MOVEMENTS AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND THE WORLD RELEASE OPEN LETTER ON THE CREATION OF THE BANK OF THE SOUTH
Press release, 8 December 2007

Coinciding with the signing on December 9, in Buenos Aires, of the South Bank's Founding Act, hundreds of social movements, networks, organizations and personalities from throughout Latin America and the world are presenting to the Presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, an Open Letter |1| expressing their expectation with regard to the creation of the new financial institution together with proposals intended to insure that the Bank can indeed contribute to the integration of the region's peoples and the full enjoyment of human and environmental rights and the right to development.

Date:11 December 2007

To
His Excellency,     
The President of the Republic of Korea
Honourable Sir Roh Moo-Hyun,
We, the undersigned, wish to bring to your attention our deep concern over several issues that have arisen in the aftermath of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) and the Government of Orissa, India, for setting up a steel rolling plant and captive port in the state of Orissa. This US$ 12million project is being pushed through in a manner that has not only ignored fundamental questions of sustainable development but is also today associated with grave human rights abuse. We urge you, in your capacity as the head of a country from whose soil POSCO operates and a country which is party to several internationally-drawn commitments to human rights as well as socially and environmentally sustainable development, to intervene immediately in preventing further violations.    

 

By Walden Bello*

(Bali, Dec. 16). A day after the dramatic ending of the Bali climate talks, many are wondering if the result was indeed the best outcome possible given the circumstances. The US was brought back to the fold, but at the cost of excising from the final document--the so-called Bali Roadmap--any reference to the need for a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 to keep the mean global temperature increase to 2.0 to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.

Protest over Pak crisis at Churchgate
Times News Network, 6th November 2007, Mumbai

Mumbai: The emergency imposed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf came under criticism from a group of peaceniks and secular activists in the city. On Monday, around a dozen activists assembled at Churchgate station to protest against the suspension of the constitution and all democratic rights in Pakistan.