Declaration - Trinidad and Tobago

Three years ago, at the last Summit of the Americas in Mar de Plata the defeat of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA was confirmed, the result of numerous mass struggles, constituting the failure of this policy proposed by the US government for the hemisphere.  Since then some countries have signed similar Free trade Agreements, but at the same time an increased number of governments have since initiated alternative autonomous agreements/policies. The Fifth Summit of the Americas, which takes place from April 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago, given the new political landscape and the newly elected government of the United States represents a new situation with its own risks and opportunities. The failure of a hemispheric policy based on free trade and the political and military supremacy of the United States necessitates the proposal of an alternative, such as those which the entire hemisphere has been demanding. This alternative now needs to be implemented during a time of crisis, a crisis which has affected the hemisphere of the Americas and the world at large. Under the current circumstances alternative policies, distinct from those which would prolong and aggravate the current state of affairs and whereby the impoverished majorities suffer the most.

The representatives of hemispheric social movements, gathered at the IV Peoples’ Summit have come up with the following considerations:

1.       This crisis is not only financial, neither is it only economic in nature, it is a global crisis which affects all spheres of social life and threatens the planet’s own survival. At the same time, the flaws of the fundamentalist confidence in the market, which for over 25 years dominated the world economic system has now been revealed, and those who promoted this notion are now running to the state seeking rescue packages. Additionally, the current situation also represents a uni-polar world in crisis, headed by the United States. The traditional political systems are in crisis. Democracies today claim to be representative, but the power does not lie in the hands of the wider population, there is great inequity between men and women, and diversity is not encouraged. This crisis is all-encompassing affecting civilisation, means of production, ways of thinking and living. We recognise that the people of the Caribbean face an additional threat, given their vulnerability, both economic and in the face of natural disasters to external shocks.

In effect, a productive system which only seeks to maximise profits, has not only resulted in a concentration of wealth, and has forced the majority of the population into poverty, but also considers nature as only a resource to be exploited in order to earn profits and not as a source of life, i.e. a common good which must be preserved. This unmeasured desire to earn profits, resulting in all goods and services to be considered commodities, accessible only if one has monetary resources, is an infringement of our fundamental human rights. Water, productive lands, energy, health and education are rights, and goods that we are all entitled to access, and their allocation cannot be left to the market.

In conclusion, the key here is not to seek to reactivate the economic system within the same scheme that led it to a state of crisis, but to recognise that another world is not only possible, but also necessary and urgent. Furthermore, we the social movements commit ourselves to work to achieve this, from the ground up.

2.        Those who defend this economic system, wish simply to save the large corporations and the financial system, socializing their losses and injecting these institutions with public patrimony. When it is precisely these conglomerates who are responsible for the crisis and when they were enjoying bumper profits, they never contributed to social development. On the contrary, they accentuated the existing inequity and misery was spread across the world. They also claim to be restoring the US hegemony on the world demanding a general sacrifice so as to avoid the demise of their own economy. When they are occasionally concerned with minimising the negative social effects of their policies it is only to avoiding endangering their own dominance.

3.       Given the fact that several governments have allocated funds aimed at reducing the impact of the crisis, we the social movements recognise that emergency measures must be put in place, but these measures must be based on certain criteria such as the following:

·         In light of the fact the way out of the current situation lies not in reactivating the same production and consumption system, but in changing the said system, stimulating the production capacity, with respect to basic goods and services and satisfying the needs of the population must become a priority, thereby promoting food sovereignty and production which is in harmony with nature. The priority is not to produce for the world market, but for the internal market. As we face this global crisis, regional integration must be encouraged, but this must not be centred on commerce and competition, but on complementarity and solidarity.

·         Emergency resources must be channelled by new institutions under social control, which guarantee the attainment of social objectives and productive transformation. The IMF cannot play this role, not even a reformed IMF, given that they were the main promoters of the model which led to the crisis.

·         With respect to the financial system, the main concern ought not to be rescuing the owners of large capital but rescuing the savings of the poor. We must begin to build a new financial architecture which would service the new system of production and consumption.

·         In combating job loss, it must be taken into account that the majority of jobs are not created by large businesses but by micro, small and medium enterprises – the cooperatives, the community businesses, etc. The priority is not to save the large transnational corporations, but to save the people.

Position on the Declaration of Understanding of the Official Summit

We the social movements wish to express our concern because these crucial problems were not addressed in the declaration of the Summit of the Heads. The said document, in fact does not present a real solution to the economic crisis, neither does it identify the challenges of implementing the principles which govern hemispheric relations. This document does not recognise the role that neo-liberal policies have played in increasing poverty and the disparity in income distribution. This declaration also does not acknowledge the fact that if any advances have been made in the last few years, in different areas, it is as a result of having corrected existing policies, or due to certain circumstances in the global economy, which for a period of time caused the prices of raw materials for export to increase.

This document also fails to indicate that the large conglomerates were in large part responsible for having driven us to the crisis, only a brief and general reference is made. The minimization of the role of these businesses seeks to cover up the attempt by the US to re-establish its hegemonic role in the world by gentle means.

The declaration only alludes to a definition of priorities, with respect to political economy. It does not touch on the following; the need for access to land, food sovereignty, demilitarization, the rights of indigenous people, the need to replace the neo-liberal model, the all-encompassing nature of the crisis and it also facilitates the continuation of free trade agreements.

On the other hand it ratifies the Monterrey Consensus of 2002, which promotes commercial openness and export led development, it also supports the Inter American Development Bank and the policies of the World Trade Organisation which promote flawed positions which differ greatly from what has been defined by social movements and various governments throughout the region.

The declaration does not consider the enormous asymmetries, between the United States and the other countries of the region and only presents limited affirmations with respect to the most vulnerable countries, which comprise the majority of the region. The current emphasis on energy diversification highlights the fact that the current leader in consumption, industrialisation, and urban developments as well as the leader in the implementation of deregulatory policies and privatisation within the energy industry has failed to guarantee universal access to energy, given that it constitutes a necessity. A spate of irrational consumption and exploitation of non-renewable resources has been provoked,        infrastructure has been destroyed and there have been several cases of public sector divestments, especially in the sector of research and development. Additionally, there has also been a deterioration of working conditions, while countries and their populations continue to be submitted to certain levels of domination by megaprojects. The principle of peoples’ sovereignty to exercise their right to access to natural resources, including energy resources and the need to guarantee public control in administration and the regulation of the same continues to be ignored.

5. The official declaration also ignores the food crisis and the problem of increasing poverty, which are the results of 25 disastrous years of structural adjustments, the indiscriminate opening up of trade in the agriculture sector, the creation of unnecessary food dependency, the unlimited power of the food producing agricultural monopolies and oligopolies, the reorientation or re-concentration of land and the external dependency on agricultural inputs. Today, more than ever, the need to stimulate food sovereignty, based on a system of small scale farming sustaining the local demand has been affirmed. Basic food products and water must be declared fundamental rights and treated as such. This would mean that these basic food products cannot be included in trade agreements based on market forces, land must also be allocated for food production, agreements to stimulate the development of agricultural food production amongst different countries across the continent must be promoted, mechanisms to support small scale agriculture, at the regional level, public reserves of basic food items must be created in order to be able to deal with food emergencies which result from natural and/or economic phenomenon, governments in the hemisphere also need to ratify the Declaration of Food Security and Sovereignty by the FAO where the Right to Adequate Nutrition is recognised as a basic right.

6. While increasing numbers of US military forces attached to the IV fleet continue to be dispatched and numerous military bases are being set up across the region the declaration supports the Inter American Treaty for Reciprocate Assistance, which has been the instrument of this proposal. Cooperation with respect to security has been strengthened, from a multi-dimensional point of view, which was the same approach taken by the adoption of the Declaration on Security in the Americas of the OAS in 2003. It has also been extended to the sphere of city security by means of a commitment on public security in the Americas, approved in 2008, and other similar commitments, to guarantee that US imperialism has access (be it by consensus or coercion) to strategic resources and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. These commitments of multi-dimensional security, lead to on one hand to military intervention, under the guise of peace operations or humanitarian aid, as was the case of MINUSTA in Haiti, and on the other hand the criminalisation of social protests, under the pretext of confronting organized delinquency and terrorism. We are of the opinion that public security problems must be looked at from the perspective of national sovereignty, by means of security policies.

7. We demand that our countries’ governments examine the core of the crisis, and to achieve this the following ought to be done:

1)       Reduce the free trade focus of existing businesses. Even more so, denounce free trade agreements and investment protection bilaterals.

2)       Defend our national sovereignty and also defend our countries from the extraction of our resources by implementing exchange controls to hinder both the devaluation of our currencies at the hands of the speculative investors and the repatriation of profits by large transnational corporations to the parent companies.

3)       Treat with foreign investors according to national laws in national courts, so that they can play a role within the national development plan towards improved wellbeing for all.

4)       Reject the idea that the way out of this crisis is by means of obtaining new debt, especially conditional debt. Debt auditing, (as exists in Ecuador) and the writing off of illegitimate debt is urgently needed.

5)       The economy needs to be reoriented towards satisfying the needs of our people; the priority should not be meeting the demands of the world market. The economic bases of security and food sovereignty need to be reconstructed, with respect to the sustainability of the rational use of nature’s resources in the integration of national and regional production chains for local consumption. Additionally, the economic bases also need to be reconstructed in a way so as to strengthen and at the same time respect the existing means of production and lifestyles in communities, saving the planet from the insatiable degradation promoted by capital. 

6)       Our fundamental right to food, water, housing, health, education, culture and a safe environment must be put first over the rights of investors. Neither must we fall prey to the idea of acquiring wealth, even by public organisations, under social control.

7)       National Income must be redistributed, not only in terms of policies of social assistance (indispensible in times of emergencies, such as the current times) guaranteeing the creation of decent jobs for both men and women. Sufficient resources must be allocated for the provision of social services, and the policies whereby these carried out by the poorest women in return for no monetary compensation must not be continued.

8)       Create and strengthen the mechanisms of direct democracy and social participation as the only guarantee that the process implemented does not result in reactivating the old productive model, but rather it ought to ensure that a new model is created which seeks to improve the well being of all.

Immediate actions:

1.       We demand the complete inclusion of Cuba into hemispheric discussions and the subsequent end of the blockade which has crippled the island, coinciding with the consensus in latin America and the Caribbean. The announcements by the US government to partially lift the blockade against Cuba are greatly insufficient and do not ensure the re-incorporation of the island into the hemispheric community with the full rights which it has been denied for decades.

2.       We demand transparency, democracy, and real participation. We condemn the almost total absence, in the majority of states across the hemisphere, of the participatory process and democratic social consultations on decisions which are taken in the official summit and affect our countries’ destinies. 

3.       We applaud and commend the efforts made by Bolivia and Venezuela, Paraguay and Ecuador. We express our solidarity and active support to the people of these countries and we defend the actions and mobilisations of organisations towards consolidating the achievements which have now been obtained.

4.       We demand that the rights of indigenous communities be respected and guaranteed. In this regard, we support the Congress of the Indigenous Peoples which will take place in Puno, Peru in May, 2009.

5.       We demand the removal of foreign troops stationed in Haiti and the decolonization of Puerto Rico, the French Colonies, and all other colonial territories in the Caribbean.

6.       We demand the demilitarization of the continent and the eventual elimination of all military bases.

7.       We demand that the rights of all immigrants be upheld. Immigration Policies must be based on the elements of human rights and ought to promote the creation of an inter-American citizenship including the participation of immigrants as subjects of political, social and cultural rights.

8.       We express our solidarity with the struggles in Guadeloupe and Martinique who have fought some important battles recently and whose demands have not yet been adequately met.

9.       The constitution of a tribunal on climate justice which would demand and determine responsibility with respect to climate change should be promoted.

We call for a hemispheric mobilisation of to prevent the effects of the crisis falling on the backs of ordinary people, and in this regard, we will draft a hemispheric agenda for mobilisation and struggle which will serve to strengthen unity amongst social movements across the continent and will play a decisive role in ensuring the emergence of a new society.

In conclusion, at the IV Peoples’ Summit, the inclusion of the Caribbean, and in particular, Trinidad and Tobago has been consolidated. With its rich culture the people and social movements from across the continent are clear that we are all participants in the transition of the global capitalist model, which has proven to be dysfunctional for our people and a threat to the environment, towards a new schemes of development which seek to promote a just equilibrium between wealth generation and the satisfaction of our basic needs. Coming out of our diversity we launch a collective, integral and multi-sectorial process of construction and definition of ‘good living’ for all.

 With new and creative prospects for the integration of our people we aspire towards the harmonious construction of societies based on social justice and equitable distribution of wealth in a spirit of cooperation, solidarity and complementarity.

April 17, 2009

Trinidad and Tobago