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FIRST EVER AMAZONIAN YOUTH MEETING AGAINST THE FTAA!
by CONFEUNASSC-CNC, Ecuador
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FIRST EVER AMAZONIAN YOUTH MEETING AGAINST THE FTAA!
This weekend, over 100 youth from the Amazonian region of Ecuador
gathered in Tena, Napo to attend the first ever youth conference around
the theme of the FTAA. The conference, called together by the
CONFEUNASSC-CNC Ecuador's largest campesino organization, with the
support of the CONFENIAE, Ecuador's largest Amazonian organization, and
Acciòn Ecologica, one of Ecuador's most progressive environmental
organizations, is one of the many youth conferences now taking place
across the country in preparation for the upcoming mobilization in Quito
against the FTAA. These organizations recognize the power and
organizational skills of the youth of Ecuador and, unlike the popular
media, will not leave this important sector with out the necessary tools
to protect their land and their rights.
The conference took place by the beautiful Rio Tena at the heart of a
moist a blossoming jungle: the perfect setting to both remember the
importance and wonder of the Amazon and at the same time learn about the
plans the negotiators and supporters of the FTAA have to destroy and
exploit the region. The youth who gathered together this weekend have
lived through the invasion of oil and logging, mining companies and have
witnessed the destruction which these companies have caused to both the
land itself and the rights of those who live and work the land. This
weekend, however, after participating in workshops, lectures, theatrical
performances and games about the plans for and dangers of the FTAA,
participants were more shocked and furious than ever before. Indeed,
none of the more than 100 active and politically involved youth had ever
heard mention of the FTAA from any public source of communication, if
they had heard of it at all. While the FTAA, should it pass, will
effect the youth of the Amazon perhaps more than any other group in the
Americas, not a single one of them had been consulted or notified of
it's existence. Needless to say, these youth are pissed and ready to
organize!
In the final hours of the conference several youth leaders committed to
attend a provincial forum against the FTAA on Nov. 4 and to organize
delegations from their regions to attend either the protest in Quito, or
a smaller solidarity protest in the province of Napo. Others promised
to continue the cycle of education by taking this new information about
the FTAA back to their families, friends and organizations. The
conference ended in a closed circle as each youth took turns reflecting
on the experiences of the weekend, closing their comments with a image
of hope from taken from the nature which surrounded them.
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