the group were detained and deported in Seoul for anti-G20 protest activity

THE Alliance of Progressive Labor voiced its outrage over the unjust deportation yesterday of its secretary general as well as five other Philippine activists who were supposed to attend a parallel forum to the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.

“We hold the government of President Lee Myung-bak responsible for this hostile and illegal action, including the rough treatment our comrades suffered from Korean immigration officers who, following orders from you, were utterly devoid of decency, humanity and transparency,” Edwin Bustillos, APL Deputy Secretary General, said.

He added that the Korean government’s “security paranoia and twisted aversion to civil society, including even the legitimate parallel assembly to the G-20, is like a return to the past military dictatorships in Korea and the martial law regime here in the Philippines, and like an obedient canine bowing to his rich corporate masters in the G-20.”

Nothing demonstrates the true nature of G20 than the fact that while it is detaining and deporting activists from the global south, it was busy preparing to have a dialogue with the world’s top 120 corporate leaders. “This only confirms what we have been saying all along, that we can’t allow the G20 to decide the fate of everyone in this planet as it is patently undemocratic and anti-people,” Bustillos said.

The Filipino “G-20 deportees” are Josua Mata, APL secretary general; Joseph Purugganan of the Focus on the Global South; Ma. Lorena Macabuag, Migrant Forum Asia; Rogelio Soluta, Kilusang Mayo Uno; Paul Quintos, Ibon; and progressive musician Jess Santiago.

They and many other activists throughout the world were invited by several Korean civil society organizations under the Korean People’s G20 Response Action, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), to participate in different programs of a “parallel forum” to the official G-20 Economic Summit on Nov. 11-12.

Immigration officials detained the Philippine delegation immediately after deplaning at Incheon International Airport telling the Filipinos that they were “blacklisted” and were forced to board the 9:30 p.m. flight back to Manila. But the Korean authorities failed to present any written explanation on the blacklisting.

The Korean hosts of the Filipino delegates also protested the detention and deportation of their guests.

“President Lee Myung-bak and the G20 will never succeed in stifling voices of the people from the Global South,” Bustillos declared. APL will heed the call of the People’s Action Against the G20 to intensify actions against G20.

G-20 is officially called the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from 20 economies – 19 countries and one representative from the European Union. While it comprises a large chunk of the global economy, the G-20 – like the WTO, IMF and the WB – is effectively controlled or heavily influenced by governments of a few rich nations and their transnational corporations, thus proposed policies are usually biased to the latter. And just like in the WTO, the G-20 is also beset by concerns on lack of transparency and its prejudice on anti-poor neoliberal economic programs.


 http://www.apl.org.ph/

Philippine Organizations
- Homepage: http://www.apl.org.ph/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech