This is the most exciting political statement to come out of a sumit of nation-states in my lifetime
Americas Summit: ALBA Nations Condemn Capitalism [1]
- It offers no answers to the issue of the Global Economic Crisis, despite the fact that this constitutes the largest challenge faced by humanity in decades and the most serious threat in the current epoch to the wellbeing of our peoples.
- It unjustifiably excludes Cuba in a criminal manner, without reference to the general consensus that exists in the region in favour of condemning the blockade and the isolation attempts, which its people and government have incessantly objected to.
For these reasons, the member countries of ALBA consider that consensus does not exist in favour of adopting this proposed declaration and in light of the above; we propose to have a thoroughgoing debate over the following issues:
1) Capitalism is destroying humanity and the planet. What we are living through is a global economic crisis of a systemic and structural character and not just one more cyclical crisis. Those who think that this crisis will be resolved with an injection of fiscal money and with some regulatory measures are very mistaken.
The financial system is in crisis because it is quoting the value of financial paper at six times the real value of goods and services being produced in the world. This is not a "failure of the regulation of the system" but rather a fundamental part of the capitalist system that speculates with all goods and values in the pursuit of obtaining the maximum amount of profit possible. Until now, the economic crisis has created 100 million more starving people and more than 50 million new unemployed people, and these figures are tending to increasing.
2) Capitalism has provoked an ecological crisis by subordinating the necessary conditions for life on this planet to the domination of the market and profit. Each year, the world consumes a third more than what the planet is capable of regenerating. At this rate of wastage by the capitalist system, we are going to need two planets by the year 2030.
3) The global economic, climate change, food and energy crises are products of the decadence of capitalism that threatens to put an end to the existence of life and the planet. To avoid this outcome it is necessary to develop an alternative model to that of the capitalist system. A system based on:
* Solidarity and complementarity and not competition;
* A system in harmony with our Mother Earth rather than the looting of our natural resources;
* A system based on cultural diversity and not the crushing of cultures and impositions of cultural values and lifestyles alien to the realities of our countries:
* A system of peace based on social justice and not on imperialist wars and policies;
* In synthesis, a system that restores the human condition of our societies and peoples rather than reducing them to simple consumers or commodities.
...
Links:
[1] http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13243
[2] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009801
[3] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009802
[4] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009862
[5] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009865
[6] http://www.granma.cu/espanol/2008/caricaturas/galeria-ingles.html
[7] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009875
[8] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009878
[9] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009944
[10] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009953
[11] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/americas-summit-alba-nations-condemn-capitalism#comment-1009969
[12] http://rabble.ca/user
[13] http://rabble.ca/user/register
I'm stunned.
How did this happen? Not that I'm displeased at all! But ... I just never would have foreseen the US president forced to shake hands with Chavez and hear a grumbling "maybe" from them on the possibility of lifting the Cuban blockade. I just can't wrap my head around how the Latin American states could be sticking it to imperialism and getting away with it like they seem to have been doing the last few days. Didn't see it coming.
I think I recall that the OAS has, in the past, had a few muted outbursts against imperialism, but as far as I know these were all gagged before they got too far ... and certainly I don't recall the US ever being humiliated and forced to consider compromises when it happens.
There'd be a fitting historical irony if imperialist capitalism began to finally unravel after a backlash emerging from the southern Americas; out of the places where Columbus and Cortes and Pizarro and the rest of them brought imperialism to a new hemisphere in the first place.
Actually, one of the notable side effects of the war on terror and the attempt to widen the sphere of inluence to inlcude the rest of the world has been a marked decrease in control over what is going on in South America. The shift has been quite pronounced since 2001.
The revolution is happening in South America. I've known this for at least five years. This is the continent all others will be looking to when the world's problems spiral out of control, because it is the only place where they are already crafting solutions. I've frequently considered learning spanish just because of this.
God, y'know. It is a strangely elating feeling to see such clear-headedness spoken by world representatives as in the statement above. Sometimes I forget the oppressive effect of all the bullshit and delusion that our so-called "leaders". The NDP would never make a statement like this, and of course, they are far too "left-wing" to actually take goverment. What a sad state the world is in when it's not politically viable to ever say the simple truth of the crises that are unfolding around us. I am frequently reminded of "Erik the Viking", and the king who refused to believe his island was sinking even the water rose around his head.
Compañero Chávez;
Dear Presidents and heads of delegations from sister ALBA nations;
Distinguished guests
The economic and social crisis now is global in nature and is not only limited to the financial sector. It's a world disaster with profound structural roots. It includes a sharp fall in stock market value and productive activity; the freezing of and higher cost of credit and the economic recession in the principal powers of the First World. It is accompanied by the withdrawal of world trade and an increase in unemployment and poverty. It is affecting and will considerably damage the lives and well-being of billions of human beings. The countries of the South with be, as always, the ones that suffer the most.
These are the consequences of irresponsible practices tied to deregulation, financial speculation, and the imposition of neoliberalism. Also present is the United States' abusive use of the privileges bestowed on them in the current international economic order which allows them to finance a culture of war and unbridled consumerism, unsustainable no matter how you look at it, by printing money without backing.
But deep down, the crisis is a foreseeable result of the capitalist system of production and distribution.
and so on.
The Cuban President goes on to point out that the crisis will not be solved behind the back of the UN by the Presidents of the most powerful countries; it will not be solved "with either administrative or technical measures because (the problems) are by nature structural"; it will not be solved by institutions like the IMF, "whose disastrous policies have decisively contributed to the origin and reach of the current crisis"; and Castro goes on:
The World Bank - which is not exactly a defender of socialist principals - already spoke about this six months ago at the previous G-20 meeting in Washington. It counted 73 protectionist actions applied by members of the G-20 itself.
What remedy does Castro suggest?
Our most important programs are not subject to the whims of financial speculation or the uncontrolled fluctuation of markets. The damage that we are suffering is undeniable. This is a crisis that nobody can escape from but today we have the instruments to partly counteract its effects.
This is the best and most noble part of his remarks:
Cuba reaffirms the vocation of solidarity that has characterized its links with the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The crisis presents us with enormous challenges, of incalculable and unpredictable dimensions. We have no other option than to unite with each other to face it.
Cuba reaffirms the vocation of solidarity ... We have no other option than to unite ... Karl Marx, were he alive today, could not have said it better. God love the "totalitarian" regime in Cuba and may we have a hundred more just like it.
Oh, if you are interested, here is a cartoon gallery from Cuba's digital Granma [6]. In a related vein, there is a recent cartoon that I enjoyed that other babblers may also enjoy.
"Grandpa, doesn't Cuba belong to the Americas?"
"Yes, sonny, it does, but not to the Americans."
From the same conference:
Evo Morales: `I declare myself Marxist ... now let the OAS expel Bolivia'
I wonder if US President Barak Obama will have a look at the book that Chavez gifted him with? Open Veins of Latin America is one of the best books on the history of Latin America by one of Latin's America's most outstanding living authors, Eduardo Galeano. Hugo Chavez has vaulted over Oprah as the person who can make a book become very popular (the last time he did it was with one of Noam Chomsky's books). And Chavez promotes books that are critical of the American Empire.
In erik the viking it was the christians who drowned...I was made fun of for being catholic at my highschool(which is strange for an atheiest) but I do really like the values I receieved as for helping the poor. I know it is also in other faiths/sects. But my own parents were very firm in the belief that we should all have at the very least basics, most probably a relative standard. I think they had humanist values that they didn't know about.
The church likes to corrupt that message. Though my parents do have a very good priest at their church who I regularily see at marx demos/ anti war demos...heck I saw him at the bottled water thing the council of canadians had. I find it odd that one of the most religous areas is finally come to this way of thinking. Maybe there is hope for our neighbours to the south(or for those in this country)
Excellent news and actioning by ALBA, thank you for posting this left turn.
And I heartily concur with Jacob's sentiments, as we have 3 parties, Liberals, Cons and Greens, desiring to further corporate control and all it entails.
That's an impressive statement.
Can we spell out things like "ALBA"? Google tells me it's either a skin care product or a pop singer, took a while to discover that it stands for Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas.