The name of Réseau reflects a fundamental reality. The work of Réseau and its efficiency are based on an interconnection, the number of ramifications of which increases constantly. No special correspondent collects the information, no missions of investigation confirms the information collected, but a pleiad of organisations, of groups, of relay-people who, across the world, form as many " ties " of communication connected between themselves.

As a matter of fact, Réseau Solidarité works sometimes in partnership with an European or a North-American association on a particular case (for instance : on trade-union’s rights in Guatemala, Réseau Solidarité works in co-operation with an organisation of Chicago). also works, for some actions, with "direct" partners such as the Rio-Maria committee, the Movement of people without land (Brazil), the workers’ trade union of the sugar industry Preda (the Philippines), etc...

It is the international pressure, which enabled the Minister of Health to reduce the number of authorised medicines in the country despite strong pressures of the pharmaceutic multinationals (1982). It is the resoluteness of the NGOs which led the European Parliament to vote a guideline concerning the marketing of food for new-born babies (1985), which made the World Bank move (1987 and 1993), etc...

Sometimes those coordinations are isolated, structured for a particular problem: the Coca-Cola action in Guatemala in 1984-85, the Narmada co-ordination (India) from 1987 to 1993 and, recently, the Clean Clothes Campaign based in Amsterdam or the national campaign of the group "De l’éthique sur l’étiquette" (Campaign against the exploitation of children, slavery, the repression against trade-unions in many countries of the world).

In this way, each one of you contributed or will contribute to one of these positive actions. Each one of you, acting within Réseau Solidarité, is also, by this way, integrated into a vast network of the networks (réseau des réseaux), worldwide co-ordination, more or less unformal, where reactions are organised.

When solidarity is organised in a structured network,

it is a tremendous power.