The (international) Permanent People's Tribunal (hereafter PPT) will hold its opening audience in Mexico on May 27th, 28th and 29th of 2012. This new chapter of the PPT concerning Mexico is dedicated to ‘free trade, violence, impunity and the rights of the Peoples’. The whole process will extend up to 2014.  The PPT welcomes all organizations interested in taking part in the event. Just meet us at the Mexican US border! (if not possible, please have a look at my request at the end of the blog).

The goal of the Mexican activists and intellectuals organizing the event is to make this audience an international event. Even though the tribunal will be focusing on Mexico, the central aspect that will be the most meticulously studied is that of free trade. We consider that the future (or end) of free trade is an element that should concern Canadian citizens as well since international agreements like NAFTA, by reducing national sovereignty and accelerating globalization, may well have much to do, in Mexico and Canada, with the observed increase in the rate of environmental destruction (ever more mining projects and water contamination, acceleration of global warming, higher dependence on fossil duels and on genetically modified food, loss of resilience…).

Interestingly, Mexico has set a record in relation to free trade agreements, having signed up to 12 free trade agreements involving 43 countries! We contend that this is one reason that the country is currently in a worst shape, economically and socially. The nation lies essentially in a legal straightjacket where laws have been progressively emaciated to encourage ever more mining, GM agriculture, etc.

The good news is that the PPT's efforts will center on a thorough review of all the accumulated evidence of theimpacts of free trade on Mexico and Mexican communities and to make the final diagnostic part of the public discourse.

What is the PPT? The PPT, an international opinion tribunal, was founded in 1979 in Bologna, Italy at the initiative of late Senator Lelio Basso to investigate and try crimes against humanity around the world. It is the successor to the Russell Tribunal, which in the 1960s investigated war crimes committed during the 1965-1975 Vietnam War, and in the 1970s investigated crimes against humanity committed by U.S.-backed dictatorships in Latin America. Also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, the Russell Tribunal was named for its organizer, British philosopher, activist and pacifist Bertrand Russell. Although the PPT’s verdicts are non-binding, they are based on international law and legal precedent and take into account the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. It has held sessions in some 40 countries. The webpage of the organization that organizes the audiences in Mexico is www.tppmexico.org

I have filmed a few videos of activities related to the PPT in Mexico (http://milpa.tv). I am sad to say that we have recently lost two activists that were opposing the mining operations taking place in San José del Progreso in the state of Oaxaca: Bernardo Méndez Vasquez (18th Jan. 2012) and Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez (15th of March 2012), the leader of the CPUVO (Coordinadora de Pueblos Unidos del Valle de Ocotlán, c.f. Mining Watch). Bernardo was an outspoken leader against the mining operations of the corporation Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver Mines. Two peaceful manifestations were organized on each occasion in front of the Canadian embassy (milpa.tv/prodh1.html). Although the Oaxaca's state authorities were alerted by social organizations in February and were asked to intervene and ensure the right to free speech and proper security for the CPUVO activists, nothing was done and the second assassination took place in a premeditated way. The strategy of the mining companies appears to be: 1) avoid  consultation with the local communities before the mining operation begin, 2) divide the communities by corrupting the political authorities once the mining operations are under way, 3) when the mine is exhausted, pack  your bags and leave before the bill on remediation costs arrives.

A special request from the organizers of the PPT is to ask you for an expression of your solidarity  in the form of a request to the Mexican authorities that they insure a minimal protection of the participants of the week-long caravan.  The federal authorities are very sensitive to the international image of Mexico and will take the actions needed to preserve it. The next G20 summit in Baja California (Mexico) illustrates the point of how proactive Mexico is at the international level (another example is the 2010 COP16 meeting hosted in Cancun).

The procedure we suggest is simple, sign the attached  .doc letter, copy and paste its content in an email, and send the latter to the following 3 government  offices:

Gobernación: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Secretaría de Seguridad Pública: genaro.garcia@ssp.gob.mx
Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos: correo@cndh.org.mx+++

and posibly a copy to the PPT's office responsible for the logistics of the caravan: tppmex@gmail.com

Gracias...

I have been doing scientific research in Mexico for the last 14 years.  No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to give back the equivalent of the support this country has extended to my research and the opportunities of self-realization that the UNAM has made available to me. In the mining town I was born, Thetford-Mines (PQ), the mines were foreign and oppressive. The mining business is now in the process of getting a lot worse; they also have opted to carry the Canadian flag (2/3 of the mining projects in Mexico are carried out by Canadian registered corporations). Let us speak out.