IV Peoples’ Summit
of the Americas
The Organizers
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (FITUN) which is a participant in both the Assembly of Caribbean People (ACP) and the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) is partnering with these two major regional and hemispheric networks to organize the Fourth (IV) Peoples’ Summit.
The Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), in Spanish (Alianza Social Continental), emerged as a network of social movements opposed to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA was one of the flagship projects of the First Summit of the Americas, held in Miami in 1994. At the Second Summit in Santiago, the HSA organized the First Peoples’ Summit and since then at each Summit when the Heads of Government meet, there has been a Peoples’ Summit. The HSA also organizes an annual Encounter of Social Movements in Havana, initially as part of the mobilizing against the FTAA and after this battle was won against Free Trade Agreements and for the (Alternative) Integration of the Peoples.
The Assembly of Caribbean People (ACP) was an initiative of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) with the first Assembly being held in Trinidad and Tobago in 1994. Subsequent Assemblies took place in the Dominican Republic (2001), Haiti (2003) and Cuba (2008). The ACP is the broadest network of social movements, NGOs and CBOs in the Caribbean.
At the 4th Assembly in Havana in July, 2008 it was agreed that since this is the first Summit to be held in a Caribbean country, the ACP should partner with the HSA to organize the Peoples Summit. Subsequently, the Co-ordinating Council of the HSA agreed that FITUN should take the lead in Trinidad and Tobago in the organising of the Peoples’ Summit.
In October 2008, at the Third Americas Social Forum in Guatemala, FITUN began the process of informing social movements about the Peoples’ Summit. Since then, invitations have gone out to all participants of the 4th ACP.
The Secretariat of the IV Peoples’ Summit, headed by Mr. David Abdulah, President of FITUN, is working to ensure the widest possible cross-section of participants from diverse sectors and from all countries in hemisphere.
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