Manifesto of the Pan-Amazon Social Forum

03/08/2009

Opinión

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We are the peoples of the forests, rivers, the rain, the towns, the villages, the cities, the quilombos, the settlements, the social organizations, of the nine countries that share the Pan-Amazon. We are many voices speaking hundreds of languages, making the same calling: we must stop the machine that pushes the planet and humanity to the abyss. Put an end to the system that transforms nature into a commodity and survives at the expense of the exploitation and humiliation of billions of human beings. We say it is time to release the work and imagination to reinvent the Earth and make it the common home where all can live with justice and freedom.

We are different so we are strong. Brothers and sisters united in the rejection of a world where the production and distribution of goods is guided by profit and not by the satisfaction of human needs. We are from many peoples, different and mixed; so we reject the single thought, the living standard of economic, social, political, sexual and cultural impositions. That’s the way we are: we struggle to build a world where all worlds fit.

We share dreams and concrete struggles. We proclaim that the land can not be owned and privilege of some. The land is a common good. All latifundia (Land property) is a crime against humanity and as such must be fought. We reaffirm our rejection of private exploitation of natural resources. The land belongs to all of us, its use should be the responsibility of all the citizens, acting through the states, which should be controlled to reflect the wishes and rights of the people that they represent. The right to land is sacred. Original populations, traditional communities and quilombolas must have recognized their right to autonomy and self-government in their ancestral lands, without this meaning separatism or division of national territory. This means that no project can be deployed without the prior consent of the communities living in these territories. We are against the energy models which alter the geography, destroy the environment, displace populations, drown cultures, causing misery and suffering. We support the inalienable right of all human beings to live in peace, health, with education, housing and all guarantees to develop their full potential.

Millions of Amazon people live in urban areas in large, medium and small cities. However, there are no public policies appropriate to different realities. And they get excluded from the access to public goods and services, aggravating further the social and environmental problems. We fight for the right of democratic and sustainable cities in the Pan Amazon.

We do not accept the criminalization of social movements and the advocates of Human Rights, promoted by multinational companies with the support of the state apparatus, which on behalf of development try to prevent freedom of expression and organization of those who fight the concentrator and exclusionary model. In the same way we demand amnesty for all partners and companions who are arrested and threatened with death for defending these rights.

In the Pan-Amazon, many brothers and sisters have already spilled their blood for justice and freedom. We honor their names and will be worthy of their legacy.

With all our forces we fight against racism, sexism and all forms of intolerance including those that affect the free option of religious or sexual orientation. We fight to put an end to the borders that do not prevent the free movement of capital, but prohibit the right to come and go of human beings.

We strive to stop the model of development that leads to violence, prostitution and sexual exploitation of girls and women; that extend the expropriation of traditional knowledge of midwives, women artisans, gatherers, farmers, which have their work made precarious and patented by multinational and transnational companies, limiting further the guarantees of rights and empowerment of women. We believe that another world is possible and strive to build it.

We have our eyes on the horizon and our feet planted on the floor. In solidarity with the resistance of our brothers and sisters in the Peruvian Amazon in defense of their lands and against the implementation of the Treaty of Free Trade between Peru and the United States. We call an end to the militarization of the territories of the original peoples of Colombia and to the end of the bloody civil war. Reject foreign troops and bases in the countries of the Pan-Amazon and the American continent. We express our support to efforts to achieve the independence of Guiana from the French domain, to end with the last continental bastion of colonialism in our America. Likewise we join the voices in demanding an end to the economic blockade of Cuba and support a free and independent Palestine.

In recent years Latin America has had precious moments in their journey of liberation. We support the regional integration agreements resulting in the suppression of the gap that separates the South American countries, promotes sustainability in the Pan Amazon instead of pure exploitation of natural resources. In this sense, initiatives like Banco do Sul, the Unasul will probably strengthen the integration of peoples and not only economic interests. Likewise we recognize the importance of other initiatives such as the ALBA and the Treaty of Commerce for the People. We recognized in the propositions of the Good Living and Rights of Nature, key elements in building of a new world.

We oppose initiatives that do not have the consent of the affected populations, such as IIRSA and treaties of free trade between Europe and Latin American countries. We oppose the policy of encouraging and sending settlers to our region. We support policies such as the proposal of the Ecuadorian Yasuní that promotes conservation of resources for future generations.

To get here we have come a long way. We have inherited the experience of four editions of the Pan-Amazon Social Forum, preceded by meetings Without-Borders, the foundation for building alliances between people of the Pan Amazon. We are also the result of the Pan-Amazon Assembly, held in the last World Social Forum in Belem of Para. We know that the Pan-Amazon is one of the most important scenes of the battle on which hangs the salvation of the planet and mankind. The wisdom of our forebears, transmitted over centuries of resistance, brings us to understand the need to unite, weaving into a single plan all of our many differences.

At this meeting we celebrate many alliances. One of the most important was established with the peoples of the Andes, thus joining the great river from source to mouth in a great torrent, fed by numerous tributaries, toward the Land Without Evil, proclaimed by our ancestors.

Here we also made commitments. We agree to coordinate our efforts, seeking greater efficiency in our actions. In this sense, we will participate in a collective and organized way in the Week of Mobilization for the Global Fight for Mother Earth and against the colonization and the commodification of Life, from October 12 to 18, 2009. These days, the Pan-Amazon in an articulated, multiple and unified way, will mark its presence in the defense of life, food sovereignty and the Good Living.

We are ready to move forward. The Pan-Amazon Council, reconstituted in this meeting, will take measures to ensure the constant exchange of information, shared practices, communication, permanent solidarity and coordinated actions, to the preparation and implementation of the V Pan-Amazonian Social Forum, which will be part of the process of the World Social Forum, towards the venue of Dakar in Senegal, in 2011.

In the heart of the jungle the people of the forest make their voices heard.

Long live the Pan Amazon of all colors and all peoples!

Belem –Para –Brazil - July 14 to 17 , 2009

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/135516