We are meeting in Porto Alegre in the shadow of a global crisis. The belligerent intentions of the US government, in its determination to launch a war on Iraq, pose a grave threat to us all and are a dramatic manifestation of the links between militarism and economic domination.
At the same time, neoliberal globalisation itself is in crisis : the threat of a global recession is ever present; corporate corruption scandals are daily news and expose the reality of capitalism.
Social and economic inequalities are growing, threatening the social structures of our societies and cultures, our rights and our lives.
Biodiversity, air, water, forest, soil and sea are used like commodities and are for sale. All this threatens our common future.
We oppose this !
For Our Common Future
We are social movements that are fighting all around the world against neoliberal globalisation, war, racism, casteism, religious fanaticism, poverty, patriarchy and all forms of economical, ethnic, social, political, cultural, sexual and gender discrimination and exclusions. We are all fighting for social justice, citizenship, participatory democracy, universal rights and for the right of peoples to decide their own future.
We stand for peace and international co-operation, for a sustainable society answering the needs of people for food, housing, health, education, information, water, energy, public transportation and human rights.
We are in solidarity with the women engaged against social and patriarchal violence. We support the struggle of the peasants, workers, popular urban movements and all those who are urgently threatened by being deprived of homes, jobs, land and their rights.
We have demonstrated in millions to say that another world is possible.
This has never been more true and more urgent.
No War !
The social movements are against militarisation, increase of military bases and state repression that create countless refugees and the criminalisation of social movements and poor people.
We are against the war on Iraq, the attacks on the Palestinian, Chechnya and Kurdish people, the wars on Afghanistan, Colombia, in Africa and the growing threat of war on Korea. We oppose the economic and political aggression against Venezuela and the political and economic embargo by the US government against Cuba and elsewhere. We are against all kinds of military and economic actions designed to impose the neoliberal model and undermine the sovereignty and peace of peoples around the world.
War has become a structural and permanent part of global domination using military force to control people and strategic resources such as oil. The United States government and its allies are imposing war as a more and more common solution for resolving conflicts. We also denounce the deliberate attempts made by imperialists to increase religious, ethnic, racist, tribal and other tensions and strife all over the world in order to pursue their selfish interests.
Majority of public opinion around the world is opposed to the coming war on Iraq. We call on all social movements and progressive forces to support, participate in and organise worldwide protests on February 15, 2003. These protests are already planned and co-ordinated by all those who oppose the war in over 30 major cities around the world.
Derail WTO
The World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and a proliferation of regional and bilateral trade agreements, such as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the proposed Central America free trade agreements, are used by multinational corporations to promote their interests, to dominate and control our economies and to impose a development model which impoverishes our societies. In the name of trade liberalisation, every aspect of life and nature is for sale and people are denied their basic rights. Agro-multinationals are trying to impose GMOs worldwide; people suffering from HIV / AIDS and other pandemics in Africa and elsewhere are denied access to cheap generic drugs. In addition, countries of the South are trapped in a never-ending cycle of debt that forces them to open up their markets and export their wealth.
In the coming year, our campaigns, against the WTO, the FTAA and trade liberalisation will grow in size and scope. We will campaign to stop and reverse liberalisation of agriculture, water, energy, public services and investment, and to reassert peoples sovereignty over their societies, their resources, their cultures and knowledge and their economies.
We are in solidarity with the Mexican agriculturists who say “el campo no aguanta mas” (the fields are fed up) and in the spirit of their struggles we will mobilise locally, nationally and internationally to derail the WTO and the FTAA. We support the worldwide movement to fight for food sovereignty and against neoliberal models of agriculture, food production and distribution. In particular, we will organise mass protests around the world during the fifth ministerial meeting of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003 and during the ministerial meeting of the FTAA in Miami, USA, in October.
Cancel the Debt
The full and unconditional cancellation of Third World Debt constitutes a prerequisite condition in order to fulfil even the most basic human rights. We shall support any indebted country that would stop its external debt payment and would break its agreements with the IMF, especially the Structural Adjustment Programmes. Centuries of exploitation of Third World people, their resources and environment have given them the right to reparations. We ask, “who owes whom” ? These issues will be raised in the major campaigns being held in 2003, G8 (Evian / June), WTO (Cancun / September) and the IMF and World Bank annual meeting (Washington / September).
Opposing the G8
We call on all the social movements and progressive forces to be part of the mobilisation to denounce the illegitimacy and to also reject the policies of the G8 that will be meeting in Evian, France, from June 1–3, 2003. This mobilisation will also be organised all around the world with an international gathering at Evian that will include an alternative summit, alternative camp and a huge international demonstration.
Women : Promoting Equality
We are part of the actions promoted by women’s movements on March 8, which is the International Women’s Day, to fight against all forms of violence and patriarchy and for social and political equality.
In Solidarity
We call for solidarity from all progressive social forces, movements and organisations across the world for those peoples such as the Palestinian, Venezuelan, Bolivian, and Cuban (who fight against the US embargo) and others who are facing extreme crisis and are fighting against imperialist hegemony at this very moment in time.
Enhance Our International Network
Last year during the WSF in Porto Alegre, we had adopted a declaration that defines our aims, our struggles and the ways we build our alliances. The spirit of this text is still living and will inspire our coming mobilisations.
Since then, the world has been changing very quickly and we feel the need to take a new step in our decision-making processes, in our co-ordination and alliances; the need to promote a broad, radical, democratic, plural, internationalist, feminist, non-discriminatory and anti-imperialist agenda.
We now want to build a framework articulating our analyses and commitments to our mobilisations. This requires the active participation of all the movements, keeping in mind that the Social Forums are independent from governments and political parties (as given in the WSF Charter of Principles) and keeping a respect for their autonomy. Further, this would be in accordance with the different forms of political expression and organisation of the social movements and with regard to the diversity of ideologies and cultures. We feel the need to constitute a network of movements that is responsive, flexible and sustainable; yet is also broad and transparent. Its responsibilities should be to enrich and feed the process, to promote its diversity and to assume the necessary degree of coordination. The aims of the network will be to enhance the engagement of movements around the world in a deeper political debate, to facilitate common action and to strengthen the initiative of concrete actors fighting for social interests. Its work should be both horizontal and effective.
To this end we propose to build a contact group as a resource and tool for our international mobilisations, including preparing meetings, promoting debate and democracy by promoting a website and mailing lists. This contact group would be established for a period of six to twelve months and it will be drawn on the past experience of the supporters of the network of social and popular movements that are based in Brazil.
This arrangement is transitional mainly to ensure continuity. The main task of this provisory group is to facilitate debate so that the social movements around the world define concrete procedures to work together. It is an ongoing process. A first review of the new contact group will take place at meetings of the network of social movements during the mass mobilisation against the WTO in Cancun in Sept. 2003. A second review, again in assemblies of the network of social movements, will follow during the WSF meeting that is expected to be held in India in 2004.
Among other things, the reviews will consider the effectiveness of the co-ordination and seek new ways to enhance it. It will also consider how to proceed from one year to the next, and how to include national, regional movements and thematic campaigns. In the meantime, we need a large debate among organisations, campaigns and networks to articulate the proposals for a more permanent and representative structure.
In the months to come we will have many occasions to experiment, improve and build this process through our campaigns and mobilisations.
Organisations and Social Movements that signed the Social Movements Call, Porto Alegre 2003 until May 2, 2003 :
1.Agencia Latinoamericana de Informacion (ALAI) [Latin American Information Agency], Ecuador
2.Amigos de la Tierra [Friends of the Earth], El Salvador
3.Arab NGO Network for Development, Lebanon
4.Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET), Philippines
5.Askapena, País Basco [Basque Country]
6.Asociación de Amistad con Cuba ‘Bartolomé De Las Casas’ de Sevilla [‘Bartolomé De Las Casas’ Association of Friendship with Cuba, Seville], Spain
7.Asociación Mujeres Divergentes de Barcelona [All Women’s Association of Women of Barcelona], Spain
8.Asociación Nacional de Usuarios del Sistema Financiero y de los Servicios Públicos, [National Association of Users of the Financial System and Public Services], Colombia
9.Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos [Association for Human Rights], Andalucía
10.Association Climat Social [Association for a Social Climate], Niger
11.Association Marocaine d'Appui aux biblithèque Scolaire (AMABS) [Moroccan Association of Support to the Library School], Maroc
12.Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso — Forum Mondiale delle Alternative [Cultural Association Punto Rosso (Red Dot) – World Forum for Alternatives], Italy
13.ATTAC — European Institutions, Europe
14.ATTAC 68, France
15.ATTAC France
16.ATTAC Japan
17.ATTAC Ecuador
18.ATTAC Switzerland
19.Berne Declaration, Switzerland
20.CADTM, France
21.CADTM, Réseau International
22.Capítulo Cubano de la ASC y la Red Encuentros Hemisféricos Contra el ALCA [Cuban Chapter of the ASC and the Network of Hemispherical Conferences Against the North American Free Trade Association], Cuba
23.Centro de Desarrollo Integral para la Familia y la Mujer (CEDEIFAM) [Centre for the Integral Development of the Family and the Woman], Argentina
24.Central Única dos Trabalhadores — CUT [Workers’ Central Union], Brazil
25.Centro de Estudios Ciudad [Centre for Urban Studies], Ecuador.
26.Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional (CERAI) [Centre for Rural Studies and of International Agriculture], Spain
27.Centro Félix Varela [Félix Varela Centre], Germany
28.Centro Memorial Dr Martin Luther King Jr [Dr Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Centre], Cuba
29.CEOSL, Ecuador
30.CESTA, El Salvador
31.Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE), Zambia
32.CIVIMED Initiatives, France
33.Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE ), Americas Programme
34.Colectivo de Ecoportal.net y Revista Ambiente y Sociedad [Ecoportal.net Collective and Journal of Environment and Society], Argentina
35.Comissió d’Agermanament Salt-Quilalí [Commission of [? sp ?], Salt-Quilalí], Spain
36.Comité de Trabajadores Contra la Globalización [Committee of Workers Against Globalisation], Barcelona, Spain
37.Comunidad para el Desarrollo Humano [Community for Human Development], Argentina
38.Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE) [Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador]
39.Confederación Ecuatoriana de Organisaciones Sindicales Libres [Equatorial Confederation of Free Workers’ Unions]
40.Confederación Nacional Afiliados Seguro Social Campesino
CONFEUNASSC [National Confederation of Affiliated Socially Insured Peasants], Ecuador [Note : This acronym belongs with no. 40, so should immediately follow the translation, as normal.]
41.Conseil Communal — Province de Hainaut, Commune D'Anderlues [Community Council, Anderlues Commune, Hainaut Province], Belgium
42.Consejo de Salud del Area Norte [Health Council of the Northern Area], Chile
43.Consejo Nacional Campesino de Colombia [National Peasants’ Council of Colombia]
44.Convergencia de los Movimientos de los Pueblos de las Américas (COMPA) [Convergence of Peoples’ Movements of the Americas], Cuba
45.Coordinadora Popular de Caracas [Popular Coordinator of Caracas], Venezuela
46.Coordinadora de Trabajo Carcelario de Rosário [Coordinator of Prison Work of Rosário], Argentina
47.Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion, en el estado de Zacatecas [National Coordinator of Education Workers in the State of Zacatecas], Mexico
48.Cordillera People’s Alliance, Philippines
49.Corporación Siempreviva [Siempreviva Corporation], Colombia
50.CUP-FCOC, Dominican Republic
51. CUSO Asia and the Pacific
52. CUSO, Canada
54.Cybersolidaires [Cybersolidarity], Montréal (Québec), Canada
55. Chiara Piscopo, Italy
55.Dalit Land Rights Federation of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India
56.Diálogo Sur-Sur GLBT [South-South Dialogue GLBT], Ecuador
57.EcoEquity, USA
58.El-amel Association for Social Development, Algeria
59.Emmaüs International, France
60.Equipo Pueblo, Mexico
61.EQUIVITA, Scientific Committee, Italy
62.ESPERANTO/SAT-Amikaro, France
63.FEDAEPS, Ecuador
64.Focus on the Global South, Thailand
65.Food First, USA
66.Foro Social de Chamberí [Chamberí Social Forum], Spain
67.Foro Social Madrid, Spain
68.Foro Social Mundial Ecuador [World Social Forum Ecuador]
69.Forum for Child Rights (FCR), India
70.Free Burma Coalition, Philippines
71.Free Trade Union Development Centre, Sri Lanka
72.Friends of the MST, Sweden
73.Fundació per la Pau, Barcelona, Spain
74.Fundacion Dialogo y Convivencia [Foundation for Dialogue and Co-existence], Colombia
75.Fundación Pueblo Indio del Ecuador [Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation of Ecuador]
76.Fundación Sólon [Sólon Foundation], Bolívia
77.Ghetto Collective of Moscow, Russia
78. Global Women’s Project, Center of Concern, USA
78.Globalisation Monitor, Hong Kong, China
79.Grassroots International, USA
80.Grito de los Excluidos [Voice of the Excluded], Colombia
81.Grito de los/as Excluidos/as [Voice of Excluded Men and Women], Ecuador
82.Groupe Soleil d’Afrique [Sun Group of Africa], Niamey, Nigeria
83.Grupo de Tecnología Alternativa SC [Group for Alternative Technology], Mexico
84.Grupo de Sida por la Vida de San Carlos de Bariloche [AIDS Group for the Life of San Carlos de Bariloche], Argentina
85.Hemen eta Munduan, País Basco [Here and in the World, Basque Country]
86.Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), Philippines
87.Institut de recherches de la FSU (IRHESC) [Institute for Research into FSU], France
88.Institute of Social Studies, Netherlands
89.International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS), India
90.International Group for Grassroots Initiatives, India
91.International Rivers Network, USA
92.Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya [Alternative Inter-union of Catalunya], Spain
93.Ithaca College, New York, USA
95. Jubilee Kansai Network, Japan
94.Juristas sin Fronteras [Jurists without Frontiers], Spain
95.Kairos Europe, Belgium
96.Kairos, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Canada
97.KoPA (Korean People’s Action against BIT& WTO), Korea
98.Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), South Korea
99.Le Passant Ordinaire [The Ordinary Pass], France
100.Mouvement International pour les Réparations (MIR) [International Movement for Reparations]
103. Mouvement contre lê Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP) [Movement Against Racism and For Friendship between Peoples], France
104. Marcha Mundial das Mulheres [World March of Women], Brasil
101.Marcha Mundial Mujeres [World March of Women], Argentina
102.Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), Philippines
103.Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation, USA
108. Mouvement Levons-nous [Movement for Self-realisation], Québec,Canada
104.Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) [Movement of Rural Landless Workers], Brasil
105.Mujeres Trabajando [Working Women], Argentina
106.NADI, Indonesia
112. National Institution for Social Care & Vocational Training
107.Network Institute for Global Democratisation, Finland
108.Network Women in Development Europe, Belgium
109.North American Women for Diversity, USA
110.Norwegian People’s Aid, Norway
111.Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific Movement, Philippines
112.ÖBV - Sindicato de Campesinos y Campesinas de La Montana [Union of Peasant Men and Women of La Montana], Austria
113.Oltre l’Occidente [Beyond the West], Italy
114.One Ummah Forum, Peshawar, Pakistan
115.ONG Kuña Roga , Paraguay
116.Pacific Asia Resource Center, Japan
117.Pacific Concerns Resource Center, Philippines
118.Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon
119.Peace Education, Environment and Development (PEED) Foundation, Pakistan
120.People’s Rights Movement, Pakistan
121.Periodismo Sin Máscara [Journalism Without A Mask], Argentina
122.Programmes on Seeds of Hope and Tribal Self-Rule, India
129. Public Services International
123.Red Attac Madre Tierra [ATTAC Network of Mother Earth], Colombia
124.Red de Economia Solidaria ‘El Tenate’ [Solidarity Economy Network ‘El Tenate’], Mexico
125.Red Libertaria Práxis [Network for a Libertarian Practice], Mexico
126.Red Mujeres Transformando la Economía (REMTE) [Women’s Network for Transforming the Economy], Ecuador
127.RED@ctuar, Mexico
128.Regional Peoples Working Group on BIMP-EAGA - (RPWG-BIMP/EAGA), (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines — East Asian Growth Area)
129.Réseau Droit Paysan [Network for Peasants’ Rights], France
130.Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), Nepal
131.Satyodaya Centre for Social Research & Encounter, Sri Lanka
132.Servicios Públicos, regional Antioquia [Public Services, Antiquoia local], Colombia
133.Servizio Civile Internazionale (SCI) [Civil Service International], Italy
134.SinCobas, Italy
135.Sindicato de Empleados del Instituto de Medicina Legal [Employees’ Union of the Recognised Institute of Medicine], Colombia
136.Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia
137.Solidarity & Development NGO, Lebanon
138.Southern African Regional Network on Equity in Health (EQUINET), Harare, Zimbabwe
139.Tamilnadu Women's Collective, India
140.Texas Fair Trade Coalition, USA
141.The Committee for Justice in Palestine, USA
142.The Committees For The Defence of Human Rights — CDF, Syria
143.The Northeastern Women's Network, Thailand
144.Transnational Institute, Netherlands
145.União dos Trabalhadores da Guiana Francesa [French Guinea Workers’ Union]
146.Union des Familles Laïques de l’Orne 61 [Union of Public Families of Orne 61 (??)], France
147.Union for Radical Political Economics, USA
148.Urban Technology Consulting, Spain
149.Via Campesina
150.Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, USA
151.Worcester Global Action Network (WOGAN), Canada
152.World March of Women / Marche Mondiale des Femmes / Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, Quebec
153.Zone Ouverte de Mobilisation pour Briser les Injustices et Exclusions [Open Zone for Mobilisation to Break Injustices and Exclusions], France
Political and Intellectual Organisations that Supported the Social Movements Call, Porto Alegre, 2003 :
1. Partido Comunista de La Rioja [Communist Party of La Rioja], Argentina
2. Partido Comunista de Aragon [Communist Party of Aragon], Spain
3. Mandato do Vereador Hugo Manso (PT-RN) [Mandate of Councilman Hugo Manso], Brazil
4. Conseil Communal de Anderlues, Province de Hainaut [Community Council of Anderlues, Hainaut Province], France
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