Please receive our best wishes so that the year 2010 will be constructive for “en route to Manila via Kuala Lumpur».

Here are some news from Pactes Locaux. We have not yet renewed efforts to go forward with the Internet forum we had to prepare Tokyo.  There are still strings to be attached. Sorry for this delay.

Pierre Calame is very pleased with our work. But now, he is not any more the «leader» of the FPH. His son, Matthieu Calame has just taken over.  We know that the project Pactes Locaux is included within the «social and solidarity economy” and «territory” projects.  Pierre would be grouped in one cluster around a web-site project on international contacts. I think Pierre has contacted Ben about it. This is an excellent thing.

But for the Pactes Locaux, uncertainty remains on our place to prepare Kuala Lumpur (2011) and Manila (2013), and financial support to continue the learning journey process.

We have general meeting January 20 at the FPH. We requested a moment of encounter (after the conclusion of our internal work), at about 16:00 with our FPH interlocutors in this transition: Peter, Matthew, Gustavo Marin (who follows projects from Asia at the FPH) and Thomas Weiss, who follows the projects on website and COREDEM (Coordination of resources for a global democracy). We hope to learn more.

It is certain that we will continue, but can not yet say in any way. The meetings between practitioners are essential to our eyes for a common understanding and facilitate reconciliation between the different continents. Learning journeys are a great way to learn.

As agreed in writing the draft (June 2009), the involvement of Pactes Locaux in the preparation of 2013 has the objective of “conducting an active approach to research partnerships of grassroots actors with financial and institutional support, to give greater scope to the continental stages of preparation of the meeting in Asia.”

So thank you for your patience. Depending on the response of the FPH (and the support it brings us finally), we can decide how to proceed realistically, but with determination.

A message for Denison. Yvon has shared with me the news he saw on the Internet about the violence that has erupted in Malaysia with religious intolerance as a background.  We are very sad about this and our best wishes for peaceful resolution of this difficult situation.

Yours sincerely

Martine Theveniaut and France Joubert
(and Yvon, thank You Yvon, for helping us to translate and correct this message)