An Account from APEC

"Oh no, not another motorcade", I said today. Then, after 20 minutes, the police kindly allowed us to cross the street. One of the streets that is blcoked off to allow for "dignatary" traffic.

Hello from Vancouver. There are several people from the IFIM movement here in Vancouver for the NO-TO APEC festivities. Thanks to Tamara, PJ, and others for coming.

What's happened so Far?

There are 2 counter conferences. The liberal- type of conference was suspected to adopt a declaration that called for a revisionist position of APEC (make it nice with social clauses, etc., etc.). To the surprise of many, however, the conference adopted a firmly NO-TO-APEC stance, and called for resistance to APEC.

The NO-TO-APEC conference started yesterday, with over 150 delegates from 13 of the APEC countries. The MAI also promises to be a major issue.

Students at the University of British Columbia set up a tent city, called DemoVille (for Democracy village). The APEC "leaders" will be at the university on Tuesday,. Last night, 4 students had their tents ripped down, and were arrested. UBC students are calling for a city wide student walk-out on Monday and Tuesday. There will be a teach-in at the university on Monday, and a protest on Tuesday.

And, today, on a rainy Vancouver afternoon, more than 12 000 people showed up to protest the APEC conference. It was a livly demo with bands, puppets, street theatre, and dancing.

Oh, and at the official summit, the "leaders" decided yesterday to fast-track liberalization of tarrifs, and practices, in the areas of fisheries, and forestry.

We're still resisting.
Eric Doherty
edoherty@portal.ca
Vancouver B.C.
Canada

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