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 crisis caused by the failure of 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 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 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,
eqving 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 emphasise 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 privilige
negotiation and non violent conflict resolution. We affirm the right for
all the people to ask international médiation, with the participation
independant 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 such
as:
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 Developement.
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 Meeing (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!