Peoples' Global Action (PGA) is a world wide network for communication and co-ordination between grassroots social movements and all those fighting the destruction of humanity and planet by the present world order. The PGA network has been a key force behind the Global Days of Action and 'anti-globalisation' events in recent years.
PGA has no members or constituted legal identity, no central funds or spokespeople, and instead relies on grassroots groups for its continued existence. Internationally and regionally, the conferences are organised by different groups on a rota basis.
Since its origins, and early focus on opposing 'free trade', PGA has expanded to oppose all forms of domination, and to propose local alternatives based on autonomy, direct action and self-organisation.
Between the 16th and the 23rd of November 2001 PGA held its 3rd Conference, in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Many of us first heard about the city when it emerged as a key symbol of the global struggle against privatisation. In late 1999, the water supply was privatised, the prices increased by 300% and it became illegal to form autonomous water co-operatives. Tens of thousands took to the streets, and through taking direct action now control the city's supply, an event ignored by the corporate media.
As the conference was held a few days after the September 11th, many delegates with valid visas were detained at the airport, one was sent back. Many of them were released after pressure from human rights organisations and the leader of Movement towards Socialism (MAS). MAS is a union of Bolivian cocaleros who have chosen to form a political party.
There were participants from Asia, the Pacific, Australasia, South Africa, Europe and the Americas (stretching between Alaska and Patagonia).

Cultural differences and political contradictions.
How people organise and participate in discussions is culturally specific: reflected in styles of presentation, decision making processes, and language.
An example of this at the most basic level is the word non-violence: in India it means respect for life, in the West it means also respect for private property.
These differences reflect deeper perceived power relations between 'North' and 'South' and how colonial history affects how we work together. Some of the problems highlight the fact that some people are closer to power than others due to their class, race, place of birth and gender.

Gender
For the first time it was openly recognised that sexism still exists even within the spaces of PGA. This and further discussion on gender resulted in a specific gender declaration, and the creation of an environment where sexism and sexual harassment are made unacceptable.
In some way we bring contradictions into our networks, or rather the contradictions between how the world is now, how we would like it to be and how to get there. But these contradictions are what fuels our desire for change, by facing them we move forward.
The third PGA conference showed another important shift: previously northern groups were seen primarily as acting in solidarity with southern struggles, in a one way direction. Now there is an understanding that northern groups have their own struggles, highlighted recently in Seattle, Prague, Gothenburg and Genoa, and the repression 'northern' groups have been going through.

The future
The conference agreed that we need further regionalise and localise the network. We need to move beyond Global Days of Action; to take action in our local areas, rather than travel to large protests, and to get involved in sustained campaigns like popular education campaigns and local discussions and consultations, and in the construction of grassroots alternatives to the capitalist system.