ATTAC] NEWSLETTER 121 - IF LOCAL, MAKE IT GLOBAL

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday March 27, 2002 14:45 by Michael Ronan O'Connell - Globalise Resistance michaeloconnell2001 at yahoo dot com

Gives an account of various anti-globalization/capatalism acivities right around the globe

There are 7 topics, each which are summarized first and then if you scroll down a more detailed account of each topic is given. There is also a link for easy reading and direct subscription. A brief summary of the topic titles:- Solidarity with Russian & Japanese Movements, s, Anti-Globalization Activists & Unions Can Still Work Together, GB: "Tobin Tax" motion at the House of Commons, Bush brewing poverty & violence in El Salvador, Vietnam & World Coffee Crisis, ATTAC meeting worldwide.

ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 27/03/02
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Content

1- Solidarity with Russian Movements
ATTAC Voronej in link with the Russian Movement "The world is not for
sale" have created on 14 March 2002 a coalition named "Stop McDonlad'
s". They have started their first action against the global company.

2- Solidarity with Japanese Movements
On April 18, the Japanese government will inaugurate a temporary
runway at the Narita International Airport to coincide with the World
Cup soccer competition, to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in
late May. The runway has been built despite the strong protests of
local residents, whose lives and livelihoods will be thoroughly
disrupted by the project.

3- Anti-Globalization Activists And Unions Can Still Work Together
What a difference a year makes! In April 2001 we were marching in
Quebec, 50,000 strong: students, activists, and union
members-including many from the northeastern U.S.-voicing our
opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the latest
manifestation of corporate-sponsored globalization. When the protests
finally ended and the pro-Free Trade officials were choking on tear
gas, activists on both sides of the border were convinced that the
momentum was with us.

4- Great Britain: "Tobin Tax" motion at the House of Commons
Following the French example whose parliament recently voted in favour
of a «Tobin Tax », Harry Barnes, Labour MP tabled a motion in favour
of the installation of such a tax.

5- Bush Brewing Poverty and Violence in El Salvador
While President Bush has emphasized U.S. aid to developing countries,
the Salvadoran experience shows how the economic policies he is
promoting on his Latin American tour work to deepen poverty and impede
progress toward human rights.

6- Vietnam and the World Coffee Crisis: Local Coffee Riots in a Global
Context
On May 24, 2001, 14 young Mexican immigrants died in the Arizona
desert while attempting to enter the US to find work. Of the 14 who
died, six were bankrupted coffee farmers from the state of Veracruz.
They were among an estimated 300,000 coffee farmers in Mexico who have
been forced to leave their land in search of work. These deaths -
directly linked to the collapse of world coffee prices - symbolise the
desperation and sense of crisis faced by small coffee farmers and
coffee plantation workers throughout the region, and the world.

7- Meeting ATTAC worldwide.

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1- Solidarity with Russian Movements
____________________________________________________________

ATTAC Voronej in link with the Russian Movement "The world is not for
sale" have created on 14 March 2002 a coalition named "Stop McDonlad'
s". They have started their first action against the global company.
The Russian movements are growing. For those of you that remembered it
they appeared for the first time as a delegation of 50 persons,
representing 50 different movements from all over the Russian
federation in Genoa last July. Some of them could join the Laeken
mobilization (European Union Summit) and were represented also during
the last World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. The growth of the
movement is also materialized in Russia itself where dozens of
conferences and meetings will be organized to talk about the
anti-corporate globalization movements around the world.

The fight that is starting in Voronej is at the same time very real
and a symbol of a new kind of mobilizations in the Eastern European
countries. They have asked to support this fight by sending email.
Therefore if you could show them your support to Stop McDonald's in
Voronej it will have a great importance.

You can send your emails to
McDonald's Russia [email protected] to ask them in polite words to
stop building this « restaurant ».

Please, copy also the coalition:
- [email protected] or fax: 007901-9933883

Stop McDonalds!

For the five days the blockade of building of McDonalds fast-food
restaurant was going on in the historical center of the city of
Voronezh. Local citizens together with the representatives of
environmental, political and social organizations take part in protest
actions. McDonalds is supposed to be built on the place of the only
park in the city center.

On the 14th of March 2002 "Stop McDonalds" Committee was formed during
the first public meeting against the building of McDonalds on the
place of city park.

The protesters demand:

1. Stop the building of McDonalds! This project does not take into
account the opinion of the citizens, and violates many regulations
about the building of such objects.

2. Reconstruct the park as a historical place of Voronezh. The
antiglobalist Initiative "ATTAC - Nizhny Novgorod" already picketed
McDonalds in their city on the 15th of March.

In Spring 2001 McDonalds Corporation acting through the false firm has
bought the right of the land-lease for the building of four fast-food
restaurants, one of them was supposed to be built in the historical
center of the city. Sale of the right for land-lease were carried out
with many breaks, which was confirmed by the city prosecutor's
department. Despite of the city regulations and the opinion of the
citizens the administration of the city permitted the building of
restaurant in the park.

On the 25th of March, the six day of the blockade, it was stopped by
the active intervention of the police and administration of the city.
The blockade went on since March 20, activists organized daily duty in
the park and did not allow the builders to start their work, staying
under the backet of excavator and taking apart the fence around the
park.

On the morning conference Voronezh major A. Kovalev, with red and
angry face, shouted that the building should be continued in spite of
the protest, which involved several deputies of the Regional
Parliament, and that he was going to organize the ceremonial beginning
of the building together with the main city architect.

Instead of the promised ceremony the police regiment arrived in the
park and pushed the protesters away from the building machines. One
activist, Oleg Lebedev, jumped inside the foundation pit together with
his dog, then he was pulled out by the police officers and arrested
"for being drunk in public place" (!). But then police let him go
free.

Local citizens reminded to the police, that in this park two police
officers were killed by the criminals ten years ago, and that
McDonalds could not be a good memorial to them.

Two hours later police arrested three more participants of the protest
for "participating non-sanctioned meeting".

"If this is called "non-sanctioned meeting", about 200 people
participated in it together with us including bureaucrats from the
city administration, - said one of the arrested activists, Svetlana
Dorokhova. - It seems that if you support the building of McDonalds
then your participation is sanctioned, if you are against then you
break an order in the city".

Next day the local court made the decision that three activists of the
Stop McDonalds committee were not guilty.

"Stop McDonalds" Committee is not going to stop its activity, the
struggle is going on.

More info [email protected]
Photos http://no-corp.voronezh.net

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2- Solidarity with Japanese Movements
____________________________________________________________

AN APPEAL TO STOP THE USE OF THE TEMPORARY RUNWAY AT NARITA AIRPORT
A Call for Messages of Solidarity and Letters of Protest

On April 18, the Japanese government will inaugurate a temporary
runway at the Narita International Airport to coincide with the World
Cup soccer competition, to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in
late May. The runway has been built despite the strong protests of
local residents, whose lives and livelihoods will be thoroughly
disrupted by the project. We appeal to people in Japan and around the
world to join us in opposing this unilateral attempt to sacrifice the
welfare of local residents and acquire by intimidation prime farmland
for the airport. This gross violation of democratic process and basic
rights must not be allowed to pass unnoticed amid the media furor
surrounding the World Cup finals.

Several years ago, following protracted negotiations with airport
opponents, the government and the Narita Airport Corporation promised
they would withdraw the threat of forcible expropriation as a means of
acquiring farmland to complete the airport. They also pledged solemnly
to consult landowners about any future plans for runway expansion and
to respect their rights. Both sides agreed to abide by the principle
of non-violence and seek a fair solution. In May 1999, however, the
government did an abrupt about face: it announced the construction of
a temporary second runway -- 300 meters shorter than originally
planned -- to be completed by April 2002, in time for the World Cup
series. The government hopes that the inauguration of the new airstrip
will force the farmers of Toho Hamlet to sell out and move away,
enabling it acquire the land it needs to build a standard-length
runway there. The authorities have shown their true colors, and it's
back to business as usual -- the continuation of expropriation by
other means (broken promises, deceit, intimidation).

We responded in 1999 with an appeal calling for the abandonment of
the runway plan and serious consultations with those farmers directly
affected. Many concerned people in Japan and abroad answered that
call, sending messages of support to local inhabitants opposing the
project. For the past three years, however, the government has gone
ahead with the runway, and today Toho Hamlet is surrounded by high
fences, barbed wire, and searchlights, and concrete has been laid
almost up to the villagers' houses.

If the temporary runway becomes operational this April, residents
will have to live with wide-bodied passenger jets landing almost
directly overhead -- a mere 40 meters above their homes. Farmers have
worked a lifetime to transform Toho into a model of successful organic
agriculture and now boast a vast network of urban consumers, who buy
their eggs and vegetables directly from the producers. The scream of
jet engines, a poisonous carpet of jet exhaust, and violent wind
shears will make vegetable growing and chicken farming precarious,
rendering the area unsuitable for people, animals, or healthy crops.
The government's undemocratic methods have only hardened the farmers'
resolve to remain on the land, however. They are determined to contest
the state's image of "progress" by proposing an alternative model of
environmentally sane and sustainable local development.

The government insists that the construction of Narita Airport is in
the "public interest". More than 30 years of fierce opposition by
local farmers, however, has exploded that old, worn myth. The state
has consistently failed to defend the urgency or public need for such
a project, which sits amid one of Japan's most prosperous farm
regions. The new runway, built without the consent of those who will
be directly affected by it, is the latest example of this reckless,
arrogant, developmentalist mentality.

We refuse to watch idly as the authorities prepare to violate the
rights of yet another group of Narita farmers. We demand that the
government and the Narita Airport Corporation abandon their plans to
open the temporary runway. We have no illusions that stopping the new
runway will be easy, or, in the short run, even possible. Our
determination to say a loud, clear "NO!" is motivated by the
conviction that failure to contest this injustice is the same as
condoning it.

In view of the gravity of the situation:

1) We invite you to send messages of solidarity to the inhabitants of
Toho Hamlet as they struggle to defend their rights and their dignity
as people and producers. With your permission, we will publish the
messages in the form of a pamphlet. (See NOTE 1)

2) If you agree with our statement of principle, we ask you to add
your name to the list of people who endorse this petition. (See NOTE
2)

3) Finally, we ask you to write directly to the government officials
responsible for implementing airport policy. (See NOTE 3)? ?

February 2002

SPONSORS: Iyanaga Ken'ichi (mathematician) Uesaka Kiyoshi Oshiro
Masashi (Buddhist priest, Otani Faction, Shinshu) Oshima Koichi Onuma
Jun (Aichi Prefrecture People's Congress to Stop the Forest on the Sea
Exposition) Ono Kazuoki (journalist specializing in farm problems) Oze
Akira (cartoonist) Ozeki Yoko Kaneko Yoshinori (farmer, Ogawa
Township, Saitama Prefecture) Kamata Satoshi (writer, investigative
reporter) Kumaoka Michiya (Japan International Volunteer Center)
Koshida Kiyokazu (Asia-Pacific Resource Center) Sataka Makoto Sato
Makoto (film director) Sawachi Hisae Shitara Kiyotsugu
(secretary-general, Tokyo Foremen's Union) Shitara Yoshiko (Women's
Democratic Club) Shirakawa Masumi (People's Plan Research Group)
Takagi Kuniko (The Takagi Jinzaburo Citizen Scientist Foundation)
Tamamitsu Yorimasa (Buddhist priest, Otani Faction, Shinshu) Nakamura
Hisashi (economist) Hayashi Hiroji (Chiba Citizens' Forum) Hayashi
Hikaru Hariu Ichiro Fujikawa Yasushi (Chofu City organic grocer)
Fujiwara Shin (forestry expert) Fujiwara Toshikazu (Stop Dioxin Kanto
Network) Maeda Tetsuo (journalist specializing in military affairs)
Maeda Yugo (representative, Workers' Information Collective) Mizuhara
Hiroko (Japan Consumers' Federation) Motohashi Sei'ichi (cameraman,
film director) Yamaguchi Yukio (Citizens' Nuclear Information Center)
Yamaguchi Yukiko (Association for Building a Healthy Lifestyle)
Yamaguchi Yasuko (Women's Democratic Club) Yoshikawa Yuichi (People's
Opinion-30, Tokyo) Robert Ricketts (researcher)

NOTE 1: Please limit your messages to 500 words, and, if possible,
state your full name and affiliation. Anonymity will be respected upon
request.

NOTE 2: Please send your messages of solidarity and support by air
mail, fax, telephone, or e-mail to: The Narita Airport Emergency
Appeal, 2-2-6-103 Fuda, Chofu City, Tokyo 182-0024, Japan Fax:
0424-87-1742 Tel: 0424-87-1714 E-mail: [email protected]

NOTE 3: Please send your messages of protest to the following Japanese
government officials (a model letter is included for use at your
discretion):

MODEL LETTER

The Honorable ________, (address)

I am writing to protest the inauguration of a temporary runway at the
Narita International Airport, scheduled for April 18.

I understand that the new runway has been built without adequately
consulting those local residents who will be most directly affected by
it. I also understand that by opening the runway, the government and
the Narita Airport Corporation are violating their promise to find a
fair and democratic solution to the airport problem, without recourse
to intimidation. Finally, I understand that if the runway becomes
operational, the farm community of Toho will become virtually
uninhabitable because of high noise levels, pollution from jet
exhaust, and wind shears.

In view of the above, the planned inauguration of the runway clearly
violates the basic rights of local inhabitants. That fact that the
central and local governments and the Airport Corporation are aware of
these problems and yet insist on making the runway operational casts
serious doubt on Japan's commitment to democratic process and
elementary justice.

For these reasons, I respectfully ask that you work to suspend plans
to open the temporary runway and strive to resolve the airport problem
democratically, in a way that respects the rights and prerogatives of
local residents.

JAPANESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:

1) The Honorable Domoto Akiko, Governor of Chiba Prefecture E-mail:
[email protected]

2) The Honorable Nakamura Toru, President of the Narita Airport
Authority E-mail: [email protected]

3) The Honorable Ogi Chikage, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and
Transport E-mail: [email protected]

4) The Honorable Koizumi Jun'ichiro, Prime Minister of Japan URL:
http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/forms/goiken.html

______________________________

3- Anti-Globalization Activists And Unions Can Still Work Together
____________________________________________________________

What We Must Do To Keep the Movement Alive

by Russ Davis
Organizer, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice

What a difference a year makes! In April 2001 we were marching in
Quebec, 50,000 strong: students, activists, and union
members-including many from the northeastern U.S.-voicing our
opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the latest
manifestation of corporate-sponsored globalization. When the protests
finally ended and the pro-Free Trade officials were choking on tear
gas, activists on both sides of the border were convinced that the
momentum was with us.

Flash forward to April 20, 2002 and another march is scheduled. While
globalization is once again a theme-the demonstrations will coincide
with the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF (International
Monetary Fund) in Washington-you won't see many union jackets in the
crowd.

In fact, even progressive labor groups like Jobs With Justice that
have spearheaded labor's participation in the
anti-corporate-globalization movement are sitting out this April.

What happened? Is the famous "blue-green" alliance from Seattle dead?
Are "Teamsters and Turtles" not friends anymore? And just how deep are
the divisions between the labor movement and the young anti-global
protesters over the U.S. government's war on terrorism? If we wish to
build a bigger, better movement for global social justice, addressing
these questions is essential.

THE MEMORY OF SEATTLE

The movement that emerged in the streets of Seattle three years ago
shook the world. For activists in the U.S., the sight of
environmentalists, students, radical young people, and union members
fighting together provided a jolt of energy. Even in Europe, where
protests against the neoliberal economic agenda had been under way for
a decade, Seattle was seen as a beginning.

Activists in the industrial countries as well as the Global South
felt, for the first time, that it was possible to talk back to a
global system of capitalism that was-and still is-spiraling out of
control. Perhaps most important, the protests seemed to signal the
rebirth of internationalism within a U.S. labor movement that had for
too long allied itself with cold war policies.

But even before the events of September 11 stopped, at least
temporarily, the movement for global justice in its tracks, the
euphoria of Seattle was proving increasingly difficult to sustain. The
promise of labor solidarity with the students and environmentalists
had fallen short.

Unions and environmentalists found themselves split over issues like
Arctic drilling and auto emissions standards. In Quebec in April
2001, mainstream Canadian labor unions turned out their members by the
thousands, but the U.S. labor movement didn't put its muscle behind
those actions in the streets.

A growing debate was developing over "direct action," especially in
light of the violence at the globalization protests in Genoa, Italy
last summer. Some were uneasy about the movement's position in favor
of "diversity of tactics"-which seemed to allow the police and press
to paint all globalization protesters as violent (now read
"terrorist").

Finally, there were questions about the demographics of the movement,
especially at big protests. Wasn't the movement too white and
middle-class, at least in the U.S., for something that claimed to
speak for the oppressed of the world?

Despite these weaknesses the global justice movement still seemed, and
I would argue still is, the best hope for developing an alternative to
a world dominated by the demands of corporate profits.

In addition to shaking up the corporate consensus, the movement also
began to shake up parts of the labor movement, imparting youthful
energy and, dare I say, hipness to workers' struggles that we hadn't
seen since, wow, the 1930s. The movement was arguably having a real
impact on the corporate elite, forcing them onto the ideological
defensive and making some progress on issues like AIDS in Africa.

Labor was still committed, despite the tensions. Fast Track was almost
defeated, and the AFL-CIO had an ambitious mobilization planned for
the World Bank/IMF protests in Washington last September. Then the
towers crumbled.

WAR IS HELL

The war has made maintaining the coalition against global capital
infinitely more difficult. Unions supported a military response in
Afghanistan-as did more than 90 percent of working people-while most
non-labor activists in the movement did not. Many unions in other
countries have also opposed the war, threatening international labor
solidarity and throwing U.S. labor back into the role of supporting
the policies of the U.S. government.

The burgeoning movement for the rights of undocumented workers was
also struck a blow, although labor stuck to its guns regarding the
treatment of immigrants in this country, criticizing anti-immigrant
and anti-Arab sentiment and continuing to support legalization.

Support for the war among unions has served to alienate the direct
action youth in the global justice movement and some of the students
from whom labor has drawn many new organizers. U.S. labor's position
also puts it at odds with much of the rest of the world anti-corporate
globalization movement. At the recent World Social Forum in Brazil,
most people seemed to assume that everyone there had an anti-war
stance-political suicide at this point for elected labor leaders in
the U.S.

ANOTHER MOVEMENT POSSIBLE

What is the potential of the movement for global justice post-9/11? At
the very moment that the war has made the possibility of a
labor-backed global justice movement seem unlikely, the economic war
being waged against workers in the U.S. (the recession that has now
"ended") has made a mass movement of workers here more likely than at
any time in recent history.

The Enron debacle, the faltering economy, and the health care crisis
have broadened the potential base for anti-corporate mobilization,
even if labor has been slow (to put it charitably) to act on these
possibilities. Millions of workers, arguably many more than before
9/11, are open to the idea that a more just economic system is needed
if our children, and the children of workers in other countries, are
to grow up in a world that is not in a state of permanent war and
economic stagnation.

How do we get there? First we need to keep alive the spirit of
international solidarity in the face of war rhetoric and the growing
protectionist sentiment that accompanies massive job losses. The
global organization of production requires that labor organize
internationally in order to win future battles.

We need to support workers and unions in Colombia and elsewhere who
are murdered when they speak out against U.S. corporate exploitation.
We need to continue to situate local struggles in a global context
with a global strategy.

MOBILIZE MILLIONS

We need to look for what can unite us, like support for immigrant
rights, or opposition to the FTAA, and act on that, not focus on what
divides us.

There will be growing fights over health care, jobs, and a decent
retirement that have the potential to become social movements in the
coming years, mobilizing multiracial millions, not thousands. We need
to constantly draw the links between these issues and others. Enron
ripped off American workers and consumers? In India, there has been
mass opposition to Enron's policies for years.

At the same time that labor activists strive to keep communication and
joint action alive, our allies in the globalization movement,
domestically and internationally, need to appreciate the political
realities that we face in the U.S. labor movement.

The demands, including opposition to the current war, put forth for
the April 20 march are supported by only a small minority of Americans
today. On the other hand, a large majority of workers and their allies
still support the issues of global justice.

Therein lies the problem. It will take patience and a long-term
commitment to movement-building to realize that potential. If our
slogan is "Another World Is Possible," then we need to realize that
another movement is possible, in fact necessary, to realize that
potential: a movement of workers, students, environmentalists, and
others whose promise we saw in Seattle and whose reality we will see
on the streets in the years to come.

[Labor Notes welcomes alternative viewpoints on this issue.]
Published in collaboration with Labor Notes. 'Labor Notes' is a
monthly magazine based in Detroit, USA. We are committed to reforming
and revitalizing the labor movement. We report news about the labor
movement that you won't find anywhere else. News about grassroots
labor activity, innovative organizing tactics, international labor
struggles, immigrant workers, and problems that some union leaders
would rather keep quiet. Subscribe and receive a copy of 'Labor Notes'
in your mailbox! Subscription information can be found at our website
at www.labornotes.org

______________________________

4- Great Britain: "Tobin Tax" motion at the House of Commons
____________________________________________________________

Following the French example whose parliament recently voted in favour
of a «Tobin Tax », Harry Barnes, Labour MP tabled a motion in favour
of the installation of such a tax. Mr Barnes' motion has attracted the
initial support of a number of personalities from 6 different
political groups, including former ministers: Peter Bottomley (former
Conservative Northern Ireland and Transport Minister), Jenny Tonge
(Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on International Development), Adam
Price (Plaid Cymru), Lady Sylvia Hermon (Ulster Unionist Party), Eddie
McGrady (Social and Democratic Labour Party), John Battle (former
Labour Foreign Office Minister and member of the International
Development Select Committee), Tony Worthington (former Labour
Northern Ireland Minister and member of the International Development
Select Committee), Tony Colman (Labour member of the International
Development Select Committee, Helen Clarke (Labour member of the
Environmental Audit Select Committee), David Chaytor (Labour) and Bob
Russell (Liberal Democrat).

The Commons motion is part of a concerted campaign led by War on Want
to win backing for Tobin. A Commons reception on Tobin was hosted on
Tobin Tax Day on 13 March at which a cinema advert was screened. The
advert, with the voice-over being done by the actor Ewan McGregor to
the music of Radiohead, has been censored for television because of
its political message. Who knows, next might be the World Call of
artists for the « Tobin Tax »!

Text of the motion :

Tackling Global Poverty

That this House notes that International currency transactions total
more than $1 trillion a day and that the vast majority of this is
unrelated to the real economy of tangible trade goods and services;

Believes that such enormous speculative flows have contributed to
serious economic damage to countries and regions such as Mexico
(1994), Southeast Asia (1997), Russia (1998), Brazil (1999) and
Argentina (2001);

Further believes that a small levy on such currency speculation, the
Tobin tax, named after the Nobel Laureate who originated the concept,
could both dampen down the scale and scope of speculation and raise
substantial revenues, potentially in excess of $50 billion each year,
for projects targeted towards ending global poverty;

Is pleased that this initiative now enjoys the backing of a number of
governments and parliaments across the world, including France, whose
parliament recently passed a law authorising its implementation;

Is heartened by the words of the Chancellor that innovative ways need
to be urgently found (including currency taxes) to finance
development;

Wishes the Chancellor a successful mission to the UN 'Financing for
Development' conference in Monterrey, Mexico; urges him to take steps
towards the introduction of an internationally co-ordinated Currency
Transactions Tax, with the proceeds ring-fenced for international
sustainable development objectives;

And further urges the Chancellor to ensure that these proceeds do not
replace either existing international aid disbursements, or agreed
commitments to increase international aid.

Information published thanks to Steve Tibbett from War on Want.
www.waronwant.org For further information please contact Harry Barnes
on +44 (0)20 7219 4521 or Gary Kent on +44 (0)20 7219 5013

First published in NEWSLETTER FROM THE PARLIAMENTARIAN WORLD APPEAL
FOR THE "TOBIN TAX" Washington Call http://tobintaxcall.free.fr

______________________________

5- Bush Brewing Poverty and Violence in El Salvador
____________________________________________________________

by Mark Engler

In advance of his visits to several Latin American countries,
President Bush has focused public attention on U.S. aid to developing
countries. As a result, the real purpose of his tour has gone
unnoticed. Bush is using his time in Mexico, Peru, and El Salvador to
promote neoliberal economic policies that actually serve to exacerbate
inequality and undermine democratic institutions in countries
throughout the region.

El Salvador, in particular, provides a case study in how Bush's
version of economic "modernization" has failed the poor.

Geography has never been George W.'s strong suit, but one might expect
him to try being sensitive to El Salvador's human rights concerns,
given that a U.N. Truth Commission blamed the right-wing governments
supported by his father for 90 percent of the approximately 80,000
murders committed through the country's civil war. Instead, President
Bush's visit falls on the day normally reserved for commemoration of
Archbishop Oscar Romero's assassination. The army's death squads
gunned down Romero, a stalwart defender of the country's poorest
citizens, during a mass on March 24, 1980.

Ten years after the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords ended
more than a decade of bloody conflict, U.S.-supported policies
continue to impede progress toward human rights. Rather than atoning
for its sponsorship of Cold War crimes, the United States has overseen
a type of economic transformation that punishes the same communities
most victimized during El Salvador's time of violence. Under the
supervision of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC, the
conservative Salvadoran governments of the 1990s hacked social
services and sold off state enterprises in telecommunications and
utilities to private interests.

Businesses dramatically raised costs to consumers. At the same time,
the government led drives to bust the unions that fight to keep wages
in the "modernizing" economy from falling to sweatshop levels. Over
the past months it announced the firing of 10,000 workers in the
public sector -- a dramatic loss of jobs in El Salvador's small labor
economy.

Contrary to the objectives of the U.N.'s International Conference on
Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, the forum which
prompted Bush to increase foreign aid, these economic policies worsen
living conditions for the majority of Salvadorans. The United Nations
Development Program reports that El Salvador's increasing levels of
income inequality rank among the highest in the world. Even the
official government measures show that half of the country lives in
poverty. Many Salvadorans can provide for their basic needs only
because of money sent back from relatives who have emigrated to the
United States. Indeed, with a regressive tax structure and a lack of
public assets creating huge debts for the government, the economy as a
whole depends on the $1.9 billion a year in remittances for its surviv
al.

Democracy is also a casualty in the neoliberal regime. Members of the
Bush administration have embraced the conservative ARENA party as
their ideological brethren. Bush himself praises his Salvadoran
counterpart, Francisco "Paco" Flores, as a "brilliant young leader"
and a "breath of fresh air." But ARENA frequently shows contempt for
free speech and the rights of opposition parties. When the rival FMLN
gained a plurality in the Legislative Assembly in 2000, ARENA led
right-wing parties in refusing to let them assume the presidency of
that body. More recently, after a prominent health-care union led
several days of street marches protesting the January cutbacks, they
found their offices occupied by police. These are exactly the type of
abuses that Bush would need to remedy if he were serious about his
proclaimed desire to "strengthen democratic institutions" in El
Salvador.

In the context of economic turmoil and political abuses, human rights
have again become endangered. Due to an epidemic of street crime,
which has given the country one of the highest per capita murder rates
in the hemisphere, life for most citizens is as dangerous now as
during the war. ARENA persistently attempts to undermine the Human
Rights Ombudsman, an office created by the Peace Accords as a major
institutional safeguard against future abuses. And the process of
reckoning with past trauma has been difficult. Against the advice of
organizations such as Amnesty International, the right rushed an
amnesty law through the Assembly in the wake of the U.N. Truth
Commission report detailing many of the war's horrors. With few
exceptions, those responsible for atrocities never faced justice.

For its part, the Bush administration harbors figures like Elliott
Abrams, who, as a chief Reagan spin-doctor on Central American
affairs, steadfastly denied that horrific abuses ever happened.
Mentioning one notorious site of terror, The New York Times noted in
January that the families of those villagers massacred at El Mozote
have long been denied the "foundations of healing" -- the prosecution
of criminals, the official naming of victims, and appreciation of the
urgent need for relatives "to possess a shard of bone to bury."

As neoliberals rush to forget the past, they may yet provoke its
repetition. Francisco Flores has advocated that the U.N. to return to
conduct a "closing ceremony" for the Peace Accords, asserting that
"the agreement to fortify democracy in the country has been
completed." Furthermore, he has explained that with this matter
settled, he will have nothing further to discuss with the leading
opposition party.

Neither Flores nor Bush seem to understand that the pursuit of
democracy and human rights must always be an on-going process.

In January, Hector Dada Hirezi, a leading commentator and past member
of a transitional national government, argued that Salvadorans are
finding the Peace Accords, based on the premise of ending war without
producing winners and losers, being supplanted by an economic system
in which the poor lose and economic elites win. More ominously, a
major human rights institute at the University of Central America in
San Salvador has warned that the government, in charting its present
course, is "cooking a broth of violence."

The rhetoric of poverty reduction has long been a part of U.S. policy
in Latin America. While foreign aid can be used to good ends, allowing
humanitarian gestures to disguise the policies that continue to brew
poverty and injustice constitutes a recipe for crisis. Bush need only
consider Argentina, a past neoliberal poster child whose dollarized
currency and foreign debt spiraled into economic meltdown. Or go no
further than El Salvador itself, where the issues that provoked the
country's long civil war look all too similar to the poverty,
inequality, and corruption that persist today.

-- Mark Engler is an independent writer and activist from Des Moines,
Iowa. He has previously worked with the Arias Foundation for Peace and
Human Progress in San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as the Public
Intellectuals Program at Florida Atlantic University.

______________________________

6- Vietnam and the World Coffee Crisis: Local Coffee Riots in a Global
Context
____________________________________________________________

By Gerard Greenfield*

We hope that it is feasible to use coffee beans as fuel. Manfredo
Topke, President, National Coffee Growers Association (Anacafe)

Hunger is what pushed us here. Euxenio Rugama, Nicaraguan coffee
plantation labourer in a protest march from Matagalpa to Managua in
August 2001

THE COFFEE CRISIS

On May 24, 2001, 14 young Mexican immigrants died in the Arizona
desert while attempting to enter the US to find work. Of the 14 who
died, six were bankrupted coffee farmers from the state of Veracruz.
They were among an estimated 300,000 coffee farmers in Mexico who have
been forced to leave their land in search of work. These deaths -
directly linked to the collapse of world coffee prices - symbolise the
desperation and sense of crisis faced by small coffee farmers and
coffee plantation workers throughout the region, and the world.

In Nicaragua hundreds of unemployed coffee workers and their families
began a different journey - marching from Matagalpa to Managua to
protest the destruction of their livelihoods and to demand government
support for small farmers. Nearly 400,000 families in Matagalpa are
dependent on wages paid by 44,000 coffee growers. As the price of
coffee continues to decline (down 64% in two years), these families
face even greater poverty.

World coffee prices have fallen to their lowest level in 32 years.
Before this price collapse coffee was the world's largest traded
primary commodity after oil. An estimated 60 million people make their
livelihood from coffee, and that livelihood - precarious and
impoverished even in better times - is now under threat.

In El Salvador the drop in coffee prices, combined with the
devastation caused by the January 2001 earthquake, left more than
30,000 coffee workers unemployed.

In East Timor income from coffee production fell by 35%, affecting
40,000 families who rely directly on coffee growing for their
livelihood.

In Indonesia the selling price for a kilogram of coffee beans fell to
Rp.3,000/kg, more than the cost of production at Rp.4,000/kg. In
coffee- growing regions such as Lampung, Sumatra, small farmers were
plunged deeper into debt.

In southern India the price of robusta fell from Rs73.03 in 1998 to
Rs30.24 per kg in 2001 - a drop of 58.6%. At the same time production
costs rose from Rs45.98 to Rs66.75 per kg, more than double the
current selling price.

In Guatemala coffee growers are also faced with bankruptcy as selling
prices continue to fall below production costs. They have started
selling low-grade coffee to burn as industrial fuel in the hope that
it can fetch a higher price.

The burning of coffee occurred in a different context in Chiapas. On
April 17, 2001, members of the indigenous coffee cooperative Maya
Vinic burned part of their coffee crop in protest at the collapse in
prices.

Another instance of coffee burning took place in Vietnam a year
earlier, in August 2000, when more than 150 ethnic Edeh in Dak Lak
Province in the Central Highlands attacked a settlement of coffee
farmers, destroyed houses and burned two hectares of coffee trees.

Despite the aggressive crackdown by the Vietnamese government, the
protests escalated, and in February 2001 an estimated 4,000 ethnic
Edeh and Gia Rai (Jarai) held protests in Pleiku, the capital of Gia
Lai Province, while another 1,000 protested in Buon Ma Thuot, the
capital of Dak Lak Province. They blockaded National Highway 14,
setting up barricades on the roads 10 km outside Buon Ma Thuot. The
protesters demanded the return of ancestral lands and an end to the
coffee plantations that are destroying their forests. Despite the use
of armed military troops and the arrest of 30 protest leaders, the the
protests lasted nearly two weeks. This was the most serious rural
uprising since the protest by 10,000 villagers in the northern
province of Thai Binh in mid-1997.

The common thread underlying the coffee burning in Chiapas and
Guatemala, and protests in Nicaragua and Vietnam is the impact of the
global coffee crisis on small farmers, agricultural labourers and
their communities. Within this is an even greater impact on indigenous
peoples and their communities, as they respond to both the failure and
'success' of export-oriented coffee cultivation.

Vietnam has become a successful producer. In general, we consider it
to be a huge success. Don Mitchell, Economist, World Bank

VIETNAM'S RISE

The bankruptcy of coffee farmers in Guatemala and Nicaragua, massive
financial losses in the Honduras, El Salvador, East Timor and
Indonesia, and even the deaths of Mexican immigrants in the Arizona
desert have all been linked to Vietnam. The oversupply of coffee in
the world market and the subsequent fall in prices is blamed on
Vietnam's recent rise as a world coffee producer. The head of
Vietnam's Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), Doan Trieu Nhan,
recently quoted the president of the International Coffee Organisation
(ICO) as stating that Vietnam is "the culprit of plummeting world
coffee prices." (Thanh Nien, August 12, 2001).

Within a decade Vietnam has risen from an insignificant coffee
producing country to be the second largest coffee exporter in the
world, and the largest producer of robusta coffee beans.

In 1999 Vietnam surpassed Indonesia as the largest producer of robusta
coffee and the third largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil
and Columbia. By the end of the year 2000, Vietnam's coffee production
surpassed that of Columbia, making it the second largest coffee
producer after Brazil.

Most of this growth occurred in the last 5 years, with an expansion of
harvested area from 155,000 hectares in 1995 to 550,000 hectares in
2001. Exports rose in this period from 4 million to 14 million bags
(accounting for 12.3% of the world's 114 million bags). Only 4% of
coffee grown is consumed domestically, with the rest exported. Due to
the limited number of coffee processing plants all of the coffee
exported is unprocessed. Existing plants, such as the state-run Bien
Hoa Coffee Factory and Nestle Vietnam, are geared towards the domestic
market and are operating well below capacity.

Coffee growing in Vietnam is concentrated in the Central Highland
Provinces of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum. There at least
470,000 hectares of land under coffee cultivation, accounting for 85%
of Vietnam's total coffee harvest area. (Some estimates put the total
coffee area in the Central Highlands at 514,000 hectares). Dak Lak has
the largest area under cultivation, with 264,000 hectares.

These coffee plantations have their origins in the official
re-settlement of nearly one million ethnic Kinh people (the majority
ethnic Vietnamese) to New Economic Zones in the Central Highlands.
Since these provinces border Cambodia and Laos, the Vietnamese
government actively promoted the migration of ethnic Kinh to ensure
national security and protect against subversion by ethnic minorities.
Members of indigenous groups (such as the Edeh and Gia Rai who rioted
in February) now make up only 25% of the population of these
provinces.

Even after official government re-settlement ended, a 'free flow' of
migrants into the Central Highlands continued, largely because of the
promise of wealth in growing coffee. The coffee tree was now called
the 'dollar tree.'

Since 1996 an estimated 400,000 people migrated to Dak Lak to benefit
from the coffee boom. More than 120,000 hectares was burned and
cleared to make way for new coffee plantations.

As the ancestral forests of the indigenous people were turned into
coffee plantations, many joined the rush to plant the 'dollar tree',
while others waged a campaign to protect their land.

The destruction of forests, rapid expansion of coffee cultivation, and
intensive irrigation practices led to soil erosion and serious water
shortages. Natural rivers and estuaries ran dry and underground water
levels dropped. When drought struck in 1998, 200 reservoirs ran dry
and underground water supplies were over-exploited. During the drought
it was estimated that 90% of families in Dak Lak did not have access
to sufficient water. As water prices rose by 25%, small farming
families lost over 70,000 hectares of coffee trees.

Despite the drought coffee cultivation expanded and more and more
small farmers borrowed money to plant coffee trees and buy fertiliser.
Coffee traders began lending money to farmers in advance for the
purchase of their crops - locking them into debt and mono-cropping.

An estimated 80% of coffee trees in the Central Highlands are owned by
small-scale private farmers. On average farming households own only
one to two hectares. The other 20% is owned by the subsidiaries of the
state-owned Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (VINA CAFE).

Since 1994, coffee has been the second most important foreign exchange
earner for Vietnam after rice. But in 2000, Vietnam's coffee export
earnings fell to US$458 million, a fall of 18.8% compared to the
previous year's earnings of US$564 million. In the period from
January- September 2001, revenue declined by 30% compared to the
previous year. In the Central Highlands coffee growers lost an
estimated US$172 million from the 2000-2001 crop.

In early 2001, there were temporary price rises which encouraged small
farmers to continue growing coffee despite signs of a long-term
collapse in coffee prices. In January 2001, the per kilogram price of
coffee rose by VND1,000 in Lam Dong and Dak Lak. But another price
drop followed only three weeks later. In mid-February prices fell each
day for 5 consecutive days. In response, coffee farmers started
burning their trees. In Dak Lak alone over 10,000 hectares of coffee
was cut down, burned or abandoned.

At the same time official plans were announced to reduce total coffee
output and raise prices by cutting down 150,000 to 180,000 hectares of
coffee trees, including 70,000 hectares in Dak Lak and 40,000 hectares
in Lam Dong (Thanh Nien, August 12, 2001). THE COLLAPSE OF ACPC The
Vietnamese government's plans to destroy up to 180,000 hectares of
coffee trees follows a series of failed attempts to reduce output and
restore world prices.

On May 19, 2000, the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC)
passed a resolution requiring its members to retain the equivalent of
20% of export volume. Created in 1993 under the leadership of Brazil,
the ACPC comprised 14 member-states, and was designed to regulate
world coffee prices in the same way that OPEC regulates oil prices.
Significantly, Vietnam was not a member of the ACPC.

The retention scheme launched by the ACPC in May 2000 was intended to
reduce oversupply in the world market and raise coffee prices.
Although Vietnam was not a member of the ACPC, the Vietnamese
government announced plans to support the proposal and retain 20% of
export volume, or 150,000 tonnes. The Government bought and stockpiled
60,000 tonnes at the end of 2000, then another 90,000 tonnes in early
2001. However, the Government released most of the stockpile within 6
months, causing a further drop in prices.

When the retention plans failed and global oversupply reached more
than 10%, the ACPC passed a resolution on September 27, 2001,
suspending the retention plan effective on October 1. The ACPC then
ceased operations.

Following the failure of the ACPC retention plan, new regional
arrangements were sought, especially by Indonesia. In early December
2001, the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AEKI) announced
that the world's three largest producers of robusta coffee -
Indonesia, Vietnam and India - will meet in Hanoi in January 2002 to
discuss joint action to limit exports and raise coffee prices.

Despite these attempts to establish a post-ACPC bloc of robusta
producers to regulate prices, Indonesian coffee exporters played a
role in the recent price collapse. In the 2000-2001 season, Indonesian
exporters imported 500,000 bags of green coffee beans from Vietnam for
re-export. Of this amount 200,000 bags were supplied to the domestic
roasting industry then exported, while the other 300,000 bags were re-
exported unprocessed. In April 2001, Indonesian coffee exporters again
started importing cheaper green coffee beans from Vietnam in order to
meet new orders for dried and roasted coffee at prices.

Every week the price falls sharply on the American market in New York.
The price fluctuations affect us badly in Timor Lorosae because our
coffee is sold on the American market.3 Sisto Moniz Piedade,
Operational Director, Cooperative Cafe Timor (CCT)

It's an excess of supply and not enough demand. Even so, the farmer
survives. He will not become rich, but he will not starve. His level
of poverty will be acceptable. Celsius Lodder, Executive Director,
International Coffee Organization (ICO)

GLOBAL-LOCAL LINKAGES

While Vietnam's failure to reduce export levels contributed to the
collapse of the ACPC, there is a more important political and economic
global-local dynamic involved. This dynamic is based on several
factors, including:

1. The impact of international financial markets 2. The role of TNCs
which dominate the global coffee industry 3. The power of the
'Agro-Export' model

1. The impact of international financial markets The basic price of
coffee is set by traders on the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa
Exchange Inc. and the London International Futures Exchange. It is
these prices which directly impact on local traders and growers. For
example, on October 9, 2001, the price of robusta on the London
International Futures Exchange fell to its lowest level in 30 years.
On the same day the price of coffee beans in Dak Lak fell to
VND4,000/kg - half the the production cost of VND8,000/kg. In one
sense the speed of this reaction, and its direct impact on local
prices, reflects the impact of new technologies. On the other hand,
the power of traders on the coffee exchanges and the
hyper-exploitation of small growers through their speculative
transactions is nothing new, and is consistent with the world coffee
industry's colonial past.

The point is that as long as prices are determined on the London and
New York exchanges by powerful economic interests in Europe and North
America, the ACPC could not effectively manage prices and protect its
members. In fact, the ACPC was only created in 1993 because of the
collapse of the International Coffee Agreement four years earlier. In
its drive to impose the 'free market' on the rest of the world, the US
government strongly opposed the regulation of world coffee prices
through the Agreement, forcing its collapse in 1989. It was only after
this that low-cost producers such as Vietnam entered the market and
undercut prices.

2. The role of TNCs which dominate the global coffee industry Despite
the crisis - or more accurately, because of it - the transnational
corporations (TNCs) which dominate the global coffee industry continue
to profit. Proctor & Gamble (which owns Folgers), Philip Morris (whose
subsidiary Kraft Foods owns Maxwell House), Sara Lee (Hills Bros.,
MJB) and Nestle dominate the world coffee market. As Nestle's annual
report on its coffee-trading performance in 2000 states that: "trading
profits increased ... and margins improved thanks to favourable
commodity prices." (Quoted in Oxfam, Bitter Coffee: How the Poor are
Paying for the Slump in Coffee Prices, May 16, 2001).

Not only do these TNCs profit from the crisis faced by coffee growers
and workers, but their manipulation of prices and world coffee demand
contributed to the current crisis. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
fierce competition between TNCs for market share saw an emphasis on
price rather than quality, encouraging the use of lower-grade
robustas, especially in canned coffees. This led to the rapid
expansion of lower- grade robusta coffee.

The devaluation of the Vietnamese dong in 1997 was quickly exploited
by coffee traders and retailers. TNCs such as Nestle started sourcing
from Vietnam to drive down prices, forcing its traditional suppliers
in Mexico and Central America to lower their prices. However, even
Vietnam did not benefit from this shift. Despite raising production
levels to meet an expected demand of 55,000 tonnes of robusta for
instant coffee in the 1998-99 season, Nestle purchased only 4,500
tonnes from Vietnam. Similar price manipulation was demonstrated by
Nestle's recent pressure on the Mexican government. In January 2001,
the Mexican government gave Nestle a license to import 600,000 bags of
coffee from Vietnam. This led to a drop in local prices before any
coffee was even imported.

Nestle is now financing new R&D programs in coffee production in
Vietnam's neighbour Thailand. It has already identified 7 out of 20
coffee strains it plans to promote for widespread, export-oriented
coffee production. Similar R&D is currently being financed by the
World Bank in another of Vietnam's neighbours - Laos.

The expansion of genetically modified (GM) coffee beans by TNCs
threatens to further reduce coffee prices and undermine the livelihood
of the small farmers. The advance of GM coffee will facilitate
increased concentration of coffee growing in agro-industrial
plantations and TNC- based contract growing.

While the impact of TNCs has been extensive, it is important to
recognise two other important factors:

First, Vietnamese companies played a direct role in driving up coffee
production. State-owned corporations, in particular VINA CAFE and its
subsidiaries, encouraged local speculation in coffee. VINA CAFE built
close ties to overseas trading companies and retailers and acted as a
conduit for their exploitation of Vietnamese coffee farmers. State
commercial banks also saw greater returns on coffee and geared lending
to local farmers in this direction. Another driving interest behind
coffee cultivation was the sale of fertiliser - both by state-owned
corporations searching for a new internal market of intensive
fertiliser consumption and state trading companies profiting from the
import of fertilisers (especially from countries such as Indonesia).

Second, regional TNCs within Asia have played a critical role. VINA
CAFE's closest ties are with Japanese trading companies such as Itochu
and Mitsui. The over-expansion of robusta was in part due to rising
demand for low-grade beans use in canned coffee. Much of this trade
was conducted via Singapore.

Another significant regional TNC is the Singapore-based corporation,
Olam International. Olam is a global trading house which deals in
agricultural commodities including coffee, cashew nuts and cotton, and
is one of the world's largest shippers of robusta coffee. In fact,
from 1995 and 1996, Vietnam's coffee exports to Singapore were double
exports to the US, and in 1997 Singapore still ranked higher as an
export destination than Switzerland and the US.

VIETNAM'S COFFEE EXPORTS, 1995-97 (TONNES)
Year 1995 1996 1997
Importing country
Singapore 69940 53935 72156
Switzerland 21942 21242 66338
United States 38578 27278 37900
Germany 15001 22014 28725
Japan 15458 14020 22027

More recently Olam established a US$1.7 million joint venture, Olam
Viet Nam Ltd., in Vietnam. This involves the opening of two new coffee
processing factories in Lam Dong Province's Di Linh District and Dac
Lac Province's Dac Nong District. The Di Linh factory has a processing
capacity of 15,000-18,000 tonnes per year, while the Dac Nong factory
will have an initial annual capacity of 8,000 tonnes. The opening of
these factories not only takes advantage of lower costs in Vietnam but
also encourages small farmers in the area to continue producing
coffee.

3. The power of the 'Agro-Export' model Although a number of NGOs,
'fair trade coffee' campaigners, and journalists have blamed World
Bank policies for Vietnam's over- production of coffee, there is not
much evidence to support this claim. There was minimal direct Bank
lending to the coffee industry in Vietnam. Indirect loans may have
played a role, but decisions on actual financing were made by the
Vietnamese Bank of Agriculture and state commercial banks. More
importantly, the timing of Vietnam's coffee boom does not match the
increase in World Bank activity in Vietnam. Given that coffee trees
take four to five years to mature, the extensive planting which led to
an explosion of coffee output would have taken place in 1990-91. The
bulk of World Bank lending and its imposition of 'free market'
policies did not begin until after the US embargo was lifted in 1995.
In fact bilateral loans and 'aid' - particularly from Western European
countries and Japan - have played a more significant role in financing
Vietnam's coffee expansion. (Even at the height of the crisis the
France Development Fund announced a US$40 million loan to Vietnam in
1998 to create 40,000 hectares of arabica coffee. Although this was
presented as an 'alternative' to robusta coffee, the emphasis was
still on export-oriented expansion of coffee plantations. The recent
decline in arabica prices means that farmers who borrowed under this
fund at a rate of VND15 million per hectare face financial difficulty
even before the trees can be harvested.)

Although a number of NGOs, 'fair trade coffee' campaigners, and
journalists have blamed World Bank policies for Vietnam's over-
production of coffee, there is not much evidence to support this
claim. While the World Bank was responsible for promoting neoliberal
ideology among Vietnam's political elite and encouraging export-
oriented dependency, there was minimal direct Bank lending to the
coffee industry in Vietnam."

The search for direct institutional links between the World
Bank/IMF/WTO and domestic economic policies often leads to the neglect
of more powerful structural and ideological influences. Since 1989 the
Vietnamese government has embraced key elements of neoliberal
ideology - imposing far-reaching de-regulation and privatisation
programs and enforcing the commercialisation and export- oriented
expansion of agriculture.

In February 2000, the Government recognised the existence of
capitalist production in agriculture and endorsed its expansion. Label
ed the "farm economy", this type of production is based on the private
accumulation of land and hiring waged labour. Under the new resolution
on the farm economy, farm owners can hire an unlimited number of
workers and determine their wages. In addition they may use their land
to mortgage loans from state commercial banks.

It is in the context of the commercialisation of agriculture,
export-oriented expansion and the rise of the farm economy that the
World Bank plays an important role - not in terms of direct loans, but
in shaping and reinforcing a dominant neoliberal development ideology.
This is further reinforced by the conditions imposed on Vietnam by the
US government under the new Vietnam-US bilateral trade agreement and
the painful process of gaining accession to the WTO.

Structural pressures are equally important. By structural pressures we
mean the social, political and economic conditions which force
governments to adopt export-oriented development strategies and lock
them into a specific 'development model.' A key influence is the
pressure of external debt repayment.

I've been working hard for 40 years, and now I owe money. Santiago de
la Rosa, small coffee farmer, El Pajal, Guatemala

Why should coffee be stored when world prices are taking a nosedive
and the next crop is approaching? Also, VICOFA has loans to repay and
can't afford to wait for higher prices. Doan Trieu Nhan, President,
Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association (VICOFA)

Farmers are selling everything they can to repay bank debts. Anything
of value in their house - all goes for sale to please the debt
collectors. Local coffee trader, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam

We live with coffee, we die with coffee. Woman coffee farmer, Duc
Minh, Dak Lak Province, 1998

DRIVEN BY DEBT

One of the reasons that the collapse in coffee prices has been so
devastating for so many countries in the 'South' is that coffee
exports are a crucial source of foreign currency needed to service
external debt. The pressure of debt repayment is a driving force
behind exports, locking these countries into the free trade and
investment regime of the WTO and the structural adjustment policies of
the World Bank and IMF. Failure to meet debt repayment deadlines
merely places the governments of these countries under greater control
by the transnational banks and the IMF.

The pressure of debt also locks in small farmers. Loans made under
contract-growing arrangements promote dependence on a single cash crop
(mono-cropping) and are tied to meeting quotas. The risk of defaulting
means the loss of land. In April 2001, the Bourban-Gia Lai sugarcane
processing joint venture prepared a lawsuit against 267 farming
households in Agun Pa, Gia Lai Province, for defaulting on loans to
grow sugarcane (Lao Dong, April 30, 2001). Coffee farmers in the
province have already been threatened with similar lawsuits by coffee
traders.

In October the State Bank of Vietnam ordered that coffee growers be
given a moratorium of 3 years to repay loans. However, this only
applies to formal loans from state commercial banks. Many coffee
farmers are indebted to private lenders and traders who charge high
interest rates and seek repayment in the form of land or coffee.

Ultimately farmers are prevented from diversifying their crops and are
locked into loans geared to production for export. This is especially
serious for coffee growers because of the long period it takes for
coffee trees to reach harvesting age. Ironically, even as coffee
prices collapse coffee growers are forced to intensify the use of
fertilisers