Since you were previously in government, what was your greatest accomplishment in government in your view and what was your greatest frustration? Pablo: I think the accomplishment I am most proud of was when we approved the human right to water at the UN. Nations like US and Canada, that initially opposed the declaration decided at the last moment to stay neutral so it got passed. I felt... Read more
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On the windy rooftop veranda of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, the former ambassador to the UN slides his empty glass across the wooden picnic table. “Just imagine I sell this glass to someone and it becomes a popular item, more people want one. The price goes up and I make ten, which I can sell at a profit.” He lifts up the glass, puts it down and makes an expansive gesture as... Read more
Details
Monday 18 June 11h30-13h30
Tent 21 Margarida Alves
Workshop Code: 29031
Introduction
Across the world citizens and social movements are mounting strong and effective campaigns to fight the environmental and social abuses of transnational corporations. People have fought to defend control over their water, to block contaminating mining projects, to hold oil companies accountable for their environmental destruction, and more. In response, corporations and their political allies have assembled a powerful arsenal of legal weapons in their defense. Among the most dangerous is the growing global web of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and the international tribunals empowered to enforce them.
There is only one way to contest and dismantle this system. That is to get informed and to join together across movements and national boundaries to challenge the international investment regime. At the upcoming Peoples Summit at Rio+20, a wide range of civil society organizations are holding an informative and action-oriented workshop to move this process forward. Our aim is to broaden the scope of our work, create new alliances and to think strategically about a series of coordinated global actions for 2013.
Organizers
The Network for Justice in Global Investment; The Democracy Center; Transnational Institute; Fundación Solón; REDES-Friends of the Earth Uruguay; ATTAC – Argentina; CADTM-AYNA (Comité Anulación Deuda Países del Tercer Mundo - Abya Yala - Nuestra América); International Economic Architecture Working Group (GT-AEI) of the REBRIP.
More information: contact@justinvestment.org
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stooped low by alleging that the large-scale protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power station in Tamil Nadu, sustained impressively for six months, are inspired and financed by American and Scandinavian non-governmental organisations. Invoking the “foreign hand” to vilify those who question official projects means denying that Indian citizens have the... Read more
Hoy en día, mil millones de personas viven con hambre. Los precios pico del petróleo y la degradación del medio ambiente ponen en peligro la seguridad alimentaria de miles de millones más, especialmente si tenemos en cuenta que la mitad de la población mundial vive en entornos urbanos, dependiendo de alimentos producidos industrialmente e importados. Se requiere urgentemente una transición,... Read more
