Gauteng WSF Day of Action 27-01-08

 

 

26th January 2008

Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa

Office of the Premier, 30 Simmonds Street

Johannesburg

2000

Dear Premier

Today 26th January 2008 is the World Social Forum Global Action Day that coincides with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the world ‘s richest people gather annually to discuss how best to expand their wealth, while the poor continue to feed on desperate and grinding poverty.

We are South African women and men, organisations, networks, movements, trade unions from all parts of Gauteng Province. We come from the villages; regions; rural and urban centres around the globe. We are all ages, peoples, cultures, beliefs but limited by the strong convictions that ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE that will address the ills of colonialism and capitalism.

With all the riches of our plurality and diversity and our alternatives and proposals, we struggle against neo-liberalism, racism, xenophobia and patriarchy that produce violence, exploitation, exclusion, poverty, hunger and ecological disaster and deprive people of human rights.

For many years we have been resisting and constructing innovative processes, new cultures of organisations and action from local to global in particular within the process and Charter of Principals of the World Social Forum (WSF).

COSATU, ANC, SACP, SANCO, SANGOCO, TAC, Economic Justice Network, the Social Movements Indaba, the Free Burma Campaign and Civil Society Organisations are submitting the memorandum to you as our Government in Gauteng today.

We are calling on the Government to implement the following:

• The provision of basic services - housing allocation, transport and health care;
• Stop privatisation and outsourcing;
• Free education for all children;
• Job creation, decent work for all and full protection for workers whose jobs have been casualised;
• Continuing the campaign to prevent and treat HIV/Aids
• Safety and security, especially for farm workers and dwellers, who face terrible working conditions, evictions and racial violence;
• Reform of the world trade regime to allow better access to the markets of the rich countries by developing nations;
• International solidarity with workers in struggle, including Palestine, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Burma, Kenya, Pakistan and Western Sahara;
• Food prices, particularly the rocketing cost of bread.
  

We are convinced that our government together with other Southern African countries that subscribe to the principles of basic human rights for all will fight for these demands. The Freedom Charter as our basic policy document will guide our government.

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Signed on behalf of the poor working class

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Signed on behalf of Government

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