BY JOHN PERCY
Former political prisoner and militant union leader Dita Sari will head the People's Democratic Party of Indonesia's delegation to the second Asia-Pacific International Solidarity Conference, the party has announced.
Sari, the chairperson of the Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggles, was recently awarded the Raymond Magsaysay Award, considered an Asian Nobel Prize, for being a "leader of new forces in Asia". Other PRD delegates to the Easter 2002 conference will be announced over coming months.
The Turkish Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP), the Worker Communist Party of Iraq and the Free Burma Committee have also recently confirmed their attendance.
Satya Sivaraman, the radical Indian TV documentary maker based in Thailand, and Luis Balbao, from the Union de Militantes por el Socialismo in Argentina, have both recently announced their attendance.
The Labour Left Collective from South Africa is considering sending a delegation. This group includes among its members Roger Ronnie, the general secretary of SAMWU, one of South Africa's most militant and powerful unions.
The International Socialist Organisation in Zimbabwe is also keen to attend, and financial arrangements are being worked out to make it possible.
These individuals and organisations join an impressive list of dozens of left-wing and socialist groups from every continent.
The conference will provide a meeting place to discuss the experiences of the growing opposition to neo-liberal globalisation, the campaign against Washington's drive to war, and the developing spirit of collaboration among socialist parties coming from different traditions.
The immensely successful first Asia-Pacific International Solidarity Conference in Sydney in April 1998 was attended by more than 750 people, including 67 representatives from overseas left parties and organisations.
The 2002 conference, to be held from March 29 to April 1, is being organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Democratisation and Development. To contact the organisers, for a brochure and details of costs, email <apisc2002@greenleft.org.au>.