[E-rundbrief] Info 204 - WSF 2005: Call from social movements

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 204 - Call from social movements - For mobilizations 
against the war, neoliberalism, exploitation and exclusion; ANOTHER WORLD 
IS POSSIBLE, PORTO ALEGRE - January 31st 2005; [this is no "official" Final 
Declaration of the WSF 2005]

Bad Ischl, 16.2.2005

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Call from social movements

For mobilizations against the war, neoliberalism, exploitation and exclusion

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

PORTO ALEGRE - January 31st 2005

[this is no "official" Final Declaration of the WSF 2005]

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 frame, 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 
mercantilization 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!

e-mail: movsoc at uol.com.br, www.movsoc.org

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Matthias Reichl

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

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