Dear Friends
 
As you may have heard, Brazilian Government is calling an international conference on ' biofuels' for November 17- 21 in São Paulo.
 
More than 2 thousand participants (according to them) are expected, as well as US President Bush as “the” personality to arrive on the 20th to the ministerial meeting. The general purpose of the official conference is to promote, break the myths and make acceptable the  “sustainability” of brazilian sugar cane based ethanol to the global market. This move also fit into a wider strategy that is leading us to the scary second generation of non food/eadible crops.
 
The news are that we came to a proposal among brazilian groups, and we are building mobilization around the official Conference. So, among the turbulence of the financial crises and a disfavorable context for social and environmental movements critical to national policies for "development", a coalition of movements, networks and groups in Brazil are calling for the support and participation of international groups and allies in the planned counter activities as described below.
 
Would be very important to disclosure critical positions (from here, but also repercuting in Europe, US and elsewhere) and publicize the activities around the counter conference to the media worldwide.
 
Also, we would very much like to know from governments and parliaments of your country WHO is finally coming and with which mandate, in a way we can start monitoring the possible outcomes of the official meeting and build up together better strategies to influence them.
 
Any return on the proposal, from folks interested to come to take part in the activites or with any doubts or suggestions are welcome!
 
 

We share this proposal in a strategic way with movements, networks and allied groups resisting and critical to the expansion of agronergy agribusiness, struggling for food and energy sovereignty and interested in putting efforts together around the parallel activities to the official International conference designed for the promotion of agrofuels hosted by the Brazilian Government, from 17 to 21 of November in Sao Paulo.

Our intention is to gather return on the interest in supporting the participation and in the collective construction of the proposed counter-activities to this conference that include a parallel seminar on November 17 and 18 and outside activities on 19 a 20. Based on the return over this draft, supporter networks and partners will be call to consolidate this initial proposal.

Central objectives:

-To construct a collective answer of the social and environmental movements to affect over the Official Conference, presenting/displaying a critical counter vision to the official propaganda on sugar cane based ethanol ‘sustainability’;

 

-To repercute on the media and over the public opinion, bringing to the forefront new and coalition building ideas into the political process of building food and energy sovereignty.

Specific objectives:

 

• To Explore the issue of agrofuels as an entry door to understand the interdependence of the financial, food, energy and climate crisis of this model of society;

 

• To Deepen and further the debate on energy and food production as a structuring  trend , bringing updated info to the state of the art analysis;

 

• To Denounce the myths of the “sustainability” of the industrial ethanol production and to point out the incoherences of agrofuels’ promotion as a “solution” to climate change and to the energy crisis;

 

• To Present the  political proposals and the ongoing processes related to the building of a transition society, strengthening the political principles of food and energy sovereignty.
 
Activities

I. November 17 and 18: International Seminary
Agrofuels as an obstacle to Food and Energy Sovereignty
Sao Paulo , Brazil
Popular parallel activity to the International Conference on Biofuels:
“Biofuels as a vector to Sustainable Development”
Estimated public for the seminar: 70 to 100 people
Profile of participants: grassroots leaders and activists with built in capacity and previous knowledge on the subjects to be discussed at the seminar and involved into previous national and international level processes and agrofuels meetings.
PROGRAM (preliminary/rough draft) is presented bellow

II. November 19 and 20: distribution of the results of the seminar

Press conference, possibly an in side event, and out side activities around the Official Conference
 
Brazilian Movements and organizations (on the innitial call):
Via Campesina Brasil – MST, MMC, CPT, MPA, MAB, FEAB
Amigos da Terra Brasil - FOEI Brazil
Terra de Direitos 
FASE
REBRIP – Rede Brasileira pela Integração dos Povos
ANA – Aarticulação nacionald e Agroecologia
Repórter Brasil
Rede Social
Marcha Mundial das Mulheres
Rede Economia e Feminismo
FETRAF

International participants, partners and supporters:
Oil Watch
ATALC – Amigos de la Tierra America Latina y Caribe
WRM – World Rainforest Movement
Food and Water Watch
CEO – Corporate Europe Observatory
Heinrich Boell Foundation
and others under consultation

Contacts (In English):
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PROGRAM fo the Seminar (preliminary/rough draft)

November 17 (day one): State of the Art, DIAGNOSIS and DE-CONSTRUCTION

Morning- analysis of current events - world-wide economic crisis
Analysis of origins and impacts of the world-wide economic crisis and the elements related to the discussion with energy and agro-industrial model in course.

Afternoon - Agrofuels like a read thread to analyze the food, climate and energy crises,
Regional and global syntheses over the built in critic and knowledge, updates concerning: actors, infra-structure, agreements/commerce/ conflicts, technology, targets, policies, etc…
Socialization and reinforcement of the arguments for the de-construction of the myths concerning the “sustainability” of the agrofuels (focusing  sugar cane ethanol, considering the role of Brazil as an international leader protagonist
Information -  feed back on the Official Conference from folks inside

November 18 (day two): ALTERNATIVES

Morning – Move forward the propositive agenda
To deepen and to fortify the articulated set of alternative elements in course for the building of food and energy sovereignty in a transition society (re-localization of economies, agrarian reform, agroecology, transition towns, “keep oil underground" (ecuatorian initiative) , nationalization of energy resources, etc.)
To debate the proposals and concrete transformations to the transition to post-oil and the challenges of this political agenda in the Brazilian context of new oil reserves (pre-salt or post-oil?)
To agree around elements of a propositive agenda

Afternoon – Political declaration
Information -  feed back on the Official Conference from folks inside
Conclusion – joint political statement/letter and final definitionf of strategy for external work