Hello. My name is Ronald Labonte. I have worked in public health/health
promotion for over 25 years, as an activist, practitioner, trainer,
consultant, researcher and academic. I have always been drawn to my work
because of its communitarian and moral dimensions. It is my experience in
work across the English speaking world, and some forays into continental
Europe and Latin America, that many people in public health/health promotion
share similar value commitments. These values are now challenged, if not
eclipsed, in many parts of the world by the ascendency of a market-driven
neoliberal discourse. This discourse accompanies trends in global trade and
wealth accumulation that pose significant threats to the health, well-being
and social fabric of peoples and planet. How do we intervene to re-direct
our body politic into one that is more consistent with the values and
practices of public health and civic decency?
I have prepared a 10 page proposal in response to that question. It argues
for a global health NGO presence at the 2 year old World Trade Organization,
a successor of GATT which currently enforces liberalized trade agreements.
Several public interest NGOs are attempting to lobby the WTO and its member
nation delegations to incorporate "social clauses" within trade agreements,
i.e. labour, environment. One intriguing option would be to incorporate UN
declarations and conventions (e.g. ILO on labour, Rio Summit on Agenda 21,
Alma-Ata on Primary Health Care, Rights of the Child etc.) into trade
agreements, using the enforcement potential of the WTO.
My proposal consists of three parts:
The Context: Health and Global Free Trade.
The World Trade Organization: Discipline Global Capital at Its Source?
The Process: Creating a Health NGO presence at the World Trade Organization.
I am sending this proposal through a number of list-servs, to national
public health associations, and individuals I know (or know of) in an effort to:
1. Receive helpful ideas about its general argument; and
2. Determine if there are organizations and individuals willing to advance
work on it.
Rather than bother list-serv subscribers with a long document or attachment,
however, I am sending this initial notice. I invite any subscribers
interested in a copy of my proposal to contact me directly, and I will
forward a copy to them as an attached file. Please advise me of any special
formatting you may require in order to read such a file, and I'll see what I
can do.
Salud!
______________________________________
Ronald Labonte, PhD
Communitas Consulting
29 Jorene Drive
Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7M 3X5
(voice): 613-634-7396
(fax): 613-634-2384
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
______________________________________
|
