PHA-Exchange> Global Day of Action vs Japan's Waste Colonialism

[pam fadem]

Dear Friends in PHM:
This is a notice originating from Health Care 
Without Harm and GAIA. I think it is of great 
interest to all of us active in the struggle for 
health care as a human right. Please take action 
yourselves, and circulate broadly
Best,
Pam

GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST JAPAN’S WASTE COLONIALISM

Warm greetings from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives /
Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) and from the Basel Action
Network-Asia Pacific (BAN-AP), Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA) and
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH-Asia).

We are writing to invite your organization to join our coordinated action
on 2 May 2007 against Japan’s illegal and immoral scheme to establish
waste colonies in Asia by liberalizing trade in toxic wastes through trade
and investment agreements. Japan is banking on the desperation of Asian
governments to push their agenda by linking toxic waste trade with
Japanese development aid and investments.

At the recent Waste Not Asia (WNA) meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala,
India, we all felt the need to raise the red flag, to arouse and make our
citizens and governments critically aware of the imminent Japanese toxic
threat.

We have chosen 2 May 2007, the eve of Japan’s Constitution Memorial (Kenpo
Kinen-bi), for our coordinated Global Day of Action. Kenpo Kinen-bi on 3
May is often chosen as a day to reflect of the meaning of democracy and
governance in Japan.

On 2 May 2007, we hope that we can organize suitable activities,
especially in countries that have forged or are currently negotiating
their Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Japan.

Colleagues from BAN-AP, GAIA, GPSEA, HCWH-Asia, and the
EcoWaste Coalition met to discuss common activities that we and allies
from Asia and the rest of the world can possibly do to signify our concern
and oppositition against what is dubbed as Japan’s waste colonialism.

We thought that it will be effective to undertake the following activities
on 2 May:

1. CYBER PETITION: We plan to launch on 2 May 2007 our petition against
Japanese waste colonization to the Japanese government through Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health
Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and
other appropriate governmental and inter-governmental agencies. The cyber
petition will be hosted by the websites of participating groups for
broader reach and impact.

2. CREATIVE PROTEST: We plan to mount a tableau (a still image or a
frozen moment) - in front of the Japanese Embassy on 2 May 2007 ­ of the
historic Iwo Jima flag-raising. In this parody of the raising on the US
flag atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima, we will plant Japan’s flag in a mock
dump of trash to illustrate visually Tokyo’s scheme to establish waste
colonies in Asia.

3. POST CARD: We plan to inundate Japanese embassies with post cards
from concerned citizens. The postcard template will be available for free
download at the GAIA website by 13 April 2007 (target mailing date: from 2
May 2007).

4. VIRAL VIDEO: We plan to make a video clip that will be circulated
virally mainly through e-mail to show our concern and discontent against
Japan’s rising waste colonialism.

5. MEDIA WORK. We plan to prepare a press release template that
participating groups can build on and disseminate to the local press.

We hope that we can join forces to make this Global Day of Action a
successful reality. Please e-mail us to signify your interest to join the
Global Day of Action, and organize or participate in ANY of the above
suggested activities.

Of course, we will warmly welcome your suggestions for any other related
activities that we can do together.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you very much and warmest regards.

Sincerely yours,

Manny C. Calonzo, GAIA, mannyc at no-burn.org
Richard Gutierrez, BAN-AP, rgutierrez at seanet.com
Beau Baconguis, GPSEA, beau.baconguis at ph.greenpeace.org
Merci Ferrer, HCWH-Asia, merci at hcwh.org

Pam Fadem
Hesperian Foundation
1919 Addison Street # 304
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
Tel: 1-510-845 1447
Fax: 1-510-845 9141
Email: pam at hesperian.org
Website: www.hesperian.org

**Honor your loved ones this holiday season with 
a Hesperian Gift of Health and provide health 
care workers and community leaders around the 
world with gifts of Hesperian community health 
books. Please visit www.hesperian.org for more information. **

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