More than 300 solidarity activists from the Philippines, Europe, North America, and Australia came together on the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines for three days of presentations, dialogue, workshops and plenary sessions to review their practice in international solidarity work and plan for the future. On the day preceding the conference there were meetings of three sectoral caucuses for: women, indigenous peoples, and networking on peace in Mindanao.

You would be mistaken though to think it was all work and no play. The days were interspersed with music, dance and ritual plus three nights of cultural performances. The foyer of the conference venue, the University of the Philippines Alumni Building, offered the participants a change from the atmosphere of the auditorium to congregate in a Trade Fair for Fairer Trade, where cause-oriented groups had stalls displaying their projects and sold their products.

The conference proceedings as well as a report from the women's caucus will be published by the first quarter of next year. To whet your appetite we have included in this issue of "Kasama" some of the highlights and extracts from a few of the presentations and papers delivered at this inspiring convention.