Description
This publication is a unique achievement which brings together the struggles of Malaysian communities from diverse ethnic groups, both urban and rural, who have been victims of unfettered capitalism and non-accountable privatisation projects by the Mahathir Administration. It is a compilation of papers they presented at the historic National Conference on People Before Profits: Asserting the Rights of Communities in Malaysian Development, organised by SUARAM and other concerned NGOs in November 2000.
In most of these cases, the efforts by these Malaysian communities to mobilize support for their own survival have been met by state violence. This is their common struggle, be they indigenous peoples, urban settlers, workers, farmers or the middle class of the different ethnic communities in Malaysia.
People Before Profits puts forward an alternative path of development, one in which people in communities can be empowered in the process. In other words, a need for reaffirming our common values, understanding the forces shaping change and creating our own vision for the future. It points to sustainable development, planning to meet basic needs, decentralisation, democracy and solidarity as the best guarantee for Malaysian ecology and the rights and interests of the Malaysian people.
