For Immediate Release
April 18, 2009
MESSAGE FROM THE IV PEOPLES SUMMIT
THE ECONOMIC MODEL THAT IS IN CRISIS NEEDS URGENT CHANGE
NO MORE EXCLUSION, NEOLIBERALISM, łFREE TRADE˛ OR MILITARIZATION
MESSAGE FROM THE IV PEOPLES SUMMIT
TO THE PRESIDENTS GATHERED AT THE
V SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
Trinidad Tobago, April 18, 2009
As representatives from a wide diversity of trade union, farmer, indigenous,
womenąs, youth, consumer advocacy, human rights, environmental and, in
general, social and civil organizations that are part of hemispheric
networks such as the Hemispheric Social Alliance and united here at the IV
Peoplesą Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, we wish to transmit
this message from the people we represent:
1) The Summit of the Americas continues to be marked by exclusion and
lack of democracy. First, we consider the continued exclusion of Cuba from
hemispheric governmental forums to be inexplicable and unacceptable. No
reason suffices to justify this exclusion, especially when nearly all
countries of the hemisphere the only exception being the U.S. have
diplomatic relations with this sovereign nation. We demand the full
inclusion of Cuba in all hemispheric spaces in which it chooses to
participate and, above all, an end to the illegitimate and unjust blockade
that the United States has imposed on the island for decades. [This Summit
represents an opportunity for President Obama to demonstrate whether or not
he intends to truly change hemispheric relations that have been based on
impositions]. For the majority of countries in the hemisphere, we also
condemn the near complete lack of channels for democratic participation and
consultation on decisions that are made in the official Summit, decisions
which will affect the destinies of our nations. This exclusion is one of the
reasons for which we are here meeting in the Peoplesą Summit. In this same
vein, we want to raise the most energetic protest to the official treatment
of our summit, which has included every conceivable obstacle, direct
hostility and arbitrary actions that we have had to overcome to make the
Summit possible. This has included detentions, deportations, interrogations,
mistreatment, spying, denying us the use of facilities and retracting
guarantees.
2) In the face of the grave crisis shaking the world and our hemisphere
in particular, which illustrates the failure of the so-called łfree trade˛
model it is evident that the official Summitąs declaration is far from
representing the indispensible and urgent change that current reality and
hemispheric relations demand. We note with alarm that this Śprojectą chooses
to ignore the significance of a crisis with such historic dimensions. It is
as if by doing this, one could Śdisappearą the crisis. The official
declaration covers with rhetoric, ambiguity, and meaningless good intentions
its lack of an urgently needed turnaround in hemispheric policies. What is
worse, it insists on proposing solutions that are merely more of the same
old policies, more of the medicine that has created the worst illness in
other words, more neoliberalism and free trade. The declaration further
ratifies support for antiquated institutions that contributed to the current
debacle. Even if by omission, giving forums such as the G-20, which are
illegitimate and exclusive, the power to determine so-called solutions to
the crisis‹such as łprescriptions˛ to dedicate more resources to the already
repudiated IMF‹is to maintain a vicious circle. Canceling the illegitimate
debts of countries in the South, rather than condemning them to further
indebtedness, is a solution that could actually provide countries the
resources needed for development.
3) The neoliberal model arose as a łsolution˛ to previous crises, but
it has only lead to an even worse crisis. The solution must not be more of
the same. We, the social movements and organizations from the hemisphere,
affirm that another solution to the crisis is possible and necessary. The
solutions will not be found by reactivating the same economic model or
establishing an even more perverse one. The solution will not be found in
continuing to convert everything including life itself - into mere
commodities. Instead, the solution must be one that puts ŚLiving Wellą for
all people above the profits of a few. It is not a question of resolving a
financial crisis, but rather overcoming all of the dimensions of the crisis
- which include the food, climate and energy crises. This requires
guaranteeing the peopleąs food sovereignty, putting an end to the pillaging
of the Southąs natural resources, paying the ecological debt that is owed to
the South and developing sustainable energy strategies. If the governments
gathered in the official Summit refuse to explicitly address the urgent
changes needed, they thereby renounce their right to receive support from
their people. We salute the fact that some presidents from the South are
raising with dignity in the official event, alternatives which coincide with
those which the people of the Americas are raising.
4) We demand that in the short term, the working people of the
hemisphere must not be made to bear the brunt of the crisis, which is what
has been happening so far. Instead of dedicating billions of dollars to
rescuing financial speculators and large corporations, that profited before
the crisis, provoked the crisis, and then returned to the same behavior, we
demand that the people be rescued. This is one way to strengthen our
national economies and promote recovery directed towards real development
that inverts the order of the beneficiaries, giving priority to the people.
5) We also demand that the crisis not be used as a pretext to attack or
reduce social rights that have been won. Rights do not have costs. On the
contrary, the best solution to the crisis is to expand rights, making decent
work, democratic freedoms, and human, economic, social and cultural rights a
reality. To start with, the full rights of indigenous peoples must finally
be recognized as well as womensą rights.
6) A just and sustainable solution to the crisis necessitates a
complete reorganizing of hemispheric relations and a burial of the so-called
łfree trade˛ model. No more FTAs. It is necessary to replace the FTAs that
have been proliferating throughout the region with a new model of agreements
between nations based on equity, complementary arrangements, mutual benefit,
cooperation and just trade. This model must protect the right to
development, the right of nations to protect their goods, strategic
resources and sovereignty. Processes of regional integration that are
developed on these bases are also a strong lever for resolving the crisis
and promoting alternative solutions. We especially call on the governments
in countries of the South that have advanced these types of processes to
deepen them, to not lose their autonomy and to not stray from this path.
Perverse and hegemonic projects such as the FTAA should be buried forever.
We ask governments in the region, namely the new United States
administration headed by President Obama, to make explicit their position on
the future of initiatives such as the one developed in the entrails of the
Bush administration - Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas that not only
aims to revive the corpse of the FTAA, but also to subordinate the rest of
the hemisphere to Washingtonąs policies and security forces. We hereby
affirm that we, the people of the Americas, will not allow this to happen.
7) Cooperation between nations must not, in any circumstance, include
the militarization of our societies. The security policies of each country
must not be subordinated to the interests of any power, nor should human
rights and individual guarantees be restricted. We demand the closure of all
military bases and the withdrawal of all troops and the U.S. IV Fleet from
the waters and territories of Latin America and the Caribbean. The future
for our America demands an end, once and for all, with the colonial
domination of Puerto Rico and all forms of colonialism in the Caribbean.
Presidents: listening to your people and acting in favor of their
interests--not the profits of a small few‹is the only true, lasting and
sustainable solution to end the crisis and build another, more just America.