Havana call for action

To all the peoples of the American Continent

The life of our peoples and the independence of our nations are at stake: fighting the FTAA is fighting annexation and poverty

We indigenous people, black people, trade unionists, rural workers, young people, members of the public, people of religious faith, environmentalists, defenders of human rights, creative people, journalists, members of parliament, artists and intellectuals, men and women of all races, representing social and political organizations from the (35 countries) [?] of our continent, have gathered here in Havana, Cuba, for our Second Hemispheric Meeting Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The United States and its ally governments in the hemisphere persist in their aim of imposing on our nations this supranational treaty that condemns increasingly large segments of the population to poverty, in the North as well as in the South; that grants rights to transnational corporations over those of states and peoples, indiscriminately exposing our natural, material and human resources to unbridled exploitation and, ultimately, eliminating any scope for independent development by our nations. It would amount to a new era of colonialization and annexation of Latin America, by the political, economic and military power of the United States.

The year since our First Meeting, however, has seen an appreciable strengthening of resistance to the threat of the FTAA and other disasters for our peoples, spawned by neo-liberalism. The first victories are appearing: the story is the same in Bolivia as in El Salvador, in Ecuador as in Peru, in Paraguay and Uruguay, in Quebec and the United States, in Mexico and other countries: policies aimed at privatizing energy, health, water and even life itself are being successfully resisted. Argentina, where the scale of the disaster created by the neo-liberal model has become apparent, has seen accelerating mobilization of the people against policies for concentration of wealth responsible for nothing less than social genocide; similarly, in Venezuela, coup and destabilization attempts, against an elected government frowned on by Washington, have so far been thwarted. Examples of resistance and measured reaction proliferate everywhere, most notably in the case of struggles lead by indigenous Indian peoples and the Black Movement - hitherto the most severely marginalized. Everywhere, the individualism, authority and division created by neo-liberalism are beginning to give way to unity and solidarity between peoples. Everywhere, women are increasingly taking their place and in the front line and pressing their claims, a source of dignity and pride for the whole movement.

As regards the fight against the FTAA in particular, since the last meeting we have seen the setting up of committees representing a wide-ranging convergence of social and political forces in the various countries. This process has translated into the development of an information and education campaign, mass demonstrations and the preparation and creation of the Continental Peoples’ Consultation. The latter received a powerful boost with the plebiscite held in Brazil in the first week of September 2002, when over 10 million Brazilian men and women said No to the FTAA. In Quito, on the occasion of the Trade Ministers’ Summit, we mobilized even under tear-gas attack by the police, and clearly transmitted our peoples’ message of opposition to the assembled governments that persisted with negotiations on the FTAA.

Stiffening resistance, strengthening of the social movement and its increasingly global expression are also being translated into political victories, such as the large vote secured by Evo Morales in Bolivia and especially the electoral triumphs of Lula in Brazil and Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador - candidates supported and brought to power by forces deriving from the people, who are opposed to the recolonization of Latin America. The new vistas opened up by these successes unquestionably represent a blow against the neo-liberal model: the votes of our peoples were votes against that model, against “free trade”, against US domination.

But despite these clear demonstrations of the wishes of our peoples, the US empire and its subservient governments in the hemisphere are turning a deaf ear to the growing, grassroots demands for justice and independence, and are persisting with their colonialist, anti people-power strategy. Despite the promises of development emanating from the promoters of “free trade” and the farcical programmes against poverty, there has been no improvement in unemployment and poverty levels; on the contrary, the situation has now reached the point of social genocide and human degradation. Our countries are even losing their food sovereignty. Basic public services and commodities, such as education and health, would be left to soulless market forces. In a country like Argentina, the hitherto unthinkable is now happening: children are dying of starvation. Debt remains a scourge and an instrument of blackmail and control turned against our nations. Militarization under the pretext of the war on the narcotics trade and, latterly, on terrorism, is the inevitable corollary of “free trade”. The Colombia Plan, the Northern Command and the general “co-operation” of our governments with the Pentagon’s hawks complete the policy of economic integration subordinated to US interests.

Despite the seriously adverse social consequences of NAFTA in Mexico and other countries, and the significant opposition to the content of the present negotiations, the trade ministers reiterated in Quito their intention of completing the FTAA talks by 2004. Moreover, Washington and its allies (or, rather, subordinates) is not waiting for these negotiations to conclude, but is progressing on a daily basis bilateral or regional “free trade” treaties, each a component of a strategy for consolidating US hegemony in Latin America and paving the way for the FTAA. These plans for the hemisphere are part of a wider strategy pursued by US corporations within the framework of competition with the other economic blocs in the WTO; issues such as agriculture and privatization of public services which are only now being considered for inclusion in the WTO are already part of the FTAA process.

The FTAA and WTO negotiations (and the bilateral and regional processes within these) have entered a decisive stage. The crisis and desperation of our peoples are reaching their limit. The threat of war is here. But our chances of successful resistance are better than before: there is light at the end of the tunnel. Our struggle must also enter a decisive stage. For all these reasons, from the homeland of Martí - who has shown us that imperial domination can be overcome - we send out this

CALL FOR ACTION:

• In each of our countries, redouble the Campaign Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, at regional and continental level, strengthening the initiatives of information, dissemination and education among the population at large, as well as all the forms of mobilization, all the other initiatives and activities within our power, to curb this programme for recolonization
• Progress the setting up of unitary, inter-sector, multilateral and horizontal anti-FTAA committees
• Provide a fresh boost to the organization and creation of the Continental Peoples’ Consultation on the FTAA, to be held on a new date by October, before the Trade Ministers Summit in Miami, so as to arrive there with the strength of the support of many millions of men and women from all over the continent
• Develop a strategy for national congresses which ensures that members of parliament opposed to the FTAA present a united front with their peoples in the struggle to regain sovereignty and halt its progress
• Oppose simultaneously the bilateral and regional “free trade” treaties, agreements and plans deriving from the unjust and inequitable FTAA model, as well as designing an alternative, just, equitable and sustainable basis of integration of the peoples, from the bottom up
• Link opposition to “free trade” in the hemisphere to the struggle against the WTO, especially the new round and the inclusion of new issues that merely serve to extend the powers of an institution dominated by and subservient to the major transnational corporations
• Forge more links with the specific campaigns pursued on a day-to-day basis by our peoples, against the various evils induced by neo-liberalism, especially those concerned with defending the public nature of education, health, social security and the energy and natural resources of our countries
• Join the fight against all forms of exclusion and discrimination, as well as, especially, that for the prevention of violence against women
• We call especially for linking of the campaign against “free trade” to the historic struggle against the unjust and unjustifiable burden of foreign debt, and against the US sabre-rattling that is threatening not just sovereignty but the whole planet
• As well as the campaigns we shall be initiating in every country and region, we are calling for a gathering and mobilization against the FTAA and the WTO at the Port Alegre meeting of the World Social Forum in January 2003; for a gathering and mobilization against the WTO, together with our brothers and sisters from all over the world, at Cancun, Mexico in September 2003, staging all possible forms of mobilization and simultaneous demonstration in all our countries; for holding a continental day of action against the FTAA to coincide with the Miami meeting of the FTAA trade ministers at the end of 2003 and reconvening in Havana in January 2004.

We conclude our Second Hemispheric Meeting Against the FTAA in the conviction that we have fulfilled many of the goals we set ourselves at the First Meeting and that the present event heralds a new stage, a major advance in the struggle against this new attempt at colonial domination; the conviction that, following in the footsteps of the global resistance movement that found expression in Chiapas, Seattle, Quebec and in many other people's campaigns in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, we shall be able to change the destiny of marginalization, poverty and war reserved for our peoples by the moguls of power and money. From this free territory of the American continent, with which we proclaim our solidarity and for which we demand an end to the blockade, and respect for its sovereignty, we say:

LATIN AMERICA IS NOT FOR SALE
PEOPLE'S SOVEREIGNTY YES, FTAA NO!
TOGETHER LET’S CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE AMERICA!