World Social Forum, Porto Alegre
Globalise Struggle, Globalise Hope!
Call of the Social Movements
PORTO ALEGRE - January 31st 2005
FOR MOBILIZATIONS AGAINST THE WAR, NEOLIBERALISM, EXPLOITATION AND EXCLUSION - ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE
We are
social movements gathered in the 5th World Social Forum. The great
success of the plural and massive participation in the Forum gives us
the possibility and the responsibility to organize more and better our
campaigns and mobilizations, to expand and strengthen our struggles.
Four years
ago the collective and global call for ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE broke
the lie that neoliberal domination is unavoidable as well as the
acceptance of the “normality” of war, of social inequalities, racism,
casts, patriarchy, imperialism and the destruction of the environment.
As people take this truth as their own their strength becomes
unstoppable and it starts materialising in concrete actions of
resistance, for demands and proposals.
Therefore
what is new about our proposal is the outbreak and the scale of the
social movements in all continents and their ability to build within
diversity new convergences and common actions at global level.
In that
framework, tens of millions of men and women were mobilized in all
corners of the world for peace, against the war and the invasion led by
Bush against Iraq. Summits like the G8 and the WTO, the IMF and the
World Bank, where few intend to decide for everybody, were questioned
and de-legitimized by the action of social movements. Popular struggles
in defence of nature, the rights of people and the common good, against
their privatization, such as in Bolivia, Uruguay and other peoples,
demonstrated the possibility of creating a crisis for neoliberal
domination.
New spaces
for political and social struggle were opened to us. Neoliberalism is
incapable of offering a dignified and democratic future to humanity.
Nevertheless, nowadays it again takes the initiative responding to its
crisis of legitimacy with force, militarization, repression,
criminalization of social struggles, political authoritarianism and
ideological reaction. Millions of men and women suffer every day. We
want here to remember the war in Congo that has already caused four
million victims. For all that, another world is not only possible, but
necessary and urgent.
Conscious
that we still have a long way ahead of us, we call all movements of the
world to fight for peace, human, social and democratic rights, for the
right of people to decide their destiny and for the immediate
cancellation of foreign debt from the countries of the South, from the
AGENDA that we share in the 5th World Social Forum:
AGENDA OF STRUGGLES
We
call all organizations and social movements which have participated in
the World Social Forum and those who could not be in Porto Alegre, to
work together in the campaign for the IMMEDIATE and UNCONDITIONAL
CANCELLATION OF THE FOREIGN and illegitimate DEBT of the countries of
the South, beginning with the countries victims of tsunami and other
that have undergone terrible disasters and crisis in the recent months.
We
support Social Movements from the South that declare themselves
CREDITORS of historical, social and ecological debts. We demand the end
of the implementation of projects and “integration agreements” which
facilitate the looting of natural resources form the countries of the
South.
We
support demands from peasant and fisherfolk Social Movements in areas
affected by the Tsunami, in order to have the resources for emergency
aid and reconstruction managed directly by local communities in order
to avoid new debts, colonization and militarization.
After two
years of the Iraq invasion, global opposition to the war is constantly
increasing. It is time for the anti-warm movement to increase actions
and do not retreat.
We
demand the end of the Iraq occupation. We demand the US to stop
threatening Iran, Venezuela and other countries. We commit to establish
more contacts with the occupation forces in Iraq and the Middle East.
We will strengthen our campaigns against transnationals committed with
the invasion, we support soldiers who oppose to participate in the war
and we defend activists that have been persecuted for being against the
war.
We
call all movements to organize on March 19th a global day of actions to
demand the retreat of US troops from Iraq. No more war!
We
support all campaigns for disarmament and demilitarization, including
the campaign against US military bases in the world, the campaigns for
nuclear disarmament, for the control of arms trade and the cut on
military spending.
Under
the pretext of “Free Trade” neoliberal capitalism advances under the
weakness of the US, in the de-regulation of economies and the
“legalization” of privileges for transnational corporations through
free trade Agreements (FTAs). After the failure of FTAA due to popular
pressure, now Central America and other countries have been obliged to
subscribe to Bilateral Free Trade Agreements that we the people reject.
In Europe the European Union Bolkenstein directive wants to impose the
complete privatization of public services. We call everyone to mobilize
during the Global Action Rally, from April 10th to 17th, in the Summit
of the People of the Americas, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in November
2005; and during the 6th WTO meeting in Hong Kong, in December 2005.
We
support the Women’s World March which is organizing a campaign of
global feminist actions throughout the world starting from São Paulo on
March 8th and ending on October 17th in Burkina Faso, to restate their
commitment with in the struggle against neoliberalism, patriarchy,
exclusion and domination. We call all movements to organize feminist
actions during this period against free trade, sex trade,
militarization and food sovereignty.
We
support the efforts of social movements and organizations that promote
the struggle for dignity, justice, equality and human rights specially
the dalit movement; afro-descendents, indigenous people, romas,
burakumins and the most oppressed and repressed sectors of society.
We
call for mass mobilization against the G8 meeting in Scotland on July
2nd to 8th. We will take to the streets and will participate in the
counter-meeting in Edinburgh and Gleneagles. We demand: poverty to go
to history, to stop the war, to cancel debt and impose a global tax on
financial transactions to finance development.
We
protest against neoliberal policies and the EU military support in
Latin America. We call for a solidarity mobilization among the peoples
during the Meeting from Latin American and European Union Presidents in
May 2006, in Vienna, Austria.
We
struggle for the universal right to healthy and sufficient food. We
struggle for the right of the peoples, nations and peasants to produce
their own food. We manifest against subsidies to exports which destroy
the economies of rural communities. Let’s avoid food dumping.
We
reject GMO foods because besides threatening our health and the
environment, they are an instrument for five transnationals to have
control of all markets. We reject patents on any form of life and in
special on seeds, since the intention is the appropriation of our
resources and the knowledge associated to them. We demand the Agrarian
Reform as a strategy to allow the access of peasants to land, and
healthy and sufficient food, and not to be concentrated in the hands of
transnationals and latifundiários.
We
demand for actions against peasants around the world to be called off,
for the immediate liberation of peasants and political prisoners in the
world, and the end of militarization of rural areas.
We
support sustainable production based in the preservation of natural
resources: soil, water, forest, air, biodiversity, water resources etc.
We support the development of organic and agro-ecological production.
We
call for mobilizations during the national peasant day on April 17th;
and on the anniversary of the death of Mr. Lee on September 10th
against the WTO.
We
support campaigns and struggles in defence of water as a common good,
against its privatization and for the recognition of the right to
access to water as a human right, such as the campaign ”No to Suez in
Latin America”. We invite all to participate in International Forum
from March 18th to 20th in Geneva.
We
share the demands to build an alliance between social movements and
networks for a “World contract on climate: a solar world is possible”.
Energy is the right to life and it is a common good. The struggle
against poverty and climate change demands sustainable energy to be
among the priorities of initiatives and campaigns from social
movements. We support the international march on climate in November.
The
“Social Responsibility of Transnationals” did not manage to eliminate
abuses and crimes committed by transnationals. It must be seriously
challenged. Movements will work together to take power away from
transnationals and stop their abuses and crimes. Communities must have
the freedom to protect themselves, their environment and society
against the power of transnationals.
We
support campaigns against transnationals that violate human, social and
trade union’s rights, such as those against Nestlé and Coca-Cola in
Colombia; and Pepsi and Coca-Cola in India.
We
support the struggle of the Palestinian people for their fundamental
and national rights, including the right to return, based on the
international law and in the UN resolutions.
We
ask the international community and governments to impose political and
economic sanctions to Israel, including an embargo on Arms. We call
social movements to also mobilize for de-investments and boycotts.
These efforts aim at pressuring Israel to implement international
resolutions and to respect the decision of the International Court of
Justice for the immediate stop and destruction of the illegal apartheid
wall and the end of occupation.
We support Israeli activists for peace and the refusnik for their struggle against the occupation.
We
condemn the unfair embargo of Cuba and demand a fair trial to the five
Cubans who have been arrested in the US. We also demand the withdrawal
of military foreign troops in Haiti.
We
recognize diversity in sexual orientation as an expression of an
alternative world and we condemn mercantilization. Movements commit to
participate in the struggle against exclusion based on identity, gender
and homophobia. We will unite our voices against all forms of
mercantilization of the body of women and GLBT.
We
support the process of building a global network of social movements
committed to defend migrants, refugees and displaced peoples.
Neoliberalism and the policies of “the war against terror” have
increased the criminalization of migrants, the militarization of
borders, clandestine operations and the access to cheap labour.
We
support the campaign to ratify the United Nations Convention for the
rights of migrants, which no government from the North wants to accept.
We support the campaign to establish an independent organism to
sanction governments that do not respect the Geneva Convention for
refugees and the rights of migrants.
We
support campaigns and struggles for children’s rights, against labour
and sexual exploitation, against the trade of children and sexual
tourism.
We
support the call of the excluded, of those with no voice, to develop an
active solidarity campaign to propel a world march in which the
oppressed and excluded of the planet will raise their voice to conquer
the right to a dignified life.
From
September 14th to 16th, in the general Assembly of the UN, government
heads of the whole world will make decisions about the agrarian reform
in the United Nations and will revise their commitments to eradicate
poverty. They are mainly responsible for the critical situation of
humanity now.
We
support the call for international networks which invite to mobilize
globally on September 10th for a new world democratic order and against
poverty and the war.
We
support the call for a mobilization on November 17th, international
student day, in defence of public education, against privatization and
the trans-nationalization of education. In solidarity with Venezuela,
the youth of the world is calling to participate in the 16th World
Youth Festival and of the Students from Venezuela between August 7th
and 15th.
Communication
is a fundamental human right. We support the call for mobilizations
during the World Conference of the Communication Society, in Tunis from
November 16th to 18th. We support the call for a strong international
convention about Cultural Diversity and we oppose the commodification
of information and communication from the WTO.
We support social economy as a concrete expression of an alternative for a fair, mutual, democratic and equitable development.
In
defence of public health and against its privatization, we call all
peoples of the world for a permanent struggle. We call for
mobilizations during the General Assembly in Defence of the Health of
the People, in Cuenca, Peru, in 2005 and in the World Health Forum
during the World Social Forum in Africa in 2007.
This is a small demonstration of the struggle of social movements - GLOBALISE STRUGGLE, GLOBALISE HOPE!