1. EVENTS ARE BEING PLANNED IN 45 CITIES!
At the moment of writing, events are being planned for the
Global Days against the Drug War in more than 45 cities all
over the world. In alphabetical order, events have been announced
for Alsfeld (Ger), Amsterdam, Auckland (NZ), Berlin, Bonn,
Brussels, Christchurch (NZ), Colville (WS), Dallas, Dunedin
(NZ), Eugene (OR), Fort Lauderdale (FL), Hamburg, Houston, Ilmenau (Ger),
Jena (Ger), London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Marbella (Sp), Melbourne, Munich, New Orleans,
New York, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Salt Lake City, San Francisco,
Schengen (Lux), Seattle, Sydney, Stockholm, Tallinn (Estonia),
Tel Aviv, Trier, Tucson, Washington, Wellington and
Winnipeg. Information about these events is available at
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/
Please note that the duration of the 'Global Days against the
Drug War' has been extended from three to six days, to last
from Friday 5th until Wednesday 10th. We encourage reformers to
consider organising events in yet other cities. Please contact
us at [email protected].
NATIONAL COALITIONS FORMED IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE
These weeks, organisational meetings are held in many places
to plan all this activity. To support organisation of events,
national coalitions of reform organisations have been formed
in Britain and France. A recent meeting of the new British
coalition was reported in the Independent (read at our web site).
Yves T�vessin, spokesperson for the new French alliance,
the "Collectif pour l'abrogation de la loi 70", writes:
"Yesterday we signed your declaration and we decided to
organize an evening with concerts and street theatre on the
6th of June, on 7th of June a big demonstration in the
afternoon, and surely many other surprises". Those of you
who have been following recent French reform activism, will
know that French surprises are always worth anticipating ...
The "Collectif" consists of La Ligue des Droits de l'Homme,
le Syndicat de la Magistrature, Auto-Support d'Usagers de
Drogues (ASUD), Act Up-Paris, le Collectif d'Information et
de Recherche Canabiques (CIRC), les Verts, Chiche!, la CORA,
Tekno+, and Substitution Auto-Support (SAS).
Other recent good news from Paris concerns the confirmation that CORA, the Coordinamento Radicale Antiproibizionista,
is organising the CORA congress in Paris on June 5, 6 and 7.
PREPARATION FOR ACTION IN NEW YORK
Meanwhile, the plans for events in New York are taking shape.
On Monday June 8th at 5pm there will be a demonstration for needle
exchange, consisting of a rally at Bryant Park followed by a march to
Grand Central, sponsored by twelve organisations.
Next to activities outside the UN, a panel discussion on
UN drug policy reform is prepared, to be held inside the UN on
Tuesday June 9th. The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the
Drug War, together with several other parties, has submitted a
formal application for the panel with the UN NGO Committee. In
this we with work together with ENCOD (see section 3).
For more information about events in New York, contact Kevin
Zeese, [email protected], or Adam Smith, [email protected].
PLANS FOR A MARCH AT THE "SCHENGENER BRUECKE" ...
Recent information concerns plans for a manifestation at the
"Schengener Bruecke", a bridge
over the Mosel river at the location where the borders between
Germany, France and Luxemburg meet, near the Luxemburg town of
Schengen. In Schengen, a treaty was signed twelve years ago
between several European countries, regulating the free exchange of
personnel between member states. However, the French
President, Chirac, has in the past years frustrated the full
implementation of the treaty by putting patrols at the borders
between Belgium and France, accusing the Netherlands of causing
drug trafficking problems by its liberal drug laws. The event
at the Schengener Bruecke will probably involve a march across
the bridge and the handing over of some suitable symbolic
commodity from representatives of German drug policy reform
groups, to their French counterparts, and v.v.
... AND AROUND THE WORLD
Plans are at an advanced stage at the other side of the globe
as well. Chris Fowlie, NORML New Zealand board member, writes:
"The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML) has lobbied for marijuana law refom in New Zealand
since 1976. NORML NZ supports the establishment of a regulated
legal cannabis market. We'll be organising various activities
around NZ, including a big march up Queen St, Auckland,
Saturday June 6". Together with events announced earlier for
Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch, this makes for a total of
4 events in New Zealand so far!
For information about all the other great events being planned
in thirteen countries, see our web pages. Of course we
encourage you to consider planning similar events. Events do
not necessarly have to be big - a forum discussion, a rally,
an anti-prohibition party, a petition, a concert, a press
conference - it is up to you what form and size your
participation will take ... Contact fellow reformers, local
policy reform organisations, clubs, etc., get together and
see what you can do. And inform us, of course!
2. THE GLOBAL COALITION: OVER 90 MEMBER ORGANISATIONS
As you know, we have established the Global Coalition for
Alternatives to the Drug War, which will issue declarations,
and members of which will support the Global Days against the
Drug War.
The coalition is also involved in preparations of an NGO panel
on UN drug policy reform, which is planned to be held inside
the UN on Tuesday June 9th. Together with several other parties
(a.o. ENCOD, see section 3), we have submitted a formal
application for the panel to the UN NGO Committee. The application
is coordinated by the Transnational Radical Party. See
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/ for news about
the UN panel, and for an up-to-date list of over 90
organisations that have joined the Global Coalition.
Organisations are invited to join the coalition by endorsing the
declaration. Please write to: [email protected]
3. ENCOD: The European Council on Drugs and Development
We work together with the European Council on Drugs and
Development (ENCOD), which took the initiative to build a broad
international alliance of organisations working in the field of
development, human rights, prevention and health care, drug
consumers and peasant drug crop producers to jointly challenge
UNGASS with a set of concrete recommendations for an
alternative drug policy. This alliance currently consists of
some 75 organisations, some of which are members of the 'Global
Coalition' as well. The manifesto "For a just and effective
policy on drugs" attempts to bridge the many different islands
dividing the broad drugs issue and to fully incorporate the
views and worries from the South, often marginalised in the
Northern dominated drugs policy debates. For more information
about ENCOD, extensive information on UNGASS, and the text of
the manifesto, see http://www.worldcom.nl/tni/drugs/
![[The Coalition]](btn_coal.gif)
![[The Global Days]](btn_glob.gif)
![[The Declaration]](btn_decl.gif)
![[Member Organisations]](btn_memb.gif)
