[E-rundbrief] Info 84 - WSF 2004 Mumbai - Call of the social movements

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 84 - World Social Forum/ WSF 2004 Mumbai - Call of the 
social movements and mass organisations

Bad Ischl, 25.1.2004

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2004

CALL OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND MASS ORGANISATIONS

Mumbai, India, January 2004

We the social movements united in Assembly in the city of Mumbai, India, 
share the struggles of the people of India and all Asians. We reiterate our 
opposition to the neoliberal system which generates economic, social and 
environmental crises and produces war. Our mobilisation against war and 
deep social and economic injustices has served to reveal the true face of 
neoliberalism. We are united here to organise the resistance against 
capitalism and to find alternatives. Our resistance began in Chiapas, 
Seattle and Genoa, and led to a massive world-wide mobilisation against the 
war in Iraq on 15th February 2003 which condemned the strategy of global, 
on-going war implemented by the United States government and its Allies. It 
is this resistance that led to the victory over the WTO in Cancun. The 
occupation of Iraq showed the whole world the existing links between 
militarism and the economic domination of the multinational corporations. 
Moreover, it also justified the reasons for our mobilisation. As social 
movements and mass organisations, we reaffirm our commitment to fight 
neoliberal globalisation, imperialism, war, racism, the caste system, 
cultural imperialism, poverty, patriarchy, and all forms of discrimination 
- economic social, political, ethnic, gender, sexual - including that of 
sexual orientation and gender identity. We are also against all kinds of 
discrimination to persons with different capacities and fatal illnesses 
such as AIDS. We struggle for social justice, access to natural resources - 
land, water and seeds - human and citizens' rights, paticipative democracy, 
the rights of workers of both genders as guaranteed in international 
treaties, womens' rights, and also the people's right to 
self-determination. We are partisans of peace, international cooperation 
and we promote sustainable societies that are able to guarantee access to 
public services and basic goods. At the same time, we reject social and 
patriarchal violence against women. We call for a mass mobilisation on 8th 
March, International Women's Day. We fight all forms of terrorism, 
including state terrorism. At the same time we are opposed to the use of 
terrorism which criminalises popular movements and restricts civil 
activists. The so-called law against terrorism restricts civil rights and 
democratic freedom all over the world. We vindicate the struggle of 
peasants, workers, popular urban movements and all people under threat of 
losing their homes, jobs, land or their rights. We also vindicate the 
struggle to reverse privatisation in order to protect common, public goods, 
as is happening with pensions and Social Security in Europe. The victory of 
the massive mobilisation of the Bolivian people in defense of their natural 
resources, democray and sovereignty testifies to the strength and potential 
of our movements. Simultaneously, peasants across the globe are struggling 
against multinationals and neoliberal corporate agricultural policies, 
demanding sovereignity over food and democratic land reform. We call for 
unity with all peasants on 17th April, International Day of Peasants 
Struggles. We identify with the struggle of the mass movements and popular 
organisations in India, and together with them, we condemn the political 
and ideological forces which promote violence, sectarianism, exclusion and 
nationalism based on religion and ethnicity. We condemn the threats, 
arrests, torture and assassinations of social activists who organised 
communities in order to struggle for global justice. We also denounce 
discrimination based on caste, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation 
and gender identity. We condemn the perpetuation of violence and oppression 
against women through cultural, religious and traditional discriminatory 
practices. We support the efforts of mass movements and popular 
organisations in India and Asia which promote the struggle for justice, 
equality and human rights, especially that of the Dalits, Adivasis, and the 
most oppressed and repressed sectors of society. The neoliberal policy of 
the Indian government aggravated the marginalisation and social oppression 
which the Dalits have suffered historically. For all these reasons we 
support the struggle of all the marginalised throughout the world, and urge 
everyone worldwide to join the call of the Dalits for a day 
of  mobilisation for social inclusion. As an escape from its crisis of 
legitimacy, global capitalism is using force and war in order to maintain 
an anti-popular order. We demand that the governments put a stop to 
militarism, war, and military spending, and demand the closure of US 
military bases because they are a risk and threat to humanity and life on 
earth. We have to follow the example of the people of Puerto Rico who 
forced the US to close its base in Vieques. The opposition to global 
warfare remains our main object of mobilisation around the world.

We call on all citizens of the world to mobilise simultaneously on 20th 
March in an international day of protest against war and the occupation of 
Iraq imposed by the United States, Great Britain and the Allied Forces.

In each country, the anti-war movements are developing their own consensus 
and tactics in order to guarantee as wide a participation and mobilisation 
as possible. We demand the immediate withdrawal of all occupying troops and 
support the right of the Iraqi to self-determination and sovereignity, as 
well as their right to reparation for all the damages caused by the embargo 
and war. The struggle against terrorism not only acts as a pretext for 
continuing the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is also 
being used to threaten and attack the global community. At the same time, 
the US is maintaining a criminal embargo against Cuba, and destabilising 
Venezuela. We call upon all people to give maximum support this year to the 
mobilisation for the Palestinian people, especially on 30th March, 
Palestinian Land Day, against the building of the wall of apartheid. We 
denounce imperialist forces that are generating religious, ethnic, racial 
and tribal conflicts in order to further their own interests, increasing 
the suffering of the people and multiplying the hate and violence between 
them. More than 80 per cent of the ongoing conflicts in the world are 
internal and especially affect African and Asian communities. We denounce 
the unsustainable situation of debt in poor countries of the world, and the 
coercive use by governments, multinational corporations and international 
financial institutions. We strongly demand the total and unconditional 
cancellation and rejection of the illegitimate debts of the Third World. As 
a preliminary condition for the satisfaction of the fundamental economic, 
social, cultural and political rights, we also demand the restitution of 
the  longstanding plunder of the Third World. We especially support the 
struggle of the African peoples and their social movements. Once again we 
raise our voices against the G8 Summit and the meetings of the IMF and 
World Bank, who bear the greatest responsibility for the plunder of entire 
communities. We reject the imposition of regional and bilateral free-trade 
agreements such as FTAA, NAFTA, CAFTA, AGOA, NEPAD, Euro-Med, AFTA and 
ASEAN. We are millions of persons united in the struggle against our common 
enemy: the WTO. The indigenous people are struggling against patents on all 
kinds of life-forms and the theft of biodiversity, water, land. We are 
united in fighting the privatisation of public services and common goods. 
We call upon everybody to mobilise for the right to water as a source of 
life that cannot be privatised. We are endeavouring to recover control over 
public, common goods and natural resources, previously privatised and given 
to transnational enterprises and the private sector. In the victory at 
Cancun, the death of Lee symbolised the suffering of millions of peasants 
and poor people all over the world that are excluded by the "free market". 
His immolation is a symbol for our struggle against the WTO. This proves 
our determination to oppose any attempt to revive the WTO. WTO out of 
agriculture, food, health, water, education, natural resources and common 
goods!

With this determination in mind, we call upon all the social movement and 
mass organisations of the world to join the mobilisation in Hong Kong or in 
any other place where the WTO ministerial will be held. Let us join our 
efforts to struggle against privatisation, in  defense of common goods, 
environment,  agriculture,  water,  health,  public services and education.

In order to achieve our objectives, we reiterate our strong desire to 
reinforce the network of social movements and our capacity for struggle. 
GLOBALISE THE STRUGGLE! GLOBALISE THE HOPE!

http://www.wsfindia.org

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Matthias Reichl
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Wolfgangerstr.26
A-4820 Bad Ischl
Tel. +43-6132-24590
e-mail: mareichl at ping.at
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