Colombian Trade Union leader at War on Want 's AGM

The radical development and anti-poverty charity, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, is bringing its conference and AGM to Glasgow to overcome the London-centric bias often associated with UK-wide events. Thousands of leaflets publicising the event are being distributed in Scotland this month and the event, entitled 'New World Order? Global Poverty after September 11', will include a discussion dedicated to building the charity’s campaign work north of the border.

Luis Hernandez’s public services union, SINTRAEMCALI, recently secured victory after a month-long occupation against the privatisation of public services in Colombia’s second city Cali. Mr Hernandez has just replaced Alexander Lopez as president of the union. Several attempts have been made on Mr Lopez’s life over the past two years, and hundreds of Colombian trade unionists are assassinated every year.

Afif Safieh, Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, was involved in the 1988 Stockholm negotiations that led to direct dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and the United States. An academic and published author, Mr Safieh is also Palestinian representative to the Vatican.

Fadel Ismail is the head of the Western Sahara (Polisario) Mission for UK & Ireland. Before that he was ambassador of the Saharawi Republic to Ethiopia and its permanent representative to the Organisation of African Unity in Addis-Ababa.

The conference and AGM take place at the University of Glasgow, Hillhead, Glasgow between 10am and 5pm on Saturday, March 2.

Other speakers include: Angela Royal (Executive Director, War on Want), Bill Spiers (General Secretary, Scottish TUC), Bruce Kent (Movement Against War), Ann McKechin MP, Des McNulty MSP, George Reid MSP, Robert Brown MSP, Claudia Blanco (leader of Nicaraguan Rural Women’s Association) and David Hillman (Convenor, Tobin Tax Network).

Workshops on Palestine, Colombia, workers’ rights, Western Sahara, South Africa and the Tobin tax will take place, as well as a discussion about War on Want’s future work in Scotland. The AGM will follow the conference at 4pm.