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Letter from the Staff
Dear IRC supporters and friends: The Bush administration’s unilateral crusade, the War on Terrorism, is ushering in a new era every bit as uncertain and perilous as the darkest hours of the cold war. Deficit spending on bloated military budgets is back. Multilateral approaches to problem solving have been discarded, and Washington has even orchestrated the behind-the-scenes ousters of top officials at several multilateral institutions. Meanwhile, as Washington continues to browbeat other countries into implementing financial reforms that benefit corporate America, the Bush administration has slapped protectionist tariffs on steel imports and boosted unfair subsidies to U.S. agribusiness. It’s easy to be dismayed by this panorama. Each day’s headlines seem to bring more bad news, another article about the Bush administration’s hard-line, unilateral, narrow-minded, and short-sighted foreign policy. Sometimes it seems that nobody is standing up for what is right, nobody is saying “There’s another way.” Somebody is. Day after day, week after week, the IRC asks hard questions about the U.S. role in world affairs, makes concrete suggestions for better foreign policies, and highlights successful efforts by civil society that make a real difference. Our most recent initiative in this regard is the Citizen Action component of our Americas Program. Economic integration in the Americas has presented new challenges—and new opportunities—for citizen groups in the region. Across the hemisphere, activists, community groups, nonprofits, and other nontraditional actors are playing an increasingly important role in responding to the challenges of globalization, protecting the environment, and working for human rights and equitable development. By linking this initiative with our efforts to promote citizen-based foreign policy agendas and alternative ways to combat terrorism, the IRC is working to chart a new course for public policy and international cooperation. The heightened profile of citizen-based agendas in the Americas and elsewhere represents one of the most promising developments in the international arena. These organizations, coalitions, networks, and alliances are proof positive that another world is possible, that creative and productive responses to the challenges of globalization do exist. We’re taking this message to our elected officials, to the media, to everyday citizens, and into classrooms and workshops. The more we work—23 years now—the more people we find who are willing to listen and ultimately to act. There is strength in numbers, so let’s work together to turn the tide of Washington’s arrogance. Peace, The IRC Staff
IRC Goings On
Citizen Action in the Americas Across the hemisphere, activists, community groups, nonprofits, and everyday citizens are playing an increasingly important role in responding to the challenges of globalization. The Americas Program has launched a new series to analyze these efforts with an eye toward developing positive and negative lessons from the experiences that can be used to inform similar efforts across the region. Our first case study is of the fair trade movement in Mexico. A growing number of coops, nongovernmental organizations, microenterprises, and campesino groups are proving that fair trade offers a viable alternative to communities struggling to cope with globalization. Beyond securing incomes for themselves, participants in Mexico’s fair trade market are also promoting a working alternative to current commercial practices, one grounded in the principles of social equity and sustainable development. Their efforts offer an example for other communities in the Americas struggling with the challenges of economic integration. For more information on our Citizen Action in the Americas program, see http://www.americaspolicy.org/citizen-action/index.html. IRC in the Media IRC staffers continued to make regular appearances in print and broadcast media over the past few months. Americas Program head George Kourous was quoted in the New York Times on U.S.-Mexico water issues as well as in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dallas Morning News, and La Jornada. Tom Barry was interviewed about Bush administration foreign policy in India Today, had several commentaries reprinted in Asia Times, and was quoted in the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor on U.S.-Caribbean trade relations. John Gershman had an article in Foreign Affairs (available gratis on our website or from the IRC office for those without internet access), was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor about the war on terrorism in Southeast Asia, and had an op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Gershman was also a guest on Washington Post Online’s site and the Fox News morning show in late May during the Kashmir crisis. The IRC’s electronic outreach continues to grow. All of this is in addition to the regular use of our analysis on Yahoo.com’s World News Section (story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=655), OneWorld (www.oneworld.net), Electronic Policy Network (www.epn.org), AlterNet (www.alternet.org), TomPaine.com, and Common Dreams (www.commondreams.org). As of July 1 there were 7,863 subscribers to the Progressive Response, an 18% increase since March and up nearly 40% since December. There are 940 subscribers to Self-Determination Conflict Watch (up over 125% since December), while subscribers to the CROSSBORDER UPDATER in English and Spanish number 638 (up 15% since March) and 168 (up 1%) respectively. Building Citizen Agendas While many on the left are clear in their criticisms of our government’s actions, few provide recommendations for change. Relying on stringent research and analysis, the IRC is able to generate concrete recommendations of steps the U.S. government can take to create a more sustainable and just world, because our analysis is rooted in our understanding and support of citizen agendas. In fact, we have recently expanded the development and promotion of this work. A citizen agenda is a grassroots agenda that arises from citizen concerns and becomes part of the policy debate. Under democratic governance, this percolation of grassroots issues into policy debates is a normal part of the political process. What’s new is the upsurge of citizen agendas that advance a new vision of global affairs. This emergence of transnational citizen movements and strong nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with global affairs has altered the framework for foreign policy decisionmaking. Although the traditional foreign policy establishments are still central to foreign policy debates on the national level, their ability to dictate the terms of these debates has markedly diminished. Each international citizen movement has its own focus. A few that the IRC has recently supported with materials from the Foreign Policy in Focus project (FPIF) include rallies at the G-8 meeting in Canada, the Food Summit in Rome, and the AIDS Conference in Barcelona. For more information on our citizen agendas, see http://www.fpif.org/cgaa/index.html
Office Contact Information
Albuquerque Box 4506 Albuquerque, NM 87196-4506 Voice: (505) 842-8288 Fax: (505) 842-8288	Silver City Box 2178 Silver City, NM 88062-2178 Voice: (505) 388-0208 Fax: (505) 388-0619 Email: irc@irc-online.org