This weekend, the African National Congress, its Alliance partners and
other
progressive civil society organisations held an important workshop to
discuss our preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD).
It was attended ANC leadership from national, provincial and local level as
well as comrades from COSATU, the SACP, SANCO, COSAS, SACC, SASCO, the ANC
Youth League and ANC Women's League as well as numerous progressive NGO's.
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa,
briefed the workshop on the latest developments in the preparations for the
WSSD. COSATU's Deputy General Secretary also addressed the workshop on
emerging perspectives at the Global Civil Society Forum.
The meeting welcomed the WSSD as an important forum for the advance of the
cause of social justice and poverty eradication, especially in Africa.
Achieving these goals requires that popular forces engage in a determined
effort to transform the fundamentally inequitable relations that
characterise our current world order. This means that progressives, both
within government and in civil society, should coordinate their efforts to
ensure that the WSSD does indeed address the important issues of poverty
and
underdevelopment.
In this vein the Alliance will be engaging in all forums of the WSSD
including the UN intergovernmental conference, the Global Civil Society
People's Forum, the Local Government Session as well as the conference of
the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
We believe that, given its influence and prestige in all these forums, the
progressive movement in South Africa will be well placed to advance the
cause of people-centred development at the WSSD.
To support these efforts, the Alliance calls on all our people to join a
National Day of People's Action for Sustainable Development on 31 August
2002.
On that day we will be joining civil society groups and progressive
organisations from South Africa and around the world to march in solidarity
with the struggle for sustainable development around the word.
The march will be held in Johannesburg and will highlight the following
issues:
- the WSSD should agree on clear programmes to eradicate poverty and
underdevelopment, especially in Africa;
- Peace, democracy and national liberation as a fundamental condition for sustainable development;
- Sustainable development is not possible without a fairer world economy,
especially of the countries of the South
Outside of Johannesburg, our structures at local level will mobilise to
hold
local summits on sustainable development on 31 August. These will aim to
address the problems of poverty and underdevelopment at a local level and
mobilise our people to actually make these things happen where they live.
The Alliance is keenly looking forward to the Civil Society Global Forum,
which will be an essential element of the WSSD process. This will be an
historical opportunity for our movement to engage with global progressive
movements around the issues of sustainable development and the demand for a
fairer world order.
The workshop discussed logistical questions, especially in relation to the
Forum. We are confident that all teething problems have now been overcome
and look forward to our participation as an alliance in this in this
important event. The workshop agreed to establish an Alliance coordinating
committee composed of senior national leadership to ensure our coordinated
participation in the WSSD and give maximum support to civil society
processes.
For further information please call Smuts Ngonyama (082 569 2061)
|
- 8Kb < 1min (2 pages)