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Communique
of the
First ILPS East Asia and Oceania Consultative Conference
11 December 2006
The First ILPS East Asia and Oceania Consultative Conference was held
in Cebu, Philippines on December 11, 2006, with 144 participants from
11 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas. There were 86 delegates
from 57 ILPS member organizations in East Asia and Oceania, 43 observers
from 37 prospective ILPS member organizations from 8 countries in the
region and current member organizations in other global regions, and 15
guests from 8 ILPS organizations from other regions and from non-ILPS
organizations. Among the participants were five ILPS-ICC members, of which
three are members of the ILPS International Coordinating Group (ILPS-ICG)
and two are alternate ICC members.
The conference started with the opening and welcome remarks, explaining
how and why the Consultative Conference was convened, its objectives and
tasks, the agenda, timetable and process.
This was followed by the keynote address of ILPS Chairperson Prof. Jose
Ma. Sison, who gave an overview of the geopolitical and economic crisis
in East Asia and Oceania, pointed out the importance of expanding and
consolidating the ILPS and of coordinating the various activities and
campaigns of the ILPS member organizations in the region. Prof. Sison
acknowledged the gains of the ILPS in projecting the militant anti-imperialist
line and gave his insights for further advancing the peoples' struggles
against imperialist war and plunder in the region. In particular, Prof.
Sison cited the urgent and important task of mobilizing all the member
and allied organizations and networks in launching a region-wide campaign
against the overseas US military bases and military presence and activity
in the region. (Note: Read the full speech by visiting www.josemariasison.org)
The conference devoted the rest of the morning session and part of the
afternoon session for discussions on the economic and geopolitical situation
of the region. The discussions resulted in a deeper understanding, broader
consensus and stronger unity on the situation in East Asia and Oceania,
and contributed to building a firm basis for planning coordinated activities
and protest actions.
Organizational matters and the actual campaign plan were tackled the rest
of the afternoon.
A Plan of Action was drawn up, with the Anti-US Bases campaign and the
Anti-WTO/Anti-"globalization" campaign as the major campaigns around which
coordinated activities and actions will be undertaken. Participants from
the different countries as well as from the various study commissions
reported prospective events for 2007 and 2008 that could be occasions
for coordinated protest actions.
The anti-globalization campaign shall mainly consist of protests against
the following (1) the WTO, (2) regional and bilateral agreements, (3)
debt and (4) the economic underpinnings of war on terror. A large part
of the anti-globalization campaign will be an educational campaign.
The ILPS East Asia and Oceania Coordinating Committee was formed along
the following lines:
• Every country currently with an ILPS member organization shall
be represented in the coordinating committee; the representative shall
be decided by the chapter if it exists or by consensus of ILPS member
organizations in the country.
• ICC members in the region shall be ex-officio members of the coordinating
committee.
• Any country that subsequently has an ILPS member will be represented
in the Coordinating committee.
• The coordinating committee shall elect the head of the committee
or the regional coordinator.
It was clarified that the coordinating committee is not a leading committee.
The leading committee of the member organizations in each country still
is the International Coordinating Committee
The Philippine Chapter shall serve as the Secretariat of the ILPS East
Asia Coordinating Committee.
The conference discussed the ILPS Chair's memo on membership dues and
affirmed the importance of complying with it.
The conference unanimously resolved to recommend to the ICC the holding
of the Third International Assembly in the region, either in Malaysia
or the Philippines. The reasons given were: first, it is about time that
the ILPS hold its regular assembly in Asia, where peoples' struggles are
raging, particularly, in a country where imperialist exploitation and
oppression are entrenched and in fact, intensifying; second, current and
prospective member organizations in ILPS from the region will have a better
chance of attending the TIA because the expense will be more reasonable
and the travel requirements not as stiff as for Asians travelling to the
European Union.
The First ILPS East Asia and Oceania Consultative Conference closed with
the collective singing of progressive and militant songs of solidarity
and struggle and accompanying waving of the banners of ILPS held aloft
by a succession of hands of the different international participants,
observers and guests.#
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