Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Kit
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ETHICAL
REFLECTIONS A special forum on "Ethics" made a unique contribution to the Summit of the Peoples of the Americas held in Santiago de Chile in April of 1998. The forum evaluated the basic principles underpinning the global economic system according to universal human values. At the Peoples’ Summit groups like Dialogo 2000 from Argentina strongly condemned the immorality of the external debt which is causing immense suffering throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Following the Summit, the Latin American and Caribbean Jubilee 2000 Campaign for the annulment of external debt was launched at a meeting in Honduras in January of 1999. Manuel Ossa of the Centro Ecumenico Diego de Medellin in Chile opened the Ethics Forum with a reflection on how the disappearance of the socialist bloc has allowed capitalism to take on "a single, universal form – neoliberalism". This neoliberal capitalism is dismantling, little by little, the "Welfare State" which used to reflect an ethical concern for the common good. In the name of "freedom" the whole social system is being deregulated. Even social welfare, health and education are being handed over to the private sector. What are the ethics of neoliberalism? • The economy is detached from human values. It follows its own laws without taking responsibility for its social costs. • The profit motive is legitimized and made sacred. • Human sociability – as embodied in the interchange and fiestas that accompany a traditional farmers’ market – is no longer valued. • The State no longer has a role as regulator and guarantor of the common good. What are the consequences of neoliberalism? • Economic power is concentrated in fewer hands. • The gap between the rich and poor is growing. • The poorest are excluded from active participation in society. • The poor are blamed for their own poverty. • Our cultural values are changing - Competitiveness and individualism prevail over solidarity. - Instrumental rationality prevails over free expression. - Efficiency predominates over the search for meaning. - Utilitarianism replaces conviviality. Faced with neoliberalism we must ask again – what kind of society do we want? We begin this search for a social ethic in the context of an economic system that does great damage to society and to the environment. We face a new kind of economic determinism that assumes that it is the only possible option and that all aspects of human life – political, social and cultural – should be determined by the profit motive. In this context: • The state and politics are no longer instruments of the common good, just means of administering a faceless market; • This system frequently violates social, cultural and individual rights and its expansion demands the "sacrifice" of natural resources, communities and people. • The profit motive affects all areas of life leading to consumerism, individualism and competitiveness. • This leads to self-destructive search for wealth by any means including corruption or drug peddling. • Low productivity becomes the responsibility of workers who are forced to accept low incomes and the blame for the system’s problems. We must take responsibility for our world because it does not belong just to us but also to future generations. This responsibility belongs to all members of society and not just to public authorities. To assume this responsibility we must: • Revise the criteria for equity and the forms it takes. This must involve policies to redistribute wealth without hoping the market will do it for us. Up till now the market has led to greater concentration of wealth. • Assure that decisions are not taken in national and transnational spheres beyond the reach of citizens. Citizens must have the widest possible participation in decisions that affect everyone. • Listen to people who think differently than we do, or who, for cultural reasons, will experience things differently as may be the case for the black or indigenous populations. • Administer justice respecting the rights of the poor and those without political or social power. • Demonstrate solidarity with those who are excluded because they lack political or economic power - women, indigenous peoples, the disabled, the impoverished majority of the Americas.
How you can get involved Find out more about the "Ethics Forum" held in Santiago Contact:
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