Youth
Camp in Manta: resistance for
peace
“ If the present is struggle,
the future is ours." (Ernesto
Che Guevara)
The first National Youth Camp “Youth for Peace” will be held in front
of the US Military Base in Manta from 24-26 March, 2006, organized by the No
Bases Coalition-Ecuador, as a preparatory event to the International Conference
for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases to be held in Manta in March 2007.
The World Conference will gather activists to discuss militarization and foreign
military bases, as well as share experiences and define joint global strategies
and campaigns.
The Youth Camp aims to promote social mobilization to ensure that the US Army
leaves Manta and that the agreement signed by the Ecuador and US governments
is not renewed. The objective of the Camp is to discuss the US domination strategy,
base don militarism, including the impacts of the Manta Base, specially in relation
to the fisherfolk, farmers and the increase in women and girls prostitution.
The relation with the Free Trade Agreements will also be analyzed, especially
when the indigenous peoples are mobilized along with other social movements expressing
strong opposition to the signing of the FTA. The youth organizations will also
define joint actions and strategies linked to regional and global resistance
actions that will contribute to build a free and sovereign Ecuador where people
can live with dignity.
The Youth Camp will be held in Manta with the participation of 100 young people
from various groups, movements, civil society organizations in Manta, Portoviejo
and rural areas in the provinces of Manabí and Los Ríos, as well
as Quito, Santo Domingo de los Colorados y and provinces form the Oriente or
Amazon region.
During three days, Ecuadorean young men and women will participate in training
workshops on culture of peace, round tables on militarization in Latin America
and Ecuador and they will discuss successful experiences in ousting foreign military
bases, such as the case of Vieques in Puerto Rico. They will also prepare and
disseminate a declaration during the Public Forum which will be held on March
25 in the City Hall’s Auditorium with the following program:
- Conference on the Impacts of the Manta Base
- Call for the International Conference for the Abolition of Foreign Military
Bases to be held in Manta in March 2007
- Public manifesto and press conference
Local and nation-wide hip-hop and rock groups will come together in the Social
Resistance Festival immediately alter the Public Forum, on Saturday 25 March
at 20h30.
The National Coalition for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases is formed
by: ACJ-YMCA Ecuador, American Friends Service Committee, Regional Advisor on
Human Rights (INREDH), Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ), National Confederation
of Indigenous Peoples (CONAIE), Pro Human Rights Collective (PRODH), Tohalli
Movement, ALTERCOM, MIREDES, Migrants, Displaced and Refugees Network, Conscious
Objection Group, Ecumenical Committee for Human Rights (CEDHU), Catholic University
Human Rights CANE and the Afro-Ecuadorean Confederation North Esmeraldas. The
National Coalition forms part of the Global No Bases Network
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