Porto Alegre Call for Mobilisation
28/01/2001
- Opinión
Social forces from around the world have gathered here at the World Social
Forum in Porto Alegre. Unions and NGOs, movements and organizations,
intellectuals and artists, together we are building a great alliance to create
a new society, different from the dominant logic wherein the free-market and
money are considered the only measure of worth. Davos represents the
concentration of wealth, the globalization of poverty and the destruction of
our earth. Porto Alegre represents the hope that a new world is possible,
where human beings and nature are the center of our concern.
We are part of a movement which has grown since Seattle. We challenge the
elite and their undemocratic processes, symbolised by the World Economic Forum
in Davos. We came to share our experiences, build our solidarity, and
demonstrate our total rejection of the neoliberal policies of globalisation.
We are women and men, farmers, workers, unemployed, professionals, students,
blacks and indigenous peoples, coming from the South and from the North,
committed to struggle for peoples' rights, freedom, security, employment and
education. We are fighting against the hegemony of finance, the destruction
of our cultures, the monopolization of knowledge, mass media, and
communication, the degradation of nature, and the destruction of the quality
of life by multinational corporations and anti-democratic policies.
Participative democratic experiences -like that of Porto Alegre- show us that
a concrete alternative is possible. We reaffirm the supremacy of human,
ecological and social rights over the demands of finance and investors.
At the same time that we strengthen our movements, we resist the global elite
and work for equity, social justice, democracy and security for everyone,
without distinction. Our methodology and alternatives stand in stark contrast
to the destructive policies of neo-liberalism.
Globalisation reinforces a sexist and patriarchal system. It increases the
feminisation of poverty and exacerbates all forms of violence against women.
Equality between women and men is central to our struggle. Without this,
another world will never be possible.
Neoliberal globalization increases racism, continuing the veritable genocide
of centuries of slavery and colonialism which destroyed the bases of black
African civilizations. We call on all movements to be in solidarity with
African peoples in the continent and outside, in defense of their rights to
land, citizenship, freedom, peace, and equality, through the reparation of
historical and social debts. Slave trade and slavery are crimes against
humanity.
We express our special recognition and solidarity with indigenous peoples in
their historic struggle against genocide and ethnocide and in defense of their
rights, natural resources, culture, autonomy, land, and territory.
Neoliberal globalisation destroys the environment, health and people's living
environment. Air, water, land and peoples have become commodities. Life and
health must be recognized as fundamental rights which must not be subordinated
to economic policies.
The external debt of the countries of the South has been repaid several times
over. Illegitimate, unjust and fraudulent, it functions as an instrument of
domination, depriving people of their fundamental human rights with the sole
aim of increasing international usury. We demand its unconditional
cancellation and the reparation of historical, social, and ecological debts,
as immediate steps toward a definitive resolution of the crisis this Debt
provokes.
Financial markets extract resources and wealth from communities and nations,
and subject national economies to the whims of speculators. We call for the
closure of tax havens and the introduction of taxes on financial transactions.
Privatisation is a mechanism for transferring public wealth and natural
resources to the private sector. We oppose all forms of privatisation of
natural resources and public services. We call for the protection of access
to resources and public goods necessary for a decent life.
Multinational corporations organise global production with massive
unemployment, low wages and unqualified labour and by refusing to recognise
the fundamental worker's rights as defined by the ILO. We demand the genuine
recognition of the right to organise and negotiate for unions, and new rights
for workers to face the globalisation strategy. While goods and money are
free to cross borders, the restrictions on the movement of people exacerbate
exploitation and repression. We demand an end to such restrictions.
We call for a trading system which guarantees full employment, food security,
fair terms of trade and local prosperity. Free trade is anything but free.
Global trade rules ensure the accelerated accummulation of wealth and power by
multinational corporations and the further marginalisation and impoverishment
of small farmers, workers and local enterprises. We demand that governments
respect their obligations to the international human rights instruments and
multilateral environmental agreements. We call on people everywhere to
support the mobilizations against the creation of the Free Trade Area in the
Americas, an initiative which means the recolonization of Latin America and
the destruction of fundamental social, economic, cultural and environmental
human rights.
The IMF, the World Bank and regional banks, the WTO, NATO and other military
alliances are some of the multilateral agents of neoliberal globalisation. We
call for an end to their interference in national policy. These institutions
have no legitimacy in the eyes of the people and we will continue to protest
against their measures.
Neoliberal globalization has led to the concentration of land ownership and
favored corporate agricultural systems which are environmentally and socially
destructive. It is based on export oriented growth backed by large scale
infrastructure development, such as dams, which displces people from their
land and destroys their livelihoods. Their loss must be restored. We call
for a democratic agrarian reform. Land, water and seeds must be in the hands
of the peasants. We promote sustainable agricultural processes. Seeds and
genetic stocks are the heritage of humanity. We demand that the use of
transgenics and the patenting of life be abolished.
Militarism and corporate globalisation reinforce each other to undermine
democracy and peace. We totally refuse war as a way to solve coflicts and we
oppose the arms race and the arms trade. We call for an end to the repression
and criminalisation of social protest. We condemn foreign military
intervention in the internal affairs of our countries. We demand the lifting
of embargoes and sanctions used as instruments of aggression, and express our
solidarity with those who suffer their consequences. We reject US military
intervention in Latin America through the Plan Colombia.
We call for a strenghtening of alliances, and the implementation of common
actions, on these principal concerns. We will continue to mobilize on them
until the next Forum. We recognize that we are now in a better position to
undertake the struggle for a different world, a world without misery, hunger,
discrimination and violence, with quality of life, equity, respect and peace.
We commit ourselves to support all the struggles of our common agenda to
mobilise opposition to neoliberalism. Among our priorities for the coming
months, we will mobilize globally against the:
- World Economic Forum, Cancun, Mexico, 26 and 27 February
- Free Trade Area of the Americas, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 6-7 1033 April and
Quebec City, Canada, 17-22 April
- Asian Development Bank, Honolulu, May
- G8 Summit, Genova, Italy, 15-22 July
- IMF and World Bank Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA, 28 September - 4
October
- World Trade Organisation, 5-9 November (Quatar?)
On April 17, we will support the international day of struggle against the
importation of cheap agricultural products which create economic and social
dumping, and the feminist mobilization against globalization in Genova. We
support the call for a world day of action against debt, to take place this
year on July 20.
The proposals formulated are part of the alternatives being elaborated by
social movements around the world. They are based on the principle that human
beings and life are not commodities, and in the commitment to the welfare and
human rights of all.
Our involvement in the World Social Forum has enriched understanding of each
of our struggles and we have been strengthened. We call on all peoples around
the world to join in this struggle to build a better future. The World Social
Forum of Porto Alegre is a way to achieve peoples'sovereignty and a just
world.
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