| Conference Report |
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| Written by Secretariat, APRN |
| Monday, 01 December 2003 18:53 |
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With the theme,"War and Terror: People's Rights and The Militarization of Globalization ", seventy-one participants from twenty-two countries in the Asia-Pacific (including Canada) and Afro-Arab regions gathered for the 5th APRN Annual Conference on 3-5 November 2003 at the Le Meridien Commodore Hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. It was the very first APRN conference held outside the Asia-Pacific region. The conference venue was supposed to be held in Bangladesh following the decision of the Guangzhou General Council meeting in November 2002 with UBINIG as the local co-host. The choice of Beirut was just an alternative venue thus, when it was clear that UBINIG cannot host the conference, Beirut was immediately consider with Bisan Research Center for Development vouching the feasibility of holding the conference in the Middle Eastern city with the nod of the Arab NGO Network for Development (an applying member to the APRN) to act as local hosts. Mainly, the 5th APRN Annual Conference was aimed at unmasking the"War on Terror" articulating its collaborative agenda with corporate globalization led by the WTO. It intended to probe into the militarization of corporate globalization thereby expanding the social difficulties of the people and as it stifles the impacts, struggles and alternatives in the attainment of global justice, peace and development. The objectives of the conference were aimed at providing a venue for understanding terrorism as an unjust and oppressive instrument that deprives peoples to fully exercise and enjoy their basic freedoms and human rights and understanding the US-led"War on Terrorism" as a coercive strategy to push corporate globalization and its adverse impacts on the development initiatives of social movements. At the same time, the conference hoped to gather strategies to challenge corporate globalization including the militarization of its process and identifies alternative development strategies and programs founded in global solidarity, justice, and peace. At the same time, it sought to identify research projects that shall be undertaken by APRN in collaboration with its partners to sustain education and information on War, WTO, and Globalization. Keynote speeches, panel discussions and workshops were undertaken to facilitate the achievement of these conference objectives. Renowned academicians from Canada, Egypt, Japan and Lebanon together with some APRN members and partners in Asia presented and discussed their papers on terrorism in the context of globalization at the macro level as well as to more particular areas on war and globalization in the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia. The workshops expanded the sharing and discussion of the main theme treading along the areas of impacts of militarism on the economic and social rights of the basic sectors. The identification and decision on the content and methodology of the conference including the speakers and facilitators were done through a tedious process of consultations and exchanges within the APRN as well as with those invited to speak in the conference and host the workshops. Resulting from the participatory process, the conference substantially achieved its objectives as optimum and meaningful participation of the delegates was facilitated despite the language barrier and differences in political persuasions. Like it? Share it!
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 27 November 2008 13:03 |
