On March 24-27 2005, the 3rd
Cairo Conference will be held in Egypt to continue and strengthen the International Campaigns against the
US and Zionist Occupation in the Middle East.
Continuing from the two
previous Cairo conferences, activists and movements from across the world will meet to exchange views and
experiences, and agree upon future international activities and campaigns
around the main themes of the conference, foremost:
1- Supporting the resistance in Palestine and Iraq.
2- Struggle against the Zionist project in the Arab region.
3- Challenging the US imperialist project and globalization policies in the Arab region and worldwide.
4- Supporting the struggles of Arab peoples for democracy against the Greater Middle East
project and the despotism of Arab regimes.
5- Development of the antiwar and anti globalization movements and the Movements against
political oppression in the Arab region.
Workshops
will be held tackling the following campaign goals:
1- An international campaign to impose international sanctions on.
2- An international campaign to enact the Palestinian right of return.
3-An international campaign to boycott Israeli products.
4- An international campaign to end the US occupation of Iraq.
5- An international campaign to remove US military bases from the Arab region.
6- An international campaign to encourage donations to the Palestinian and Iraqi people.
7- An international campaign to organize protest demonstrations in the different countries against visits by US
and Israeli delegations.
8- The organization of two international demonstrations on the 28th of September 2005 and on
the 20th of March 2006 in solidarity with the Palestinian and Iraqi
people.
9- Formation of an international solidarity committee against torture and detention and violation of public
liberties in all countries of the region and in solidarity with detained
activists against Zionism and occupation in Palestine and Iraq and all prisoners of
conscience in all Arab countries.
10- Establishment of an Arab network for activists against globalization, imperialism, Zionism and political
oppression.
After the international conferences held since September 2004
(in Beirut, London, Hydarabad and Porto Alegre),
it is central for the movements of solidarity to find spaces to discuss the
implementation of strategies that have found worldwide consensus. It is hoped that the activists and movements
will take up this opportunity to strategize given by the upcoming Cairo conference.
For further information regarding the Cairo Conference,
please contact: Cairoconference3@yahoo.com
International Campaign against US and Zionist Occupation
3rd Cairo Conference, 24-27 March 2005
With the Resistance in Palestine and Iraq... Against Globalization, Imperialism and
Zionism
General Framework
I. Objectives of the Conference
The objective of the conference is to exchange views and experience and agree on future
international activities and campaigns surrounding the main themes of the
conference, foremost:
6- Supporting the resistance in Palestine and Iraq.
7- Struggle against the Zionist project in the Arab region.
8- Challenging the US imperialist project and globalization policies in the Arab region and worldwide.
9- Supporting the struggles of Arab peoples for democracy against the Greater Middle East project
and the despotism of Arab regimes.
10- Development of the antiwar and anti globalization movements and the Movements against
political oppression in the Arab region.
II. Structure
The 3rd Cairo
conference is composed of two components:
1- An international political conference addressing the main themes, international
campaigns and plans for international mobilization.
2- An international forum that targets the expansion of conference participation
among the widest circle of activist, political groups and parties, trade
unions, popular committees and civil society organizations adopting the
principles and objectives of the conference in addition to the first and second
Cairo Declarations.
A. The conference
The conference will start with an opening plenary on
the evening of Thursday the 24th of March 2005, a final plenary on
the morning of Sunday the 27th of March 2005, followed by a press
conference, in addition to two plenary seminars on the morning and 4 parallel
workshops in the afternoon of Friday and Saturday the 25th and 26th
of March.
The plenary seminar will be in the form of a lecture
where six Egyptian, Arab or international speakers will present six papers,
three on each of the three conference themes.
The presentation should not exceed 15 minutes followed by an open discussion.
The organizing group (OG) will make those papers
available to all conference participants.
The workshops are spaces for discussion and
endorsement of action plans and campaigns to mobilize and coordinate efforts surrounding the four suggested themes.
The OG will prepare four suggested working papers to be addressed by the workshops:
11- An international campaign to impose international sanctions on Israel.
12- An international campaign to enact the Palestinian right of return.
13- An international campaign to boycott Israeli products.
14- An international campaign to end the US occupation of Iraq.
15- An international campaign to remove US military bases from the Arab region.
16- An international campaign to encourage donations to the Palestinian and Iraqi people.
17- An international campaign to organize protest demonstrations in the different countries against
visits by US and Israeli delegations.
18- The organization of two international demonstrations
on the 28th of September 2005 and on the 20th of March
2006 in solidarity with the Palestinian and Iraqi people.
19- Formation of an international solidarity committee against
torture and detention and violation of public liberties in all countries of the
region and in solidarity with detained activists against Zionism and occupation
in Palestine and Iraq and all prisoners of conscience in all Arab countries.
20- Establishment of an Arab network for activists against
globalization, imperialism, Zionism and political oppression.
The above suggestions will be further developed by the
OG and prepared in its final version, with the widest possible Egyptian, Arab
and international participation, to assist as working papers for the workshops.
B. The Forum
The forum is an open space, accessible to all Egyptian
bodies and individuals, including public figures, groups and trends, who
agree on the principles of the conference.
The aim of the forum is to organize varying activities of an international
nature surrounding the timetable of the main conference and within the
framework of its objectives.
Organizers of forum activities should be committed to the objectives and
principles of the conference and should be capable of assuming responsibility
for their respective activities and abide by the timeframe proposed by the OG.
Forum activities may include seminars, workshops,
cultural events, cinema shows etc.,
which will be organized simultaneously in different locations that may include
the main conference venue, or any other premises offered by the organizing
bodies e.g. writers’ union, professional syndicates, centers etc.
The forum will help expand the base of participation
among Egyptian activists and will develop the Cairo Conference as a vital and
periodical focal event in Egypt
and the Arab region. It will also
mobilize international participation in the conference activities and help
break the media silence surrounding the conference.
The organization of the forum will be as follows:
1- OG will issue a call, including the principles, objectives and framework of the
conference and will address it to all Egyptian national actors inviting them to
participate in the activities of the forum.
2- OG
is also responsible for encouraging certain bodies it considers important, to
contribute to the forum activities.
A few examples will be highlighted further down in this document.
3- OG
will approve all suggestions it will receive from any body provided it fulfills
the aforementioned criteria. It will
also try to coordinate suggestions of a similar nature.
4- OG
will undertake the follow up of the different suggestions to ensure that all
organizational concerns are met and to coordinate locations and time table of
the different activities.
5- In
case of suggestions that fail to be properly organized by the time of the
conference, the OG will consequently exclude the activity from the conference
agenda.
OG will approach several bodies, in
particular:
1- Writers
and artists will be invited to establish a committee against imperialism and
Zionism, with a view to call for an international writers’ and artists’ forum
against war within the Cairo
conference. OG will facilitate the
logistics of the formation of that committee and its contribution to the
conference.
2- Independent
workers’ groups and workers’ groups in opposition parties will be invited to
establish a committee to organize an international meeting within the forum
bringing together national, Arab and international trade unionists and workers
struggling against colonialism and Zionism.
3- Egyptian
medical syndicate or any of its committees to organize an event on torture and
crimes of war.
4- Egyptian
Bar Association or any of its committees to organize an event on the
Palestinian right of return and the legitimacy of resisting the occupation.
5- Egyptian
Press syndicate or any of its committees to organize an event on challenges
facing journalists and correspondents challenging Zionism and the occupation.
6- Egyptian
collective of “Engineers against Sequestration” to organize an event mobilizing
for an international campaign for the banning of Israeli nuclear weapons.
7- Independent
women’s organizations, activists and women bureaux
of opposition parties to organize an international women’s gathering in
solidarity with the women in children in Iraq
and Palestine.
8- Egyptian
opposition MPs to organize a consultative meeting with international MPs
against the war with a view to establish an international parliamentary conference
against war and Zionism.
9- Independent
farmers’ groups and farmer committees inside opposition parties to organize and
international farmers’ meeting within the activities of the forum.
10- The Cairo group of the World Tribunal on Iraq
(coordinated by Hisham Mubarak Law Center) to organize a people’s trial for war criminals in Palestine
and Iraq.
11- Independent and committed civil society
organizations and networks to organize an Arab meeting with a view to establish
a network of Arab NGOs in solidarity with the resistance of the Palestinian and
Iraqi people.
12- Research centers to organize respective activities in the forum.
13- Independent cinema, theater and cultural
groups to organize their events in the Cairo forum.
Notes:
· The above activities are suggestions proposed by OG to the respective groups and
formations, who, if willing to contribute to the
forum, will be free to determine the content and nature of their contribution.
· The forum is also open to any other suggestions provided they are committed to the
objectives and the principles of the conference.
C. Conference Schedule
|
Day
|
Time
|
Event
|
|
Thursday
24th March 2005
|
6.00 pm
9.00 pm
|
Plenary: Speeches of delegates and
representatives of Egyptian, Arab and international groups and movements.
|
|
Friday
25th March 2005
|
9.00 am
11.30 am
|
Plenary: The US imperialist project today and
challenges of globalization
|
|
11.30 am
12.00 am
|
Break
|
|
12.00 am
2.30 pm
|
Workshop I: Supporting the resistance in Palestine
Workshop II: Supporting the resistance in Iraq.
|
|
2.30 pm
3.30 pm
|
Break
|
|
3.30 pm
9.30 pm
|
Forum
|
|
Saturday
26th March 2005
|
9.00 am
11.30 am
|
Plenary: The Zionist project, the nature of the
state of Israel
and its role in supporting the imperialist project in the region.
|
|
11.30 am
12.00 am
|
Break
|
|
12.00 am
2.30 pm
|
Workshop I: Supporting the democratic demands of
the Arab people against the Greater Middle East
project and political oppression in the region.
Workshop II: Development of mechanisms of
coordination between international antiglobalization
and antiwar movements and Arab movements against colonialism, globalization
and political oppression.
|
|
3.30 pm
9.30 pm
|
Forum
|
|
Sunday
27th March 2005
|
9.00 am
12.00 am
|
Plenary:
- Endorsement of 3rd Cairo Declaration and recommendations of
working groups.
- Formation of international coordinating committee.
|
|
12.00 am
2 pm
|
Press Conference
|
D. Preparation for the Conference
1- The OG of the 3rd Cairo Conference is a framework that represents Egyptian groups and trends
against globalization, imperialism, Zionism, occupation and political
oppression. It constitutes a cohesive group irrespective of its varied
ideological backgrounds. It will be expanded on an objective and
practical basis based on actual need for additional efforts, team spirit
and respect of consensus, agreement on the 1st and 2nd
Cairo Declarations with the principal exclusion of any party or individual
involved in normalization with Israel, or in any sort of cooperative relation
with the US administration or any of its institutions including receipt
of its funds, or supportive in any way of the Zionist “peace” projects or the
occupation-appointed government in Iraq.
2- OG will open a broad-based consultation with Egyptian, Arab and international parties regarding the
general framework of the conference, the suggested themes, the conference
schedule and the suggested international campaign with a view to develop each
of them further. OG is open to suggestions provided they are practical and feasible given the available
resources and context.
3- OG will form a series of committees to prepare and manage the organization of the conference.
Immediately formed committees include:
a- A consultation committee to
prepare the papers of the conference (the six pieces of research which will be
presented to the two plenary sessions and the working papers for the workshops. The
committee will contact the writers, follow up the timely submission of papers, hold preparatory
meetings to discuss and prepare the working papers, undertake the widest
possible Egyptian, Arab and international consultation regarding those papers
and the schedule of the conference.
b- An administrative committee
responsible for: financial management of the conference, identifying the
premise for the conference, arranging for translation, contact participants to
schedule participation in conference and forum, send out invitations and
arrange for the reception and accommodation of participants from outside Egypt.
c- Forum Committee responsible
for: inviting Egyptian parties to participate in the activities of the forum,
follow up and coordination of those activities and ensuring fulfillment of
criteria of participation.
d- Media Committee responsible
for: setting up a website for the international campaign – Egypt, advertising the conference
and forum, mobilization of media and organization of press conference.
The first three committees are
responsible to feed the media committee periodically with updated information
related to conference and forum.
