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American struggles point
to new social and economic relations
by Audrey Dupleich <adupleich@yahoo.com>
At the end of the working groups' discussion
during the International Encounter in Quito, the participants
established commitments for revolutionary action aimed at
putting social factors before economic aspects, proposing
the construction of new relations between nations, such
as the creation of a free trade zone based on the exchange
and barter system.
Exchange and barter is perceived as an
exchange of goods and services according to each citizen's
needs, in a equalitarian manner and based on solidarity,
in which the value of labor is not based on the time spent
obtaining a product or the profit that it represents, but
in satisfying mutual requirements. The development of other
projects was also proposed, based on common objectives that
cross nation-state borders, among which is the urgent need
to open markets for small producers.
We believe in cultural diversity
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"We believe that a culturally diverse
continent should be created based on a project promoting
cultural identities and calling for the consolidation of
the values that have been defended historically because
they represent American unity", says one of the texts
that were subject to agreement between American nations,
where unity is understood as a permanent construction process
"reinforced by geographical, economic, political and
social peculiarities".
Cultural diversity was perceived as a collective
political position based on dialogues that respect differences.
This process implies structural changes and a new approach
to daily life, in addition to going further than a mere
acknowledgement of identities, since it requires citizens'
participation in its definition and development.
The American people explicitly acknowledge
the subjects of their diversity and propose reinforcing
relations from the local to the continental sphere. The
idea is then to take up this struggle together, ignoring
nation-state borders, and establish continent-wide social
movements.
Local elements together in the Alliance
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With a view to complying with the commitment
accepted by American nations, the need was identified to
effectively make use of the Alliance as a space for socializing
both local and generalized problems, and converting it into
a platform for the struggle against the current model's
standardizing and genocide ideology.
This organization of local struggles will
mean that strategies and activities will tend to be based
on unity and solidarity, since the idea is to create a project
for life, both for native populations, African descendents
and socially excluded groups, based on their expectations
and demands.
An ambitious commitment based on the Alliance
was the idea of creating a law on cultural rights allowing
for legal action to be taken against cases of destruction
and not merely protests. In other words, the Alliance becomes
a space for proposals and the creation of new social and
economic relations between American people.
>From Quito, Ecuador, America, 21 June
2001
American Continental Encounter
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