Resistance to neoliberalism,
war and militarism: for peace and social justice
1) In the face of continuing deterioration in the living conditions of
people, we, social movements from all around the world, have come together
in the tens of thousands at the second World Social Forum in Porto Alegre.
We are here in spite of the attempts to break our solidarity. We come
together again to continue our struggles against neoliberalism and war,
to confirm the agreements of the last Forum and to reaffirm that another
world is possible.
2) We are diverse - women and men, adults and youth, indigenous peoples,
rural and urban, workers and unemployed, homeless, the elderly, students,
migrants, professionals, peoples of every creed, colour and sexual orientation.
The expression of this diversity is our strength and the basis of our
unity. We are a global solidarity movement, united in our determination
to fight against the concentration of wealth, the proliferation of poverty
and inequalities, and the destruction of our earth. We are living and
constructing alternative systems, and using creative ways to promote them.
We are building a large alliance from our struggles and resistance against
a system based on sexism, racism and violence, which privileges the interests
of capital and patriarchy over the needs and aspirations of people.
3) This system produces a daily drama of women, children, and the elderly
dying because of hunger, lack of health care and preventable diseases.
Families are forced to leave their homes because of wars, the impact of
"big development," landlessness and environmental disasters,
unemployment, attacks on public services and the destruction of social
solidarity. Both in the South and in the North, vibrant struggles and
resistance to uphold the dignity of life are flourishing.
4) September 11 marked a dramatic change. After the terrorist attacks,
which we absolutely condemn, as we condemn all other attacks on civilians
in other parts of the world, the government of the United States and its
allies have launched a massive military operation. In the name of the
"war against terrorism," civil and political rights are being
attacked all over the world. The war against Afghanistan, in which terrorists
methods are being used, is now being extended to other fronts. Thus there
is the beginning of a permanent global war to cement the domination of
the US government and its allies.This war reveals another face of neoliberalism,
a face which is brutal and unacceptable. Islam is being demonized, while
racism and xenophobia are deliberately propagated. The mass media is actively
taking part in this belligerent campaign which divides the world into
"good" and "evil". The opposition to the war is at
the heart of our movement.
5) The situation of war has further destabilised the Middle East, providing
a pretext for further repression of the Palestinian people. An urgent
task of our movement is to mobilise solidarity for the Palestinian people
and their struggle for self-determination as they face brutal occupation
by the Israeli state. This is vital to collective security of all peoples
in the region.
6) Further events also confirm the urgency of our struggles. In Argentina
the financial and economic crisis caused by IMF structural adjustment
and mounting debt precipitated a social and political crisis. This crisis
generated spontaneous protests of the middle and working classes (repression
which caused numerous deaths), failure of governments, and new alliances
between different social groups. With the force of "cacerolazos"
and "piquetes," popular mobilisations have demanded their basic
rights of food, jobs and housing. We reject the criminalisation of social
movements in Argentina and the attacks against democratic rights and freedom.
We also condemn the greed and the blackmail of the multinational corporation
supported by the governments of the rich countries.
7) The collapse of the multinational Enron exemplifies the bankruptcy
of the casino economy and the corruption of businessmen and politicians,
leaving workers without jobs and pensions. In developing countries this
multinational engaged in fraudulent activities and its projects pushed
people off their land and led to sharp increases in the price of water
and electricity.
8) The United States government, in its efforts to protect the interests
of big corporations, arrogantly walked away from negotiations on global
warming, the antiballistic missile treaty, the Convention on Biodiversity,
the UN conference on racism and intolerance, and the talks to reduce the
supply of small arms, proving once again that US unilateralism undermines
attempts to find multilateral solutions to global problems.
9) In Genoa the G8 failed completely in its self-assumed task of global
government. In the face of massive mobilisation and resistance, they responded
with violence and repression, denouncing as criminals those who dared
to protest. But they failed to intimidate our movement.
10) All this is happening in the context of a global recession. The neoliberal
economic model is destroying the rights, living conditions and livelihoods
of people. Using every means to protect their "share value,"
multinational companies lay off workers, slash wages and close factories,
squeezing the last dollar from the workers. Governments faced with this
economic crisis respond by privatising, cutting social sector expenditures
and permanently reducing workers' rights. This recession exposes the fact
that the neoliberal promise of growth and prosperity is a lie.
11) The global movement for social justice and solidarity faces enormous
challenges: its fight for peace and collective security implies confronting
poverty, discriminations, dominations and the creation of an alternative
sustainable society. Social movements energetically condemn violence and
militarism as a means of conflict resolution; the promotion of low intensity
conflicts and military operations in the Colombia Plan as part of the
Andes regional initiative, the Puebla Panama plan, the arms trade and
higher military budgets, economic blockades against people and nations
especially against Cuba and Iraq, and the growing repression against trade
unions, social movements, and activists. We support the trade unions and
informal sector worker struggles as essential to maintain working and
living conditions, the genuine right to organise, to go on strike, to
negotiate collective agreements, and to achieve equality in wages and
working conditions between women and men. We reject slavery and the exploitation
of children. We support workers struggles and the trade union fights against
casualisation, subcontracting of labour and lay offs, and demand new international
rights for the employees of the multinational companies and their affiliates,
in particular the right to unionise and space for collective bargaining.
Equally we support the struggles of farmers and peoples organisations
for their rights to a livelihood, and to land, forests and water.
12) Neoliberal policies create tremendous misery and insecurity. They
have dramatically increased the trafficking and sexual exploitation of
women and children. Poverty and insecurity creates millions of migrants
who are denied their dignity, freedom, and rights. We therefore demand
the right of free movement, the right to physical integrity and legal
status of all migrants. We support the rights of indigenous peoples and
the fulfillment of ILO article 169 in national legal frameworks.
13) The external debt of the countries of the South has been repaid several
times over. Illegitimate, unjust and fraudulent, debt functions as an
instrument of domination, depriving people of their fundamental human
rights with the sole aim of increasing international usury. We demand
unconditional cancellation of debt and the reparation of historical, social,
and ecological debts. The countries demanding repayment of debt have engaged
in exploitation of the natural resources and the traditional knowledge
of the South.
14) Water, land, food, forests, seeds, culture and people's identities
are common assets of humanity for present and future generations. It is
essential to preserve biodiversity. People have the right to safe and
permanent food free from genetically modified organisms. Food sovereignty
at the local, national, regional level is a basic human right; in this
regard, democratic land reforms and peasant's access to land are fundamental
requirements.
15) The meeting in Doha confirmed the illegitimacy of the WTO. The adoption
of the "development agenda" only defends corporate interests.
By launching a new round, the WTO is moving closer to its goal of converting
everything into a commodity. For us, food, public services, agriculture,
health and education are not for sale. Patenting must not to be used a
weapon against the poor countries and peoples. We reject the patenting
and trading of life forms. The WTO agenda is perpetuated at the continental
level by regional free trade and investment agreements. By organizing
protests such as the huge demonstrations and plebiscites against FTAA,
people have rejected these agreements as representing a recolonisation
and the destruction of fundamental social, economical, cultural and environmental
rights and values.
16) We will strengthen our movement through common actions and mobilizations
for social justice, for the respect of rights and liberties, for quality
of life, equality, dignity and peace. We are fighting for:
- democracy: people have the right to know about and criticize the decisions of their own governments, especially with respect to dealings with international institutions. Governments are ultimately accountable to their people. While we support the establishment of electoral and participative democracy across the world, we emphasize the need for the democratisation of states and societies and the struggles against dictatorship.
- the abolition of external debt and reparations.
- against speculative activities: we demand the creation of specific taxes
such
as the Tobin Tax, and the abolition of tax havens.
- the right to information
- women's rights, freedom from violence, poverty and exploitation.
- against war and militarism, against foreign military bases and interventions,
and
the systematic escalation of violence. We choose to privilege negotiation
and
non-violent conflict resolution. We affirm the right for all the people
to ask
international mediation, with the participation independent actors from
the
civil society.
- the rights of youth, their access to free public education and social
autonomy,
and the abolition of compulsory military service.
- the self-determination of all peoples, especially the rights of indigenous
peoples.In the years to come, we will organise collective mobilisations
including, in 2002:
- 8 March: International women's day
- 17 April: International day of peasant's struggle.
- 1 May: labour day.
- 7 October: world day for the homeless.
- 12 October: cry of the excluded.
- 16 October: world food day.
Other global mobilisations will take place:
- 15 - 16 March: Barcelona (Spain), summit of the EU.
- 18 - 22 March: Monterrey (Mexico), United Nations Conference on Financing
for Development.
- 17 - 18 May: Madrid (Spain), summit of Latin America, Caribbean and
Europe.
- May, Asia Development Bank Annual Meting, Shanghai China
- 1 May: "International day of action against militarism and peace"
- end of May, 4th preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, Indonesia
- June: Roma (Italy), World Food Summit;
- 22 -23 June: Sevilla EU summit
- July: Toronto and Calgary (Canada), G8 summit.
- 22 July: USA campaign against Coca Cola
- September: Johannesburg (South Africa), Rio+10.
- September, Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM), Copenhagen
- October: Quito (Ecuador), Social continental forum "A new integration
is
possible"
- November: Cuba, 2nd Hemispheric meeting against FTAA
- December: Copenhagen (Denmark), summit of EU.
In 2003 :
- April: Buenos Aires (Argentina), summit of the FTAA.
- June: Thessaloniki EU Summit
- June, France, G8
- WTO, IMF and World Bank will meet somewhere, sometime. And we will
be there!
Porto Alegre, Brasil 4 February 2002
Focus on the Global South (FOCUS)
c/o CUSRI, Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330 THAILAND
Tel: 662 218 7363/7364/7365/7383
Fax: 662 255 9976