520 12th Avenue (at 42nd Street) New York, NY

Whether or not you can join us for the protest, please sign the online petition
at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/notowto/petition.html. We are planning to
fax hundreds of signed petitions to the Chinese Consulate, Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, and Pascal Lamy, General-Director of WTO
at 9 p.m. TONIGHT (January 8th, 2006)

Please contact Yulsan at 917-568-6547 if you have any questions regarding a
rally tomorrow.

Why:
The JAN 9th, 2006 is the international action day for 14 Hong Kong detainees charged with "unlawful assembly" during the WTO protest on 12/17/05. Since then these farmers, workers, students and activists not been permitted to leave Hong Kong and return to their families, loved-ones and lives. They are awaiting trial, scheduled for January 11th, 2006. The convergence of thousands of people in Hong Kong during the WTO ministerial (Dec. 13th-18th), including those named below, was a necessary action supported by millions around the globe against oppressive trade policies, and should not be treated as a crime. Incarceration and prison mistreatment cannot silence this movement nor prevent future such gatherings.

We demand that the charges against the following people be dropped:

HWANG, DAE SUB Korean Catholic Farmers Association
YANG, KYOUNG KYU Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
KANG, SEUNG KYU Korean Peasants League
LEE, YOUNG HOON Korean Peasants League
PARK, IN HWAN Korean Peasants League
YOON, IL KWON Korean Peasants League
NAMGUNG SUK Korean Peasants League
LIM, DAE HYUK Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
KIM, CHANG JOON Korean Peasants League
HAN, DONG UNG Korean Peasants League
LEE, HYUNG JIN Korean Peasants League
LEE CHIEN CHING Taiwanese student
MAKAKIRI KOSUKE Japanese journalist, People Newspaper
WEN ZHIMING Chinese national

We stand in solidarity with the 14 who are unjustly charged, along with thousands of other people around the world, who have been so deeply and desperately impacted by the systemic violence of WTO policies. Many have placed themselves in harms way to stop WTO policies, which not only denies them access to food, education and healthcare but also steals their means to livelihood.


The Call for Action in Front of WTO Headquarter in Geneva and
and French

Dear all,

Confederation paysanne [France] will send a delegation in Geneva to participate to the rally that will be held in front of the WTO Headquarters.
José Bové [Confédération paysanne - Via campesina] and José Reynes [Activist and Film maker] will give a press conference. During this meeting with the press in Geneva José Bové will point out the violence of the WTO and of the neoliberal economic system that destroys farmers' livelihoods all over the world. He will remind the press that the protestors in Hongkong were just defending themselves and that it was a legitimate resistance.
As for José Reynes, who was among the people arrested on Dec 17th, he will denounces the violence of the police and the very bad treatment they received from HK authorities during his stay in jail.

We are also trying to organize at the same time a gathering in front of the Chinese Embassy in Paris.

Yours,

Jean-Marc Desfilhes