Friday March 30th, 2007 00:00 Latin America, lower left: autonomous routs of social movements

Latin America, lower left: autonomous routs of social movements

Angel Luis Lara - researcher - Spain
"Latin America it is a continent in movement that we have to listen and to be able to "read" and understand. From Mexico to Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil or Bolivia in the last years we have seen huge inputs of social changing merged from the below, people from urban suburbs, farmers, students, indios, creating hybrid spaces that have an incredible power never seen before some of the most important movements that also became big communicative events for all the world".

Sebastián Scolnik – Situaciones – Argentine e
Mario Santucho - Professor – Argentina
"We have talk a lot each other about what happened in Argentina during the days of December 19th and 20th 2001. Also about the dynamics that have anticipated that insurrection. We have been crossed by the movements and the social news that from those days never stopped to alive in all our continent. Still today the effects of that collective and ferocius rebellion are matter of debates. A real dispute of interpretation does not stop to be re-opened about the meanings of "¡qué se vayan todos, que no quede ni uno sólo! ("all has to go, no one has to remain!"). From our side, we insist about at least three irriversible consequences after that December 2001."
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Gilvânia Ferreira da Silva – Director of MTS, Maranhao – Brasil
"We ask ourself how much cost what we call capitalist develop. Against this project, we as people from all the world can globalize the experiences, hopes, dreams, life, richness. This process of exploitation with no limits from the empire bring with itself the logic of consumism and gain, a process that it is been paid by the sacrifice of million of people from all around the world. In front of this situation we have the need to build alternatives for the re-production of life, for the earth.
We need to pass from a society featured by the individual and capitalist production and by the sacrifice of the eco-system and bio-diversity toward a society that give the best value to the life.
...our president Lula theorically had a anti-liberal project but pratically he has developed a neo-liberal project...
The social movements need to maintain their own autonomy..."
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Luis Hernández Navarro – Editor of “La Jornada” – Mexico
I will speak about some photos to realize my think about what it happens in Mexico:
1. The interruption by demostrators of the settlement Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president elected thanks to a stolen of votes
2. Calderon against Chavez for the populism and autoritarism during a public meeting so much that Brazil’s president Lula has to interrupt him. The economical power of latino-america’s area it is a power than can decide to connect itslef to United States and Spain or it can decide to work in autonomy or to build a new pole. Calderon places himself with the firts.
3. Calderon dressed as a soldier together with the main army’s authorities. The soldiers are often used for the repression and to give garancee that the narco-business creates essential richness for the mexican autonomy.
4. Bush one year and half ago, on the USA’s border speaked about a politic against illegal immigration and worst condamnes treating the problem with the soldiers, the war becames a costituting power. The income of the illegal immigrates substains the mexican economy.
5. The human rights violation in Oaxaca : 23 killed people, plenty op people deseappered, people tortures and people in jails with the indifference of the mexican civil society.
6. The reform that it rapresents and end of the solidal statal responsability in favour of the private sectors. Big riots between police and demostrators.
7. The call for a second phase of the “Otra Campana”. The comandancia and the relations with Via Campesina are an international and continuos articolation. The “Otra” gave visibility and protagonism to a moltitudes of fights that had difficulties to merge.
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Jose Heriberto Salas Amac - Fronte del Popolo in Difesa della Terra, Salvator Atenco – Mexico
I would begin telling that the capitalistic globalization needs of slave and autoritarian governments. On 2001, October 22nd, the Fox’s government wanted to send us away from our lands, but the government did not immagine that the people would be organize with machetes, symbol of our fight, and with a unic voice "In defense of our land". On the end of August 2002 we have won and the government had to surrend. In this walking of fight, among the organizations of the "Otra Campana" we have met the flower’s sellers of Atenco. The repression has been violent but our fight has continued. For this reason we invite all of you to reach us in Mexico and in Chiapas. La Lucha Sigue!
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Oscar Olivera - Coordinadora de defensa del Agua y la Vida - Bolivia
The national governments by now became globalization’s agents, the work executing the big multinational corporations orders ... The fight for the "common goods" has show their power in Bolivia : the fight against the water’s privatization, the energetical resources, the bio-diversity, the lands. This fight has grow up in all Latino Americam with common features in defense of their own territories, from the below that displace the people in the center of the discourse. Reciprocity, solidarity, equality are against the arrogance of the governments and against theyr laws, because the capitalistic power it is the negation of our history values that never will be possible to rapresent in a parliament, because it is the rapresentation itself that has not place in our percourse. We have the need to build new relations, because the decisions does not have to be just a value for those who stay above.
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Ricardo Montoya - Activist – Colombia
Colombia has lived in a state of "ecpetion" for more than 40 years, in order to concentrate in the hands of a few of people and in order to exploit the indigenous people. From the 90’s began the massacres against the civil population by the paramilitaries. 17.776 people are died in the last years. 3 millions of colombians have been send away from their own lands. Thousands of dollars came from Colombia in order to gain money for the guns and the coca’s platations. The economical and financial contribute has increased the died people and coca’s plantations. The European Union have financed the plans of develop without taking care of the fact that those plans were against the civil population. President Uribe has relations with the narcos, some ministres and 86 parliamentarians has relations with paramilitaries. But with the repression also the resistence for an autonomous and worthy life has increased. The social mobilitazion it is not died with the violence. The violation of rights has been continuous, but it was continuos the resistence also. The peasants fight against the "free commerce agreement" and in the same time for the trade union’s fights. In the fraternity of the global moltitude we fight in order to mantain alive the memory of our battle, especially among the youngest. In the global battle, after more than 100 years of aloneless, we fight in order to do not leave alone anymore our people."
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Marc Villà – Communication operator - Venezuela
"Among the latino-americanas social movement there is a big dabte. The revolutions can be realized just taking the power o just from the below, from the people ? The experience in Venezuela attempts to bring together those questions because there can not be any social change without a change of the political power. The social movements become stronger with the arrival of Chavez, before they were littlest and weak. Those spaces that are now open and are alive and criticize toward the power, they squatt the farmers, they are a problem for the power and they have as a common factor the bolivarian revolution. This common factor cames out Venezuela and is spreading all around, setting up relations with other organizations in all Latino America. A fight inside the empire it is already began in Latino America : energetical agreements between USA and Brazil, Cile inside Plan Puebla Panama, the arrival of the weapons in Colombia for the Plan Colombia. But also a fight against the empire."
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David Alejandro Suarez Changuan – Professor, University of Quito – Ecuador
"As first I want to dedicate this day to the drammatic situation of Colombia. In Ecuador with live with the paradox of a government that has collected the thesys of the no-neoliberist-globalization movements before the elections, thesys actually still alive without the presence of the movement. Initially the indigenous movements have opened the way and nowdays we live in a new shape of governance that it is an open process in the reason of Ande and it rapresents a sort of probation for the people. This governance creates new economic capitals and new alleances and also the danger of right-side cospirations. The delirium of Bush puts in a sort of game the Latino America balances and the movements find themselves in a phase of "study". And, as others before me, we ask ourselves how to create new shapes pf movements. The battle for a costitutional reform it is reuniting an antagonist area that does not want to nationalize for a national state but for the people that live and fight against the power of the state."
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